by Megan Ryder
Piper took a bite of her burger and closed her eyes as the flavor exploded in her mouth. God, she loved being off tour and not worrying about her food, her weight, and not having anyone harping at her about fitting into her clothes for the next show. She opened her eyes to see the women all watching her, broad grins on their faces. She swallowed. “Good burger.”
“Damn right it is. That’s our beef. All organic and babied from birth to—well, you know,” Tara bragged. “It’s true my last wedding was a bit fancier than this one and look how that one ended. Maybe if we try something else, the result will be different. Besides, this wedding suits me more. The woman I am now.”
Piper nodded. “I’m beginning to see that. I think.”
Tara shook her head. “No, you don’t. Not yet. But you will.”
Two other women walked in at that moment and joined them in the booth. Tara introduced them as the other two bridesmaids. Emma Holt was a pretty young woman about their age, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was a counselor in town, working with some of the troubled kids in the school. Sierra Austin had dark, honey hair and hazel eyes, more serious than her counterparts and a little older than the other woman, maybe early thirties. Sierra was a massage therapist and owned a spa in town, hoping to expand at Redemption Ranch, if all went well.
Tara wiped her hands and pulled out a notebook. “Okay, ladies, now that the gang’s all here, gird your loins. Time to get real about this wedding.” Everyone groaned but subsided with her sharp glare. “We have a lot to do, and only two weeks. Time to divide and conquer.”
Hailey snorted. “Please. I planned my wedding in a couple of weeks and had no problem, and you’re way more organized than I am. Like you don’t have a project plan, spreadsheet, task list and numerous sticky notes with assignments everywhere, and the week planned out to within the minute.” She glanced at Piper. “I hope you hadn’t planned on getting any relaxation while you’re here because that’s so not happening.”
Tara shook her head. “Piper, we need to get your dress fitted this afternoon, in case we have a lot of work to be done. After that burger, who knows what we’re working with.”
“Hey, just because you chose a dress that forces you to diet doesn’t mean the rest of us have to. I’m on vacation and can relax for at least the next couple of months. I deserve this. Choose a different dress if you’re that miserable.” Piper took a big bite of her remaining burger just to piss off Tara, even though she wasn’t hungry anymore.
“I’m wearing my mom’s dress. I wanted it to be like both my parents were here this time.”
Ah shit, now Piper wanted to crawl under the table or maybe insert her foot in her mouth permanently. She settled for grasping Tara’s hand, tears burning her eyes. “Your mom would have loved that.”
Tara smiled, a reflection of moisture in her own. “Maybe. She never really wanted me to marry a rancher and live here, so who knows how she would have felt.”
“She would have wanted you to be happy. You weren’t happy in your other life, clearly. She would have loved West.” Piper hadn’t liked Tara’s first husband much and the feeling had been mutual. But even in the short time Piper had been at the ranch, Tara had seemed happier than ever, and West clearly loved her, earning high marks in Piper’s book.
“Go fix your makeup and let the bridesmaids talk.” Hailey shoved her out of the booth.
After Tara left, Hailey got down to business. “Okay, we have about five minutes, tops. Bridal shower and bachelorette party. Shower at the guesthouse, bachelorette party at The Rock. Good?”
“Are you three allowed at The Rock after the last fight you caused?” Sierra asked, a small smile playing around her lips.
Piper arched her brow. The stories just kept coming. “I’m going to need to hear more about that at some point, but we’ll circle back to that. Shouldn’t you have scheduled the shower, like, months ago?”
Emma shrugged. “Like Tara said, it’s not her first wedding, and we’re a little casual here about things like that. It’s going to be small anyway. I don’t think anyone else is coming from a distance, except her business partner from San Francisco and you.”
After exchanging cell phone numbers, the party broke up, but not before Sierra scheduled an appointment for Piper to come in as a pre-bridal party assessment for the spa day.
Tara came out as the others were leaving, and she gathered Piper for the fitting. She also scarfed down the remaining four or five fries. “Don’t tell a soul. I deserve this.”
