“Aren’t you the perfect gentleman?” she said.
“Honey, I’m thirty years old, but my mama and my grandmother both would take a switch to me if I didn’t treat a woman right.” He kept her hand in his all the way to his truck where he helped get her settled into the passenger seat.
Her phone rang as she was buckling her seat belt and trying to watch him walk around the front of the truck to get behind the wheel. “Hello, Grammie,” she answered.
“Are y’all done with chores?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Do you need me to come on home?” Becca crossed her fingers like a little child, hoping that the answer would be no. She really was looking forward to that cheeseburger.
“Lands, no, child,” Greta said. “If y’all are still going to Bowie for ice cream, I want you to go to Walmart and get me a couple of baby blankets and some cat toys.”
“We’re going to Nocona for cheeseburgers,” Becca said.
“Then go to the Dollar General there. I’m sure they’ll have what I want. Go on and get half a dozen blankets so we can keep the babies with a fresh one every day. One more thing, I checked these babies. George is a girl so her new name is Loretta, so buy pink blankets,” Greta said. “Is this a date?”
“I have no idea, but probably not.” Becca smiled at Dalton as he started the engine.
“If he kisses you good night, it’s a date. See you later, and I will wait up for you,” Greta said.
“Greta need something?” he asked.
“George is a girl and has been renamed Loretta. She wants us to bring pink baby blankets and some cat toys,” Becca answered.
“Didn’t even think to see if we had boys or girls.” He chuckled. “If we can’t find what she wants in Nocona, we’ll drive down to Walmart in Bowie. Who would have thought she’d fall in love with those kittens? Tuff did a good thing when he pilfered them from Frankie.”
“Looks like he did,” Becca agreed. “I thought one of them might belong to me, but I’m beginning to doubt it.”
“When and if you ever get a place of your own, I’ll have a visit with Tuff and tell him to bring you a kitten of your very own,” Dalton said as he backed the truck out of the drive and headed west toward town. “Got a particular color in mind?”
“I don’t think Tuff is that good.” Becca laughed.
“Never underestimate the powers of a dog trying to please a lady.”
There was that word again—lady. For some crazy reason, the old animated movie Lady and the Tramp came to Becca’s mind. She stole a glance over at Dalton and decided in a split second that he definitely didn’t look like the dog in the movie, but Tuff dang sure did. A picture of her and Dalton sharing a plate of spaghetti like on the movie poster flashed in her head. Thank goodness they were having cheeseburgers, or she’d never get the blush off her cheeks. No amount of blinking seemed to make it disappear.
“I’m not sure I want a kitten when I get my own place. I might want a puppy,” she said.
“What kind? A Pomeranian that you can carry in your purse?” he teased.
“Nope, I was thinking about a cocker spaniel,” she said.
“Good dogs.” He nodded. “They make excellent pets and they’re easy to train.”
Maybe Tuff will fall in love with Lady, which is what I’ll name my dog, and then we’ll have our own real-life movie right here in Terral, Becca thought with a big smile.
Don’t you ever accuse me of matchmaking when you’re thinking like that, Grammie’s voice was back in her head.
“You were smiling one minute and then frowning the next,” Dalton said. “Who are you fighting with?”
“Grammie,” she answered honestly.
“About what?”
“My dog that I haven’t even gotten,” she said. “When I get one, I want a female.”
* * *
Dalton was already trying to figure out where he might buy her a cocker spaniel for Christmas if things worked out between them. Suddenly, that old movie he had seen as a kid popped into his mind. “Lady and the Tramp.” He said aloud and snapped his fingers.
“What?” she asked.
“I was thinking about the old movie Lady and the Tramp. Did you see it when you were a kid?” he asked.
“Of course,” she smiled. “Mama has every Disney movie ever made. She bought them when I was a little girl and says she’s saving them for her grandkids.”
“Did you know they made a new one of those a couple of years ago? We should rent it or buy it and watch it some evening.”
“I didn’t know, but I’d love to see the new one. Do you realize how much that Tuff looks like the Tramp?” she asked.
“Not until you mentioned a cocker spaniel, and that movie popped into my mind because that’s what breed Lady was. Don’t go tellin’ Tuff that he looks like a movie star or he’ll want to go to Hollywood, and he’s a damn good cow dog,” Dalton told her.
“You should never stand in the way of his dream,” Becca scolded, but couldn’t keep the grin off her face.
“He told me he knew he wanted to work on a ranch when he was just a puppy,” Dalton protested.
She shook her finger at him. “I’m living proof that a person, or a dog in this case, can change their dreams.”
Dalton loved bantering with Becca. Women who he picked up at the Broken Bit on the nights he was lucky didn’t want to do much talking. They were more interested in shedding clothing, starting at the front door and leaving a trail all the way to the bedroom or the living room sofa, or once even on the credenza right there in the foyer. Not that he didn’t have a good time with each of them… Hell, it was more than just good; it was
