Keeping Score

by Shannon Stults

  Tater was on the verge of saying something when she spotted someone far off. “Is that…Cole!” she yelled across the street. Logan felt a jolt in her stomach, and sure enough, she turned to find Cole Tucker coming out of Macy’s Market with several grocery bags in hand.

  Tater waved, and Cole started making his way over.

  “Now, why does seeing the three of you together make me so nervous?”

  “Don’t look at me,” Carly said. “I’m a neutral party in this rivalry.”

  He peered at Tater, waiting.

  She sighed. “If you must know, they were helping me shop for a prom dress.”

  “Really?” Cole looked skeptical.

  “Yes, really,” she said, holding up the garment bag. “Believe it or not, not everything revolves around you.” Tater glanced at her watch and her shoulders fell. “Crap, I should go. I have a big test in history tomorrow I need to study for, and I wanted to go to the hardware store to show Daddy my dress.” Tater smiled at Logan and Carly. “I’ll see you guys later. And thanks again for all the help.”

  “No problem, Tater.”

  “Yeah, we had a blast. And you better call me so we can figure out what time you need me to come over and do your hair,” Carly said.

  Tater’s eyes went wide. “But it’s the weekend before your wedding. Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. By then, I bet I’ll be begging for the distraction.”

  “Okay, thanks,” she said. “I better get going.”

  “Wait, don’t you want to show me your dress?” Cole asked.

  She scowled at him. “You don’t deserve to see it. Bye, guys.” She waved, then crossed the street on her way to the hardware store.

  Cole’s eyes followed his sister until she was several shops away.

  “What are you up to today?” Carly asked, eyeing the grocery bags filled with sodas and several kinds of chips and snack foods in his hands. “Please tell me all that junk isn’t just for you and Cowboy.”

  “It’s for the guys at the station.”

  “That’s the kind of crap you guys eat when you’re on duty?”

  He snorted. “Not usually, no. And I’m not technically working today. But we’ve got a game of poker going tonight, and I offered to bring snacks.”

  “You guys play poker? That’s so cute,” Logan said, trying to picture it.

  “Well, when you’re stuck in the station for three days with no emergencies, you get bored. And when you’re as good as me, it can help to pay the bills from time to time.”

  “You drive a fifteen-year-old truck and still share a two-bedroom rental with your best friend. You don’t have to be that good to pay those bills.”

  Cole smirked. “Whereas you’re a real cardsharp, I bet,” he said, voice flat with sarcasm.

  “As a matter of fact, my dad taught me how to play when I was sixteen. And I beat him most of the time. I bet I could beat you.”

  “Is that an official challenge?”

  “Maybe it is.”

  He shrugged. “All right, let’s go.”

  Logan’s smile fell. “Wait, what…you mean right now?”

  “Why not? We’ve already got a game set up. Unless you’ve got something planned tonight?” he asked, eyes traveling to Carly. Logan had all but forgotten she was there.

  Carly shook her head, watching Logan silently.

  “No…but what about the guys? They won’t want me crashing.”

  He laughed. “On the contrary, I think they’ll find your presence highly entertaining.”

  Logan’s skin buzzed. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t want to spend her Thursday evening in yet another challenge with Cole Tucker. But it was that very enthusiasm that made her hesitate.

  “I don’t know,” she said, the weight of her best friend’s gaze like fifty-pound dumbbells on each shoulder. “I rode here with Carly, so my truck is back at the house.”

  “I can give you a ride, Lo. It’s not a big deal. Let me beat you at poker, and then I’ll have you back home before curfew,” he teased. “Unless you’re scared to play me.”

  She huffed. “Please. When have you ever known me to be scared of anything?”

  “I can think of at least once,” he said slowly, his eyes hard on hers. It made her skin itch.

  “Go ahead, Logan.” Carly sighed. “I need to stop by the store to get stuff for dinner tonight anyway.”

  Logan’s eyes darted between them. “Fine, but only because someone needs to bring you down a peg,” she told Cole.

  Carly stepped over and gave Logan a quick hug. “Be careful,” she whispered.

