LITMIR.BIZ

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up… Yes, she knew she was. She also knew that this was her chance to get unknotted once and for all. Her mother would cringe at her word choice. “So what does one have to do to get in this pig scramble?” Did she just ask that?

      “Well, this is what we thought,” Lacy said. “There’s going to be so many gals wanting to get in that arena they won’t all fit. We think it would be great to make the entry a competition. The ten gals who sell the most tickets and raise the most money get the privilege of scrambling for the pig. What do you think?”

      “I’m determined to be one,” Sheri said, with a gleam in her eyes. “I’ve never done it, but me and piggy have a date, and he’s going down for the count.”

      “I’m with you, sister!” Lacy slapped palms with Sheri.

      Ashby bit her lip and watched their display of enthusiasm. Ashby had never in her life high-fived anyone, and honestly, she wasn’t feeling the urge at the moment.

      “Pig scrambles are fun,” Norma Sue said. “Me and Esther Mae tackled a few in our time.”

      “They’re rough little cooters, though,” Esther said.

      Ashby’s stomach felt sort of sick, but she knew she had to speak up. “Can I ask all of you something?”

      “Shoot,” Lacy said, fists on her hips.

      This would be embarrassing, but she needed to know the truth. “Dan said that I couldn’t get a date because the cowboys think I’m…well, knotted up was the phrase he used.”

      It was as if someone hit the mute button. Everyone in the room instantly clammed up and wouldn’t look her in the eye. That was her clue—they knew something about this.

      “Well,” Lacy hedged. “We had heard something to that effect.”

      “This is horrible.” Ashby wrung her hands. “And you didn’t say anything. All this time—”

      “No, now don’t get all upset,” Lacy said, crossing the room to place a comforting hand on her arm. “They just don’t know you, Ashby. They don’t know the caring and wonderful person you are, because all they can see is the perfect package that God put you in.”

      A chorus of agreement rang out around the room.

      “I hate it when someone tells me how perfect I am,” Ashby groaned. “I’m horrible at physical things. I’m like a gangly giraffe.” And that was only appearancewise.

      “Now, that is not true,” Adela said, finally speaking up. “When you arrived here last year for the first spring festival, I seem to recall that you and the sheriff won the three-legged race.”

      “Only because Sheriff Brady was strong enough to haul me across the finish line. It had nothing at all to do with me.”

      “It’s okay. Don’t sweat it,” Sheri said. “There is a guy out there for you, and when it’s time for the two of you to meet, you will.”

      “Yes, but then it might be too late.”

      “Too late for what?” Adela asked.

      “For me to have a baby.”

      Lacy cocked her head to the side. “Ashby, for goodness’ sake, you’re not even thirty.”

      “You’re just a babe in the woods,” Norma Sue said.

      “Ha. At the pace I’m going…”

      Lacy grinned. “Relax, girl. If there is one thing that history has taught us, it’s that it is never, never too late. If God let Sarah have a baby at almost a hundred, you have to believe that if you are to have a baby, it will happen.”

      Ashby sighed again. “But will I be a hundred?”

      “Ashby, listen to me,” Sheri said. There wasn’t a twinkle anywhere to be seen in her eyes as she leveled them on Ashby. “You may have to take the bull by the horns in order to make your dreams come true.”

      “That’s right.” Esther Mae shook her handful of pea pods for emphasis. “Empower yourself.”

      Ashby expelled an exasperated breath. “I thought I did. I moved all the way out here to Mule Hollow, but nothing has changed. The only man who has asked me out is a shallow playboy, whom all of you for some reason think is a good match for me.”

      “First of all,” Sheri said, “I do think you have Dan all wrong. And second, you changed your zip code. You didn’t change yourself.”

      Leave it to Sheri to be frank. Ashby felt the sting of her words all the way to her toes. “So you think I am stuck-up. You think they’re right about me?”

      “No.” Lacy jumped in. “That’s not what Sheri’s saying.”

      “It certainly isn’t. I think you are afraid. Believe me, I’ve been there. I think you are afraid of looking silly.”

      “He said that, too.”

      “Who, Dan?” Lacy asked.

      Ashby nodded, feeling like a loser.

      “Is it true?” Sheri asked.

      “In a way. I was brought up in a setting where looking silly was the cardinal sin. I’m not sure I can do it. Really, that first day here, I thought I could, so when Brady grabbed me to be in the three-legged race with him, I did it. But when it was over I just couldn’t stop thinking about how foolish I’d looked. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mother, but I can’t seem to get her voice out of my head.” Now they probably all thought she was an awful person. Her relationship with her mother was complicated, but she did love her….

      No-nonsense Sheri shook her head. “There comes a time when you make your own way in the world, Ashby. Totally and completely separate from your past. Even your mother. It’s the only way to truly know who you are. What I found out as an adult is that my life is between me and the Lord.”

      Echoes of agreement rang out across the room.

      “You would have had a blast riding those handlebars,” Sherri continued. “And you could have a blast chasing a pig, too. Don’t relegate yourself to the corner just because you don’t have the best hand-eye coordination or because you think acting or looking silly is wrong. You have to laugh at yourself, take chances. Boy, did I ever learn that.” She frowned. “Not that I meant to preach to you or anything. It just hit a nerve.”

      “Sheri’s right,” Lacy said. “If these cowboys see you out there laughing at yourself, they’re going to start seeing the Ashby we know. The one who would make a great wife and mother…and who’s one brilliant businesswoman.”

      “That’s right,” Norma Sue called out. Esther Mae and Adela were nodding and smiling in vigorous agreement.

      Ashby fought back the lump that had lodged in her throat. “I wish it were that simple.” She thought about the bike. She’d always wanted to ride a bicycle. What about scrambling for a pig? Could she? Dan Dawson would say no. “So you really think me getting into that arena and trying to catch that pig might help me get a husband?”

      Sheri and Lacy nodded like bobble heads.

      Ashby inhaled sharply. “Okay.” She had to do this. Even though her mother would be appalled at the idea…. Ashby had lived with the fear of a reporter saying the wrong thing about her in the Nob Hill or Pacific Heights society pages. Laughable, since her parents hadn’t ever been considered elite enough to be newsworthy themselves. This was, however, Ashby had realized, one reason her mother was so preoccupied with fitting in with the upper crust. She lived, breathed and dreamed of the days when she or Ashby would be mentioned on the right pages of the right papers. This was why Ashby had let herself be pushed into dating first Brad and then Carlton. Both were highly newsworthy—and both had passed her over for more compatible matches for their blue money within the space of six months. Her mother had not been happy with Ashby on either count. To her way of thinking, Ashby

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