Read an Excerpt
one
Delilah Stone removed her rhinestone tiara as she ducked into the vintage trailer she'd been living in for the past few months. As the reigning Miss Lovin' Texas, her most pressing official duty was judging the state tourism board's search for the most romantic small town in Texas. Thirty days had been more than enough time to determine that the tiny town of East, which ironically happened to be located in the westernmost corner of the state, wasn't going to win. She'd already been to Hartwood, a charming little town located in the Hill Country and the clear favorite to take the title.
With only one more town to judge, she was looking forward to putting her time as Miss Lovin' Texas behind her. Living in the hot-pink branded trailer provided by the pageant's main sponsor was getting old. She just had to spend the next thirty days in Swynton-the final contender-before she could trade in the trailer for her condo and get back to pursuing something more meaningful than deciding which town would secure the title.
"Well, that was a nightmare." Delilah's manager, who also happened to be her mother, or "momager" in pageant terms, came in behind her and pulled the door shut.
"Two stops down, one to go." Delilah lifted her sash over her head and hung it in the tiny closet.
"Just think, a couple of months from now, and this will all be behind you." Her mother unfastened the eye hook at the back of Delilah's dress and slid the zipper down to where she could reach it. "Next time you might want to smile more and talk less."
"Thanks for the feedback, Stella." Delilah had been banished from calling her mother anything but her given name. God forbid someone actually mistake her mom for anything but her older sister-a game Delilah had grown tired of playing.
Her fingers closed around the zipper, and she stepped into the tiny bedroom area to change into something a little more comfortable and a lot less sparkly. Tonight's final farewell appearance marked the end of her time in East. Tomorrow they'd start the trek to the southeast Texas town of Swynton, where she'd spend the next month evaluating their efforts to win the title.
She'd be glad when this gig was up. She not only could use some time away from Stella but also was ready to move on to bigger and better things. Once she wrapped up her stay in Swynton, she'd just have one final appearance to make-the ceremony where the board would award the title to the most romantic small town in Texas.
At twenty-five, she was ready to retire from pageant life and use her connections to make a difference in the world. Some of her competitors might not believe in the causes they promoted on their personal platforms, but Delilah did. And once her current reign came to a glittering end, she had plans to put her money where her mouth was and start doing something to support her cause of empowering young girls, instead of just talking about it all the time.
She carefully slipped the glittery gown onto a hanger, then pulled on her dressing robe. As she slid a headband in place to start her long makeup removal routine, her cell rang.
"Want me to pick up for you?" Stella asked. Even with the door between the bedroom and the living area closed, it sounded like her mother was standing right next to her.
"I'll get it." Delilah moved through the trailer and reached for her phone. "Hello. Miss Lovin' Texas speaking."
"Good evening, Ms. Stone. It's Marty Plum. We've had a change of plans as to your travel itinerary tomorrow."
"Oh? What kind of change?" Delilah had spoken to the contest chair only a few times since she started her term.
Stella leaned against the counter next to her. "What's going on?"
Delilah shrugged. "I don't know yet," she whispered.
Mr. Plum cleared his throat. "Seems Swynton has been disqualified from the competition."
"Disqualified?" Delilah shot a glance to Stella. "What did they do?"
"That's right. They've been accused of bribing a member of the committee. We can't have any kind of scandal touch the competition, so we've taken them out of the running."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Delilah couldn't care less about Swynton, Texas. Didn't matter to her which town they sent her to, as long as she'd be done by the date her contract specified.
"What's happening?" Stella asked.
Delilah held up a finger. "Does that mean my judging obligations are complete? It's just between Hartwood and East?"
"Not exactly." Marty cleared his throat again. "The committee wants to let the runner-up town take Swynton's place. It's a fairly convenient swap since it's right across the river. Instead of spending thirty days in Swynton, we're going to have you spend the next month in Ido."
"Ido? Where's that?" Delilah had never heard of the town and as a lifelong pageant participant, she'd traveled back and forth across the great state of Texas more times than the Texas Rangers had in its heyday.
Stella whipped her head back and forth, turning her giant earrings into weapons. "No. You're not going there."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Plum. Could you hold for just a moment?" She put her hand over the mouthpiece and studied her mother. "What's in Ido?"
"It's where I grew up. You're not spending any amount of time in that place. I barely escaped alive, I'm not sending my only child back there. Traveling to Swynton was close enough. No, you can't do it."
"Ms. Stone, are you there?" Marty asked. "Is there a problem?"
"I'm still here." She motioned for her mother to sit down at the small dinette. "Can you please send over the information? I need some time to talk to my manager about the change of plans."
"Of course. E-mail okay?"
"That would be just fine. Thank you. I'll give you a call in the morning."
By the time Delilah disconnected, Stella sat at the fold-up table with her head in her hands. "They can't just trade out a town like that."
"What's the big deal? Whether I go to Swynton or Ido or Timbuktu, one of my official duties is judging their contest. I can't back out now." Stella was the one who'd insisted she sign up for the Miss Lovin' Texas pageant in the first place. Why the change of heart?
"I have such bad memories."
Delilah slid onto the bench seat across from her mom. "Whatever you ran from in Ido, Texas, is long gone. You don't have to come with me, you can go back to-"
"Not go with you?" Stella lifted her head, her blue eyes taking on a haunted, wounded look. "You don't want me to travel with you anymore?"
"That's not what I said." Delilah couldn't win, not where her mother was concerned. If she wanted her to go with her, Stella would call her demanding. If she didn't want her to come, then she'd be insensitive. She'd navigated the tricky interpersonal relationship with her mother her whole life. "I want you to do what's best for you, even though I have to follow through on the commitment I made when I won this title."
Stella placed a hand over her heart. "If I'd have known they'd be sending you to Ido, I never would have encouraged you to enter that pageant."
