“Oh, yes, deary. He was. Up until the big C hooked its claws into him and sank him six feet into the ground. I’m tellin’ ya, folks can’t always afford no high-falutin’ doctor these days.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“No need to be sorry, girl. My Earl kept himself in good spirits and didn’t go down without a fight.”
“Yes, I hear having a positive outlook can be quite healing.”
“No, dear. Spirits.” Momma Belle tapped her nubby finger on the mason jar she was holding. “He took to making moonshine before he died. Said the white lightning was the only thing that helped keep the pain at bay.”
“Oh.” I smiled sympathetically. “Well, I’m sure you miss him a great deal.”
“Sure do. My Earl was a hoot, even if he did sag in places I didn’t want to look.” She cackled at that and gigged me hard in the ribs with her wrinkled elbow before leaning closer. “He had two bald eggs down below and a thingamajig that wasn’t much bigger than our billy goat’s, but that horny toad was always trying to get in my britches.”
My eyes widened, along with Cowboy’s grin. The woman was clearly having one of those senior moments. “He…uh, sounds like a nice man,” I told her uncomfortably.
“Hey, Anna, I saved your plate over here and your food’s getting cold,” Emily said, winking at me.
“Oh. Right. I’m coming.”
Momma Belle gave me a cold-eyed stare. “Listen here, girl. We don’t waste perfectly good food around these parts. Especially when you’re nothing but skin and bones. Those arms of yours are like twigs, I tell ya. In fact, when I first laid eyes on you, I nearly poked you with a stick just to see if you were still alive. Now you go get that plate and eat every last bite, ya hear?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Darn females nowadays,” she mumbled to herself. “They just don’t know nothing.”
I practically skipped to Emily, hoping Momma Belle wouldn’t follow. “Thanks,” I whispered, accepting my plate from her.
“No problem. Come on, you can sit over here at our table. Just do yourself a favor and steer clear of Momma Belle from now on. The woman’s bat-shit crazy.”
“Tell me about it. She thinks I’m Cowboy’s girlfriend.”
Emily chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about that. Cowboy has lots of girlfriends.”
Yeah, so I’d heard.
I followed Emily to a nearby table where Jake, Judd, Ox, and Bobbie Jo sat with their plates of food. I sat beside Judd, hoping his hulking figure would hide me from Momma Belle, and possibly Cowboy.
Judd lugged his meaty arm over my shoulders. “So, Anna, if you need anyone to show you around, I—”
“You’re taken, jackass.” Cowboy plopped down on the other side of me and scowled at Judd. “Or did you forget about Gina already?”
“Whoa,” Judd told him, holding up his hands in surrender. “Chill out, buddy. All I was going to say is that I have a single buddy who would be happy to show Anna around.”
“I’m sure the last thing the new girl in town needs is some bastard trying to get his hands up her skirt.” Cowboy smirked, then raised a cocky eyebrow to me. “Isn’t that right, darlin’?”
My eyes narrowed at the challenge in his voice and I couldn’t resist the urge to respond. “Thanks for the offer, Judd. Sure, why not? I’d love to meet one of your single friends.”
Cowboy’s jaw tightened as he gritted his teeth, but he said nothing in return.
“So who’s Gina, anyway?” I asked Judd sweetly, ignoring the warmth of Cowboy’s hard thigh against mine.
Across from me, Emily smiled. “Gina is my friend from Chicago. She and Judd have been carrying on a long-distance relationship since last summer. Same as Ox. He hit it off with my friend Dale.”
I glanced to Ox who was grinning at that. “You finally came out to everyone?” I asked, smiling with approval. “I’m so glad to hear that.”
Cowboy’s head snapped to me. “Wait a minute. You couldn’t have known Ox was gay when you met him at camp. None of us knew. He was still hanging out in the closet back then.”
I shrugged. “I had my suspicions. I’m usually pretty observant when it comes to people.”
“Speaking of suspicions,” Ox said, changing the subject. “Jake, I heard the FBI seized a couple of moonshine stills they found in the woods.”
Jake finished chewing his food and swallowed. “Yep, three of them. We stumbled across them after someone reported seeing some weird lights in the forest at night. Next thing I know, we’re getting calls about wild hogs acting strangely.”
“Strange as in how?” Ox asked.
“They were stumbling all over the place and falling over. Apparently, they had eaten the discarded mash that the owner of the stills left behind. The damn pigs were drunk.”
That got a chuckle out of everyone.
“I’m heading up the case, but beyond the three stills we uncovered, the inebriated swine, and the weird lights, we don’t have a lot to go on.” Jake shook his head. “We still don’t know who the head bootlegger in the area is. I’m working on finding that out.”
“I don’t know if he ever sold any, but Momma Belle said that her husband, Earl, used to make moonshine before the cancer got him.”
“Cancer?” Cowboy asked, surprise registering on his face. “Earl didn’t die from cancer.”
“Oh. When she said that the big C hooked its claws into him, I just assumed—”
“Cirrhosis of the liver,” Cowboy corrected. “The old man drank himself to death. Probably to get away from Momma Belle, right, Jakey?”
Jake shook his head. “Christ, I hate when she calls me that.”
Bobbie Jo laughed and then turned her attention onto me. “Hey, Anna, we’re all heading out to The Backwoods bar tomorrow night. Do you want to come?”
“Good idea,” Judd said. “My buddy will be at the bar. You can meet him while you’re there.”
Cowboy lifted his head, and his heated gaze met mine.
I shook my head. “Oh, I don’t know. I really don’t think—”
“Come on, Anna,” Emily said. “It’s the first time I’m leaving Lily with Floss for the whole evening. I could use the moral support. Besides, it’ll be fun.”
With everyone staring at me, waiting for my answer, I couldn’t bear to tell them no. “Okay, sure. I’d love to.”
“Great,” Bobbie Jo said with a smile. “The girls can get ready at your house together and meet up with the boys at the bar. How does that sound?”
Emily and Bobbie Jo smiled at each other and were obviously up to no good, but I didn’t want to be the party-pooper. “That’s fine.”
“Good,” Bobbie Jo said, winking at Emily. “It’s settled, then.”
The girls started cleaning up, but I just sat there, still trying to figure out what the hell I had just gotten myself into. I wasn’t entirely certain, but I had a feeling I had been coerced into…well, something.
Jake rose from the picnic table. “Let’s go help Hank clean the grill and then we can get to breaking that horse.”
“We?” Cowboy asked, cocking one eyebrow.
Jake grinned. “You think you’re the only one who’s ever broken a horse, asshole?”
Cowboy laughed. “Shit. Jake, the only horse you ever broke was the one outside the grocery store that takes quarters.”
“We’ll find out in a few minutes, won’t we?”
“Guess so,” Cowboy said with a challenging nod and a glint in his eyes.
My gaze flickered to Ox and Judd, who both sat there grinning at Cowboy, as if they were subconsciously agreeing with Jake. As Jake started away, the others stood up, threw their trash away, and followed him, leaving me alone with Cowboy.
Feeling awkward, I rose and gathered my plate in my hands, but just as I started to leave, Cowboy said, “Anna…?”
I turned back to him. “Yes?”
“When I come by later, which kiss do you want to talk about, the first or the second?” The intensity in his eyes held my gaze, only making me more uncomfortable than I already was. Which apparently was something he enjoyed, since his tight-lipped mouth turned up into a full-on smirk.