The Swinging R Ranch: The Swinging R Ranch / Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Debbi Rawlins

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СКАЧАТЬ We’re not having a dispute. It’s just a tiny misunderstanding. Come home tomorrow and everything will be back to normal.”

      Gramms sadly shook her head.

      From the podium, Trish tested the microphone with an earsplitting gum pop.

      Torn between saving potential constituents from Trish and pleading with Gramms, Abby looked from one woman to the other. The decision was made for her when Gramms kissed her cheek, wished her good luck, then headed toward the back of the room.

      “ABBY SEEMS NERVOUS,” Mona commented to Estelle and Max. “That isn’t like her.”

      Max studied Abby’s body language. Even sitting way back in the armpit of the room he could see Mona was right. He hoped he hadn’t said anything to upset Abby. He laughed at himself, thinking about how she would react to that notion. She’d say he was giving himself too much credit again.

      “I’m afraid that has something to do with me,” Estelle said, sighing. “I hope I’m doing the right thing.”

      To his disgust, Max’s curiosity was piqued, and he looked at Estelle, hoping she’d explain. Not that this crazy nosiness was new. After all, here he was at a sad excuse for a fund-raiser, sitting in the far corner with four older women, only one of whom, he suspected, didn’t have her receiver off the hook.

      “Maybe we should sit up closer,” Mona said. “Being able to see you might comfort her.”

      Max shuddered at the thought. He liked sitting back here in the semidarkness where he didn’t have too good a view of the ladies’ dresses, especially Mona’s. The plunging neckline and short tight red silk skirt were almost indecent. Well, not on a twenty or thirty-something, but on someone old enough to be his grandmother?

      He glanced around the room, grateful that the rest of the audience sat in front of them and hadn’t seemed to notice.

      “Weren’t you listening to Estelle?” Across the table, Rosie stopped fanning herself and frowned at Mona. “If Estelle thinks she’s the one who’s upset Abby, why in the hell would she sit in clear view and upset her some more?”

      “Was I talking to you?” Mona angled her face away from Rosie, and in a loud whisper to Estelle said, “Guess she remembered her hearing aid.”

      “You’re the one who needs a hearing aid. You obviously weren’t listening to Estelle.” Rosie lifted her chin, faced the podium again and resumed her fanning.

      There had been an argument over who got to wear the last pair of black lace garters. Apparently, they hadn’t reached an amicable agreement.

      “Ladies, I think Abby is about to start speaking,” Max said quietly, and received three conciliatory smiles.

      Candy hadn’t bothered to enter the conversation at all, or even look at him. He figured she was still ticked at him for making her tie Tami to a pole in the garage. Tough. Just thinking about the critter gave him the willies, especially after today’s episode of hide-and-seek. No way that thing was sleeping in the same house with him.

      The tall thin blonde who’d been with Abby earlier seemed to be having trouble with the microphone. She called a man from the audience up to the podium to help, while Abby stood aside and fidgeted with a small stack of index cards.

      “Oh, dear, she is nervous,” Estelle whispered, leaning toward him. “She normally doesn’t need notes to speak.”

      Max patted her hand. He liked Estelle, and frankly couldn’t figure out why she wanted to hang out at the Swinging R. The rest of the ladies had their good sides, too, but the place was definitely bordering on becoming a loony bin.

      “If she’s prepared notes, then it must mean she was nervous before this evening and it has nothing to do with you.” He watched Estelle’s expression sag, and wondered again why the devil he was sitting here, and why he cared about what happened to Abby and her quest for public office.

      Maybe it was his advancing age prompting his interest, like women who followed soap operas for half a lifetime, or retired men who sat around diners and barbershops retelling old war stories. God, the thought was depressing.

      His gaze drew to Abby. More likely it was because she’d gotten under his skin, made him wonder about her, and what made her tick. He’d been disappointed when she hadn’t stayed for dinner, even though he’d hardly expected her to after he suggested she butt out of her grandmother’s business just as he intended to do.

      “I’m afraid it does,” Estelle said, breaking into his preoccupation.

      He hesitated, having lost the thread of their conversation. “Does what?”

      “Abigail’s nerves. It has everything to do with me. She doesn’t understand why I’ve moved out.”

      “Have you?” He heard himself ask the question, but he couldn’t believe it. Stay out of this, he told himself. “Permanently?”

      “That depends.” She gave him an embarrassed look. “Oh, you don’t want to hear our problems.”

      He shrugged. “If it would help to talk about it, I don’t mind listening.”

      “Oh, that’s so nice, but no, really…”

      He straightened. “No problem. Honest.”

      A shrewd smile slightly curved her lips. She tried to hide it. Too late, he’d seen it. She’d baited him, dammit, and he’d fallen for it like a two-ton drunk elephant.

      “Abigail thinks the town is going to fall apart without her. Not in a vain sense, of course, but she has this silly idea that Cunninghams are the glue that keeps Bingo together. And she feels she needs to do her share.”

      He frowned. It wasn’t like the place was called Cunninghamville, nor did he see evidence that the family controlled the town.

      Estelle smiled as if reading his mind. “There has been a prominent civic servant in our family for several generations. Prominent by Bingo standards, anyway. But it really goes deeper than that.” She paused, and glanced over at Mona and Rosie who were busy arguing over who needed glasses.

      He thought it odd that she was willing to tell him something she didn’t want her friends to hear but he gave her an encouraging smile and leaned closer.

      “Abigail was already leaving for college when her parents died but she took it very hard. We all did. They were too young to die in that senseless truck accident, but for Abby, the sense of abandonment seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, if you pardon the old expression.

      “People had started leaving Bingo about ten years before, and one by one, all her little friends began moving away. She’d no sooner find someone new to play with when the child’s father would find a job in Las Vegas or Reno and off the family would go. Not a single one of her high school friends returned after college, either. Only Abby.” Estelle sighed. “I fear, mainly, to watch over me.”

      “Ah, so you feel guilty.”

      “There’s that, but equally upsetting is that Abigail has tied herself to this town for no good reason. There aren’t enough jobs here, so of course СКАЧАТЬ