Page 27 of Jaxson

“I don’t think they’re friends,” Tillie said.

“Either way, please don’t.” Kate frowned. “I have to go up there and drop off ingredients for Mom, and it would make the trips really horrifying if he ever found out. It’s bad enough because even though Mom and I are in a rough patch, I still feel I have to help her.”

“Have you ever thought of asking him out on a date?” Tillie asked.

“Absolutely not. Please, he would not go for me, and besides, there are plenty of women that want him. He wouldn’t even think twice of looking at me.” Kate shook her head. “And I’m not going to ask him out on a date. I just couldn’t do that.” She clenched her hands together. “Besides, I have this shop to take care of, and that is more than a full-time job.”

Tillie looked at her friend, and she couldn’t help but feel for her. Kate was twenty-seven years old and spent the last five years completely dedicated to this shop. Her mother had decided she had enough and ended up working at the Moore Ranch. The older woman didn’t seem to help at all with the shop. It was sad. She was aware that Kate originally wanted to be a fashion designer, then a creator of patterns, and now she ran a fabric shop.

“You know, there’s nothing wrong with you asking him out.”

“I know, I know. It’s all about the modern woman and all that. I get it.” She sighed. “I’m just not ready for that kind of rejection, and I know it probably makes me sound like a coward.”

“No, it doesn’t. I get it.”

“But you and Jaxson, that is really something. Are you sure you know what is going on there?” Kate asked.

“I have no idea.”

Kate laughed.

Tillie knew she had a lot to do, so she said her goodbyes and with Belle in her arms, left the fabric shop, but she wondered if there was any way she could help Kate.

Chapter Nine

“Damn it, Carl, if you had just left well enough alone, this wouldn’t have happened,” Jaxson said, looking up at the leaking pipe.

Everything had been working. There was no leaky pipe. No bad circuiting. It was good work, and now Carl had to go and play with the main water pipe underneath the sink, and not only had to work it loose, but destroyed several parts that made up the structure. He had to stop the leak, otherwise the old man wasn’t going to be able to wash dishes until he got a new part for it.

“You kids don’t know what you’re talking about. Everything made in this day and age is too flimsy. It has been made to break.”

Jaxson gritted his teeth. “No, it has been made to be fixed, and durable. You need to stop messing with my work, Carl. I mean it.”

“And you need to stop messing around with those two girls.”

This made Jaxson freeze. There had been a lot of accusations thrown his way over the years. Carl usually was the kind of man to praise him for getting out there and having a lot of fun.

Jaxson lifted his head from under the sink. The tap was still dripping, but he was not going to let that slide. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Tillie and Kate. The whole town is talking about how you’re playing those two girls. Some even believe Kate and Tillie enjoy being with you as a threesome.” Carl shook his head. “Both of them are good girls.”

Jaxson pressed fingers to his head. “What the fuck?” He lifted up from the sink, because he must have been inhaling some kind of toxic chemical. “Please tell me I didn’t just hear that right, and you’re talking about some goddamn lie?”

Carl’s eyes went wide. “I’m only talking about what the whole town is talking about.”

“Oh, right, and now, because the whole town said so, that means what? They know everything? Please, the town doesn’t know jack shit if it came up and slapped them on the behind. Fuck me, I can’t believe this.”

“So, you’re not sleeping with Tillie and Kate at the same time?” Carl asked.

Jaxson ran a hand down his face. “Fuck, no. Where do you hear all this shit?”

“People talk.”

This just blew his mind. “Well, people need to learn to keep to their own business rather than getting up in mine, because that is seriously going to start pissing me the fuck off.” He was not in the mood to be listening to that kind of bullshit. Just thinking about that kind of nonsense getting back to Tillie or Kate pissed him off. He was not fucking Kate, but she was a sweet girl who didn’t need that kind of gossip, nor did Tillie, for that matter.

“Is that why you messed with your fucking plumbing? To get me up here so you could give me a serious talking-to?” he asked.

From the look on his face, that was exactly why.