“That isn’t all it is. You know that.”
“You haven’t heard anything from her?”
“Nothing. She won’t answer me.”
“You need to give her time.”
Here he was, a month later and nothing had changed. How much more time did she need?
He called Liv, but she didn’t know what to tell him.
***
“What are you gonna do with the rest of your life?” Ben asked Renie.
“The rest of my life? First thing in the morning Ben? I haven’t even had a cup of coffee yet.”
“You’ve moped around here for a couple of months now. You quit school, which again, was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”
“Leave me alone Ben.” Renie started to walk toward the stairs.
“You go into that bedroom, and I’m taking the door off the hinges.”
“What? Jesus, what is your problem this morning?”
“You have to do something with your life Renie. Figure it out. Quit feeling so fucking sorry for yourself. He has a baby, big damn deal. I had a baby before I was ready for it too. By accident. I was less prepared for it than Billy was, if you can imagine that. But I dealt with it.”
“Well I didn’t have a baby. So I don’t need to deal with it.”
“Get it together Renie. I don’t want to be an asshole, but I will be. Your mom has a lot on her plate, she doesn’t need this shit from you.”
It took her a week, but at the end of it, she had a plan. She’d be leaving by the middle of May, to work at Black Mountain Ranch.
“What do you mean?” Liv asked her.
“I’m getting out of your hair, at least for a little while.”
“I don’t think that’s what Ben wanted. He’s worried about you, that’s all.”
“No, he’s right. I’m making everyone miserable being here. And you’re gonna be gone, competing. It’s until September, unless I figure something else out by then. And I’ll be making money, so I can pay…for…you know.”
Liv wanted to tell Renie she could come with her, help her while she traveled the rodeo circuit. Last December Liv came in fourth place at the nationals. She was determined to do better this year. She and Ben had a plan, and if it came to fruition, she’d retire after the finals this year and never race again.
But Liv knew there’d be no way Renie would want to set foot on rodeo grounds. It would remind her too much of Billy.
Maybe this was the right thing for her daughter then. There was a chance that working a dude ranch for the summer would make Renie miss her horse enough, her old life enough, that she’d find her way back.
***
Hard work. Mind-numbingly hard work. That was what she was after. She’d never been shy of it. She’d applied as a wrangler, and she knew she’d be expected to work her ass off.
She’d be one of a group responsible for maintaining the health of the horses and upkeep of the barn. In addition to that, she’d lead trail rides, go on cattle drives, even ferry guests back and forth from white water rafting trips in Glenwood Springs.
She’d also be expected to participate in evening activities with the guests, to dance and have fun, and make sure everyone there had the best time possible. It meant shutting off her emotions, setting them aside, trying to act normal, even if it were the furthest thing from how she felt.
No one there would know a thing about Billy Patterson, or her broken heart. No one would look at her with pity or wonder what she was thinking about, if she were thinking about him. She would be, but no one would know it.
***
On the fifteenth day of May, Renie climbed in her car after hugging and kissing her mom, Ben and the boys goodbye, and started the four and a half hour drive to what she hoped would be a new life.
Chapter 10
He never would’ve believed he could go eight months without talking to Renie. Hell, he hadn’t been able to go eight hours without talking to her. Or at least texting her.
He took pictures of Willow with his phone every day. And each time he did, the first person he wanted to send them to was Renie. Instead, he kept them to himself, believing that one day he’d show them to her. One day she’d want to see them.
He wished he could figure out why Renie reacted the way she had. Everyone who knew her was surprised by it. She was great with kids. Lots of kids who had boarded horses came to the ranch. She rode with them. She even talked about giving riding lessons, before school got to be too much work for her to consider it.
But, where Willow was concerned, it was an entirely different story. Renie had gone from being his best friend, the love of his life, to being someone he didn’t know, all because of his baby girl. He wished he could figure out why.
A couple more hours…he prayed he would see her again.
— • —
When Renie drove through the gates of Black Mountain Ranch, she felt a sense of peace wash over her. No one, not a single person, here knew her, and it felt liberating.
She wanted to ride, and dance, and sing…and be happy. She wanted to forget Billy Patterson existed, and be a girl who got to be a wrangler for one summer of her life.
When the cowboy tipped his hat and offered to carry her bags to her cabin, she was happy to accept his offer—although part of getting the job here for the summer included proving she could lift and carry at least seventy-five pounds of tack, or potatoes or firewood—whatever they threw at her. She’d be able to, no problem. And meanwhile she’d let the handsome cowboy help her all he wanted to.
“What’s your name cowgirl?” he asked.
“Irene Fairchild.” It was the name she’d put on the application, and for the next four months, it would be the name she went by. If anyone called her Renie, she was prepared to ignore them.
“What’s yours?”
“Jace Rice.”
“Rice? My mom married a man named Ben Rice.”
“Yep. Ben’s my cousin, second or third, somethin’ like that. We aren’t close,” he laughed.
