Betting the Rainbow (Harmony) (4 page)

Chapter 6

BUFFALO’S BAR

D
USTI
D
ELANEY LEANED AGAINST THE BAR.
S
HE’D BEEN
playing with the same bottle of Coors for an hour and having the same argument with her sister for what seemed like years.

If the crop of pecans was good this year and if nothing broke down, maybe, just maybe, one of them could follow her dream. Abby couldn’t go for a semester to college, but maybe they could afford one online class and she’d be one step closer to her goal of getting away from the little farm on Rainbow Lane.

But Abby always argued that “if the pecans are good and nothing breaks,” Dusti should buy at least one good camera. She could check out books on photography. Maybe even enter a contest. She could make a start at what she always wanted to do.

Dusti took a long draw on the beer. Both knew their argument was a waste of time. Neither remembered a year when the crop was good and they had money left over for extras. And, as much as they complained about being stuck on the little farm by the lake, neither would ever sell the place. Generations of Delaneys had been on the little piece of land next to the lake, and even if they both hated it some days, the land would remain theirs.

Funny thing, Dusti thought, this argument never happened on Rainbow Lane. They always saved it for time away, as if somehow their dead parents might hear them fighting over who would someday have to take the land.

Once a month, if neither managed a date, the sisters allowed themselves a night out. They paid the ten-dollar cover charge at Buffalo’s, ate the greasy food, and listened to Beau Yates play. The hometown boy was making it big in Nashville, but he still drove back to Harmony once a month to play three sets at the bar where he’d started.

Abby lost interest in the argument with her sister as they watched the two-man band set up. Beau Yates was as handsome as his band partner was ugly. Dusti wondered how many drunk fans flirted with Beau all evening but woke up with Border Biggs come morning. The only thing alike about them was their black hats. Beau probably wore his because he looked so darn good in it, and Border probably just wanted to cover his bald head.

“I heard someone say Beau was underage when he started here. Harley used to lock him in the cage.” Abby put her elbows on the bar and leaned back. Her worn western shirt tugged across her breasts. Even in old clothes she looked like a model. Blond hair, big green eyes, and tall.

“Now Harley needs to lock the girls out,” Dusti said, guessing if she didn’t watch out, her sister would be among the girls flirting.

Abby shook her head. “Word is he never goes home with anyone. Not that I’d offer.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Dusti giggled.

Abby frowned. “Is it hard to believe that I’d go home with him or that he sleeps around?”

“I know you wouldn’t bring him home.” Dusti laughed. Abby might flirt, but she never had one-night stands. Dusti only wished she could say the same. She usually leaped in only to find that the guy she’d taken home was too shallow to even keep a conversation going.

Turning back to the singer, she said, “No one sings like he does who hasn’t had his heart crushed a few times. Beau Yates was born to love women.”

“He’s got the looks and the voice, but as for love, I don’t know.” Abby shrugged. “One time I parked out behind a dance with a guy playing in a college band. Later I was real disappointed with myself for sticking my tongue in a brainless animal’s mouth.”

Both girls laughed. Since they’d first discovered boys, they’d shared everything. Even if
everything
was mostly Abby’s fantasies and Dusti’s mistakes.

A short cowboy wearing a hat that was two sizes too big stepped in front of the Delaney girls. His eyes darted from one to the other as if picking his favorite candy.

Both girls frowned.

Dusti figured she must have not looked mad or irritated enough because Chester O’Toole focused his shifty eyes on her and not Abby.

“How you doing, Double D? You feel like dancing tonight? I’ve been practicing.” His eyebrows wiggled like hiccupping snakes.

“Don’t call me Double D, and no, I don’t want to dance. The music hasn’t even started.” Dusti swore if he looked down at her double Ds, she’d flatten him on the bar floor . . . again. The man had to be a masochist to keep asking her out.

His eyeballs seemed to shake with the effort, but he kept staring at her face. “Maybe when the music starts you’ll change your mind?”

“I might if you go tell that cousin of yours I’d like to talk to him.”

Chester frowned. “Why?”

“He was born in Scotland,” Dusti answered. “That’s in-teresting.”

Chester hesitated. “I’m from Paducah. That’s interesting.” When she didn’t answer, he added, “Besides, Kieran is afraid of you. He told me so.”

