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by Jenn Alexander

  “It’s essentially a version of bull riding for little kids. They suit kids up in helmets and padding, and have them try to ride on the backs of sheep.”

  Rowan gaped at Kate, not sure if she was horrified or amused.

  “You’ll see,” Kate promised. “It’s after the boot racing.”

  When the mutton busting event began, Rowan found herself overtaken with a fit of laughter. She worried for both the children and the sheep, and yet the sight before her was so utterly ridiculous she couldn’t help the laughter that overtook her. If she had told herself about the event beforehand, she’d have thought it sounded awful, but watching it play out in front of her, she had to admit, was weirdly entertaining. She was having fun.

  And then suddenly she wasn’t having fun anymore. The moment the first calf was roped Rowan stopped enjoying the rodeo. She watched, unprepared for what was about to happen, as the rider rode out into the ring, lasso ready. A frightened calf bolted through the dirt toward the other side of the arena. The rider swung his rope in an overhead circle and lassoed the calf, which fell to its side with a terrified, high-pitched squeal. Rowan averted her eyes. She couldn’t watch the baby cow in pain on the ground.

  “The calves don’t get hurt,” Kate said, as though reading her mind.

  “And you know that how?”

  Kate’s gaze was gentle, and she felt her response was perhaps too harsh, but her stomach was knotted as her mind replayed the calf hitting the ground. “You can’t tell me that felt good.”

  “Probably not,” Kate agreed, “but the calf is fine.”

  The announcer introduced the next rider. Rowan didn’t watch, but she still heard the scared squeal as another calf hit the dirt ground.

  “We can go,” Kate said.

  Rowan shook her head. She would wait out the calf roping event. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin what was a surprisingly wonderful evening. “No, it’s fine.”

  Kate stood, though, and took Rowan’s hand to pull her up as well. She led them toward the exit, and Rowan admitted to herself that she was glad Kate had made the decision for them.

  Outside the arena the evening was much quieter. The sun had nearly set. She could still hear the music and cheering coming from the arena, but the streets were quiet. The mass of people had thinned, probably for the rodeo, she presumed. Music came from many of the restaurants and bars, however, and she expected the Stockyards would be alive and busy well into the night.

  “Are you okay?” Kate asked.

  “I’m sorry,” she answered. “I did want to watch the rodeo, but I wasn’t prepared for the calf roping. Is that event really necessary?”

  “Calf roping is an invaluable skill,” Kate explained. “On my ranch, there have been times when I’ve had to be able to rope an escaped calf so it wouldn’t run into danger. Cows are easy. Cows I can herd. The calves though, they’re fast and feisty.”

  “That’s different.” Rowan tried to find the language to put her discomfort into words without insulting Kate. “That’s to help the calf. That’s part of your career. This . . . it feels wrong to watch it for entertainment.”

  “The rodeo is pretty much the only place to showcase these skills. It’s a chance to win money for being talented in an area that would otherwise get overlooked. It showcases the skills I need to use every day in my career. It’s not a meaningless activity.”

  Rowan chewed over that idea. She didn’t want to devalue Kate’s work, passion, and livelihood. She could see its importance. But at the same time, she could hear the calves squealing in her mind. “I understand its importance. I just don’t think I can bring myself to get entertainment pleasure from it.”

  “I get that,” Kate said.

  Rowan hoped she did. She didn’t want to come across as condescending. The last thing she wanted to do was insult Kate, who had been gracious and welcoming in introducing Rowan to Texas.

  “I really did have a good time up until that last event,” she said. “It was a lot more fun than I’d expected. To be honest I kinda expected to hate all of it.”

  Kate laughed. “I like that about you. How honest you are. It’s refreshing.”

  Rowan felt a blush creep up to her cheeks and she looked away, hoping that the flush wouldn’t be visible in the dark.

  Then, she fell into step beside Kate, walking silently alongside her through the Stockyards, hoping her honesty hadn’t driven a wedge between her and Kate. Kate said she liked her honesty, but a heaviness had settled into the air between them. She kicked herself, wishing she could undo the past thirty minutes, while still knowing that she’d have responded the exact same way to the calf roping, even with a do-over.

  Not that it mattered. There was no do-over. All she could do was walk in silence and try to think of some way to bridge the distance that had formed between her and Kate, which suddenly felt as big as the difference between Portland and Texas.

  ❊ ❊ ❊

  Kate wanted to defend the rodeo. It was a part of her life. Her culture. She wanted Rowan to understand. And at the same time she felt incredibly touched at how deeply Rowan cared. She knew the calves were fine, and she wouldn’t go to an event that harmed animals. But Rowan’s concern was touching. She didn’t want her to apologize for that.

  “What would it take for me to get to see you on that?” Rowan asked, finally breaking the silence that had encompassed them.

