Page 21 of The Billionaire Land Baron

Jake studied her face and looked like he was going to ask her another question. She hoped he didn’t because she felt dangerously emotional right now. She hated thinking about what should have or could have been. There wasn’t a point in it.

“What’s there to do in Lucky at night?” Jake asked and Shelby was relieved to have a change of subjects.

“Cow tipping. Mudding. Drinking.”

“I don’t even know what those things are, other than drinking. Is cow tipping what it sounds like? Do they just fall over? And…mudding? Like, rolling in it or what?” His eyes got wide and Shelby laughed.

“You’re too easy, City. No one goes cow tipping. People do go mudding, but usually not at night. It’s like driving through the mud.”

“But why?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think it’s partly about trying to make it through a muddy field without getting stuck and partly to see who’s got the muddiest truck the next day. It’s fun. I can’t explain it. You’ll have to just try it.”

“Okay,” he said. He’d finished up the sandwich just as Noel dropped off another one with a wink at Shelby. But he didn’t say a word. “So that leaves drinking. I guess there’s really not much else to do out here?”

“Nope. We usually go to the Lucky Line on Tuesdays. Dollar drafts and line dancing. You want to come with us tonight?”

“I’m not really much of a dancer,” Jake said. “Or a drinker.”

“Just come. You can sit and watch. Or I’ll teach you. It’s super easy since everyone’s just doing the same thing, basically. Come on. You can’t visit a small town and not go to the honky-tonk bar. You need at least one story to bring home with you. Maybe you’ll even get in a bar fight!”

“Uh…”

She laughed again. “I swear, I’m having more fun with you. Are you that gullible or is it just me?”

Noel shouted from the back of the restaurant. “You’ve got that boy whipped just like every other boy in town, Shelby. Stop playing with him.”

Her face flamed and she threw a glare toward the kitchen. “Shut up, Noel! Get back to work.”

“You’re one to talk! Don’t you have to go soon?”

Shelby looked up at the clock above the diner counter. After time had been dragging all day, being with Jake made it zoom by. She stood and untied her apron.

Shelby sighed. “Look, City. I’ve got to go. Matt’s giving me a ride back home at like six and then we’ll all go after that. You in? Just say yes.”

“Yes,” Jake said.

“Meet me back here around six.”

“Where are you going?” he asked.

She made a face. “Nowhere fun. See ya.”

Shelby tossed her apron over the counter and headed for the door. As she left, Jake was taking up their plates and walking them back to kitchen for Noel. If she hadn’t been so nervous about the impending meeting, the sight would have warmed her heart. But her heart was too crowded to have room for that.

Shelby hated even the sight of the bank as it came into view up the street. Nothing good had ever come from there. Walking through its doors she felt the urge to cross herself, even though she wasn’t Catholic.

She bypassed the tellers and went straight to the secretary’s desk where Wanda had obviously been expecting her.

“Why, Shelby!” Her voice was overly sweet to the point of cloying.

“Don’t you ‘Why Shelby’ me. I have an appointment with Bubba. You know this. The calendar’s on your desk.”

Wanda pursed her lips. “I’ll just call him and see if he’s—”

Bubba poked his shiny bald head out of his office, where he could clearly hear everything. “No, need darlin’. Shelby dear, come on into my office where we can catch up.”

Again Shelby felt the need to cross herself. She wondered if wearing a necklace or garlic bulbs would have had any effect on Bubba Johnson, the President of First National Bank of Lucky. She probably shouldn’t have had so much animosity toward him, since any other bank probably would have taken her house months ago. But he’d been a good friend of her daddy’s before he came back. After he came home, Bubba didn’t talk to him. Didn’t come by the hospital or their home. Nothing. With her daddy’s brain situation, she didn’t know how much of his memory was sharp and how much was fuzzy, but he never brought up Bubba. Shelby, however, never forgot.

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