Page 11 of Rainwater
“What, your clothes?”
“Yes, my clothes,” Jennifer said, trying not to sound anxious and failing miserably. She felt nervous about her appearance. She hadn’t thought about her image this morning when she’d left. She’d been thinking about groceries, feed for her stock and her ranch.
“You look beautiful, Mom. What does he look like?”
“Dangerous,” was Jennifer’s immediate answer. “He looks like an outlaw.”
There was a scratching at the door and Ellie walked over and opened it. In trotted Two Tone, a miniature Vietnamese potbellied pig. A black-and-white runt of the litter that followed Ellie around like a dog.
At first Jennifer hadn’t allowed him in the house until she realized that he could be housebroken. In fact, he liked to be clean. He loved taking baths, grunting with pleasure each time Ellie bathed him. The two of them were inseparable. He even slept with Ellie.
“Hi, Two Tone, are you hungry, little guy?” Ellie said, bending down to pet his head and scratch him under the chin. The little pig closed his eyes and grunted in pure pleasure.
“He’s always hungry, honey.” Jennifer smiled as she too bent down and patted his bristly head.
As she rose, Jennifer heard the roar of a powerful engine and her heart started fluttering. Until she heard the motorcycle, she wasn’t sure he was coming.
All afternoon she’d thought about that kiss he’d given her. He hadn’t been consoling her, although it was what he had meant to do, she was sure. Things just got out of hand. He’d been kissing her as a man kisses a woman and doing a very thorough job of it, if the sudden weakness that was traveling through her was any indication.
It was true; she had been reckless in her youth, and her father had been right when he warned her that she was heading for trouble. But ever since her disastrous relationship with Sonny, she hadn’t done anything even remotely rash. She had gone to college and studied animal husbandry and small-business management so that when the time came she could take over for her father—something he had always wished for but never expected would happen until his wayward daughter grew up. But she had never expected both her parents to die so tragically in the plane crash last year.
She grew up fast going through a pregnancy with no husband to help her. She went through the first year of Ellie’s life in constant fear that something would happen to her or that she would do something wrong. She went through that first yearfalling out of love with Sonny and learning to despise him for his infidelity. It wasn’t until later on that she learned the key word wasinfidelities.
The pain of Sonny’s cheating passed, but the mistrust of men remained, especially rodeo riders.
So why had she invited one to dinner?
She was a seasoned mother now. She had Ellie to worry about, but she couldn’t deny that she was lonely, devastatingly lonely. She had never been the type of woman to sleep around. So, after Sonny had taken her virginity and fathered a daughter, she had never been with another man.
“Mother, he rides a motorcycle!” Ellie’s normal tone of voice was replaced with a censuring tone of an old woman’s, interrupting Jennifer’s thoughts.
“Don’t mother me, Ellie. I told you, he’s just a friend.”
Ellie was at the window unabashedly trying to get a glimpse of the first man her mother had ever invited to dinner. “Oh, my God, Mother. He has long hair.”
“Ellie, will you stop acting like your grandmother and finish setting the table.”
“Okay, but I have one more comment.”
Jennifer turned away from the stove in exasperation. “What?”
“He’s one gorgeous piece of beefcake!”
“Ellie!”
“That’s what my friend Mary Lou calls good-looking guys.” She gave her mother her most innocent smile and peeked at Corey Rainwater again.
“Well, you’re not Mary Lou, and for heaven’s sake, don’t say that to him. And stop peeking at him as if he was some kind of freak, Ellie.” Jennifer crossed the room and grabbed the curtains out of Ellie’s hands, closing them with a snap. She turned to Ellie, and in the middle of smoothing her daughter’s hair back,she noted how much she’d changed. When had it happened? She wasn’t a baby anymore, and she was certainly old enough to know about attraction between a man and a woman. God, she would do her best to steer Ellie away from the mistakes she’d made at her age.
“Don’t embarrass me,” Jennifer said in a firm voice, then softened her words by tugging on one of Ellie’s auburn braids.
Ellie followed her mother over to the counter and picked up the glasses, then bumped her mother’s hip. “Okay, but I want a raise in my allowance.”
Before Jennifer could respond, a knock sounded at the door. With a waggle of her eyebrows, Ellie disappeared into the dining room.
“Scoot, Two Tone,” Jennifer used her foot to usher the black-and-white pig from the door with affection. He grunted and ran across the floor.
Jennifer pulled open the door and a wave of heat rose from deep inside her, swamping her with sensations. She remembered how soft his hair had been on the nape of his neck, how his mouth had felt moving over hers and the way he filled out his jeans.