  “It’s just poker.”

  Carly pulled back, her voice still low. “You know what I mean.” She pointed at Cole. “And you,” she said loudly. “You better make sure my best friend doesn’t get arrested or you’ll have me to answer to.”

  “I promise, no additions to her already extensive criminal record tonight.” He laughed.

  Carly hugged him. “That’s my boy. I’ll see you guys later.”

  Logan watched as Carly crossed the street over to Macy’s Market. Be careful. The words felt heavy in her stomach.

  “You ready?” Cole asked. Almost instantly, the weight in her gut vanished.

  She nodded. “Here, I can carry some of that,” she said, pointing at the bags in his hands.

  “Nah, I got it. I feel bad enough that I’m about to take all your money and win my easiest challenge yet. The least I can do is spare you the heavy lifting.”

  She laughed. “You seem awfully sure of yourself.”

  “Oh, honey,” he said with a sickly sweet grin, “you have no idea.”

  *

  “Here, this one’s on me.”

  Cole Tucker pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket, including all of Logan’s poker money, and set a five down on the bar. Lilly handed Logan another beer and frowned. “It’s all right, doll. You’ll get him next time.”

  Logan twisted the top off and took a gulp, relishing the cold drink as it traveled to her stomach.

  Unfortunately for her, Cole had not been exaggerating about his poker skills. And even worse, she was now fairly certain that her daddy had been taking it easy on her all those years. She hadn’t just lost; she’d failed miserably.

  She’d wanted to go straight home after, feeling sluggish with a belly full of bland, greasy pizza from Sherman’s Slice. She wanted to relax and lick her wounds. But Cole had insisted on stopping by Wade’s to update the scoreboard and spread his good news.

  So instead of a long, warm bubble bath, Logan was settling for ice-cold beer.

  “Don’t look so sad, Lo,” Cole said as he sat on the barstool beside her. He took a drag from his own bottle. “At least we know, for future reference, that you really suck at poker.”

  “Bite me.”

  “If it helps, it’s not completely your fault. I can just tell when you’re bluffing is all.”

  “Bullshit,” she shouted over the music and bar chatter.

  He chuckled, pointing at his temple. “Ah, you forget. I’ve watched you lie since the sixth grade, can even hear it in your voice. I know your tell, Logan Kase.”

  She rolled her eyes, taking another long chug from her beer and nearly finishing it.

  “Whoa. Slow down, cowgirl.” He called to Lilly down at the other end of the bar. “Can we get one more here, Lill? Thanks.”

  Lilly reached for another beer behind the bar, but Logan waved her off. “Can we go now? As much as I love watching you brag about your win, I do have other things I could be doing.”

  “Like what?”

  Like trying to find a job, like trying to plan her wedding, like calling her fiancé for the first time in three days. “Can we just go?”

  Cole sighed and pulled out a five to cover his own beer. “Fine, I suppose you’ve suffered enough for one night. Keep the change, Lilly.”

  Logan drained the last of her bottle and hopped down from her seat, glad to get away from the noisy
crowd that frequented the bar this late at night.

  They drove silently, for the most part, Cole tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and Logan humming along with the music. Before long, they pulled up in front of her house. Cole put the Bronco in park and waited.

  She stared out the window in front of her. She hadn’t been lying when she said she wanted to leave the bar, but the truth was, she wasn’t quite ready to go home either. And now the thought of all that awaited her inside pressed down on her, making it impossible to move. First, there would be her momma wondering where she’d been and why Cole Tucker, of all people, was dropping her off. Then she’d have to call Jacob because they had barely spoken since the dinner with her parents, and she knew it wasn’t right, but couldn’t bring herself to get over how he’d acted. And when Jacob asked what she’d been doing tonight, she would have to lie to him.

  Logan felt the same rising heat from the boutique flood her skin.

  “Hey,” Cole said.

  She glanced at the clock; they’d been sitting silently for several minutes.

  “Want to do something fun?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Is this another challenge?”

  “Not a challenge,” he said. “Just a little mischief.”

