HEATHER MACALLISTER - Hand-Picked Husband

Happy New Year.

“Sorry if we were a little rowdy. Seth and Pete and Luke and I don’t get to see much of each other except at rodeo time. We had a lot of catching up to do.”

“So tell us all the news,” Debra invited.

“Well...Seth and Claire have a brand-new baby boy, and so do Luke and Livie.”

“Baaabies.” Autumn’s mother sighed and gave Autumn a gooey look.

Autumn tensed. Not baby talk. Not in front of Clay.

“There’s just something about holding a baby in your arms.... I remember when you two were babies. Clayton, you were such an active little boy. Always crawling, always moving. Autumn, you were a little dumpling.”

“Gee, thanks, Mom.” Autumn set her coffee cup down.

“Well, you’re certainly not a dumpling now, is she, Clay?”

Their eyes met, and bloodshot though his were, they managed to take a quick inventory.

Fortunately, the servers set a platter of eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, hash brown potatoes, grits and biscuits with cream gravy in front of them before Clay took the opportunity to make a snide remark.

Autumn inhaled. The one meal of the year where she inverted the U.S. government’s food pyramid. She immediately went for the biscuits and gravy.

“She’ll be a dumpling if she eats all this,” Clay said.

Autumn stopped, the fork halfway to her mouth. Gravy plopped onto her plate.

“Why, the portions are enormous. Of course Autumn won’t eat all this.” Debra virtuously nibbled on a piece of dry toast from the bread basket.

Autumn ate the bite of biscuit and gravy anyway, but it didn’t taste nearly as good.

Debra had been a rancher’s daughter and wife long enough to know that a woman shouldn’t get between a man and his food and she directed most of her small talk toward Autumn. However, that small talk was carefully edited to elicit answers designed to impress Clayton.

“Autumn, you and the committee did a wonderful job planning the brunch today,” Debra said.

Clay raised an eyebrow, obviously figuring out the culprit responsible for the time change.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“She’s worked so hard, Clay.”

“The food’s great,” he said.

Autumn hadn’t had anything to do with the food. The brunch was catered by the hotel’s kitchen and the menu was the same as it had been for years. Clayton knew this, of course. She smiled thinly.

“And the decorations are just precious,” Debra continued, oblivious to the looks Autumn and Clay exchanged. “The kickoff meeting is so important because it sets the tone for the whole swine auction. It was an honor to be asked to be on this committee. Usually, you have to work in the trenches for at least five years before they let you move up to one of the important committees. I’m so proud of her. Maybe next year she can move on to one of the cattle auction committees.”

“She deserves it,” Clay said. “Nobody can fill balloons like Autumn.”

“Mom helped,” Autumn said in warning. She didn’t want her mother caught in the cross fire between them.

“Did you bake the cookies, too, Miz Reese?” Clay picked up one of the pig-shaped sugar cookies that were the brunch favors.

“Oh, my, no. Autumn—”

“Autumn baked them?” he interrupted.

Autumn’s silverware clanked against the china plate. “No. I found a bakery , to design a custom cookie for us.”

Clay relaxed. “Well, that’s a...”

“relief was the word he’d been about to say. Autumn narrowed her eyes.

“...a great idea,” he substituted. But if her mother hadn’t been here, he wouldn’t have.

Autumn’s cooking failures were legendary. In self defense, she’d gone out for barrel racing instead of competing in the culinary arts portion of the rodeo. She was as good a barrel racer as she was as bad a cook.

Mercifully, the business meeting started shortly af ter that Autumn gave Clay a frigid smile and turned her chair toward the podium.

“I’m mighty glad to see y‘all out here this mornin’ for our program-sales kickoff,” began a man wearing a belt with the grand champion buyer’s huge buckle. “My name’s Fred Chapman and I’m the head of today’s doings.” There was good-natured laughter and applause. “Before we get down to assigning the sales groups, I want to lay a few stats on you. You know, we have both a lot of fun and a goodly little competition raising money.” There was more laughter.

Autumn and Clay glanced at each other. These people thought they’d seen competition? They hadn’t seen anything yet.

“But when it comes down to it, we’re doing this for the kids. Last year, we raised...”

Since Autumn already knew how much scholarship money had been raised, her mind wandered during Fred’s pep talk. For the next month, she and her group, Hogs and Kisses, would scour San Antonio persuading businesses to contribute to the Livestock Show and Rodeo education fund.

Clay would be doing the same, and Autumn was determined that Hogs and Kisses would raise more money than his group, High on the Hog.

The meeting didn’t take long because the men wanted to get home in time to watch the New Year’s Day football games on TV. When Fred’s speech was over, the crowd lined up to register their groups, and Autumn’s mother drifted away to talk with friends.

“You might as well give up now, Autumn,” a familiar voice murmured in her ear.

Clay was behind her in the line. “You wish, Clay, ’cause that’s the only way you’ll win.”

He laughed, but it was a tired laugh without the usual sharpness.

Autumn turned to face him. “Do you feel as bad as you look?”

Clay grimaced and ran a hand over his jaw. He’d missed a few spots shaving. “Probably.”

“Then maybe I’d better call an ambulance.”

“Not unless I’ve eaten some of your cooking.”

She eyed him. “You are tired if you’re falling back on cooking insults.”

“Haven’t seen you much lately. Guess I’m out of practice.” He smiled crookedly and drew his hands up to his waist. “How are you and your mom getting along?”

Autumn automatically scanned the room until she found her mother and her group of friends. Debra was smiling as she talked. “She’s a lot better. This was the second Christmas since Dad died and it was definitely easier than last year.”

“I miss your dad,” Clay said. “A lot of people do.”

“Yeah.” Autumn turned until she faced the signup tables again. She still got misty-eyed when thinking about her father and didn’t want Clay to see.

“So...are you planning to go back to law school any time soon?”

Good question. The longer she was out of school, the less enthusiastic she felt about going back. “Maybe this summer,” she answered just as they reached Jackie Dutton at the table.

“Hey, Autumn...Clay. Let me find your packet.”

Before Autumn could stop her, Jackie went to the B section and pulled out Clay’s packet.

“Oh, would you look at this?” Shaking her head, she uncapped a pen. “They left Autumn’s name off the list. I am sorry. I can’t imagine how that happened.”

“Because I’m not with Clay’s group,” Autumn told her when it was obvious Clay wasn’t going to.

“You’re not with High on the Hog?” Jackie looked mcredulous.

“She’s going to wish she was.” Clay took his packet and winked at Autumn.

“I’m with Hogs and Kisses,” Autumn said.

“But...” Jackie looked from one to the other.

“You two aren’t on the same committee?”

The streaked-blond woman next to Jackie leaned over. “What’s the problem?”

“Clay and Autumn are on different committees.”

“Computers.” The blonde rolled her eyes. “You just can’t trust them.”