“Seth Stallard has the biggest damn mouth of any man on God’s earth.”
“So I hear.”
“It’s not like what you think,” she said.
“I hope it’s exactly what I think,” Aunt Lisa said. “Lord knows, I’ve had a fine time with a few cowboys in my day. Best time I ever had in bed was with three of them as a matter of fact.”
“Do I need to hear this?”
“Not really,” she said. “Besides, I want all the details about you and the Stallards. Are they hung?”
“OMG! I’m not having this conversation.”
“And I’ll hang up if you start talking in text-language.” A beat later, she said, “I’ll let you off the hook about the Stallard stallions. You need to know what’s important. Dude from the club sent a few dudes on his payroll. Muscle guys tried to rough me up but you know me, shotgun Sally. I drew on them. They drew on me. And well, it was a standoff, if you know what I mean.”
“You drew on them?” Lindsey rolled her eyes. She couldn’t picture Aunt Lisa with a water pistol, much less a shotgun.
“Damn right I did. Nobody comes to this place in the middle of the day pitching threats. I’ll set ’em straight.”
“I forgot you were Bonnie Badass.”
“Listen kid, I could help if it would save you, but the thing is, I don’t think I can help. It’s bigger than me and a lot bigger than you, too. Apparently, this dude who owns the strip joint also has a vested interest in that farm going to auction.”
“I know. Seth and Beck have explained it all.”
“Honey, I know you’re probably at a crossroads and you don’t know which way to go but trust me on this. I’ve seen the way those two look at you. From the time that you were a kid, I always had a feeling that you would have one of those great love stories, you know what I’m talking about, a love that would stand even in a devastating tsunami.”
“Aunt Lisa, I’ve never heard that and I’m not sure it makes sense.”
“Sure it does. If a man’s love can p
ull a woman out of a storm then it can sure keep her warm in the summer sun. Think about this from my point of view. I’m not going to live forever. I’m no spring chicken.”
“You’re thirty-eight.”
“Like I said, no spring chicken here.” She sighed. “Besides, I’ll eventually die a tragic death. That’s what my fortune teller told me.”
“Aunt Lisa, I probably need to go and check on the guys. They’re watching the farm and I don’t want to—”
“Mourn me before it’s time?” She laughed. “I understand, hon.”
“Not what I was thinking but if it gets me off the phone, we’ll go with it.”
She cackled again. “Listen, sug, be sure to thank those men appropriately and often. It’s not every Saturday that you find a fellow who is willing to fight for you.”
“You’re probably right,” she said. “Aunt Lisa, I don’t want you to worry about this. If the farm goes, it goes. I’ve done everything I can to try and hang on. Sometimes it’s not meant to be.”
“Psht! Listen to you. I don’t believe that and neither do you.”
“Then why didn’t you stay?” Lindsey wanted to put that out there. “Why didn’t you stick around and farm?”
“I was called to be a nurse.”
“Called?”
“Yeah,” she drawled. “On the telephone?”
“There for a minute, I thought you’d found religion.”