Not wanting to argue, Delilah nodded. "This will be good though. You can head back to Dallas and keep things moving on our new cosmetics line while I serve out the rest of my sentence."
"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Stella's frown switched into a hopeful smile. "We could still make a run for the big title. With your looks and my pageant know-how, we're a good team."
"We have made a good team, but weren't you the one who said I should quit while I'm ahead?" Winning a national-level title was her mother's dream, not hers. Even though they'd worked their tails off, winning local and regional competitions across the South, the big title had remained elusive.
"I know we agreed Miss Lovin' Texas would be your last pageant, but don't you want to try one more time?" Stella bit her lip, her forehead creased.
"You're going to give yourself wrinkles if you keep frowning," Delilah pointed out, tossing her mother's own wisdom right back in her lap.
Stella immediately relaxed her expression. "Are you sure your contract doesn't say anything about what happens if they switch locations on you at the last minute?"
"Nope. I'm pretty much at their mercy until we get through the final ceremony when they name the winner." Stella would know that if she actually read the contracts. But she tended to be more involved on the public side of things-picking out the dresses and offering unsolicited advice on makeup and hairstyle trends. Her mother might drive her crazy at times, but she never steered Delilah wrong when it came to appearances. She also had an amazing knack for business, hence the new line of cosmetics that she and Delilah would be launching after her reign came to an end. Delilah's mentor, Monique McDowell, the first Black woman to win multiple national titles, was also on board, and Delilah couldn't wait to get started.
Thankfully, Monique had stepped in early on in Delilah's pageant career and provided the guidance she'd been missing from her mother. Stella might have big dreams, but she lacked personal experience. Delilah had lost count of how many times she'd heard the story of how her mother chose love over pageant wins. How she'd sacrificed everything to get married and become a mother. Stella never actually came right out and said it, but Delilah had always gotten the sense that her mother thought she owed her a big win. She'd felt that way since the first time she'd stepped on a stage.
"I don't care what they say. It's ridiculous. They can't make you go to Ido." Stella pressed her lips together.
"Actually, they can, and it looks like they are." Delilah held out her phone. "Mr. Plum's new itinerary has me arriving on Friday in time for their kickoff celebration. That gives me three days to get there."
"Oh, honey, how are you going to manage all by yourself?" Stella's brow furrowed again.
Delilah pointed at her forehead. "Keep that up and you'll be taping your forehead while you sleep." Stella had often threatened to make Delilah sleep with clear tape holding her skin taut, saying it was a tried-and-true way to prevent fine lines and wrinkles.
"So, you'll go to Ido and I'll go back to Dallas?" Stella asked, her face devoid of any expression.
"I guess so. You said you had a lot of work to do on that line of cosmetics. What else were you looking into?" Delilah couldn't keep it all straight. Her mother had more projects in the works than the Texas Department of Transportation, and that was saying a lot.
Stella brightened. "Monique and I are finalizing with that cosmetics company on your signature line. Plus, we've got those fashion faux pas fixers in the works. Don't you worry, Texas won't forget Delilah Stone, even if you're no longer competing."
Staying in the public eye was her mother's dream, not Delilah's. But when Mama was happy, everyone else was happy so Delilah was content to let her mother work on whatever projects she wanted to. As long as it kept her busy and gave her something else besides her daughter to focus her overwhelming attention on, it was a win-win.
"I'll tell Mr. Plum to let Ido know they can expect me on Friday then."
Stella nodded, her attention already shifting away from the contest. "Do you think you can drop me at the airport on the way? I'll just take a flight back to Dallas. You'll be fine, won't you?"
"Absolutely." Delilah left her mother at the built-in dinette and resumed her nighttime routine. She loved her mother dearly but was eager for a break. They'd been traveling together for the past two months, and anyone who'd ever spent any time around Stella Stone would have agreed that was about two months too long.
Suddenly, having to spend the next thirty days in Ido didn't seem so bad. She'd have a bit of respite from the breakneck schedule she'd been keeping for the past several years. Without having to entertain her mother, she'd have plenty of time to think about what she wanted to do next, beyond the launch of all of the products Stella and Monique had orchestrated.
For the first time in a long time, the knot in Delilah's chest loosened just a smidge. Having to spend a month in Ido, Texas, might just be the best thing that had ever happened to her.
two
Jasper Taylor drew in a breath as he walked through what remained of his family's pecan orchard. The twister that blew through last month had skipped over their neighbor's cattle ranch but unleashed its wrath on Taylor Farms. Less than a quarter of the trees from their hundred-year-old orchard remained, not nearly enough to fulfill the orders they'd already committed to from this year's harvest.
"We're doomed." Jasper's dad, Frank, hung his head. "I shouldn't have taken out a loan against the farm. We're going to lose it all."
Jasper chewed on the inside of his cheek and tried to come up with a reassuring word. Truth was, they were doomed. Unless he could find a way to conjure pecans out of thin air, they weren't going to be able to dig themselves out this time.
"Your poor mama. She's going to skin me alive when she finds out what I've done." Dad ran a calloused hand behind his neck. "If only Colin were around. It's about time you two made up, don't you think?"
According to his parents, the absence of his older brother was the reason everything had gone to shit. Jasper had been tempted to tell them the truth on more than one occasion, but it would break their hearts. So instead he let them go on believing what they would while he tried to hold things together on his own.
"I might have an idea." Jasper hadn't wanted to bring it up yet. He'd been shot down too many times in the past for trying to buck tradition and expand beyond the family trade. But look where doing things the same had gotten them-wiped out by a fickle late summer storm. If he didn't figure out a way to literally save the family farm, there wouldn't be any traditions left to buck, because they'd be forced to sell their land and figure out a new way of life.
