Divine Phoenix(Divine Creek Ranch 10)(123)

Tabitha seemed to swallow back her initial reaction and changed her tune when she asked, “So…you’re going to the Dancing Pony Friday night?”

“It looks that way.”

Tabitha shuffled from one foot to the other and seemed to be searching for a way to be…sociable. Lily appreciated the effort and asked, “Have you ever been there before?” Tabitha quickly shook her head. “Maybe you could try it, come out with us that night.” Lily couldn’t believe what she was offering. “You might meet someone nice. They have a dance floor. I’ll bet you’d have fun dancing.”

Tabitha’s face fell, and her posture seemed to sag. “Jane Herbert told me that a few weeks ago, before she…”

Lily knew they’d had a falling out during a lunch date a few weeks before. “Before she what?”

Tabitha shook her head and pursed her lips. “Before she got sucked into that environment. Emma Guthrie and her two lap dogs invited her out and set her up with some cowboy. Now he’s all she talks about.” Lily felt a little sad for Tabitha, but that feeling evaporated with her next words. “But the last thing I want to do as a good Christian is hang around with people who do things that go against nature and what the Bible clearly states—”

In a knee-jerk response, Lily cut her off and said, “Oh, you mean that part about loving your neighbor as yourself? Or the part about letting God be the judge of others? I’m a Christian, too, Tabitha. And I think it breaks His heart that as much harm is done by so-called good Christians as is done by God-hating atheists. They blame Him for what judgmental people do in His name. I’m sorry, I thought you might have a good time and relax a little. Forget I asked.”

What was she thinking? Tabitha was never going to change.

Without another word, Tabitha screwed up her lips, glared at Lily’s cookies one last time, then slammed though the swinging doors as Clay walked in the back door with his arms loaded down with a box and bag from the local office supply shop.

He must’ve caught the last of their exchange or picked up on the negative energy in the room and raised his eyebrows. “What was that about?”

Lily had a sick feeling in her stomach. “I just pissed Tabitha off. I was trying to be nice, but she gets on my nerves with that judgmental, Bible-thumping attitude of hers. I was trying to be nice.”

“Ah. And no good deed goes unpunished?”

“I guess. I invited her to come out to The Dancing Pony with us. I thought for a second she was considering it. It must be a sore spot because of her little tiff with Jane. Why does she have to be that way?”

“You’re asking me if I understand the inner workings of Tabitha’s mind?” he asked as he glanced at the monitor, drawing her gaze, too. Tabitha was talking on her phone at the front door. “I think jealousy is at the root of it all, a lot of jealousy over a wide variety of things. Her life is her cats and her friends. Her closest friend, Elizabeth Owen, is serving time in state prison, and she feels that our friends in ménage relationships are somehow all responsible for that. Then her friend Jane Herbert evidently switched camps on her and went to the dark side.”

“Are we back in middle school or something?”

Clay shrugged. “I guess so. I got your shipping boxes and business cards.” He stacked the things on the list she’d given him earlier on her workbench then bent to kiss her. His timing was impeccable because Tabitha chose that moment to fly through the swinging doors again.

Blocking Tabitha’s view of Lily with his body, Clay kissed her again and winked at her then gave an imperceptible shrug. Tabitha gasped but kept marching to the back.

Clay chortled, made big eyes, then in a singsong voice said, “Oooh, you’re in trouble now.”

Lily chortled and shoved his shoulder lightly before he stood and went back to unloading the bags and boxes. Tabitha trudged back through to the showroom, and Clay fought laughter as he said, “You know, she never gave me near this much trouble before you came along. I think you’re a bad influence.”

“On who? Her? Or you?”

“On me, baby. Ready to corrupt me some more?”

Lily broke into giggles. “Focus, Mr. Cook. We have work and you’re hell on my productivity.” She shook her pliers at him before going back to the piece she’d been working on before her snack. “I need to get done here because I have a test to study for and a report to write.”

“Are you going back to the ranch to do it?”

“Yes.” Lily knew he preferred her to do her schoolwork at the ranch because Del was usually around if she needed him.