Free Texas Gold by Liz Lee Page B

they’re great conversation starters.”
    Happy to hear the teasing quality back in her voice, he finished the water in his glass and stood. “Take me on the grand tour?”
    For a second, she hesitated and he wondered if she was remembering the tour he’d taken her on in his house. Remembering the way it had ended.
    The teasing sparkle left her eyes, but a few seconds later she shrugged in resignation. “Sure. But I’m telling you right now up front, I’m a simple girl. There’s no stained glass or technological innovations for me.”
    After placing their empty glasses on the walnut coffee table, she pointed through the first door and he saw an all white kitchen with a linoleum floor. The table was more ancient than antique, but she did have a great view of her backyard.
    The second door was a bathroom with pink tile.
    If he remembered correctly, his grandmother had pink tile in her bathroom back before she’d moved into a convalescent home. Pink tile and rose perfume. He inhaled expecting the same floral scent, but the only scent in Mallory’s bathroom was Ivory Soap.
    The hall walls were lined with more family photos. She didn’t point them out, but when he came across one with her and all five of hr brothers, he couldn’t resist finding out about it.
    They were dressed in ball uniforms, looking like the Bad News Bears. Mallory stood front center, glove on one hand, ball in the other. Her hair back then just the same only flying everywhere. Her suit was covered in dirt as was her face, and it almost looked like she had a black eye.
    She trailed back to him and laughed at the picture.
    “That was family reunion. Daddy had us play him and his brothers and sisters every year. That year, I pitched. It was the first time we won.”
    He could hear the pride in her voice and he felt a tug. Family reunions were foreign to him. How lucky she was.
    Warmth emanated from her voice as she told about each of her brothers.
    She pointed first to Tim. He hadn’t changed a bit. “Oldest and that makes him think he’s wisest. Even back then. He’s married to Julie and Jen’s their daughter.”
    She stopped and looked at him smiling. “But then you know that.”
    He did know, but hearing about Tim through his sister’s eyes made him seem more real and less like someone who’d sold him a few acres of land.  
    She pointed to the second in the row. “That’s Scott. You’ve probably seen him around town.”
    He had, and from the times they’d met, he knew this brother felt the same about him as his little sister.
    “He’s the only one of us who ever ended up in the rodeo, which is weird. Rodeo is the biggest sport in Serendipity. Even bigger than football sometimes. He’s married to Celinda, but sometimes I wonder why.”
    Next there was Jackson.
    The second Baber to sell his land.
    “He swore he’d never come home to Serendipity, but I hope he does some day. He lives out in California now, so at least when I go visit, I get to go to Disneyland.”
    Then there was Keith who lived in Minnesota.
    And last was Toby who lived down at the Texas coast but came home often.
    She pointed to herself. “And then there’s me.”
    He could tell she was ready to move on, but he wasn’t. He wanted to know more about the imp in the photo. The little girl she’d been.
    “What happened to the eye?”
    “The eye?” She looked at the picture again and he could see her straining for the memory. When it finally caught, she shook her head. “That was from playing catch. Daddy was teaching me to think quick and catch fast balls. I missed.”
    He squinted at the thought. “Must have hurt.”
    “Don’t remember that much about hurting. Daddy used to say if it isn’t bleeding or broken, it’s going to be fine.”
    The more he heard about Mallory’s father, the less he liked. He must have been tougher than rawhide to live with.
    Only he could tell she didn’t see it that way. She laughed at the memories, embraced the toughness of