Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
DON’T SQUAT WITH YOUR SPURS ON
Dallas
“Seems like it’s been going better, huh?” Hallie asks as I place our son’s duffel bag in the back seat of her SUV. Her husband, Bowen, shakes my hand and hustles their two kids across the church parking lot to give us time to chat.
I shut the door and face her. I called her straight away after Ryder’s episode earlier in the week.
“Yeah, I’ve been doing what you always say to do.
Giving him a bit more structure and minimizing his sensory triggers.
” I shrug, feeling guilty about Ryder’s meltdown, but grateful for the women around me who knew how to handle him.
“I was trying to give him a summer where he could just be a kid, you know? Roam around the ranch and see where life takes him. I guess I got a little lax.”
Hallie puts her hand on my arm. “It happens to me too, you know. I’m just glad he trusts Shelby so much.” She turns and starts walking to church. I follow. “It’s looking awfully real for two people faking it.”
The abrupt change of topic takes me by surprise. Then again, Hallie and I try to always be open and honest with each other. “I think I might be a dumbass for thinking I could ever fake it with Shelby.”
Hallie gives me a knowing smile. It’s the truth. When I think about finding my boy curled up in her arms, the two of them asleep like there’s nowhere else in the world they’d rather be, if I hadn’t been in love with Shelby by then, that would have done it.
“She’s something else,” I say quietly.
“Must be to catch the heart of Dallas Gamble.” Hallie’s tone is dry, but there’s no heat behind it.
She and I are good. Always have been. We agreed we weren’t right for each other, but we made one mighty fine kid together. I’m grateful for her and Bowen. The three of us have made a pretty steady parenting team for Ryder. The addition of Shelby has only made things better.
Now I just have to convince Shelby to give this marriage thing with me a try for real.
“You want to get married in the church?” Hallie asks as we reach the steps.
I rub the back of my neck. “Uh, we haven’t really discussed it yet.”
“Better hurry. The calendar fills up quick!” Norinne pipes in as she approaches, shamelessly listening in to our conversation. If her lipstick gets any brighter, we’ll all have to start wearing sunglasses.
“I always knew you two would get married.” Mrs. Perkins shuffles by, sucking her dentures. “Well, I actually thought Dallas might die of an STD before he reached middle age, but seeing as you didn’t, I knew you’d marry that girl.”
“Jesus,” I mutter under my breath while Hallie cackles.
“Praise the lord!” Mrs. Perkins hollers, then climbs the stairs at a snail’s pace.
Norinne leans in close while we all wait for Mrs. Perkins to clear the stairs.
“Don’t look now, but Boyd Kincaid’s behind us.
Heard Ridge went over there and ripped him a new one again the other day.
Almost came to blows.” Norinne fans her face.
“I’d’ve paid good money to see that brother of yours in a tussle. ”
Hallie can’t stop laughing. I give her the stink eye, but that just makes her laugh harder. “I’ll be sure to tell Ryder to steer clear of the Kincaid’s property for a bit.”
“For a bit?” Norinne shouts, then lowers her voice when she remembers we’re surrounded by townsfolk who’d love to get a bit of gossip before the service starts.
“The Gambles and Kincaids have been feuding for generations! I, for one, have picked the Gambles’ side, just so you know.
” She pats my arm like I should thank her for her loyalty in a neighbor dispute that started before I was born.
No one in my generation even knows exactly what happened.
There are stories that seem highly inflated and perhaps even entirely fabricated, but still the feud remains.
Thankfully, Mrs. Perkins has entered the church, leaving the path clear for us to do the same. I see Shelby sitting in a pew with Ryder next to her, talking her ear off.
“Excuse me,” I mutter, leaving them all to find the one woman I never seem to get sick of.
Ryder smiles when he sees me. I hope that never changes, though I have a feeling the teenage years might test me.
He loves attending church and seeing his friends before and after.
The way the format is the same every time is a consistency he can thrive on.
As for me, the church service gives me an excuse to hold Shelby’s hand, stroke my thumb across her skin, and whisper in her ear.
When we’re dismissed, Ryder gives us a quick hug, then turns to run off to find his siblings. “Don’t go far! Meemaw is making your special dinner!”
“I won’t, Dad!” He doesn’t even look back, but I know he’ll follow directions.
This is the routine he needs. Hallie and I agreed to go back to our set schedule, like we do during the school year.
I’ll be dropping him off at his mom’s after dinner so he can get settled in for the first day of school tomorrow.
I turn to Shelby and wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her close so I can drop a chaste kiss on her lips. Her cheeks go pink at the attention.
“Did I mention you look like the hottest thing since fried chicken?” My gaze drops down her body to take in the blue flowered dress that shows off her curvy waist and flared hips.
Don’t even get me started on the cleavage on display.
“Dresses on you aren’t fair to the other women in town. Every male eye is on you, Sweetness.”
She blushes harder. “Dally.”
“What? You know it’s true. Your curves are legendary.” I drop my head, so my lips are right by her ear. “And I’m the lucky asshole who gets to take you out of this dress later.”
Shelby pinches the back of my arm, making me squeal like one of Skye’s swine. It’s effective at making me let go of her, though. “For shame, Gamble. You’re in church!”
I thread my fingers through hers—mostly to make sure she doesn’t pinch me again—and tug her toward the aisle. “Never stopped me before.”
I swear I can hear her roll her eyes as she follows behind me. We nod hello and stop briefly a few times to chat with people we know. When we finally make it outside, Ryder’s hugging his mom and stepdad by their car. He comes running over to me and Shelby and climbs into the back seat of my truck.
