Page 48 of Texas Made
And even longer before the two of them ‘got back to normal.’ If they’d ever had a normal.
The waitress came and they ordered. A ribeye for Marshall and a filet mignon for Jaclyn. The steaks came with a choice of potatoes, a green vegetable, and a small, crusty loaf of piping-hot bread served with honey butter.
“I think I could live on this bread and honey butter,” Jaclyn said, tasting it and closing her eyes to savor it. “It’s delicious.”
“Wait until you taste the steak. It’s so tender you can cut it with a fork. But enough about food.” He pulled a long jeweler’s box out of his jacket pocket. “Happy birthday, Jaclyn.”
“Thank you. This is so sweet of you.” She leaned forward and kissed him. She opened the box and inside lay a silver charm bracelet. There were a couple of charms on it already. One was a horse, which made her smile. The other was—“A tube of lipstick? I’ve never seen a lipstick charm before.”
“That’s because Gabe made it.”
“Gabe? Your brother the famous artist?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry. I got the family discount.”
“I didn’t know he worked in silver.” She looked closely at it, marveling at the detail.
“He doesn’t usually. He made an exception for you.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Overwhelmed, she wondered how many women could say they had a one-of-a-kind charm made by Gabe Walker. “This is too much. You shouldn’t have.”
“Told you I got a discount. Can you read the label on the lipstick?”
“Not in this low light.”
“It says Divinity.”
“Now I’m totally overwhelmed.” She kissed him again. “Please thank Gabe for me if I don’t see him before I leave.” She was truly stunned. First of all, that Marshall had gone to so much trouble for her birthday. She hadn’t told him but she bet Damaris had. But his thoughtfulness in the gift warmed her heart.
*
Sunday morning Jaclynand Marshall dressed to go for a ride before she had to go back to Dallas. He thought she’d had fun on her birthday and he knew she’d loved the charm bracelet and handmade charm made by his brother, but something seemed to be bugging her. He found out what that was on their ride.
They’d ridden down to the creek and were following it along on their horses when Jaclyn spoke. “Do you think you could come up to Dallas weekend after next?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“There’s a cocktail party given by one of my big clients and all kinds of people who might be interested in my cosmetics will be there.”
He winced. First of all, he didn’t like cocktail parties. Or big parties in general. He’d had to be conned into going to Boots & Bangles. At least he knew people at that gala. But a fancy-ass party with a bunch of people he didn’t know sounded like his idea of torture. Still, Jaclyn wanted him to go so he’d suck it up and do it. “What night is it?”
“Friday. You’d have to leave here early enough to get to Dallas by six or seven.”
Something was nagging at him. He had a feeling that he had an important appointment that day. He didn’t think it was because he was looking for an excuse not to go. “Let me look on the calendar to make sure I’m free.” He halted his horse and got out his phone and looked at his calendar app. Shit. He knew he had something important happening that day.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, coming to a stop beside him.
“We’ve got a mare coming to be bred. Possibly. It’s still conjecture that she’ll be ready then but the owner is hopeful she will be.”
“I thought Cappuchino was still hurt?”
“He is. This is for Thunder.”
“And you need to be here for it.”
“Yeah, I do. It’s the first time with us. You can’t tell how it’s going to go. Especially not if you’ve never done it with that horse.”
“No one else can do it?”
