Chapter Seven
The cool air from the vent dried out Tina’s eyes and made her blink several times.
The road ahead looked like a rope that had been laid in a straight line—so unlike the curvy highways in Louisiana and South Texas.
The idea of Gracie leaving the next morning had caused her to have bad dreams the night before.
Add that sleepless night into all the events of the day and she could easily take a nap on the way back to Benson, but that would be rude.
Walker had to be as tired as she was, and he had a monotonous drive all the way back home.
The least she could do was stay awake and talk to him, but she struggled to find a conversation starter.
“As straight as these roads are, you could almost put this truck on autopilot and let it drive itself home,” she finally said.
“Yep,” Walker answered.
“I like your grandmother,” she blurted out.
“Does that mean you had a good day even though I sprung it on you like I did?”
Tina covered a yawn with the back of her hand. “I had a wonderful day, even with that little episode with Sabrina and Faith. I couldn’t believe that Ally sent them packing when they were disrespectful. What was she saying when . . . I can’t pronounce the words she said.”
“She called Sabrina a smart-ass bitch,” Walker answered. “She’s protective of folks that she likes. Are you tired?” he asked.
“Exhausted, but not in a bad way,” she told him. “Do you think Mae and Cleo are worried? We should have called them.”
“I sent Mae a text,” he said.
“You aren’t very talkative tonight, are you. Are you sorry that you took me? Did I do something wrong?”
“Just thinking. And no to the last two questions,” he replied.
In past years, when Walker went quiet, she and Gracie had learned to leave him alone and let him have his space. But after fifteen minutes, when he still hadn’t said a word or even turned on some music, she began to worry.
“Are you sure you are all right?” she asked when they passed the Benson city-limits sign on one side of the highway and the Welcome to the Community Church of Benson sign a few feet beyond that. “If I did something to upset you, then speak up. We are friends, and I really want to know.”
“Even as an adult, it’s unsettling to leave one world and land in another one in such a short period of time,” he answered.
“I can understand why Dakota’s folks want him to have a wife from their tribe.
The culture that they are trying to preserve is very different from the one that Gracie has been raised in. ”
“The heart doesn’t know culture or color,” Tina said. “It just recognizes love.”
“No, I know you are right, but it’s hard even in these days, and you did a great job today,” he said as he turned the truck in to the driveway. “They left the porch light on for us. What do you bet they are waiting up for stories about the day?”
Tina opened the truck door and stepped out. “I don’t bet if there’s no chance I can win.”
Yes, sir, I would have lost that wager, she thought when she entered the foyer and found both ladies sitting on the settee.
“Hey,” Mae said and laid down the book she had been reading. “How was Trade Days?”
Walker came in right behind Tina and cocked his head to one side. “How did you know where we were? My text just said that we’d be late getting home.”
“Sabrina and Faith,” Cleo said. “We heard that Ally was rude to them and that they came home so mad that Sabrina has changed the color scheme of her wedding to silver and gold. On one hand, Brandon will be happy that she didn’t spend a lot of his money today.
On the other, he’ll groan because silver and gold is more expensive than turquoise. ”
Tina sank down in a wingback chair in the foyer and kicked her shoes off. “His money?”
“Rumor has it that he gave her a credit card with enough money on it to finance a royal wedding,” Mae answered. “Sit down, Walker, and tell us what really happened.”
“Before you do that, have you heard from Gracie? Has she made it to wherever she is going for tonight?” Cleo asked.
Walker eased down into the second chair and stretched his long legs out in front of him. “I got a text from her saying that they had reached the bottom of the canyon and planned to stay there a few days.”
“That’s close enough that—” Mae started.
Cleo shook her head and butted in before she could finish. “No, we will not go see her and her friend without an invitation. That would be rude, and besides, she’s there to work on her book and don’t need interruptions.”
Mae whipped her head around to stare at Tina. “Is that the reason you didn’t let us know where you were all those years? You didn’t want us to come see you?”
“No, it is not!” Tina answered. “After the way my own parents treated me over my mistakes, I was afraid y’all would all disown me, too. I could bear being alone better than knowing that I had disappointed all of you.”
“Back to Trade Days,” Walker said.
