Texas Charm, page 1
Jeanette Carson has been a fixture as a waitress in Ruby’s Cafe ever since high school. Walker Roundtree is country music’s brightest star, known by all for his laid-back charm and irresistible appeal to the opposite sex. Ever since his first visit to Sweetgrass Springs, there have been verbal fireworks between him and Jeanette as she proved to be the only woman immune to his charm.
Now their paths have crossed in the outside world, and they’re seeing each other in a new light. Fireworks of a very different sort are sparking the sky—but then Walker’s world is upended by a tragedy, and the only one who steps in to help him is the very woman who swore never to put herself at his mercy. For a few days, they have only each other to rely upon, and these two lonely hearts find refuge in each other.
But all too soon, the real world demands its due, and their refuge is no longer private. The days of dreaming, the nights of yearning and hope face the harsh light of reality, and the only question is:
Whose heart will be the one to break?
THE TEXAS HEROES SERIES
The Gallaghers of Morning Star
Texas Secrets
Texas Lonely
Texas Bad Boy
The Marshalls
Texas Refuge
Texas Star
Texas Danger
The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs
Texas Roots
Texas Wild
Texas Dreams
Texas Rebel
Texas Blaze
Texas Christmas Bride
The Book Babes of Austin
Texas Ties
Texas Troubles
Texas Together
More Sweetgrass Springs Stories
Texas Hope
Texas Strong
Texas Sweet
Be Mine This Christmas
Texas Charm
Texas Magic
Be My Midnight Kiss
Lone Star Lovers
Texas Heartthrob
Texas Healer
Texas Protector
Texas Deception
Texas Lost
Texas Wanderer
Texas Bodyguard
Texas Rescue
Texas Charm
A Sweetgrass Springs Story
Jean Brashear
Copyright © 2017 Jean Brashear
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Dedication
To Eric Dove, who has so skillfully brought my Texas Heroes series to life in audiobooks and who now has given Texas Charm a special magic with his musical talents, composing and performing “Never Forever” as its theme song. Thank you for giving the yearning of these two hearts a gorgeous melody that I will never forget and am so grateful to be able to share with the readers who’ve waited so long for Jeanette to have her story.
And as always, to Ercel, whose love gives my heart a million reasons to write romance.
Table of Contents
Cover
About Texas Charm
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
The Families of Sweetgrass Springs
Cast of Characters
Map of Sweetgrass Springs
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Excerpt from Texas Magic
About the Author
Connect With Jean
To see a larger version of the current generations of Sweetgrass Springs founding families, click or tap here
To see a larger version of the current generations of Sweetgrass Springs founding families, click or tap here
SWEETGRASS SPRINGS
Cast of Characters
(titles in parentheses mark a character’s primary story)
THE FOUR FOUNDING FAMILIES:
THE GALLAGHERS (Josiah Gallagher, Sweetgrass Springs founder)
Ruby Gallagher – diner owner and the heart and soul of this struggling small town
James Gallagher – Ruby’s brother and father of twins Jackson and Penny plus Rissa.
Scarlett Ross – Ruby’s granddaughter, New York chef whose deceased mother Georgia never told her they had family in Texas (Texas Roots, Texas Dreams)
Jackson Gallagher – video game tycoon and prodigal son of James who’s been missing for twenty years (Texas Rebel, Texas Christmas Bride)
Penelope Gallagher – Jackson’s twin sister, shark lawyer who left Sweetgrass Springs behind (Texas Blaze, Texas Christmas Bride)
Clarissa Gallagher – youngest child of James and horse whisperer; the only one of James’s children who cares about the ranch (Texas Wild)
THE MCLARENS (Ronald McLaren, Sweetgrass Springs founder)
Gordon McLaren – owner of the Double Bar M Ranch with his son Ian (Texas Hope)
Ian McLaren – Gordon’s son whose mother abandoned him as a child; now runs Double Bar M Ranch. Unofficial mayor of Sweetgrass Springs and its mainstay alongside Ruby (Texas Roots, Texas Dreams)
Sophia McLaren Cavanaugh – the mother Ian has never forgiven for leaving him behind (Texas Hope)
Michael Cavanaugh – Ian’s half-brother by Sophia’s second husband. Neither Michael nor Ian was ever told the other exists (The Book Babes, Texas Hope)
THE PATTONS (Tobias Patton, Sweetgrass Springs founder)
Vernon Patton – deceased, abusive father of Veronica and Theodore (Tank)
Veronica Patton Butler – Jackson Gallagher’s teenage sweetheart left behind when he vanished. She married Jackson’s close friend David Butler. Owner of a flower farm and David’s widow (Texas Rebel, Texas Christmas Bride)
Theodore “Tank” Patton – deputy sheriff and the most reviled man in Sweetgrass Springs (Texas Hope)
THE BUTLERS (Benjamin Butler, Sweetgrass Springs founder)
Raymond Butler – deceased father of David Butler
David Butler – one of the most beloved citizens of Sweetgrass Springs. High school buddies with Jackson Gallagher, Ian McLaren and Randall Mackey. Died leaving his widow Veronica with a son Ben and twins Abby and Beth.