“Think she made cornbread?” he asks, focused on food, which makes sense. He’s become an empty pit of hunger lately.
I help Shelby up into the truck, leaning over to put her seatbelt on for her.
“Of course, Meemaw did, buddy. She knows it’s your favorite.
” Shelby slaps my hands away playfully when I linger a little too long on the part that bisects her breasts.
I shoot her a wink and shut her door, before rounding the hood and climbing inside to head to the big house.
“Dad, can I search for a video on your phone?” We haven’t even left the church parking lot, and his brain is going a million miles a minute.
“Sure, bud. What for?” I dig my phone out of my back pocket and hand it to him. He has the YouTube app working before I can blink. He knows how to work my phone better than me.
One of the guys I recognize from my trip to the Hornville Oil Refinery, steps right in front of my truck, oblivious to his impending death because he’s too busy texting on his phone.
I slam on my brakes, and my phone goes flying out of Ryder’s hands to the floor of the truck.
Shelby says an expletive under her breath, the same one I say out loud as I roll my window down.
“Watch where you’re walking!”
The guy lifts his head, glares at me like I’m the one who did something wrong and keeps texting as he heads to his truck. Shelby snorts in the seat next to me.
“I’m taking my seat belt off!” Ryder announces, clearly needing to grab the phone. I wait until he’s back in his seat and buckled, much to the annoyance of the person behind me.
Once we’re on the road and on the way to the ranch, Shelby twists in her seat to see what Ryder’s researching.
“I want to see how cornbread is made because I don’t like corn on the cob, but I love cornbread. Which makes no sense. They’re both corn.”
Shelby grins. “I’m pretty sure it has to do with the addition of sugar.”
Ryder’s already lost in the phone. “I’ll let you know.”
Shelby turns back around, and I reach for her hand, holding it there on her thigh.
“I hope that guy back there isn’t on your list of possible suitors. He probably wouldn’t have looked up from his phone long enough to see who he was talking to.”
Jealousy, hot and heavy, fills my chest. “Absolutely not. You ain’t dating a guy whose idea of flirting is to message you in an app.” I shake my head. “Men these days…”
“Speaking of men…” Shelby says, a wry twist to her lips.
I squeeze her hand. “Do not ask me about other men right now, Shelby Sweet.”
She holds up her other hand in peace as her mouth drops open. “I wasn’t!”
I side-eye her. “Good. It’s the Lord’s Day, you know. Get your brain out of the gutter.”
She tosses her head back and howls with laughter like I knew she would.
She’s still smiling when we pull down the long driveway to the big house.
The potholes have expanded in just the last week alone.
Shelby has to let go of my hand to hold the handle in the truck for dear life.
Ryder pretends he’s getting thrown back and forth, Raggedy Ann style, laughing his head off.
Pops comes out on the porch to greet us, already changed out of his Sunday best and into a pair of worn Levi’s and a crisp white undershirt.
He and Meemaw went to the crack-of-dawn service so they could work on Sunday dinner.
Ryder hops out and goes running for him.
I grab his noise-canceling headphones and take them with us in case the noise from the Kincaids’ starts to get to him again.
Not gonna have a redo of the other day. The screen door slaps shut behind us, and the scent of fried food hits.
“Meemaw’s been frying up our favorites,” Pops says, finally setting Ryder on the ground. “She made you cornbread.”
Ryder nods. “I wonder how much baking soda she used. There’s two schools of thought on the best ratio.”
Pops ruffles his grandson’s hair, amused. “And she made Sooner steaks for you, boy.”
I grin, mouth already salivating. “What did she make Shelby?”
“Oh, I don’t need—” Shelby tries to interrupt.
“Did someone say Shelby?” Meemaw calls out, entering the living room. Her red apron has chickens all over it with the words Fluent in Fowl Language across the middle. “I didn’t forget you, girl. In remembrance of your D-I-C-K of an ex-boyfriend, I made calf fries.”
Shelby chokes, and I have to pat her on the back when she keeps coughing. Pops is trying to hold back the laughter, and Ryder is just confused. I’ll have to make sure he doesn’t look up calf fries on my phone. He might be scarred for life.
“Thanks, Meemaw,” Shelby finally rasps, though I doubt she’ll let fried bull nuts past her lips, even for Meemaw.
Meemaw shakes her hips to the music in her own head, and that’s when I know she’s already dipped into the devil weed. Dinner oughta be interesting then.
“Did I hear someone say calf fries?” Ridge grumbles, joining the group.
I clap him on the back. “Missed you at church, brother.”
He merely grunts in response. I lift an eyebrow in Pops’s direction. He gives me a slight shake of the head. Guess Ridge is still upset about Tiff being gone.
The screen door bangs open again, and a gaggle of women arrives.
“The party’s here!” Frankie calls out.
“I brought the margaritas!” Morgan follows up with.
Skye lets out a whoop that hurts my ears. I take the headphones out of my back pocket and put them on myself. Shelby elbows me in the ribs.
I made a serious miscalculation. If I’m trying to woo Shelby into falling in love with me, exposing her any further to my crazy family is not the best route.
Leaning down, I whisper in her ear. “Can we just skip dinner and go home and get naked?”
Shelby’s face flames bright red. She snatches the headphones off my head. “That wasn’t exactly a whisper.”
I look around the room, seeing various amused expressions on my family’s faces as they stare at us. Well, crap.
“It’s the Lord’s Day, dumbass!” Meemaw hollers from the kitchen.