The Big Girl's Guide to Buying Lingerie

4. BLOW OUT THE CANDLES

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Wednesday afternoon Rowdy met the band at the bar to run through some new songs.  He grinned as he stalked past Jade Ballard’s silver Lexus near the door, thinking of last week’s encounters with the chubby brunette.  He’d only run up to the bar the previous Wednesday after Susie begged him to fill in at the last minute due to a cat emergency.

He’d watched Jade Ballard since she took over from the last sales rep a year ago.  She’d always been very formal and standoffish, bordering on disapproving.  She’d been so late getting to the bar last Wednesday, he’d done his best hick performance as payback, getting a real kick out of watching her poker up and talk all snooty. 

Too bad he didn’t dip, he could have kept a dip cup handy and really gotten to her delicate sensibilities.  Delicate his ass. 

Jade had hated taking the liquor order from him, hated giving him her sales pitch and going over the sales fliers.  She stood there in her navy pantsuit, looking down her narrow little nose at him, her thin lips pursed as if he was a gunslinger and she was some plantation owner’s daughter fearing for her virtue.

Then to bust her at Target a few days later.  He’d laughed about that for a good forty-five minutes and shared the experience with Susie, who’d scolded him.  Susie adored Jade, for some godawful reason, and was convinced she was shy, but Rowdy knew better.  He knew her type.  She was a first class snob; the type of woman he took even greater pains to avoid than the marrying girls.

He walked into the cool, dimly lit dark building and paused before slipping into a thick Texas drawl.  “Hey, hey, hey!” 

Texas had to be the only state where “hey” was recognized as a formal greeting.  It covered ‘hi, how are you and your family’ all in one simple three-letter word.  But his jolly hello backfired and set off a round of crying from Hope, who was shoved into his arms. 

He promptly set to patting her back while a scowling Jessa stalked past him.  “Just for that you get to take care of her.”  

He caught Toni’s eye.  “What’s wrong?”

 “Hope has an ear infection and Jessa was up with her most of the night,” she added, eyebrows raised.  “She came this close--” Toni held out her thumb and forefinger “--to canceling practice.”

He turned his attention to the baby in his arms.  Her cries had turned to little hiccups and she looked at him with an expression so sad he frowned and swallowed the lump in his throat.  With a heaving sigh as the tension slowly left her tiny body.  He kissed her warm forehead and gently rubbed her back until her eyelids drifted low and she sagged against his shoulder.  He had an admitted soft spot for little girls that probably dated back to when Rene was just a sprout.  He loved the two little girls in his life more than anyone and would do anything for them.

Jade studied him, eyebrows slightly pulled together, as if she couldn’t quite believe he was willingly holding a baby.  He half expected her to slide on a lab coat and take notes.  “I see your charm and charisma extend even to the younger set.”

“How’s that tooth doing?  Had to make any more emergency visits to the dentist?” he shot back with a scowl. 

Today she wore khakis, a pink t-shirt and some brown weave sandals.  But in Target last weekend she’d looked like she’d been rode hard and put up wet. 

Susie excused herself and disappeared into the office, frowning as she passed him.  He gently set the now-dozing Hope in her chair and glanced at Jade, feeling unusually defensive.  “Haven’t you ever seen a man hold a baby before?”