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It wasn’t as if she had to spend every waking second at her father’s bedside, Gabi reminded herself. Taking a bit of time to get better acquainted with the town where her father lived might be a good idea.
But when she smiled and gave Jude Fortune Jones her answer, it wasn’t getting acquainted with the town on her mind, it was getting better acquainted with her Texas cowboy.
Chapter Three
“I’m going to marry her,” Jude told Liam, pointing across the room with his bottle of Dos Equis. “She’s The One.”
His older brother glanced out over the crowd, settling on...Delaney. “Uh, you’re marrying our sister?”
“Not her.” Jude spoke through gritted teeth. “The one next to her.”
“The pretty Latina.” Interest filled Liam’s eyes. “She’s a looker, all right. I wouldn’t mind getting her between the sheets—”
Jude punched his brother in the shoulder. Hard. “Watch it. That’s my future wife you’re talking about.”
Liam snorted. “Heard that one before.”
“Heard what?” Sawyer sauntered up and handed Liam a beer.
“Jude says he’s found The One.” Liam laughed. “More like The One This Week.”
Sawyer looked perplexed, but Jude saw no need to enlighten the cousin he’d only recently met. By the gleam in Liam’s eyes, his brother didn’t feel the same constraints.
“My brother here—” Liam gestured with his head toward Jude “—falls in love with every pretty filly that crosses his path. And just as quickly out of love. A guy could get whiplash watching him.”
Obviously intrigued, Sawyer cocked his head. “Who is it this time?”
“Gabriella Mendoza.” Jude let the name roll off his tongue. The name was as pretty as the woman. “I’m going to marry her.”
“Ah, didn’t the two of you just meet tonight?” Sawyer asked cautiously.
“Actually we ran into each other at the Superette this morning.” Jude smiled, recalling how pretty she’d looked with the sun glinting off her walnut-colored hair. “Love at first sight.”
“It’s a little faster than normal,” Liam informed Sawyer as if Jude wasn’t standing right there. “I’m figuring it’s the hearts and flowers in the air, what with Stacey getting engaged and Valentine’s Day drawing near.”
“Scoff all you want,” Jude told his brother. “She’s The One.”
“She’s a nice woman,” Sawyer said cautiously. “And very attractive.”
“I’m taking her to dinner tomorrow.”
Surprise flicked across Sawyer’s face. “You move fast.”
“I figure why waste time?” Jude took a long pull of beer. “When you know what you want and you find it...you go after it.”
* * *
Gabi spent most of the next morning at the rehabilitation hospital, observing her father’s therapy sessions. With an arm broken on one side and a leg broken on the other, it was difficult for Orlando Mendoza to even get up from the chair much less manage what the nurses called his ADLs—activities of daily living.
But her dad was tough. A man didn’t survive all those years as an air force pilot and raise five kids without survival instincts. Gabi had lunch with him in the dining room down the hall from his room. Apparently the nurses believed in keeping the patients out of their rooms as much as possible.
“This is tasty.” Gabi glanced down at the grilled chicken breast, brown rice and asparagus spears.
“It’s exactly what you should be eating.” Orlando spoke in the fatherly tone he took on when he was poised to lecture. “I hope you didn’t have alcohol last night.”
Gabi thought of the blended margaritas, the fine wine, even the bottles of Dos Equis. She shook her head. “You know I don’t drink.”
“You had a cup of coffee with you when you came yesterday.”
“It was decaffeinated.” Gabi held on to her growing frustration with both hands, reminding herself that her dad had a lot of time to worry. Even when he’d been busy, worrying about her and her health had been his favorite pastime.
“Oh,” he said. “Good.”
“I know how to take care of myself, Papi.” She kept her tone gentle as she brought her hand to her chest. “This heart was a precious gift. I don’t take it for granted.”
“You were so sick.” Her father’s dark eyes took on a distant look. “Your mamma and I thought we were going to lose you. Barely more than a baby and we thought we would lose you.”
Those dark days had occurred when Gabi was nineteen, hardly a baby by anyone’s standards, unless by overprotective parents.
“You always pushed yourself too hard.” He shook his head. “I told you many times to slow down but you wouldn’t listen.”
“It was a virus. From the stomach flu,” Gabi reminded him. “It didn’t have a thing to do with my college schedule or my extracurricular activities.”
The virus had attacked her heart. She thought she was on the road to recovery after a particularly bad few days of a GI bug that was making its way across campus until she became short of breath. The next day she landed in the ICU.
She almost died. That’s what her parents told her. The doctors said her heart was so badly damaged a transplant was her only hope. Because of her grave physical condition she’d moved to the top of the transplant list.
Miraculously a heart had come her way. Now a heart that had once beat in another young person’s chest pumped in hers. She meant it when she told her father she didn’t take it for granted. Not for one second. When her cardiologist had told her no drinking, smoking or caffeine, she’d listened.
She knew other transplant patients who rebelled against the restrictions, but Gabi felt best when she ate right, exercised and followed doctor’s orders. Still, her parents worried. Now that it was just her father, he worried double.
“I love you, mija.”
The emotion so evident in his voice, in his eyes, melted away the annoyance. “Ditto. Now, if you’re not going to eat that green Jell-O, hand it over.”
Her father laughed and pushed the gelatin in front of her. “Hopefully they’ll have red this evening. That’s my favorite. And yours, if I remember correctly.”
Gabi paused, a forkful of chicken hovering just outside her mouth. “About tonight. I plan to stay most of the day, but I won’t be eating dinner with you.”
Her father lowered his glass of milk.
“I’m going to check out The Horseback Hollow Grill this evening,” she told him.
“I’ve eaten at The Grill,” Orlando said slowly.
“What’s it like?” Gabi kept her tone light and offhand.