Tina could have kissed him right there in front of Mae and Cleo and even God for taking the spotlight off her. Or maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to kiss him.
“After a huge breakfast,” she said, “we went to the event at Trade Days—it was so busy! Ally worked on the last few rows of a blanket while Walker and I sold turquoise and silver jewelry.”
“At first, I helped my friend make tacos with fry bread for a little while, and listened to him moan about not finding a woman,” Walker said. “But then Grandmother’s booth got so busy that she and Tina needed help.”
“The rest of the day went fast until Sabrina and Faith showed up.” Tina went on to tell them the rest of the story, including Ally calling Sabrina a smart-ass bitch in her native tongue, but she didn’t even try to pronounce the words in that language.
Cleo’s mouth was set in a firm line, and anger shot from her dark eyes.
“That’s exactly what she and Reesa have always been, and Faith has followed them around like a stray dog.
Sabrina is a manipulator and treating you and Walker like you are beneath her is .
. .” She paused and shook her head in disbelief. “There ain’t no words.”
Mae threw up her palms in a disgusted gesture. “It’s no wonder she acts like she does, though, with Iris as her aunt!”
“Ain’t that the truth, but don’t let it get your blood pressure up. Those girls were mean from the day they were born. I wish Sabrina would have come back. If you wind up in jail over teaching that woman some manners, I will bail you out myself,” Cleo told Tina.
“Thank you, but I’m determined not to let her drag me down to her level,” Tina said, and covered another yawn with her hand. “I’m going to take a long, hot shower and fall into bed. Good night to all of you.”
“See you at breakfast,” Cleo said. “I’m making an oven omelet and hash browns.”
Walker stood up and rolled the kinks out of his neck, and headed up the stairs. “I’ll bring a healthy appetite.”
Tina went to her room, grabbed a pair of clean underwear and a faded nightshirt, and headed down the hall toward the bathroom. She rapped on Walker’s open bedroom door and stuck her head inside. “Thank you again for the day. It helped keep my mind off Gracie.”
“Thank you for going with me,” he said. “Please don’t take too long in the bathroom. I’m about to fall asleep sitting here, and I really need a shower.”
“If you do, I’ll wake you when I come back by.”
She hung her jeans and T-shirt on one of several hooks lined up on the bathroom wall and adjusted the water in the shower before she shed her sweaty bra and underpants.
Had Walker not been waiting, she would have let the hot water massage her shoulders longer, but she didn’t need or want another guilt trip.
“Not for anything,” she muttered as she wrapped a towel around her long red hair, dried off her body with a second towel, and then dressed in her nightshirt and underwear.
She gathered up her dirty clothing and went out into the hallway.
The mirror was too foggy for her to see her reflection, so in case Walker needed to shave, she left the door open to let some of the steam out of the room.
Before she made it to her room, Walker stepped out of his bedroom. “I’ve thought about oiling the hinges on that squeaky bathroom door, but if I did, then I might not know when one of you girls were finished in there. Good night, Tina. Sweet dreams.”
“Right back at you.”
Gracie lay flat on her back on a blanket and looked up at a million stars twinkling in a dark sky on the moonless night.
Dakota had been lying beside her, but he noticed a raven sitting in a nearby bush and had risen slowly and slipped his phone out of his pocket.
He managed to snap half a dozen pictures before the bird took a dive and flew away with a field mouse in its talons.
“Are you all right?” Dakota asked. “You look like you are about to cry.”
Gracie had been on a cloud-nine happy all day, but suddenly sadness took over, and she blinked back tears. She didn’t need an hour of self-reflection to know that thinking about leaving Tina behind was the problem.
Someday, if things work out between me and Dakota, I will most likely leave Benson, so I need to suck it up. Tina is a big girl, and whether I stay or go has no bearing on what she will do.
“That poor little mouse might have had babies hidden away by a rock and a bit of grass. They’ll die now because their mama has been caught for a raven’s supper,” she said between gulps of air.
Dakota sat back down and gathered her up in his arms until she sat in his lap.
He soothed her with sweet kisses on her forehead and cheeks.
“I’m sure it was a boy mouse with enough strength to wiggle free from the bird before the thing could take flight.
It landed in a pile of weeds and is already running away to a safe place. ”