Beth Butler – David’s sister who died in the car accident that caused Jackson Gallagher to be banished
OTHER IMPORTANT SWEETGRASS SPRINGS CHARACTERS:
Randall Mackey, close friend of Ian McLaren, Jackson Gallagher and David Butler. Joined the Navy after high school; became a SEAL. After leaving the service, wound up as a stuntman in Hollywood (Texas Wild)
Bridger Calhoun, former SEAL buddy of Mackey’s, now a firefighter (Texas Blaze, Texas Christmas Bride)
Harley Sykes (wife Melba, a quilter) – one of the coffee group that meets every morning at Ruby’s. One of the town’s most colorful characters.
Raymond Benefield (wife Nita, also a quilter) – one of the coffee group regulars.
Arnie Howard – coffee group regular at Ruby’s who’s been warming Ruby’s bed for many years but can never convince her to marry him
Jeanette Carson – sharp-tongued veteran waitress at Ruby’s. Attended high school a few years behind Ian McLaren, for whom she’s been carrying a torch for years (Texas Charm)
Brenda Jones – skittish teenaged waitress at Ruby’s who just showed up in Sweetgrass one day and has secrets she keeps (Texas Sweet)
Henry Jansen – busboy turned cook at Ruby’s; young man whose chivalry towards Brenda turns to blushes when noticed (Texas Sweet)
Spike Ridley – tattooed Goth pastry chef with an attitude; her skills are unparalleled, but her motto might as well be “have mixer will travel.”
Walker Roundtree – country music superstar; spars with Jeanette and performs at several Sweetgrass weddings (Texas Charm)
Chapter One
Jeanette Carson had never felt more like a fish out of water.
She’d only left the state of Texas a few times and that only to visit her parents in Phoenix. She hardly ever went farther from Sweetgrass Springs than Austin, and that seldom. She still wasn’t sure how Ruby Gallagher Howard, the woman who’d single-handedly kept Sweetgrass alive all these years, had bullied her into at last accepting Hayley Sullivan’s invitation to come to L.A. to show off her dressmaking skills.
You’ve hidden in Sweetgrass too long, Scarlett had chided. You’re more than a great waitress.
I have good help now, Jeanette, Ruby had declared. And you have a gift. You have to try this.
“Can’t you make my booty look more luscious?” complained the actress who’d been whining for an hour straight as Jeanette fitted the gown she’d made for the girl’s awards show appearance.
If you’d ever eat a meal, I might have something to work with, Jeanette thought. Nothing too luscious about a bag of sticks.
“Doll, you know how the camera adds pounds. You can’t afford a big booty, not for this part you want. It’s too important to your career,” the teen starlet’s assistant scolded. “We’ve worked so long for this break.”
Hayley sat across the room, looking every inch the L.A. Barbie Scarlett had dubbed her, flipping pages in a magazine and studiously not listening.
But when Jeanette opened her mouth to respond, Hayley cast her a warning glance.
Important part, my great-aunt Sassy’s behind, Jeanette thought. She was up for a one-line role, according to Hayley. And she was only going to hold a trophy at this awards ceremony, standing off to the side.
But it’s your creation that will be on television. It’s your big shot, too, at making a splash.
Splash. Yeah, right. If she were lucky, she’d be a blip on the radar, quickly gone.
And tomorrow the next customer would show up, also feeling obese at size zero, equally driven to focus solely on her looks. Desperate for a part, a mention, a tweet…
Why had she caved to Hayley? She’d resisted the siren call for months, busy running the front at Ruby’s Cafe, her life full of—
What?
Nothing, really. Only more of the same. She’d been waitressing at Ruby’s since high school. Now it was nearly twenty years later, and what did she have to show for her time on this earth?
I have friends. Good ones. A place to belong.
She did have all that, but…
“Ow! You stuck me! Oh, god, Fritzie, did she leave a mark? Will it show on camera?” The high, thin voice screeched higher yet. “You stupid cow—you’ve ruined my only chance!” Huge tears fell, and the girl shoved and yanked at the fragile gown. “Get it off me!”
Jeanette tried to ease the feather-light fabric off, but the panicky teen slapped at her hands—
Riiiipp—
Jeanette thought of all the money she’d spent on this unique fabric, the hours she’d sewn until late into the night to meet an impossible deadline, all in service of a dream that was now as ruined as the gown.
Abruptly she stood. “Stop it!” she shouted over the rising panic, the assistant’s clumsy hands. “Now!”
The girl went ramrod straight—and slapped Jeanette. Then wailed.
“I’ve got this,” Hayley said to her. “Leave us.”
