Page 8 of Texas Daze (Texas Montgomery Mavericks)

“Uh-huh. Now that I’m done with you, Rascal, I’ll be moving to Jack’sstall.”

She heard the shuffling of four feet in the straw in next door, the creak of Jack’s stall door, and pounding as Pedro and one of the girls ran for the exit. Still, she couldn’t keep from grinning. Hot Doc was coming, even if he had an agenda. It was possible that his project was a ruse he’d used as an excuse toseeher.

She didn’t know, but it sounded so much better toherego.

About three, she called it a day and headed up the house. She stepped into the outdoor shower, securing the door behind her. After a day covered in manure, dirt, blood, and a number of unidentifiable splotches, she was glad to shuck her clothes for a shower. She rolled up everything and shoved it through the chute into thelaundryroom.

Years ago, her mother had gotten tired of the smells and muck that came in on her husband’s clothes. For Christmas one year, she’d requested a shower that could be accessed from the outside and be adjacent to her laundry room. Of course the various odors still filled her laundry room when the clothes went through the chute, but she assured him she was ready for them in there. She just didn’t want the aromas all through thehouse.

As the warm water sluiced down her body carrying away the evidence of her day, Marti decided her mother was one intelligent woman. Now that she was keeping house and doing her own clothes, she appreciated the idea of having a home that didn’t smell likethebarn.

After wrapping in a towel, she opened the door that led to an interior hall and made her way to her bedroom. She wasn’t putting on fresh clothes because of Dr. Boone. She would have done this even if her afternoon visitor had been old manHopkins.

Right, Marti.No one would be fooled with that story, especiallyherself.

A little before four, she poured a glass of wine and grabbed the latest Cattlemen Magazine and snapped it open to a pasture management article. It didn’t hold her interest. She tossed the glossy magazine on the sofa and picked up today’s paper to do the crossword. That would distract her, not that she was anxious about seeing Dr.Boone.

At ten minutes past four, her cellphone buzzed. The screen readout was Riverside Orthopedics. Ah. He was running late. How like adoctor.

“Hello?”

“Martha Jenkins?” a female voiceasked.

“Yes.”

“Ms. Jenkins. This is Debbie Watts from Riverside Ortho. Dr. Boone asked that I call and let you know that he was called into emergency surgery and would not be able to keep the appointment for thisafternoon.”

“Oh.” The bottom dropped out of Marti’s heart. “Well, I guess these thingshappen.”

“All the time,” thenursesaid.

“Thank you forthecall.”

“Surethang.”

Well, shoot. Here she was on a Friday night, all cleaned up with nowhere to go. No use letting all this makeup go to waste. Two calls later and she was meeting Delene Younger and Tina Baker at Leo’s Bar and Grill for some dinner, drinking and dancing. Oh, and she might throw in a little Dr. Hottie gossip just forDelene.

Chapter3

Saturday morning,Marti woke with a pounding headache throbbing to the beat of the country song blasting on her alarm. Groaning, she rolled to her side and put a pillow over her head. Right now, being a Monday through Friday office worker seemed like the ideal job, and she didn’t even know what an office worker did. It just had to better than getting up at the crack of dawn on a weekend day with ahangover.

Of course, the reality was that ranchers didn’t have weekends. They had seven daysaweek.

When her second alarm went off at five a.m., time for lounging around in bed was done. Cattle liked breakfast as much asshedid.

She saw her parents off on their summer trip, after swearing and crossing her heart that she would call if anything came up. But then, while she was crossing her heart she was also crossing her fingers. It would take a problem of massive magnitude before she interrupted their trip. They had worked hard their whole lives and deservedsomefun.

Through the day, she kept her cellphone with her, expecting Eli Boone to call and reschedule, maybe even apologize for having to cancel their…what was it anyway? Date? Appointment? Whatever it was supposed to be, he didn’t call and reschedule, not for tonight, not for tomorrow, not foranytime.

Ranching meant early hours, with some late nights not unusual. Tonight was penciled in for early bed and a good book. So, she told herself, it was just as well he didn’t call fortoday.

As the next week rolled by, the call to apologize and reschedule never came. She did get calls from Zack Marshall, a local cowboy, and Chad Jamison, a cute firemen from the city. Both of them asking her out for Saturday night. She’d been out with them both in the past, and while they were drop-dead handsome, she didn’t feel like dressing up and heading out on a date with eitherofthem.

She’d known Zack since first grade. It was hard to not picture him without his front teeth. Besides, he had some on-and-off thing with her friendDelene.

Chad was a different story. He’d moved to Whispering Springs, so he’d always had his front teeth. But he had a complicated relationship with Tina, and Marti didn’t want to get sucked into their vortex of break-ups and make-ups. She figured the date invite was probably an effort on his part to make Tina jealous. She wasn’t interested in being a player inthatplay.

By Friday, she’d spoken with her parents every day. She told them that from now on, she would only accept their calls on Tuesday and Thursday. Her mother had laughed and apologized. But Marti understood. It was hard for them to let go, even if was for only threemonths.

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