Page 29 of The Party Line

“I’m sure I can,” Annie said and motioned for one of the waitresses. “Gina Lou, fix these people up and bring me a glass of sweet tea to have with them while they eat. Allie, you can flip the sign to Closed.”

The blonde waitress headed for the door just as it opened, and a tall fellow stepped inside. He hung his yellow slicker on the back of a chair and sat down at a table across the room.

“Hi, ladies. The storm hit the ranch half an hour ago. It’s moving slow, and the weatherman said it could settle right over Poteet until midnight or later,” he said before he blinked a couple of times and then smiled. “Lila Matthews, is that you?”

His voice sounded slightly familiar, but I couldn’t put a name to it or to his round face. His spurs jingled when he crossed his legs at the ankles, and his black cowboy hat looked weather beaten. “You don’t know me, do you?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Your voice sounds—”

“Derrick Marston,” he said as he removed his hat. “I sat in front of you in homeroom all through high school. Had a big crush on you but was too shy to say anything.”

“I remember you now.” He had been a foot shorter than me and his red hair was longer these days. “So, are you still living around these parts?”

“Oh, yeah,” Derrick said. “I’m running the Double M down south of town for my dad. I heard you had come home—and, honey, I’m not shy anymore. So, can I take you to dinner some evening, and maybe a movie?”

“Of course you can, but it might be best to call her and not spring that on her right here in public,” Mama jumped in. “Gracie left her place to Lila, and she’s living in Ditto. If there’s a phone book lying around your ranch, you’ll find the number for Grace Evans in it.”

“Fair enough,” Derrick said. “Annie, darlin’, will you bring me a burger and double order of fries?”

Gina Lou looked like she could chew up nails and spit out staples, but she forced a smile.

“I’ll take care of that for you, Derrick,” Gina Lou said through that rigid smile. There was something painful in her gaze, yet she’d been so quick to wait on him. She tucked a strand of blonde hair back into her ponytail and smoothed her apron. Her T-shirt, which had ANNIE’SCAFÉwritten across the chest, was tucked into her jeans to show off a tiny waist. If she could sing, she could have run Dolly Parton some serious competition in Nashville.

“Thanks, Gina,” Derrick said and pulled his buzzing cell phone from his pocket. He stood up and went to the far corner of the room, talked in a low tone for a minute, and then called out, “Cancel that order. Looks like my prize bull has broken through the fence. Nothing like trying to corral a bull in a vicious thunderstorm. I’ll call you later, Lila.”

I waved and waited for him to put his slicker on and disappear outside before I raised an eyebrow at my mother. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my own love life. I wasn’t attracted to Derrick in high school, and even though he’s now six feet tall and let his hair grow out, I’m still not. I don’t want to go out with him, and when he calls—”

“Thank God!” Gina Lou burst out.

“Why would you say that?” Annie asked as she set platters of food in front of me and Mama.

“I dated him for several months and flat out fell in love with him.”

“What happened?” Mama asked.

Annie pulled out a chair and sat down at the table with us. “Same old love story as you had all those years ago, Sarah. She thought shewas pregnant, but it was a false alarm. He wasn’t willing to step up and face the responsibilities.”

“Hard lesson learned,” Gina Lou said as the corners of her lips trembled.

Mama took a drink of her tea. “Been there, done that. Honey, you are better off without a man like that.”

“Don’t I know it,” she said. “But I’m still working on getting my heart caught up to my common sense.”

“You still want me to go out with him, Mama?” I had no intentions of going anywhere with Derrick, but I had to ask anyway.

“Not if he’s that kind.” Mama took another long drink of her sweet tea. “He was so polite and sweet when he came into Madge’s Diner, and always left a good tip.”

“He was sweet to me,” Gina Lou said with a long sigh. “Until he wasn’t.”

“He’s a charmer, all right,” Annie said, “and I bet he was happy to run into you. He’s been bragging around town that he’s going to own Gracie’s place by Christmas, even if he has to buy the cow to get the property. He wants to tear it down and plow up the strawberries.”

“Why would he do that?” I asked.

“As soon as marijuana is legal in Texas, he’s going to be a big weed king,” Gina Lou answered. “That place is only the beginning of his big dream to make millions growing pot.”

I wondered if Connor had the same thing in mind. After all, his relatives had started with cattle, moved to oil, and toyed with strawberries. Were they getting ready to cash it all in for a marijuana farm? Then a picture of a big black-and-white cow passed through my mind. “We have a dog on the property, but not a cow.”

“Youare the cow,” Gina Lou giggled. “He used to talk about how he would buy up the whole town of Ditto for his new enterprise.”

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