  She did like mischief.

  Carly’s words of caution echoed in her mind. Had Carly guessed the night wouldn’t end with poker? Probably. Was she concerned about whatever trouble Logan would almost inevitably get into? Maybe. But then why didn’t Logan believe that?

  Maybe Carly was just worried her friend was getting too deep into her old ways. Contemplating this undoubtedly nefarious scheme of Cole’s, she was a little worried about it herself. But the fact of the matter was, Cole was offering her an escape from the real world that waited for her inside. Even if only temporarily.

  “Okay, what did you have in mind?”

  Chapter Twenty

  “Why we are sneaking onto Old Man Carithers’s property in the middle of the night?” Logan whispered.

  “I told you, it’s a surprise.” Cole led the way through the woods out by Harrold Carithers’s barn. Logan hadn’t had any idea where he was going when he pulled off the road and onto a worn trail through the woods. He’d driven slowly, with his headlights off, using only the patchy bits of moonlight shining through the clouds to light his way. She’d asked several times where they were, but it wasn’t until they’d left the Bronco and started walking the rest of the path that he’d told her.

  She squinted, her eyes focusing on what looked like a clearing up ahead through the trees. “Please tell me we aren’t here just so you can steal a couple chickens again.”

  “It was twelve chickens. And no, that’s not why we’re here.”

  “Then why?” she asked as they came up to the edge of the woods. A couple hundred feet away and down a small hill sat Carithers’s familiar old barn.

  In front of the barn, Logan could just barely make out the chicken coop, and in the back sat a large fenced-in pasture several acres wide. It wrapped around to the front and ran parallel to the gravel drive that led from the road to the barn.

  “Now keep quiet and follow me.”

  Logan did as he said, following closely behind and not saying anything until they were coming around to the front of the barn.

  She froze. “What’s that?”

  “Doghouse,” Cole muttered as he moved to the barn door.

  “You mean he finally got that guard dog he kept talking about?” she whispered so as not to disturb the dog she could now hear snoring inside.

  “Relax.” He pulled something out of his pocket and started messing with the lock on the door. “Moses may technically be a guard dog, but he’s about the laziest, sweetest one you’ll ever find. He’s just here to look scary.” Cole knelt down and rapped the shingled roof. “Ain’t that right, Moses?”

  Inside, the dog groaned before falling back into heavy snores.

  Cole managed to open the padlock and remove it, pulling the barn door open and then disappearing inside. Logan silently followed.

  She hadn’t been inside the barn since the branding iron incident, and never had she been here at night. It was dark inside, the air filled with the sounds of loud huffs and heavy thumps. With each breath, she took in the smell of hay and some other distinct smell she couldn’t immediately identify. Her gaze shifted around, trying to make out the source of the sounds and smell.

  She took a step forward and heard something large shift to her right. “What was that?” she whispered.

  Light flooded the barn. Logan looked to her right and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of the massive brown and white horse penned up just over a foot from her.

  Slowly turning away from the gigantic animal that had nearly given her a heart attack, she took in the rest of the barn. She saw the workbench by the front corner of the barn with a few different tools scattered across its surface just like it had been the afternoon she’d fallen onto the branding iron and Cole had to take her to the emergency room. She shuddered.

  There was a loft above her with what looked like hundreds of bales of hay, which explained the smell. And running along each side of the barn was a row of stalls, each with a thousand-pound animal tucked away inside. Seven in all, she quickly counted. Some, like the one beside her, stood still as they chose to either watch or completely ignore her. Others paced back and forth anxiously.

  Logan looked around again, searching for Cole, but she didn’t find him. She did, however, see a door wide open down at the other end. From where she stood it looked like some kind of closet, and she thought she heard Cole moving around inside it.

  She turned back to the brown and white horse.

  “Hi there,” she said carefully, not sure if this one was a boy or a girl—or if it was the type to try to bite her fingers off if she touched it.

