Free Denim and Diamonds by Debbie Macomber

around.”
    “How can you be so calm about it, though?”
    “Take your bath, Lonny,” she said with a quick laugh. She shoved a freshly folded towel at him. “You’re driving me crazy. And you say
Cricket
asks a lot of questions.”
    —
    Chase arrived a couple of hours later, stepping gingerly into the kitchen. He completely avoided looking at or speaking to Letty, who was busy preparing her and Cricket’s dinner. He walked past Letty but was waylaid by Cricket, who was coloring in her book at the dining room table.
    Chase seemed somewhat short with the child, Letty noted, but Cricket had a minimum of ten important questions Chase needed to answer regarding Firepower. The five-year-old didn’t seem to mind that Chase was a little abrupt. Apparently her hero could do no wrong.
    Soon enough Lonny appeared. He opened a can of beer, and Letty listened to her brother relate his hair-raising encounter with “the Fuller woman” at the stop sign in town as if he were lucky to have escaped with his life.
    The two men were in the living room while Letty stayed in the kitchen. Chase obviously wanted to keep his distance, and that was just as well. He’d gone out of his way to irritate her lately, and she’d tolerated about all she could. Doing battle with Chase now would only deplete her energy. She’d tried to square things with him once, and he’d made his feelings abundantly clear. For now, Letty could do nothing but accept the situation.
    “Where do you think we should eat?” Lonny asked, coming into the kitchen to deposit his empty beer can.
    “Billy’s Steak House?” Chase called out from the living room. “I’m in the mood for a thick sirloin.”
    Letty remembered that Chase had always liked his meat rare.
    “How about going to the tavern afterward?” Lonny suggested. “Let’s see if there’s any action to be had.”
    Letty didn’t hear the response, but whatever it was caused the two men to laugh like a couple of rambunctious teenagers. Amused, Letty smiled faintly and placed the cookie sheet with frozen fish sticks in the oven.
    It wasn’t until later, while Letty was clearing away the dinner dishes, that the impact of their conversation really hit her. The “action” they were looking for at the Roundup Tavern involved women….Although she wouldn’t admit it to Lonny—and he’d never admit it himself—she suspected he might be hoping Joy Fuller would show up.
    But Chase—what woman was
he
looking for? Would anyone do, so long as she wasn’t Letty? Would their encounter go beyond a few dances and a few drinks?
    Her lips pursed, Letty marched into the living room and threw herself down on the overstuffed chair. Cricket was playing with her dolls on the carpet and Letty pushed the buttons on the remote control with a vengeance. Unable to watch the sitcom she usually enjoyed, she turned off the set and placed a hand over her face. Closing her eyes was a mistake.
    Instantly she imagined Chase in the arms of a beautiful woman, a sexy one, moving suggestively against him.
    “Oh, no,” Letty cried, bolting upright.
    “Mommy?”
    Letty’s pulse started to roar in her ears, drowning out reason. She looked at Cricket, playing so contentedly, and announced curtly, “It’s time for bed.”
    “Already?”
    “Yes….Remember, we have church in the morning,” she said.
    “Will Chase be there?”
    “I…I don’t know.” If he was, she’d…she’d ignore him, the way he’d ignored her.
    Several hours later, Cricket was in bed asleep and Letty lay in her own bed, staring sightlessly into the dark. Her fury, irrational though it might be, multiplied with every passing minute. When she could stand it no longer, Letty hurried down the stairs and sat in the living room without turning on any lights.
    She wasn’t there long before she heard a vehicle coming up the drive. The back door opened and the two men stumbled into the house.
    “Shhhh,” she heard Chase whisper loudly, “you’ll wake