“Are you askin’ me if that’s true? Yes, I was at the bar with my brothers, we had a couple of beers and left. That’s it.”
Carolyn placed her hand on his chest. “I wasn’t accusing you. I believe you. I know you like to go out and rip it up. Edie’s comments about you and me started this whole nasty conversation and they were acting like we weren’t a couple.”
“What’d you say about that?”
“Nothing. I overheard them. They didn’t say it directly to me.”
“They’re idiots. We are a couple. Everyone who’s seen us out and about knows we’re a couple.” He tugged on her hair. “As long as you know I’m with you and only with you, then I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks or says.”
Easy for him to say. Turning a deaf ear to the rumors was harder to do.
He’s a McKay. You’d better get used to dealing with rumors.
“How about I buy you supper?”
“Someplace quiet?”
“I was thinkin’ more along the lines of the diner in Moorcroft. Show people we are a normal couple out on a date.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I haven’t wanted to share you or our time together, but now I see I’ve gotta show off my beautiful girlfriend.”
“Carson, you don’t have to.”
“I want to. It’s past time I take you out someplace besides a bar.”
Chapter Fourteen
Carson
“You gonna keep beatin’ the shit outta that post? Or maybe we can move on to the next one?”
Carson swiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his glove and let the hammer fall. “Sorry.”
“Whatcha thinkin’ about so hard?” Cal asked.
He didn’t answer. Instead he picked up a shovel.
“It’s her, ain’t it?”
“Yep.”
A moment passed and Cal sighed. “Come on, Carse, what’s goin’ on? I don’t involve myself in your love life, but it’s affecting your workin’ hours so I have a right to know why you’re so damn distracted.”
Carson leaned on the shovel handle and gazed across this new section of grazing land, covered in scrub cedar. How did he say this without sounding like a sap?
Cal said nothing. He just waited.
“I want my ring on her finger. I want everyone to know she’s mine. It’s the first time I ever felt this way and I don’t know what to do.”
“Marry her.”
“Just like that?” He scowled at his brother. “I’m bein’ serious.”
“So am I. Isn’t that what you told me you planned on doin’ the first night you saw her? And the first night you brought her over here? And after you introduced her to us? Or didn’t you mean it?”
Carson struck the ground’s hard crust with the shovel. The clang reverberated up his arm. “I meant it. Didn’t know how much I meant it until I’d gotten to know her and she’s…everything.”
“Still don’t see the problem.”
“Yeah? How about her family will be pissed, maybe pissed enough to permanently cut ties with her if she marries me. How about she’s young. How about we’ve only been together four f**king weeks.”
Cal shrugged. “You said yourself that she seems older than her years. Most people get married young—you’n me are about the only ones in our class that ain’t hitched. Doesn’t matter how long you have or haven’t been together. You’ll have deeper feelings for her if you wait another year to make it official? And not to be a jackass, but there are plenty of families in these parts that wouldn’t want you marryin’ their daughter either, so that family bullshit is another moot point. Quit fightin’ with yourself. Cowboy up and make her your wife or walk away.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Cal repeated. “You ain’t one for half measures.”
“No lie there.” He rubbed his chin with the back of his hand, deep in thought. “I don’t know how to do this. Do I buy her a ring? Or does she go with me to pick one out?”
“Doesn’t Dad have Mom’s rings?”
“Yeah. But remember he inherited them from his mother. She made Dad promise her jewelry would go to the first girl born into the McKay family.”
“Damn. I’d forgotten about that. You bein’ the first one to get married won’t count.”
“Nope.”
Cal cocked his head. “Any money left over from the bank loan after we bought that section from Harvey Buckholz?”
“Since closing costs were less than we’d estimated…yeah. But I thought I’d use it to make the first payment.”
“Looks like you’ve found a better use for it.” Cal squinted at the sky. “Let’s pack it in for today. It’s hotter than a demon’s cooch out here anyway.”
Carson and Cal ended up driving into Rapid City for an engagement ring. He’d look cheap if he picked one with a little diamond chip. Carolyn was worth more than that. At the last store he found a round stone, the size of the end of a pencil eraser, in a platinum setting, that managed to be simple yet eye-catching.
“So when are you askin’ her?”
“Tonight.” Carson shot him a look. “You can make yourself scarce, right?”
“I suppose I’d better find someplace to live, so the newlyweds can have their privacy.”
“The Buckholz house ain’t in that bad of shape except for the broken windows and the critters that’ve moved in.”
Cal glanced at him sharply. “I thought you wanted that place.”
“It won’t be ready for me’n Caro. So I’ll stay in the trailer and let you have it.”
“We’d better measure them windows and order replacement materials straight away.”
They didn’t speak again until they’d passed by Spearfish. Sometimes they could jaw on all day; other days they’d barely speak two words to each other.
“You plan to ask Carolyn’s dad about marryin’ her?”
“And give him a chance to say no?” Carson shook his head. “After we’re engaged I might ask for his blessing. But I doubt he’ll give it.”
“Does that bother you? Or I guess maybe the real question is do you think it’ll bother her?”
Carson hadn’t considered that. “Shit. I don’t know.” He paused. “I hadn’t thought about how Dad will react either.”