  The horse reached its neck out and sniffed the air between them. Slowly, Logan stepped forward, raising her hand to the animal’s head. The horse barely reacted as her hand came to its face, and she placed her palm on the spot between its eyes. To her relief, it didn’t freak out and try to bite her. Instead, the horse leaned into her hand.

  She grinned as the horse nuzzled her palm. “You’re not so scary,” she whispered. Of course, it helped that the horse was stuck in its stall and Logan was safely outside of it.

  “That’s Cheyenne,” Cole said, his voice coming from a couple stalls down where a large dark brown horse had been pacing. She wasn’t sure when he’d moved from the closet to the stall or why he was even in there in the first place. But, honestly, she was too busy marveling at the horse in front of her to care.

  Logan turned back to the horse, moving her hand up to scratch behind her ear. “She’s pretty.”

  “She especially likes it when you rub the spot at the base of her neck. She can’t reach it herself very well.”

  Logan took a deep breath, eyeing the horse. As if Cheyenne had understood him, she turned on the spot, bringing her neck and side up to the edge. Before she could chicken out, Logan reached over the low door and into the stall, patting the horse’s neck. Again, the horse leaned into it.

  “Whoa!” she gasped, taking in the horse’s large belly. “Are they supposed to get this fat?”

  Cole chuckled from within the other stall. “She’s not fat; she’s pregnant.” He stepped out of the stall and closed it again behind him. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you a saddle.”

  “Why would I need a saddle?”

  “Unless you want to ride bareback—which I don’t recommend—you’re going to need a saddle.”

  “Ride? I can’t ride a horse,” she screeched.

  He shook his head. “It’s easy. I would put you on Cheyenne, but she’s due any day. Pixie’s just as gentle; she’ll go easy on you.”

  “No, you don’t get it. Horses and I are not a good mix.” Not since she’d tried to ride one at her cousin Darby’s horse farm one summer and was bucked off, nearly breaking h
er arm. Logan tried to imagine herself up on top of an animal ten times her size again, trying to keep it under control beneath her. All it would take was one throw and she’d be a goner. “I can’t, Cole.”

  “All right, fine,” he said softly. He turned back into the stall he’d just left and came out with the massive, dark brown horse in tow. “You can ride with me then.”

  “What?” she asked, almost as shocked as when he’d mentioned her riding alone. “On one horse?”

  The barn filled with the echo of clomping hooves as Cole walked the horse to the open barn door and patted it on the neck. “Yeah, Rocky’s already saddled up and ready to go. This way we didn’t waste the trip and you can still have some fun.”

  Logan hesitated. “I don’t know.”

  “Hey,” he said, coming over to her and placing his hands on her upper arms. His eyes were hard on hers. “I’ll be in control the whole time. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.”

  She eyed the horse, who’d amazingly stayed exactly where Cole left him, shifting his weight every few seconds. He really was big, maybe the biggest one in the barn. She could see the long, lean muscle moving under his skin as he shifted on his feet. A thick, white stripe ran down from his forehead to his snout. Despite his anxious pacing earlier, his eyes looked calm and gentle, surrounded by long, black lashes.

  Maybe it was the two beers that made her nod, but anyone in town knew it took more than two measly beers to get Logan doing something stupid. Of course, it only ever took one Cole Tucker.

  “Okay, fine,” she said before she could take it back. “But I better not fall off this thing.”

  Cole patted the horse’s neck. “Don’t worry, Lo. I’d never let you fall.”

  *

  Logan was getting the hang of this. Sure, her butt was starting to hurt, and the way she swayed with each step the horse took reminded her of many a drunken walk home after an uproarious college party her freshman year. But it really wasn’t so bad.

  She was even starting to enjoy herself.

  “So how do you know how to do this?” she asked Cole after they’d been riding in silence awhile. With nothing to hold on to, she’d been forced to wrap her arms around Cole’s waist. She refused to really hold on to him, so instead her hands were gripping the saddle horn in front of him. Still, this kind of proximity felt strange to her, almost intimate. She’d tried to ignore the way her stomach fluttered nervously—she would be nervous sitting this close to anyone, she told herself—but in the silence, ignoring it had been impossible.