True-Blue Cowboy - Vicki Lewis Thompson Page 0,17
leave my number. You can let me know when you get a chance.” She turned to Ed. “That’s assuming I won’t be abusing your hospitality if I stay through Tuesday.”
“Nope. You can stay as long as you want.”
“Not really. I’m needed in Eagles Nest. But I could wrangle a couple more days without causing a crisis at Pills and Pop.” She glanced at Nick. “Don’t think I ever told you how much I enjoyed your ride.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I surely enjoyed that dance.” He was still holding Eva’s hand and she’d made no attempt to let go. Cozy.
“I loved your jitterbug.” Eva zeroed in on Ed. “All this time you’ve been coming into the salon, and I had no idea you loved to jitterbug.”
“First dance I ever learned.”
“Same here. Watching you and Ellie Mae reminded me of… someone I miss.”
Ed’s expression softened. “Who’s that, sweetheart?”
“My Aunt Sally.”
“She was a dancer?”
“A great dancer until she was in a bad car accident.”
“I didn’t realize that. I wish I’d had a chance to know her.” She reached over and touched Eva’s arm.
“Me, too. If she’d been more comfortable traveling… but from Helena to here would have been too hard on her. Anyway, I wanted to tell you how much I loved the party. And your jitterbug. But I’m starting to fade, so Nick’s offered to take me home.”
“Well, thanks for coming.” Ed beamed at her. “And for your contribution to the cause.”
“My pleasure.” She turned to Ellie Mae. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you.” “She squeezed Nick’s hand and let go. “We’re off.”
“Thanks for a great party.” Nick gave Ed a quick smile before turning and following Eva back through the crowd.
As they made their way to the coat rack to fetch Eva’s purse, he was intercepted by several folks wanting to comment on his ride. Took longer than he’d planned to get going.
Eventually they slipped out the door and started down the steps. “Sorry about that.”
“No apology necessary. You were great.”
“Thanks. I forgot to mention that I’m parked all the way down by the arena.”
“I don’t mind the walk. Is the palomino you rode yours?”
“Ed’s horse. Name’s Thor.”
“He’s beautiful. Do you have a horse of your own?”
“No, ma’am. Thought about it many times, but there’s no shortage of good horses to ride at the Buckskin and the upkeep on one is expensive. I’d rather see my savings grow.”
“That’s very sensible. What are you saving for?”
“A place of my own.”
“You’d leave the ranch?”
“Wouldn’t have to. Henri’s recently announced that any of us who’d like our own house can build it on her land. CJ will be the third one to take advantage of that.”
“Do you have a spot in mind?”
“Not yet.” He didn’t plan to start until he could build the house without going into debt. But he hesitated to mention that to Eva, who’d just taken on a big mortgage.
He switched topics. “When did your Aunt Sally teach you to jitterbug?”
“Soon after I moved in with her, so I’m guessing I was around three.”
“That’s young.” Something must have happened with her parents, then.
“She loved to dance, and she started training me early so I could be her partner, which was great fun for me. By the time I was eight I could do all the major dances—waltz, tango, foxtrot, mambo, you name it.”
“Makes sense those two ladies stirred memories of her.”
“She’d have fit right in. Or she would have if she hadn’t been in a car accident. She was a hale and hearty seventy-four when that happened.”
“Seventy-four? Your aunt?”
“Great-aunt.”
“You said something about the trip from Helena. If she was there, how’d you end up here?”
“When she had to go into assisted living, I enrolled in a beauty academy in Great Falls and met Josette. She heard about a salon for sale in Apple Grove so we bought it. And for years I made weekly trips to Helena to visit Aunt Sally.”
Might be another reason he hadn’t seen her around town. “It sounds like your Aunt Sally was a terrific woman.”
“The best.”
A good place to leave the discussion. But he’d like to know more. It sounded as if she’d lost her only relative when her great aunt died. That was tough. She might not want to discuss the ramifications of being without any kin, but if she ever did, he was an expert on the subject.
Chapter Eight
Aunt Sally had deserved a better end than she’d had, and it used to hurt a lot to talk about her. But Eva had started to