Dusti looked over at the tall redheaded man talking to Austin Hawk. For a blink she wondered what the two of them would have to say to each other. Kieran had been spending summers in Harmony with his grandparents since he was a kid, but she’d never gotten to know him well. He’d been talking to Austin Hawk, another one who only appeared in summers, since he’d walked in and never even glanced her way.

She turned back to Chester. “Why would your cousin be afraid of me? He’s a foot taller than me.” At five feet five she didn’t consider herself short, but Chester’s cousin towered over most people.

Dusti watched as both Hawk and the Scot turned to greet Reagan Truman like she was kin. Apparently the Scot wasn’t afraid of all women, and from the looks of it he knew Reagan well.

Chester didn’t seem to notice that her attention had shifted. “Kieran says women like you and your sister are aces and eights to a man like him. Besides, he came down from his job in New York to play poker, not get mixed up with women.”

Abby finally decided to join the conversation. “There’s an illegal game in town? Don’t tell the sheriff.”

Chester smiled, loving having the attention of both women. “This one’s legal. For twenty bucks you’re in. They’re holding it over at the Truman farm and half the men in the county are buying in. Tables will be set up under the trees unless it rains, then we’ll move into the barn. Half the money goes to the library, but a thousand goes to one lucky winner for the buy-in to a real game in Vegas. She’ll get her way paid with what’s left over. The airfare, hotel, and even meals will be covered. Word is the pot at the big game could be a million. I hear if you make the top ten in Vegas, you win thousands.”

Abby lost interest, but Dusti had to ask, “So, twenty could win a man or a woman thousands?”

“Yep. Kieran told the family he was coming down to see his grandmother, but he booked the flight the day I e-mailed him about the game. Word is he paid his way through college playing poker.” Chester grinned at her. “If you’re thinking about buying into the game, forget it. A woman wouldn’t want to join in. Poker’s a man’s game.”

She ignored his last comment and concentrated on the prize. “I’ll dance with you,” Dusti promised, “and so will my sister, if you’ll get your cousin over here.”

Chester’s eyes were darting from one to the other as if he’d just doubled down on kings. “I’ll be right back.” He two-stepped his way across the bar, making several people laugh.

“Are you nuts?” Abby whispered. “I hate dancing with Chester. I swear he hunches down to bust level just so he can bump into me during every dance.”

“You could dance a fast one with him.” Dusti laughed. “I got a plan. We’re going to enter that poker game and make enough money for you to finish school, and that handsome Scot is going to teach us how.”

“Not me. I tried strip poker my freshman year and had to walk back to the dorm wearing nothing but a smile.”

“All right, I’ll do it. Dad and I used to play for pennies, and I always beat him. How hard could it be?” Dusti didn’t want to think about the fact that her dad might have let her win. It would be worth twenty dollars to test her skills. If she lost, at least she’d tried. If she placed in the top ten, there might finally be a chance for her sister to finish school.

She looked at her sister, but Abby was too busy watching the good-looking redhead across the bar.

“It’s impossible to believe those two are related.” Abby frowned as Chester and his cousin started toward them. “All the good genes must have gone over the pond to Scotland.”

“Just one dance is all I need,” Dusti begged.

“All right, I’ll dance with Chester while you talk, but if you go with this crazy scheme and win any money, Dusti, you follow your dream. I’ll stay and run the farm while you’re gone.”

Dusti shook her head. “We’ll argue about it when I’m in the top ten, and we see how much money I’ve won. Every brain-dead cowhand thinks he can play poker, so I should be able to learn in a few hours.”

Abby’s frown grew. “All right, but don’t trade anything but eggs or pecans for lessons.” She stared at the handsome man coming toward them. “And I’m going to be right by your side as chaperone. After all, it’s my duty. The last guy you flirted with asked me to marry him after you turned him down, just so he could be close to you.”

Dusti wasn’t really listening. She was plotting. She’d do whatever it took to win and give Abby her dream, even if it meant practicing day and night until she was a pro.

Chapter 7

BUFFALO’S BAR

R
ONNY
L
OGAN HADN’T PLANNED ON MAKING HER HOMECOMING
so public for a while, but two reasons drove her to Buffalo’s Bar on Saturday night. One, her former neighbors and good friends were playing.