Piper didn’t say a word, but her eyes spoke volumes.
Chapter Five
Ty showed up at the calving barn still sipping some of that excellent coffee, or whatever it was. The flavor was certainly different than anything he’d had before, but not one of those girly drinks that tasted fruity or fancy with their amaretto or French vanilla. This drink was nutty and something else, and he liked it. He could get used to it, along with the woman who served it to him that morning.
Now that he thought about it, her choice of coffee reflected her in some ways. A little nutty, sweet, with hidden depths that he wanted to get to know a little better. Maybe he was wrong about her or at least his first impressions about her being a pampered princess who was catered to with her career and her travel. Although, she needed to learn how to drive.
West and Chase clomped into the barn, drinking their own travel mugs of coffee. Chase walked by and sniffed, then leaned over his mug and took a deeper inhalation. “What the hell is that smell? That’s not coffee, is it?”
He tried to grab it, but Ty yanked it away. “This is some of that coffee Tara got for Piper. She offered me some this morning after Dundee invited himself into her cabin.”
West froze and gave him a dark look. “This morning?”
Chase gave a shit-eatin’ grin and punched him lightly in the arm. “I thought I was the fast worker. Damn, brother. I never knew you had it in you.”
Ty glared at him and shoved him back. “Shut it. I said this morning when I was walking by. Dundee brought her his ball and she played with him. I don’t think she slept much last night. Might be coyotes. We should watch the calves, maybe put a few extra hands out to chase them away.”
West frowned even harder, and they all headed outside to check around the barn for any telltale paw prints of coyotes sniffing around their vulnerable newborns. “Did you check in on her last night?”
Ty avoided his gaze. “I was dead tired and out as soon as I hit the pillow. But Dundee was sleeping by the door, which usually means he heard them. She looked tired this morning and didn’t disagree when I asked her about it. I’m leaving Dundee with her tonight since I have duty with the heavies.”
“Maybe I should talk to her about staying at the house or at least the guesthouse. Tara said Piper prefers her space, so she thought she’d like the cabin. But maybe it’s too isolated.”
“I can take a couple of swings by her place on the ATV through the night. It’ll keep me awake, though the ATV engine might wake her up,” Ty offered, knowing somehow that she’d hate to lose her space and be hovered over, whether it was at the house or at the cabin.
West shook his head. “I’ll talk to her tonight at dinner, see how she feels. Maybe Dundee will be enough.”
“How are the heavies doing? Any near calving?” And the guys turned their attention back to business, the pregnant cows, the new calves and the business of the day.
*
After dinner, Ty settled in the barn, tossing his gear in a stall set aside for the evening caretaker. It had a rough cot, some insulation to protect against the evening chill, and a space heater to provide warmth. They had wired the barn with electricity to give lights at night to make life easier for deliveries and the vet, if necessary, because Murphy’s Law, a cow always delivered in the middle of the coldest night and it was damned inconvenient to not be able to see or be relatively warm. He was basically on nursemaid duty. He’d do rounds periodically and check on the cows but be a
ble to stay in the stall for the rest of the time and catch naps as he could. It would be like camping.
Dundee usually stayed with him, but the dog would love a comfy cabin tonight—probably sleep on the bed, spoiled rotten. He wouldn’t want to leave in the morning. Hell, Ty wouldn’t leave if he could spend the night in Piper’s bed either. But that probably wasn’t a good idea. She was a city girl and destined for far better things than a cowboy shoveling shit and punching cows. She was bright lights and adoring crowds, while he was firmly planted here in Montana, a place she had never been and would only visit on rare occasions, blowing in and out of their lives like a winter storm. Neither one of them were made for a quick roll between the sheets and a fond farewell. Better to keep it simple, especially since she was Tara’s friend. It could get messy fast.
