"Now here's a bargain." She checked the rim and the base for chips, then turned to Andrew. "It's only two dollars."
"But there's only one of them."
"That's all I need," She said, turning away from him to explore another shelf of glassware.
"I wanted to get around to that." Andrew hurried to keep up with her, but she'd paused in front of a rack of patchwork quilts.
"Around to what?" She bent and looked for a price tag, then drew in her breath.
"If I had any competition."
"Would you hold this for a second?" She gave him the ruby glass and then began to unfold a quilt that looked as if it had spent the last twenty years in barn.
"That's the worst-looking log cabin quilt I've ever seen," he declared as Rose held it up.
"How do you know what kind it is?"
He shrugged. "My mother had a few of them."
"Lucky you."
"I have a couple in my bedroom," he said. "I can show them to you." He grinned as she glanced in his direction.
"Thanks, but no thanks," she said.
Andrew watched as she folded the brown quilt and examined two others. "You like quilts," he said.
"Yes."
"I bought tickets to a quilt show." He thought that should get him some points.
"For Francisca's old-lady aunt." She gave the quilts one last yearning look before moving on to a display of silver.
"Yeah."
"When?"
"Sunday."
She didn't look at him. "We will be leaving that day."
"Unless you are staying for a wedding."
Rose picked up a calico doll and then set it gently back on its chair. "There won't be a wedding."
"You could be wrong."
Her chin lifted. "So could you."
"Want to bet?" He had her complete attention, which pleased him no end.
"No."
"If you win and there's no wedding, I will pick up the tab on one of these quilts. You pick which one."
"And if there is a wedding? What do you want?"
"What you have told me I can't have."
She blushed then looked around the empty store to make sure no one was listening. "I'm not betting-well, you know what I'm not betting," she whispered.
"I want a date," he said, pretending he didn't know what she was talking about. "At the Drive-In."
"It's closed."
"We can pretend." He knew if he got her to himself in a car, at night, all alone, well, then it would just about be the perfect evening.
"Aren't you a little old for parking in cars?"
"Maybe," he said, trying not to laugh. "Maybe not. There's only one way to find out."
"There won't be a wedding," she repeated, plucking the goblet out of his hand without touching him.
"And I think we'd better get back to the ranch now."
"But it's lunchtime."
"I'm not hungry."
"Mrs Martin is chaperoning the kids," he reminded her. "And I paid Marty-you remember Marty?"
"The one who inherited the twins."
"Right." He wanted to bend down and kiss her on those peachy pink lips of hers. Rose Marti was entirely too self-assured. "I paid him extra to keep Francisca and Bobby out of the hayloft."
"You have my heartfelt gratitude."
"You are very welcome," he said, tipping his hat to make her smile. "And didn't you say you owed me lunch?"
"I did," she answered, ignoring another display of old linens. "In that case I think I will have a double bacon cheeseburger with fries. And a chocolate shake."
"You saw the hamburger stand across the street, I guess?"
"I can't resist junk food," she admitted, heading toward the counter where a bored clerk read a magazine and swatted flies.
"I know," he called after her. "That's how I found you again, remember?"
~------------------~
SHE DIDN'T SEE HIM again until after she'd learned the flights were cancelled and it was likely that no planes would be flying for the rest of the afternoon. According to the weather reports, the clerk explained, the storm was only going to worsen and the snow wasn't expected to stop until after midnight.
Rose waited in line for twenty minutes before getting a telephone, then called the hotel only to learn that they were full. Which meant it was going to be a very long day. Luckily she had a book in her handbag, plenty of cash, and there were restaurants in the main section of the concourse. She ended up in line at the hamburger stand only to realize that the cowboy was in line at another food stand next to her. It would have been easy to miss him in the crowd, expect she felt someone looking at her and glanced over to see him wink.
The cowboy seemed like more of an old friend than a threatening stranger this time, so she'd smiled back. Doing so seemed harmless enough, especially in an airport food court surrounded by people.
*****
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