She was glad to hear it. Sometimes the world was too damn small. The next thing she knew she’d meet somebody related to Billy. And if she did, she’d be in her car and on her way home faster than you could say, “Patterson.”
“When’s the last time you saw Ben?”
“I was about eight or nine years old.”
That made her laugh.
“You have a mighty pretty smile.”
“Why thank you Jace. I hope to be smiling around you a lot while I’m here this summer.”
Jace blushed and put her bags on her bed for her. “Meet up with you later, after you get settled in. You should also check in up at the office before it gets too late.”
“Thank you Jace, I’ll see you later.”
Yep, Jace Rice was just the kind of man she was looking for. He didn’t look anything like Billy, but he did look mighty fine. He had broad shoulders, like a bull rider. His ash blonde hair was closely clipped, but he let his beard grow in, so it was the perfect amount of stubble. His green eyes drew her in, especially the way they met hers and didn’t back away from the challenge of her stare. This was a man who was confident, maybe even more confident than Billy.
She wished she could stop comparing every man she met to Billy. It was time to let a man show her who he was without being measured against the Billy Patterson yardstick. She figured Jace was more than up for the challenge.
“We have free time in the evenings until next week, when the first guests start arriving for the season. Once they get here, we’re on the clock almost twenty-four hours a day, except when we’re sleepin’ of course.” He winked at her. “And Sundays, we have Sunday nights off, as long as the ranch is ready for the new guests who arrive on Monday.”
She’d read most of this in the new employee packet they’d sent her. She doubted he was telling her all this as the human resources greeter. Jace was interested in her, she knew he was.
“There’s dancin’ later too. After
dinner.” He shifted the cowboy hat he held in this right hand to his left. His right hand took hers, and he spun her around into him, then back out again. “Looks as though you know how to dance.”
“It was a prerequisite for getting hired,” she laughed.
“Yep.”
“Is it your job to make sure all the new cowgirls can dance?”
“Nope, not all of ’em. Just you.” He brought her hand up to his lips, turned it over, and kissed her palm.
Oh yeah, this would be a good summer Renie decided.
Jace didn’t disappoint on the dance floor later that night. By the time he walked her back to her cabin, her face hurt from smiling. It had been way too long since she smiled that much. It hurt, but it felt good too.
He didn’t try to kiss her good night, which she found comfort in since it was her first night here. She’d have to try to get the lay of the land tomorrow, and make sure there wasn’t a hot cowboy welcoming committee for all the new girls when they arrived. She had no desire to be someone’s conquest. She planned to be the one taking the prisoners, not the other way around.
“Will I see you tomorrow morning at breakfast?”
“Nope, sorry to say I won’t be able to join you. I’ll be out rustling cattle in the mornin’. But, I’d surely like to dance with you again tomorrow night after dinner.”
“I’d like that Jace. Very much.”
He tipped his hat, said good night, and walked in the direction of a group of cabins cloistered further up in the woods.
“It’s gonna be a good summer,” she heard him say to the trees.
***
At the end of her first week at the ranch, Renie knew she was in over her head. She wasn’t cut out for the long days and hard work she’d craved before she got here. Of course, she’d never admit it. She’d pull her weight the same as everyone else, but at the end of the night she was happy to be able to fall into bed and let sleep overtake her, sometimes before she got her boots off.
Other than her constant physical exhaustion, coming here to work was the best decision she could’ve made. The ranch catered to families mostly, but had a few weeks during the summer that were for adults only. She loved hanging out with the little kids, teaching them how ride. When they’d take the horses through the river, and they’d swim with the riders on their backs, the looks on people’s faces when they did it the first time was priceless. The ranch was all about making the best memories they could for the people who paid to come and stay. She loved being a part of it all.
Jace continued to flirt with her, but when guests around, he played it completely cool. Part of the fantasy of spending a week at a dude ranch was falling in love with one of the wranglers. The cowboys played their part, but never took it further than a dance with a guest. There was a fine line they all walked, to not mix fantasy and reality.
Sunday nights, when the guests went home, the wranglers came out to play. They still walked a fine line when it came to romancing fellow employees. It was frowned upon, although Renie was sure not all the cowboys and cowgirls slept alone every night as she did.
She was assigned white water rafting duty the next week, which meant she’d be away from the ranch for a couple days, staying in a hotel in Glenwood Springs instead. While the guests were at the river, she’d have time to herself during the day, unless she chose to go rafting with them.
When she walked up to the van Tuesday morning, she was surprised to see Jace already comfortable in the driver’s seat.
“What’s up? Schedule change?”
“Signed myself up for it.”
“So should I stay here?”
“No way cowgirl, you’re the reason I’m goin’ along.”
The way he smiled at her made Renie’s toes curl.