After checking on the cows, he settled on the cot and pulled out his beat-up Martin Dreadnought and tuned it. The weather could play havoc with the strings, but it passed the time, especially since he had a deadline for the wedding, and he was screwing around on it. He loved this guitar. Douglas bought it for him years ago for Christmas when he’d been here just a few months and silent, still grieving over the loss of his parents and in shock over all the sudden changes in his life. He almost destroyed the guitar when he’d unwrapped it, refusing to touch it, but Douglas left it on the stand in the corner of the living room until he was ready for it. It fit his hands like nothing else had ever since. Now he hoped to write something perfect for Douglas’s daughter and the man Douglas had called a son and Ty called brother.
Only he was hopelessly blocked. He hadn’t written a song since that awful night eighteen years ago. Swore he’d never do it again. But for West and Tara he’d try. Right about now, it seemed he was destined to fail.
He finished the tuning and started strumming, humming a tune and testing words. He drifted with the words, jotting down thoughts in the open notebook on the wood crate next to the cot, scratching through some words, until the page was a mess of chicken scratch and not much had been accomplished, though the underlying music seemed pretty solid.
“That sounds great. I didn’t know you played,” a soft voice spoke from the doorway and he jerked around, knocking the notebook and pen to the wood floor.
Dundee wiggled around Piper and lay at his feet, rolling over for belly rubs. Ty gently nudged him out of the way, anger a slow boil under his skin, but it wasn’t the dog’s fault he was pissed off at the woman who’d spied on him.
He laid the guitar on the cot very deliberately and stood. Dundee snuck out the door to find safer places to be. Ty straightened and walked the few steps over to where Piper leaned against the doorjamb, a spare coat wrapped around her for warmth. He tried to ignore how small and almost lost she looked in the giant garment. He stretched his arm above her, intentionally looming a bit, and her eyes widened as if recognizing his foul mood for the first time.
“Were you listening in on me?”
She took a half step back, then stopped. “Dundee and I were walking back to the cabin and I heard music. It sounded wonderful and I had to hear more.”
“Bullshit.” The words were bitten off, sharp and bitter.
She frowned and cocked her head to the side, looking genuinely confused. “No, really. It sounded great, if only I could hear more of it. I didn’t recognize the melody, and I wondered which song it was from.”
He peered down the hallway to see who else had followed her down to the barn, but the area was clear. He stared down at her. “You’re telling me the girl who was afraid to even sleep in her cabin with the coyotes howling last night was wandering around outside, alone, just because she heard a few notes of music, and not particularly good music at that?”
She pushed his chest with both of her hands, shoving him back into the small stall area. “I’m a musician; that’s what we do. We’re attracted to music of all kinds, and I thought it sounded good. I’m sorry if you’re having issues with it. Maybe if I knew what the song was, I could help you learn the chords. Sorry that I wanted to pay you a compliment. I won’t make that mistake again.”
With one last push, she whirled on her heel and stalked out of the space, calling Dundee as she hurried away, leaving Ty feeling like a first-class jackass.
He turned to head back in the stall, and Chase was standing at the other end, shaking his head. “That was brilliant, idiot. I thought you were smarter than both of us, but the reality is, you’re just quieter. Dumbass.”
Ty snatched his jacket from the inside of the door and shrugged it on, following Chase down the aisle to run a check on the cows. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You were an ass to her. I get she probably scared you, being out here all alone. You never did like being alone, easily spooked.”
Ty shoved him and Chase stumbled into the metal fencing. A cow gave him the evil eye then went back to dozing. “I was concentrating, and she interrupted a private moment.”
“Thank God it wasn’t anything even more private.” He waggled his eyebrows, and Ty only shook his head. “Seriously, so what if she heard you playing? We’ve all heard you playing. What’s the big deal?”
They paused by the small, fenced area where the most heavily pregnant cows were. Ty hitched a leg on the lower railing and braced his arm on the top. “She’s a musician, working with real musicians all the time.”
“You were worried that she might judge you, insult you? Well, I only caught the tail end of the conversation, but it didn’t sound like she was doing that at all. Instead, you jumped to a conclusion and pushed her away.”
