“Yes, I want to go with him, Mama. And you don’t have to worry. These are good people. I just know it in my heart and I’ll fix it so you can meet his uncle—you’ll see what I mean. Now let’s braid my hair.”
Dana really studied her daughter as she quickly put her hair into two Pollyanna-type braids. She was fourteen going on twenty-one, but with that hairstyle and the baggy Hard Rock Café T-shirt she wore, she didn’t look a day over twelve. When they left the restroom, Johnny handed Dana a piece of paper. “This is my cell phone number.”
“Thank you. That’s sweet.” Dana tucked the paper into her pocket.
A tall, dark-haired man poked his head into the store and looked right at Johnny. “Did you get the worms?”
Johnny groaned. “I forgot.”
The guy came inside and clamped a hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “I’m Nick, Johnny’s uncle. We need about three dozen worms and a dozen minnows. Is this your new friend?”
“This is Brook and this is her mother, Dana. This here is my uncle Nick.” Johnny continued the introductions. “Brook gets to go with us.”
“Well, that settles it.” Nick smiled, deepening the angles in his face and putting a twinkle in deep, dark-brown eyes. “We’ll be talking about books and movies rather than baseball.”
“Yes, we will.”
Johnny’s whole body language changed from tense to comfortable now that his uncle was beside him.
“I don’t know much about baseball anyway, but I can talk football with either of you. Are you going to watch the draft on television?” Brook asked. “And who do you root for in the Texas-Oklahoma game?”
“Texas!” Nick and Johnny said at the same time.
“My kind of fellows.” Dana nodded. “Y’all got plenty of water and soda for the afternoon?”
“We sure do,” Johnny answered.
“Need a couple of beers to finish your order, Nick?”
“Thanks, but no, thanks, ma’am. We ain’t a drinkin’ family. Our sister was killed by a drunk driver. Sweet tea and soft drinks are fine with us,” Nick answered. “I’ll have the kids back to your place at seven, and then come get Johnny around ten.”
“I’m sorry about your sister.” Dana nodded. “We’re plannin’ on pizza. You are welcome to stay if you’d like. Save you a trip.”
“Thank you. I might just do that.” Nick’s smile rang sincere.
That and his comment about not drinking quieted Dana’s fears. Still, at the next five-minute lull in business, she picked up the phone and called the café.
Zed answered on the first ring. “Need some help? I could send Harper. We’re all caught up.”
“No, but she might see if Tawny needs help. I let Brook go off with Johnny Eagle and his uncle Nick to do some fishing.”
“That’s a good family. Johnny’s mama got killed a couple of years back in a car wreck and her brothers, Nick and Drake, took it real hard. They were a lot younger than his mama—more like older brothers than uncles to Johnny.”
“What about his father?”
“His daddy is in the military and is doin’ another tour over in one of them war countries. I never can remember which one. When he can, he comes and stays with Johnny, takes him places and all, but it’s his grandma who is raisin’ him, along with lots of help from his uncles. Don’t worry about Brook. She’s in good hands. You’ll like that boy when you get to know him better. Brook’s got a real good friend there,” Zed said.
“Thanks, Uncle Zed. Here comes a truckload of guys who look like they’re needin’ more bait. See you later.”
Dana suddenly missed her friends at the ranch. The foreman who always came in to have coffee with her in the morning, the CPA that she had lunch with once a month when they went over the ranch books, the old veterinarian she’d learned so much from in the last ten years, and even her boss, who’d been her best friend until she’d accused Dana of horrible things.
“Hey, Dana,” a regular customer yelled as he led a parade of guys into the store. “We need four dozen minnows, a box of stink bait, and maybe six dozen worms. While you get that ready, we’ll get our snack and beer order on the counter for you to check out.”
“Plannin’ on stayin’ out all night?” She picked up a net and headed toward the minnow tank.
“Yep. All night or until the beer runs out. Lester’s wife says she’ll cook the fish up if we clean ’em, and we’ve all got the day off tomorrow. Catfish bite better at night,” he said.
She dipped up the minnows, giving them a few extra in the container, and then filled the rest of their order. By the time she got to the counter, it was filled with chips, sandwich meat, bread, candy bars, and beer. She rang it up as all the men began to throw money on the counter.
After they left, Tawny came through the door, wiping sweat from her forehead with a bandanna.
“I need an icy-cold Pepsi and a candy bar. I never realized how much Brook helped until she wasn’t there for the afternoon. That girl is a godsend. But I agree with you, she does need some time to play. We should give her every Sunday afternoon off, Dana. She needs to be a kid as long as possible. I sure didn’t have to spend all my time working when I was her age.”
“Neither did I,” Dana said.
The phone rang, and Tawny reached across the counter to grab the receiver. She stretched it too far and the base fell on the floor with a loud clang. “Lake Side Resort,” she said with a giggle.
“Dropped the phone, didn’t you? Can’t get used to these things with cords,” Brook laughed. “Can I talk to Mama?”
“How do you know this isn’t your mama talking?” Tawny asked.
“Because her voice is deeper than yours.”
“It’s Brook.” Tawny handed the receiver to Dana and rounded the counter to put the phone back where it belonged.
“You are kiddin’ me. Did you really?” Dana covered the mouthpiece and said, “She just caught a five-pound catfish and the guys are cleaning it up for her. They’re going to fillet it so we can have a fish fry sometime this week.”
Tawny gave her a thumbs-up sign.
“Tell them they’re all invited to supper that night,” Dana said, pausing to listen again. “Okay, thirty more minutes, but then you’d better come on home because Payton is bringing the pizza about then.”
She handed the receiver back to Tawny, who laid it on the base. “Where were we?”
“Talkin’ about her having a guy for a best friend. You comin’ to the house to meet Johnny and have pizza with us tonight?” Dana asked. “Harper called and said that she and Wyatt are going out on the boat this evening, so she won’t be there.”
“I’ve got to get cleaned up, but I’ll be there. Save me a slice.” Tawny picked up the bag with her snacks and disappeared just as the clock ticked to closing time.
Dana hurriedly locked the door, grabbed two large bottles of Coke, and rushed home to take a quick shower and change since Payton had agreed to join them and to pick up the pizza and pasta at his favorite place in Tyler.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The cool shower water beating down on her body reminded Tawny of playing in the summer rain when she was a little girl. Her mother would have probably cut off all ties with Granny Annie if she’d known how often they were allowed to run around in the rain in their underwear.