Once in a Blue Moon (Bluebonnet, TX Book 2) - Excerpt

5. THINK PINK

The days and weeks after my run-ins with Rhea and Ty floated by in a haze of tears, ice cream and anything else I could shove in my mouth. I'd never in my life been so in the dumps over a man but repeated self-scoldings and peptalks did no good.

I had come to think of my life in terms of BT--before Ty and AT--after Ty.

The first few weeks AT, I'd alternated between nausea and binge eating. Definitely not like me; however, I'd never had my heart well and truly broken before. Squashed and beaten like a flower in a South Texas flash flood. This was unquestionably new territory for me and at first, I allowed myself to mope, eat, and cry. But things didn't seem to improve. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't pull myself out of my funk, and continued eating and crying...and sleeping. I was depressed.

My depression lifted at the oddest incident. But even that didn't last long. The week after I blacked Rhea's eye I came home to find my grass had been cut. Totally not out of the ordinary since I paid my neighbor's son to cut and bag for me. The Jackson brothers--a couple of twelve year old, fair-haired imps were always looking to make a dime.

About time, too. They were a week past due.

On my way to work the next morning I stuffed an envelope with their pay in the mailbox, figuring their mother would give it to them. And a couple weeks later we repeated our song and dance.

Late in August, just before school started, their mom, who was the source of their blonde hair and always looked frazzled, showed up on my doorstep with both envelopes. And that's when I got tickled.

"Betti, I'm sorry to bother you, but I found these in my mail."

"Oh Bev, that was for the boys mowing my grass. I hadn't seen you around, so I just left their money in your mailbox."

"Well, see now, that's the thing. The boys left July 1 to go spend the rest of the summer with their daddy up in Wichita Falls. Then my mama got sick a week later, and I've been in Alabama. Sally Truesdale's been collecting all my mail and watering my yard. I just got back last week, and I'm still trying to set my house straight."

"So, who cut my grass?" Frowning, I stepped out on my porch and looked around. Like the mysterious grass cutter would still be nearby.

"I have no clue, but Sally did mention she'd seen Ty Boudreaux pass through here quite a bit lately."

What in the hell was Sally Truesdale smoking? Bev wasn't one to gossip...but she was a woman. And Sally was always in the know. We eyed each other in the porch light, both of us fully aware my response would be reported to Sally and then repeated all over town.

"Why in the world would Ty Boudreaux come around here?" Least said; least spread was my motto. "This isn't his side of town." I put on my best "I have no clue" frown and crossed my arms. Thank God it was dark out.

"She said she saw him more than once." Bev could fish 'till the cows came home. "I hear he's been having a lot of trouble since Rhea up and left him."

My lips were sealed.

But if Sally had seen him, then who else had? No way was I going to try and find out first-hand what Sally knew, or worse, canvas the neighbors to find out if anyone had actually seen Ty mowing my grass. And honestly, why would he?

Mowing a woman's grass while she wasn't home had to be the most insane thing I've ever heard of. Right?

* * *

Before I realized it, Labor Day and Halloween had passed us by--and my waistline had swelled to alarming proportions. Tall and curvy was one thing, but my size sixteens had become downright uncomfortable. This was not how I wanted to spend my holiday season, bloated like a whale.