Ask No Tomorrows by Rita Hestand

than
being alone.”
    “ What’s your name?” Sam asked when she didn’t introduce
herself.
    “ Mavis, Mavis Potts.” She frowned at Riley once more, and then
glanced down at the dog. If her expression was a clue, she had
little use for Riley or Nodog, Sam surmised.
    “ He’s part wolf, ain’t he?” Mavis curled her lip slightly in
distaste.
    “ Yes ma’am. He’s been a fine dog, a good companion.”
    “ I
don’t have much use fer a dog lessin’ they are hounds…to hunt
with.”
    “ He
hunts, when needed.”
    Sam stared
hard and long at Mavis, taking in the full figure of the woman, and
the way she curled her lips at him when he looked at her. She was a
right smart looking woman, Sam thought as his eyes strayed to the
ample cleavage she seemed bent on displaying to him. The top two
buttons of her dress seemed to strain to contain her, but Sam
wasn’t complaining any. After all, this was a black woman. A woman
of his kind. A woman he could probably have if he wanted her. At
least that was the impression she was giving off.
    “ Well, since we’re all headed for Dallas way, maybe we should
hook up,” Sam suggested.
    “ Won’t a wagon slow us down?” Riley asked almost
immediately.
    “ Not that much,” Sam replied, not looking at Riley but watching
Mavis’ smile curl around him. The woman was endowed with more than
her fair share of womanly charms and there was no way she could
hide that fact; Sam smiled at her. “We ain’t in that big a hurry,
Riley.”
    Sam glanced at
Riley after a bit. “You and Nodog follow along, Riley, I’ll drive
that team for you, Mrs. Mavis,” Sam offered.
    “ Right kind of you.” Mavis smiled and cast a quick smile at
Riley. She scooted over on the wagon seat to give Sam some room and
beamed at him as she handed him the reins. She jiggled a finger in
her ear and laughed. “Lord it’s nice havin’ a man drive them dern
mules of mine.”
    Her cheeks
shined at his intense gaze.
    Riley called
Nodog toward the back of the wagon.
    Sam felt the
warmth between him and Mavis and realized this woman wasn’t
mourning her man she’d lost, but then maybe he was no account in
the first place, Sam figured. Being with Riley so long had
reinforced the fact that he needed some real female companionship.
Mavis sure seemed willing enough.
    They sat so
close that it created a friction between them as his arms grazed
hers almost constantly; she didn’t seem to mind and she didn’t move
away.
    Her confidence
grew quickly when she looped her arm in his. Sam didn’t seem to
mind. This might be just what he needed to distract Riley away from
him.
    After a long
silence, Mavis glanced up at him and moved closer so he could feel
her hips jaunting next to her.
    “ Why you helpin’ that white kid?” Mavis asked as she stared
straight ahead of them.
    Mavis didn’t
mince her words, and he hadn’t formed any answers for her yet.
“Somebody’s got to.” Sam shrugged, his voice going low and
contrite. He didn’t want Riley to overhear and get her feelings
hurt.
    “ He’ll cause you trouble and you know it. You should dump him
in Dallas and come on out to my sister’s,” she suggested as though
they were talking about night and day. “You’d be mighty welcome,
there. I mean, well, my sister is a widow too. The two of us could
keep you happy, I’m sure.”
    Sam cast her a
slight smile. “You think so? Two, huh? I ain’t sure I could handle
two women at once.”
    “ I
sure do, honey. I know it. That kid…he ain’t your kind of people.
He’ll just stir things up fer ya when you get there. But I can
provide a roof over your head and a ready-made family and plenty of
work,” Mavis said, scooting closer to him. “Not to mention a few
other things you might be interested in.”
    Sam began to
feel that crowded feeling and scooted away. “Well now, I’ll think
on that. I sure will.”
    Mavis
smiled.
    “ You do that…just don’t take too long.”
    Sam realized
this woman hadn’t