Jeanette didn’t run away. Ever. She locked her jaw, then grabbed the girl by the shoulders. “If you don’t want more scratches from the remaining pins, stand still,” she gritted through clenched teeth. When the girl hissed at her, Jeanette summoned restraint from her depths, then used the no-nonsense tone she’d saved for crises at the cafe. “You’re going to be fine. One minute. Just stand still for one minute.” She restrained the girl with one hand and turned her gently, making quick work of the fastenings. “Now step out.”
When the girl wobbled, Jeanette caught her. “You’re fine. You’re just fine. One step out.” You just have to hold on a couple of minutes longer, she reminded herself.
But two minutes felt like two years.
At last the girl was free of the ruined gown. “I hate you, you stupid—”
Jeanette stood frozen, knowing already, just from less than three weeks here, that all the good impressions she’d made would melt in the glare of this one story, told from an overwrought starving teenager’s social media accounts.
Hayley was quick to intercede, and between her and the assistant who cast a sympathetic look to Jeanette while murmuring soothing nonsense, the girl was removed from the room.
Fabric that had once seemed a miraculous find and her shining hope to make a career of a talent she’d hidden for years now felt like straw in her hands, the crumpled remains of a ridiculous notion, that Jeanette Carson could ever be more than a waitress, more than a spinster who still lived in her family home.
She hated this place, this life. She thought of everyone she’d left behind in Sweetgrass Springs and understood just what a miracle her hometown was.
She didn’t know why she’d been given this gift of creativity with needle and thread and vision, but this was not her path. She’d be embarrassed to return home with her tail tucked between her legs, and she didn’t know how she’d bear it, but—
She couldn’t stay here.
Hayley returned, the click-clack of her ever-present mules tapping the tile floor, her public smile firmly pasted on. “Well…that was fun. Nothing like a hysterical teenager to start the day. So this afternoon, we’ll—”
“I’m done, Hayley. I appreciate what you’ve tried to do, but this isn’t going to work.”
“Of course it will. This is only a bump in the road. Egos are fragile in this town, but that’s just part of the deal. I could tell you stories for hours about clients crying over a lamp’s position or throwing vases at the wall because they didn’t like the paint color—”
“I hate this place. But I really do thank you for trying.”
“You’re just going to give up after one challenging client?”
“If it were only one, no. You’re used to these people, I guess—this constant anxiety and self-absorption, the unfriendliness, the ugliness, the noise…it’s all too much. Nobody should live like this.” She saw Hayley taking offense and tried again. “You’re a nice person, Hayley. You could live so much more happily than this. You don’t have to put up with these people.” She cocked her head. “Why do you?”
Hayley’s gaze slid to the side. “Forget them for now. Let’s go do mani-pedis before the concert tonight. We have backstage passes, just delivered by Walker’s people. I’m going to wear that knockout melon bandage dress you made me—what are you going to wear?”
“Backstage passes?” Jeanette wasn’t sure if she was thrilled or terrified. She’d agreed to attend the concert as Hayley’s guest just because she liked Walker Roundtree’s music and she’d never seen him perform live—not like this, at least. They’d enjoyed bantering back and forth when he was in Sweetgrass, and she’d heard him sing and play his acoustic guitar at weddings and other Sweetgrass celebrations, but in Sweetgrass he was just…one of the gang. A friend doing a favor for a friend.
His stage performances were renowned. And truth to tell, she wouldn’t mind a little taste of home right now.
But backstage…surrounded by more people involved in the fame game…
“Maybe you’d like to take another friend,” she said. “I have a book I need to finish.”
Hayley rolled her eyes. “Girlfriend, I’ve seen you in action. You’re the furthest thing from a coward, so what’s all this about? I’d think you’d want to see Walker and have a chance to visit with him. Talk trash like you two do back in Sweetgrass.”
Put like that, she couldn’t disagree. Trading insults with Walker was her best shot at getting her feet back on solid ground after the high wire balancing act she’d been doing for three weeks.
“Good point. I can’t kick that bitchy little girl’s butt, but Walker can take whatever I dish out. At least he won’t cry or scream.”
Hayley grinned, and Jeanette grinned back. “There’s the Jeanette who doesn’t take crap off anybody. Come on, girl. We’re having a spa day.” She took Jeanette by the elbow and led her outside.
Jeanette tore herself away and raced back to pick up the ruined gown. That was excellent fabric, and she was not one to waste a penny. She’d find a way to first perform an exorcism on the remains of one beautiful gown—
And then she’d make something even more gorgeous from it. Her eyes narrowed as she imagined what Veronica and Jackson’s eight-year-old twin girls would do, presented with princess gowns made from this.
And then she smiled wide.
Abby would preen, then head straight for the perfect shoes.
Beth’s shy smile would be how this fabric was christened and made new again.
Why had she left Sweetgrass at all?
Jeanette glanced around the backstage area buzzing with excitement and anticipation, necks craning, attention whipping toward the door as each new person entered.
After each disappointment that it wasn’t Walker Roundtree, the noise level rose higher.
This was his world, and she so did not fit here.
She was wearing too many clothes, for one thing.