It took them an hour to drive from McCoy to Glenwood Springs. Once they dropped the guests off at the rafting company, Jace and Renie had ranch business to take care of in town, including picking up supplies. Then, they’d be free until the next afternoon when the rafters got back from their overnight trip.
Jace talked her into going to the hot springs.
“Gotta take advantage of it while we can. Don’t know about you, but my muscles could use a good, long soak in some hot mineral water.”
Nothing sounded better to her, except she hadn’t brought a swimsuit with her.
“They sell ’em at the hot springs,” Jace told her. She wondered how many other female wranglers he’d brought here that hadn’t remembered their suit.
“What was that?” he asked her.
“What?”
“Sometimes your face gets this little pinch in it, as though you bit into somethin’ sour.”
“It does?”
He tweaked her nose. “Yeah, it does. So what were you thinkin’ about just then?”
“How this body hasn’t been in a bathing suit since last summer and I’m not sure I want to try one on.”
Jace started to say something but then stopped himself.
“What?”
“I don’t think you’re gonna like what I have to say, so I think it would be best if I kept my mouth shut.”
“What? You can’t do that. God, are you agreeing with me?”
“Huh? What’re you talkin’ about now?”
“You don’t want to see me in a bathing suit?”
How she thought he meant he didn’t want to see her in a bathing suit when that was all he wanted…that or nothing, was beyond him. Jace couldn’t help himself, this conversation was going nowhere fast. He put his hand on the back of her neck before she had time to scoot away from him, as she usually did, and kissed her, hard on the mouth.
Once he started he couldn’t stop. For two weeks he’d wanted to do that, to kiss her. Two long weeks. He was done waiting.
Oh. She hadn’t expected this. Well she had, but not right now. And wow, he was a good kisser. She could kiss him all day long.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”
“What? Don’t be sorry. God.”
He laughed. “What does that mean?”
“You are, um, a good kisser.”
He laughed again. “You are too Irene.” He ran his fingers down the side of her face. “Such a formal name for such an informal girl. Where’d you get it? Are you named after somebody?”
“My grandmother, on my father’s side. Her name was Alice Irene, but no one ever called her Alice. At least that’s the story I’ve been told. I never met her.”
“Got a nickname? Somethin’ people call you when they don’t want to be so formal?”
“Nope. I’m not a nickname kind of girl.”
“So tell me more about your family. I know your mom is married to my cousin. Are your parents divorced?”
“Nope. My father died before I was born.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Not something I’d kid about.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. How’d he die?”
“Fighter pilot, died in the Gulf War.”
“Wow. Gosh. I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard for you.”
“Since it was before I was born, it wasn’t something that I ever thought much about. My mom and my grandparents told me stories about him, and I’ve seen photos. But no, it wasn’t hard.”
He leaned in to kiss her again. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the day you drove into the ranch.”
“I thought you might be part of the welcoming committee.”
“Never helped any of the other wranglers with their bags, before or since.”
“Come on, don’t you try to play me Jace Rice.”
“I’m serious. There’s somethin’ about you Irene. You know dating is frowned upon at the ranch.”
“I got that impression. I also got the impression that not everyone follows the rules.”
He laughed. “No, not everyone does. As long as the parties involved are discreet, management looks the other way.”
“How much practice do you have being discreet?
”
“You’re somethin’ else,” he laughed. “I can’t decide whether you’re the least confident, or most confident girl I’ve ever met.” He stopped smiling. “But I do know I want to get to know you better.”
Renie found a reasonably modest bathing suit at the hot springs and Jace was right; her muscles needed the time she spent in the warm water. The other thing they needed was a good long massage, so she booked one for later that afternoon. Jace thought that was a good idea, so he did too.
“We could get a couple’s massage.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“What? I was serious.”
“I don’t think so cowboy.”
He pushed her up against the wall in the hallway outside the locker rooms and brushed his lips under her ear. “Come on Irene, let’s make good use of our hours away from the ranch.”
Oh it would be so easy to let herself go, give into Jace, so easy. And why not? What was stopping her? Billy. Ha! Wasn’t that the reason she’d decided to work at the ranch in the first place? To forget all about him. Jace would certainly help that along. It was time she moved on, in every way. Billy Patterson was the only man she’d ever slept with, it was time to change that.
“You know, you’re right.”
He didn’t wait for her to change her mind. He went back into the salon office and changed their appointment from two individual massages to two for a couple.
Although they had rooms at the Ramada Inn on Sixth Street, which the ranch paid for, they decided to book a room at the Colorado Hotel. It was connected to the hot springs. They’d get the massage in their room that way.
Renie wondered for a few minutes if this was a bad idea, but reminded herself again, this was the reason she was here. She was the one who was going to live her life, on her terms, Billy Patterson be damned.
Renie looked at the clock, it was almost seven, and she was starving. And spending time with Jace Rice had definitely been the best way she could think of to work up an appetite. She bit his shoulder.
“Ow. You tryin’ to tell me something girl?”
And Then You Dance Page 11