Page 26 of Make Me Crazy (Loco, Texas 2)

Jake laughed. “Because I loved seeing the look on his face.”

Rand’s lips kicked into a smile. “You’re mean.”

“Are we really heading over to Earl’s place,” he asked.

Rand reached for the door and said, “Actually we have to stop by the house first to grab the pie and change.”

He beat her to the door and opened it with a stern look. “No way in hell. If I have to spend hours with ornery old Earl, then you’re staying in that dress.”

“What the hell are you wearing?” Earl hooted from the porch.

“It’s called a dress, old man!” Rand yelled back, glaring at the cackling termagant.

“I know what it’s called! Guess a better question would be, why are you wearing it?”

She heard Jake chuckle and glared at him across the hood of the truck.

“Who’s that you have with you?” Earl was coming down off the porch with a purpose in his step.

“Get down Reba!” Rand growled at the hound as Reba jumped up onto Jake’s slacks. She would have laughed at his terrified expression as he watched Earl, but she knew how intimidating Earl could be. “You know Jake, he runs the feed store.”

Earl pointed his gnarled finger at Jake. “He’s also the little hoodlum that used to steal my blackberries.”

She reached out and put his finger down by his side. “Only until I started bringing him home baskets of them.”

He scowled at her, looking her up and down, and let out a “harrumph.” He took her hand and held it up, spinning her. When she faced him again, he was grinning so wide it reached his twinkling eyes. “Well, now, looking a might girly there.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am a girl.”

He tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “Purty too.”

“Please, I can’t take any more teasing,” she said, her cheeks burning.

Earl turned his attention to Jake and his expression darkened again. “Well, boy?”

Rand tried to cover her smile as Jake stepped forward and held his hand out to Earl. “It’s good to see you, sir.”

Earl reached out and squeezed Jake’s hand. “Most people in town run when they see me coming.”

Jake deadpanned. “You can be kind of ornery sir.”

Rand coughed to cover a laugh and Earl looked at her with a knowing twinkle in his eyes. “Well, boy, why don’t you get that pie I know you brought out of the truck and come inside.”

Rand let Earl lead her inside and Earl said out of the corner of his mouth, “I like this boy.”

Rand laughed. “But you don’t like anyone.”

Earl “Harrumphed” again and shot back, “If that were true, I would have sent a certain brown-eyed girl packing first time she tried to steal my prized laying hen.”

If someone had told him three weeks ago he’d be sitting in Earl Humphries’s kitchen, eating pie with him while Rand served them wearing a dress, he’d have laughed his ass off. Rand set his pie down in front of him and he looked up as she moved away. Her brown hair caught the sun and the shiny strands fell over her shoulder as she cut another slice. She tucked the hair back with a curse and he smiled.

> “Enjoying the scenery?” Earl’s voice snapped his attention back to the crotchety critter sitting across from him.

Jake caught Earl’s dark look and said, “Yes, sir.”

Earl waited until Rand placed a plate in front of him before he leaned over and hissed, “Just so you know, I was a Marine. You hurt that girl and I know a hundred different ways to kill you without leaving a mark.”

Jake blinked at Earl. “Understood, sir. Rand’s been my best friend for twenty years. I’d never hurt her.”

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