Fools (Licking Thicket 3)

“Who’s Luisa?” she asked in a not-very-happy voice.

I frowned at her. “Luisa, as in Lu. My right-hand… cowhand. Or whatever. ’Bout five feet nothin’ and full of snark?”

I knew for a fact that Jenn had met Luisa on any number of occasions. It always ruffled my feathers that Jenn could remember the names and details of every piece of gossip in the Thicket but couldn’t seem to recall the conversations we had. Sometimes she could be really sweet and attentive, but other times it felt like she only heard what she wanted to hear.

“Anyway, Lu’s pretty possessive about her stuff, so you’re better off with Tuck’s boots. He’d never shank you. I think it’s against his doctor code.”

I led her around the side of the house to the mudroom door. As soon as I opened it, Bernadette pushed her way out and came trotting over to sniff Jenn’s legs.

“I don’t need someone else’s nasty boots,” she said, dancing around to evade the pig snout.

“Suit yourself.” I took off my running shoes and slipped my feet into my boots. Bernadette trotted ahead of us toward the barn, sniffing happily at all of the puddles on the way.

“I was going to bring lunch,” she offered. “Pick up your favorite sandwich at Thelma’s, but they weren’t open yet. I thought maybe you and I could—”

“Aw, man, I love that place. I usually pick up…” I let the sentence drift off as my brain caught up with what I was getting ready to say.

“You usually pick up sandwiches from Thelma’s for you and Tucker on Wednesdays. I know. He sneaks out the back door and meets you in the park.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “It’s like some kind of illicit affair with you two.”

I blinked at her in surprise. “Jenn, don’t be ridiculous. It’s not like that.”

“Might as well be,” she said.

“Except for the fact I’m not having sex with the man.” Even though I knew firsthand how sweet Tucker’s mouth tasted, since I’d kissed him last fall. For some reason I felt peevish now. And my heifers hadn’t been seen to.

She threw up her hands. “Well, you’re not having it with me either!”

I winced. How could I tell her that I was withholding the goods in an effort not to lead her on? “I’ve told you I’m not ready for a relationship.”

“When will you be ready?” Her hands fisted on her hips, spooking Bernadette into stepping sideways right into a nearby mud puddle. The muck splashed onto Jenn’s pristine shoes, causing her to squeal which caused Bernadette to squeal louder and look at me with brokenhearted eyes.

“Jenn, you know she doesn’t like sudden movements,” I chastised as gently as I could. “On account of the time she—”

“I don’t care about your pig, Dunn. I care about you!”

Luisa’s voice came from deep in the barn, and it was low enough not to draw Jenn’s attention. “Can’t have one without the other. They’re like PB&J.”

I coughed to cover Lu’s muttering. She wasn’t Jenn’s biggest fan even though she thought Jenn—and I quote—had a killer set of breasts. “Well… thank you. I guess?”

“I need this relationship to move forward, Dunn. For both our sakes.” Jenn looked upset, and I could hardly blame her, really. I’d kind of been stringing her along for a while now because I was a chickenshit. Relationships scared me. They were a lot of work, and there were too many chances to get things wrong.

“I don’t make rash decisions,” I said, moving over to reach for a bale of straw so I could toss some handfuls in the nearest mud puddles.

Jenn made a point of staring at the two rare-breed alpacas watching us curiously from over a nearby fence.

“Those don’t count,” I muttered, waving my hand dismissively like Johnny and June weren’t important. I’d apologize to them later. “Tucker said he’d read an article on the sustainability of alpac… you know what? Never mind. They’re very sweet, and they don’t take up much of my time.”

Jenn squinted at me. The calculating look in her eyes made my stomach sour. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Uh…”

“No strings, no commitments. I want a ninety-day trial.”

I didn’t like the sound of this. “Trial of what?”

“Us. This. A relationship.”

Now my stomach was pressing up under my ribs. “I don’t think…”

“It’s time for you to take a break from thinking. I’ve given you long enough, now it’s time to fish or cut bait, Dunn Johnson.”

I never did like that expression. “I don’t rightly understand exactly what we’re saying here,” I admitted.

She stepped closer to me and softened her face into a smile. She really was a pretty woman when she smiled like that. Her brown hair caught the sun and her eyes sparkled, reminding me of why she’d gotten my attention in the first place. “We’re going to date full-on for ninety days. At the end of the ninety days, we’re going to make some decisions. Lifelong decisions, you hear me? Decisions about me moving in here with you, and helping you run your business, and taking a post on the Beautification Corps with your mama, just like all Johnson women have done.”