“Like King’s,” he said, referring to a hamburger and hot dog place not far from his home in Miami. “Their specialty is grilled cheese sandwiches. I like them with jalapenos.”
“Guess what I’m wearing will be good enough.” Gabi glanced down at her jeans and sweater. As her father continued to stare, she forced a chuckle. “I’m excited about the prospect of becoming better acquainted with Horseback Hollow. That way, when I go back to Miami and you talk about different places, I can visualize them.”
The tight set to her father’s shoulders eased. “That makes sense. But eating alone can’t be fun for you.”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten alone since moving here?”
“I have,” he grudgingly admitted. “Perhaps Laurel could—”
“Laurel is busy with her new husband and the flight school.” Gabi spoke quickly before her father could pull out his phone and call his boss. She lowered her fork to the plate. “Besides, I’m not going alone. Jude Fortune Jones, Sawyer’s cousin, generously offered to show me around town.”
For several long seconds, accompanied by the thumping of her heart, Orlando said nothing. He chewed, swallowed then took another sip of milk. “I’ve met Jude.”
Gabi lifted a brow. “And?”
“He appears to be very popular with the ladies.”
The sharp stab of jealousy that struck Gabi took her by surprise. But she merely smiled. “Good. Then he should be an excellent dinner companion.”
“I don’t want you getting involved with him.”
Her father’s vehemence surprised Gabi. “Why? Is there something you haven’t told me?”
“You have a job in Miami. A good one.”
“That’s true,” Gabi agreed. “And once you’re better, I’ll be returning to that good job. In the meantime, I’d like to do a little exploring. With someone local.”
Gabi finished her lunch and stayed for several more hours, watching her father work with the physical therapist on transferring from the bed to the chair. She listened as the occupational therapist showed him ways to use his left hand to do everything from getting toothpaste on his toothbrush to slipping on a shirt.
By the time the OT left, her father’s eyes were drooping and his primary nurse suggested a nap.
“I’ll be back after dinner.” Gabi brushed a kiss across his leathery cheek and felt a surge of love.
“Lloyd and I have a date to play poker,” he told her. “There’s no need to drive back tonight. Enjoy your evening.”
“Are you sure?”
“You spent all day here,” he said. “Besides, I need to win some money off Lloyd, and I can’t do that with someone breathing over my shoulder.”
Gabi smiled. “Okay, then.”
“Don’t have the grilled cheese.” This time the fatherly tone brooked no argument. “Too much fat in it.”
Gabi simply smiled, gave a little wave and left him to his nap.
* * *
The knock on the front door of her father’s small home sounded at precisely 6:00 p.m.
Gabi smiled. Apparently, the man was not only pretty to look at, but punctual, as well. Popular with the ladies. Some of her pleasure dimmed before she shoved the thought aside.
It didn’t matter to her if Jude dated a different woman every night. This was simply dinner and conversation. She didn’t expect more. Didn’t want more.
When the knock sounded again, she sauntered across the room. After glancing through the peephole, she pulled the door open.
“I appreciate a man who’s on time.” With a welcoming smile she waved him inside.
Dressed simply in jeans, chambray shirt and a battered leather jacket, he whipped off his Stetson when he stepped through the doorway then thrust out one hand. “These are for you.”
“Thank you.” She glanced down at the bouquet he offered. Startled surprise quickly gave way to sweet pleasure. “Daisies are one of my favorite flowers. Have a seat. I want to put them in water before we leave.”
She took the flowers into the small kitchen at the back of the house. Instead of sitting in the living room as she’d directed, he followed her.
“Nice place.”
Gabi tried to see it through his eyes. White painted cupboards, grey Formica countertops, speckled linoleum flooring. Perfect, if a person was into retro decor. “My father feels at home here,” she said. “Our home in Miami was bigger, but since it’s just him, he doesn’t need much space.”
“The fact it’s not large and all on one level should make it easier for him when he comes home.”
“Good point.” She rummaged through the cupboards, finally pulling out a red vase. “This will be perfect.”
Her mother had collected red glass, and this little cylindrical vase had been a favorite. She quickly filled it with water then took a second to arrange the flowers.
“You have a knack,” Jude commented from where he stood with his back resting against the doorjamb. “My mother does, too. If it were me, I’d stuff them into a vase and call it good.”
Gabi took a step back and gazed in satisfaction at the arrangement. “They’re too pretty to treat in that manner.”
“They’re pretty.” Jude’s husky voice did strange things to her insides. “But not as pretty as you.”
She smiled. Oh, yes, he was a smooth one.
“Do I need a coat?” she asked, looking at his leather jacket.
“It’s in the forties, so I say definitely.” He paused. “Do you have one?”
“I didn’t,” she told him. “There was no need in Miami. But I went shopping recently in Vicker’s Corners and picked one up.”
In fact, that’s where she’d purchased the crimson sweater and black pants she wore now. From all signs, the small town in between Horseback Hollow and Lubbock was experiencing a growth spurt. She’d seen signs advertising new condominiums and touting luxury estates for sale.
“What’d you think of VC?” he asked as they moved to the living room, where she retrieved her coat from the postage-stamp-size closet.
“I liked it.” She thought of the cute little business district with all the eclectic shops lining the main street. “But Horseback Hollow is nice, too.”
“If I had to compare the two—” with well-practiced ease, Jude took the coat from her hands and held it up “—I’d say Horseback Hollow is the Jones family while Vicker’s Corners is more like their gentrified relatives.”
“Would those gentrified relatives be the Fortunes?” Gabi tried to ignore the brush of his knuckles against the side of her neck as he helped her slip on the coat.
“Bingo.”
“Your mother recently found out she was related to the Fortunes, isn’t that right?” Gabi tried to remember what her father had said, but the comment had been something he’d tossed out in passing and she hadn’t given it much thought.