Despite Border Biggs frightening her when she’d met him, she loved the tattooed kid dearly. He reminded her of an alley cat. Once she fed him, he was loyal for life. In the early days when she’d first left home and moved in next door to Border and Beau, she’d fallen asleep every night listening to Beau Yates play. His music seemed to float in the night for a long while even after he’d turned in. Border might not have the great talent Beau had, but he made up for it by being a solid friend to Beau.

The second reason she came tonight was the hope that in the crowd no one would notice her. Except for a dozen people, most folks in Harmony didn’t know her well enough to rush up and ask questions. Her best friend, Summer, was home with her baby and planning to marry her handsome fireman. Mr. Wright, the funeral director, would never hang out in a bar, and Cord McDowell had texted her a few weeks ago to tell her he and his wife would be traveling most weekends this summer with her prized horses.

So, as the lights dimmed and the show began, Ronny slipped into the back of the bar to hear Beau Yates play his guitar and sing.

Tears were rolling down her cheeks ten minutes later. If possible, he’d gotten better in the year she’d missed hearing him. He and Border were still kids to her even though they were bound to be twenty-one or twenty-two by now. The boys who’d lived in the other half of the duplex might not have had much in the way of family, but they’d had each other as friends.

Within days they were like family to her also. Then, a year later when her first love came back to Harmony to die, they’d been there for her. She’d traveled the world in the dozen months since the funeral, but she’d never stopped missing them.

“He’s good, isn’t he?” A low voice came from behind her.

“Better than good.” She smiled up at Brandon Biggs, Border’s older brother. “How are you, Big?” If people came in small, medium, and large, Big was made in extra large, and as near as she could tell, his heart matched his size.

Smiling proudly, he nodded. “All I can say is that from where they started, they didn’t have anywhere to go but up. I used to order pizza and feed them during practice sessions just to give my ears a break.”

Memories flooded back as she watched the tattooed biker playing backup. He’d found her hurt on the road one rainy night and gently taken her home so Marty could doctor her up. The Biggs boys were gentle giants.

Last year when she brought Marty home from the hospital, his body had already started shutting down, but somehow she believed that if she loved him enough he’d get better. He’d stay alive for her. Border, Beau, and Big had helped all they could, and then they’d carried Marty’s body to the grave.

Without a word Big leaned down and lifted her in his huge bear hug. “I’m glad you’re home, Ronny. We’ve all missed you.”

When he set her down, he asked her to join him and his friends, but Ronny backed away, promising she would next time.

She listened until the boys stopped for a break and then walked out of the bar. They were stars now. Fans crowded around them.

She climbed into the black Lincoln waiting for her.

“Where to next?” Mr. Carleon asked. His white hair shone silver in the dashboard lights.

“Take me back to Rainbow Lane, please.” She glanced at the sun setting over the town she’d lived in all her life. “I want to make it home before dark.”

Mr. Carleon nodded. “You having any trouble with the mule?”

“No, but I practiced handling her before heading up the old road to where you parked to pick me up. She handles like the Jeep I drove in Brazil.”

“Do you need anything, miss?” He always asked, as if he could provide “anything.”

“Do you think you could get me a little boat with a motor? I think I might like to take it around the lake. I could even cross the water and you could pick me up at the Delaney farm. Their house is close to Rainbow Lane.”

“I’ll find you a boat by the first of next week.” He hesitated, then added, “Did you enjoy the first set the boys played?”

“I did, but it’s too soon to step out from the shadows. I think I just want to stay at the cabin another week, maybe two. No one noticed me in the back tonight except Big.”

Mr. Carleon laughed. “Big Biggs. He still comes to see his grandmother at the bed-and-breakfast every Sunday evening. You wouldn’t believe the food she cooks. I’ve eaten at Golden Corrals that didn’t put out as much food.”

Ronny leaned forward. “Mr. Carleon, when you stop at the light, can I sit in the front with you?”

“Of course. Mr. Winslow used to do that even when he was a boy.”

As she slid into the front seat, she realized how deeply this man must miss his employer. “You all right, Mr. Carleon?”

The butler smiled. “I am, miss. I’m lucky he left me enough to retire comfortably. I can live at Winter’s Inn and don’t even have to make my own bed or breakfast.” He looked in her direction. “And best of all, I have you to keep up with. When you’re ready we’ll go over your options, but take your time. I’ll be watching over you for as long as you need me.”

