Page 75 of Rolling Thunder

Kayla smiled quickly.

“I’ll be by with some cat food, sorry for the trouble!” Evan called out to Irna as they pulled away with Abbey safely contained in the cab of the truck.

“Listen, Trouble. You better not bother the crazy cat lady again. I get the feelin’ she might just as soon feed you to Crazy Jimmy’s gator.”

A belt of laughter erupted from Kayla, and it hadn’t yet evaporated by the time they rolled back into her front yard.

Still in the truck, Kayla noticed Annie and Bill were sitting at the picnic table, deep in conversation, awfully close together.

“Are we interrupting something?” Kayla asked Evan, giggling.

Evan looked at the two. “Maybe…”

“They know each other from AA, but that doesn’t look like program talk.”

“Nope. It does not.”

They were so engrossed in each other that they hardly seemed to notice Evan and Kayla returning with the dog.

She got out of the truck, and Abbey dashed over to beg for steaks just like Kayla knew she would. Evan reached for her hand as they walked back to the picnic table.

“Ladies first,” Evan announced. “Annie, bring me your plate.” She met him at the grill, and Bill stretched his long legs out in front of him, surveying the farm. Kayla followed his gaze. The fences were fixed, and contented horses grazed in the green pastures.

“You grandma would be real happy to see what you’ve done here, fire ant.”

“What we’ve done,” she said.

Before she could get truly choked up, Evan and Annie returned with steaks and began passing out plates. On the side of Evan’s plate was a tiny child-sized steak.

“What’s that?” Kayla asked.

“That’s Abbey’s steak.” Kayla laughed, and the dog wagged her tail.

“Wow, she’s really got you wrapped around her little dewclaw, huh?”

Evan winked at her and tested the steak with his finger to see if it was cool enough. Finding that it was, he handed it to the dog, who dashed off with her prize to find a secret place to enjoy it.

“What can I say? I guess I’m a sucker for a pretty girl with a big heart,” he said, grabbing her and pulling her down onto the bench beside him.

It was a glorious meal they shared at the picnic table under the setting sun.

Bill and Annie invited Kayla to the evening meeting with them, but she was exhausted. Her home had suddenly become a hub of action and people. She just wanted to be alone with Evan and be quiet.

“Oh, I forgot,” Evan said, and headed for the house. He was back a few moments later with a foil-topped bottle that Kayla thought for an instant was champagne. He cocked his head at her. “You only have Solo cups in your pantry, so…” He passed those out and opened the bottle, which, on closer appraisal, she saw was sparkling grape juice, decidedly nonalcoholic.

She felt a warmth spread through her that was so much more wholesome than the burn of harsh liquor in her throat. She glanced at Canyon Bill as Evan poured, and he winked at her in a knowing way. Evan loved her. He’d not even brought beer to his own cookout for the sake of the sober alcoholics in attendance.

On a whim, she grabbed her red plastic cup of sparkling grape juice and raised it.

“You guys…. I can’t thank you enough for everything. Bill, if you hadn’t fixed this place up, I never could have made the payments. Annie, if it wasn’t for you, I’d have drunk away any good fortune I had.” She looked at Evan. “Thanks for taking a chance on me, babe.”

The corner of his mouth quirked the way she loved. “You and your Solo cups are totally worth it.”

“Thanks for being the guy I could have only dreamed you’d be.”

“All right, enough sappy shit,” he retorted, but under the table, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. She didn’t plan on ever letting go.

THE END