Ty gave him a sour look. “Thanks for the postmortem. I was there, remember?”
Chase shrugged. “I thought you might need a refresher since you were such an ass and I can’t remember the last time you acted like that, at least not to a woman.”
They watched the cows for a long moment. Then, “Damn, I owe her an apology.”
Chase clapped him on the back. “I’d wait until morning. She’s probably pissed off right now and might castrate you or something worse as soon as she sees you. Besides, I have to head home to Hailey. I just was stopping by to pass on a message from West about the coyotes. Couple of the hands saw them toward the end of the day, lurking around the foothills, so keep an eye out.”
Ty sighed. “Did he leave me an ATV?”
“I rode it over here and parked it in the lean-to, gassed up and ready to go. You going to take a midnight ride around?”
“I thought I’d take a couple of passes and maybe around the cabins too, just to make sure they don’t bother Piper since I won’t be over there tonight.”
Chase nodded. “Don’t go too close or the engine might wake her or Dundee.”
Ty watched him amble out and heard the truck fire up a few minutes later. Looked like he wasn’t getting much sleep tonight or work done on the song. That was fine. He had to work on words for something else. An apology.
Chapter Six
Piper woke up to a better second morning than the first, mostly because she had actually gotten sleep. Having a warm dog sleeping in the bed with her was a welcome change to the cold, solitary experience she’d had for the past eighteen months or so. She’d had worse bedmates than a dog. He wasn’t a bed hog, content to snuggle against her back or feet, except when he came alert sometime in the middle of the night. Then he’d bounced off the bed and raced into the living room, facing the front door, tail stiff, fur standing up a bit, and a low growl erupting from his throat. A faint noise echoed, and he suddenly relaxed, his tail wagging gently and his whole body easing. She opened the curtains; an ATV buzzed by in the distance, the headlight flashing over the ground.
Ty. Protecting her. Watching out for her.
Despite how angry he had made her earlier that evening, that one act comforted her, and she headed back to bed, not waking until the morning sun peeked over the mountaintops in the distance. Which is how Ty found her, rocking gently on the porch, sipping her chicory coffee, Dundee l
ying at her feet with his tennis ball. When the dog saw Ty pull up in the ATV, he launched himself off the porch and raced for his master, not barking, just giving a little whining sound. Ty parked the vehicle and squatted, rubbing his belly and sides for several minutes. Finally, he stood, dusting his hands on his jeans, looking entirely too good for being up all night.
She wanted to tell him to get lost, take a hike, sayonara, but his sheepish expression told her he had some crow to eat, and she was curious how he planned on doing that.
He planted a foot on the first step and rested his arm on his thigh. “I guess I owe you an apology.”
She used her toe to rock the chair and waited, sipping her coffee and arching a brow at him.
He pursed his lips. “Okay. I was an ass last night. I’d try to explain it, but I don’t think I can.”
“Try.”
He sighed. “Not going to give me an inch, are you? Would you settle for not now?”
The hint of vulnerability in his eyes did it to her. She understood what it was like to keep secrets, to have private thoughts and feelings you couldn’t or didn’t want to share with anyone else. Maybe no one knew about his music or maybe he didn’t want them to know. It wasn’t her place to push him out into the open, not until he was ready. She’d barely known him two days.
She threw off the blanket and shivered in the cool air. “Want some coffee? I made extra. Remember though, chicory doesn’t have caffeine, so it probably won’t keep you going today if you were up all night.”
He grinned, relief and joy flashing across his face quickly, and he followed her into the cabin. “I’m off this morning to get some shut-eye. I called Gene. He said you could come and see his studio this morning if you’d like. Then we could go to lunch, my way of apologizing for last night and drinking all your coffee.”
She filled his travel mug and handed it to him. “I have to go to Sierra’s this morning for a pre-spa assessment. Not entirely sure what that’s about. Can we go after that? I’m not sure how I’m getting there, but Tara could probably take me in.” She gave him a sideways glance. How far could she push him?