When they pulled to the shoulder of Rainbow Lane, Mr. Carleon got out to shine a flashlight while she stepped over two recently fallen trees and walked the few feet to where she’d stored her ATV. It was almost dark, but the trees lined the old road down to the cabin, throwing it into shadows.

“You sure you’ll be all right?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be in the cabin before full dark.” As always, she wanted to hug the dear guardian angel who’d been watching over her for so long, but she didn’t. He wouldn’t have thought it was proper.

The need to be alone seemed to push her to drive the mule faster. The memory of all the people at the bar, their voices, their smells pressed down on her. She wanted her swing and her blanket. She wanted the night so she could relax alone.

She was almost to the cabin when darkness settled in around her. The headlights blinked from one tree to another, reminding her of the opening to a horror film.

Ronny forced herself to slow down. Leaning forward, she gripped the wheel and mentally figured out how many minutes before she’d be home. Five at this speed. Maybe six before she rounded the cabin. The trail from Rainbow Lane had been built to wind around trees, not cut straight through to the lake.

A flash in the night, like a snapshot blast, blinked something big and black in the middle of the road. It was almost the height of a deer but three or four times wider. Teeth and tusks reflected milky white in the headlights.

Ronny veered off the road, fighting her way past saplings as tall as the ATV but only an inch thick.

She heard the animal’s snort, half growl, half squeal, but she didn’t turn to look. Anything that frightening at first glance had to be dangerous, maybe deadly.

A few heartbeats later she saw a huge tree blocking her path ten feet ahead. She had to turn toward the animal or crash.

Ronny gripped the wheel, turning right as the lights flashed back to the trail in time to see the short-legged beast vanish on the far side. He left broken bushes and branches in his wake.

Gunning the engine, she held on tight as she bumped down the road as fast as she could go. She had to get to the cabin fast before he decided to turn around.

Gulping for air, she fought frantically to concentrate on driving until the ATV’s lights flashed on the cabin. She saw her porch swing. Her quiet place by the water. Austin Hawk sitting calmly on the steps. All looked peaceful.

It took a moment for her to react. She hit the brakes and managed to stop with the left front tire bumping the porch steps.

Austin swore, jumping out of the way as if he feared she might be planning to mow him down. He was dressed in khaki pants and khaki shirt with a rifle strapped over one shoulder as casually as if it were a satchel.

Ronny climbed from the seat, shaking so badly she wasn’t sure she could stand. “I . . . I . . . saw a pig.”

Austin lowered his rifle to the porch and moved swiftly toward her. His arms circled around her as he laughed. “Run into porky, did you? I saw him once at dawn, but I didn’t think he’d come too close.”

“He’s so ugly.” She forced a slow breath, feeling suddenly safe. “And his teeth. You can’t imagine his teeth!”

“Yes, I can. I know. I was close enough to shake hands with him before I noticed him sleeping in the weeds.” He brushed his big hand over her short hair and smiled as it curled back into place. “I dropped by to tell you to watch out for him.” Austin’s words were casual, but his touch seemed gentle along her back, almost caring.

Ronny stepped away. Marty had been too much with her tonight to allow her to take even comfort from another. “Thank you for your concern. I’ll be fine. You needn’t have worried.” Her back straightened, pulling her emotions in check.

Looking up, she expected to see hurt in his forest-green eyes, but she saw no feelings at all. He could have been a ticket taker at one of the hundred trains she’d ridden in the past year. She was just someone passing through. Men saw her as no one worth even the time to smile at her.

Austin Hawk shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away without looking back.

That night, in her dreams, Ronny looked for him. The background of her dream was a county fair like the ones that pull up in a vacant lot and stay for a week. Electric lights kept blinking on and off at odd intervals, and faceless people walked among the trees decorated with carnival prizes. She was darting among worn-out rides and small groups huddled together laughing, unaware that she was looking for Austin.

When she woke the dream hung in her mind, almost a memory. Standing, she stared out the window and thought she could barely make out his big house on the other side of the willows. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been the one lost in her dream, not her.

A little after nine, Ronny called Mr. Carleon and asked him to buy her a gun.

He hesitated for a moment, then said he would.

If Ronny left the safety of her cabin again, she planned to be armed.