  She followed Rowan’s gaze to a mechanical bull, surrounded by inflatable cushions, next to the road.

  Kate hadn’t ridden a mechanical bull in years, but Rowan’s eyes shone again, no longer clouded with guilt, and she wanted to reclaim the lighthearted feel the evening had started with.

  “I’ll ride it if you will,” she said evenly, holding Rowan’s gaze.

  Rowan’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “I’m pretty sure I’d die. You’re the cowgirl here. Come on. Show me how it’s done.”

  Kate wavered, about to push Rowan to give it a go, when Rowan swung her gaze to a bar down the way.

  “I’ll tell you what,” she said. “Show me how this is done, and I’ll show you my incredible karaoke skills at the saloon over there.”

  A sign out front advertised karaoke, dancing, and shuffleboard.

  “I’m really good,” Rowan promised. “I’ll even agree to sing you your favorite country song.”

  Kate held Rowan’s gaze, as though weighing the decision, even though she knew she would take that deal. Finally, she nodded and held out her hand.

  “Shake on it,” she said. “There’s no backing out if you get stage fright after I let myself get tossed from that thing.”

  Rowan grinned wide as though she’d won the lottery and took Kate’s hand, giving it a single, firm shake. “Deal.”

  Kate couldn’t help but laugh, even as nerves tightened within her stomach. She stepped up to the counter and paid for the single ride on the bull, wondering at those nerves. Sure, it had been a long time since she’d ridden one of these, but she rode horses daily, she helped train horses that were prone to bucking, and she had the balance and the core strength.

  If Rowan weren’t watching, she wondered if she would feel those same nerves. Were they for the bull or the cute city girl she was trying to impress?

  She shook her head as she stepped up to the bull and pulled herself up by the handle, swinging her leg over.

  Yeah, the nerves were entirely about impressing the cute city girl.

  The operator started the bull slowly. It rocked and spun and dipped, but the movements were gentle, and Kate had no trouble hanging on. Then, once it was clear to the operator that she knew what she was doing, the mechanical bull began to move faster, the movements more jarring, tossing her in one direction and then the next.

  Adrenaline coursed through her limbs as she fought to stay on.

  The bull tossed forward, and she met Rowan’s eyes, seeing the admiration in the gaze before the bull swung violently to the right. She almost lost her balance, but she manage
d to hang on.

  She’d forgotten how much fun the challenge of the mechanical bull could be.

  The bull moved faster still. She held onto the handle tighter with her left hand until a combination of a forward toss and sharp left turn tossed her onto the cushions below. She landed on her back, and then stood, straightening her clothes while she reoriented herself.

  “Okay,” Rowan said while she stepped out of the ring. “That was seriously badass.”

  Kate smiled but brushed off the compliment.

  She met Rowan’s eyes, the dark brown almost black in the evening light, but streaked with gold by the floodlights overhead.

  “Seriously badass,” Rowan said, her voice low.

  Kate buzzed with the adrenaline that still coursed through her. She told herself that adrenaline caused the spark that traveled through her body. Rowan reached out to fix her hair, and her stomach tightened in response, her skin flushing, and she knew that the response was not adrenaline.

  “I had better make this song a good one,” Rowan said, breaking the eye contact and leading Kate toward the saloon at the end of the street.

  Right, Kate thought, trying to pull herself back into reality. Karaoke.

  Ricky’s Saloon was a small dive of a Western bar with eclectic interior decor. Booths along the back wall were lined with black and white “cow print” fabric. The tables in the center of the room all had stools with metal backs that had a star in the center. A shuffleboard table was crammed in the corner, surrounded by wooden plaques with every Texas slogan imaginable, as though the owner had purchased every plaque possible from the Stockyards’ shops. A mural of the Texas flag covered the entire wall behind the bar.

  “What is this place?” Rowan whispered, looking around.

  Kate bit her lips to keep from laughing at Rowan, who looked as confused and worried as if she’d stepped into the Twilight Zone. The bar was possibly too Texas for Texas. It was every stereotype amplified to the max, and way too over the top to be considered representative of Texas country and western bars. But Kate wasn’t about to tell Rowan that.

  “This,” Kate said, “is the place where you make your country karaoke debut.”

  The place was by no means crowded, but a good number of people were mingling inside, for a weeknight. Enough that Kate would definitely not be getting up on stage and singing. Rowan, however, did not appear to have the same stage fright, and she walked confidently over to the binder of karaoke songs next to the stage. The bored-looking karaoke operator sat up straighter, brightening with the discovery that somebody was about to sing.

  “All right,” Rowan said, passing the book to Kate. “Choose your song.”

  Kate flipped through the songbook, looking for a country song she thought Rowan might know, before finally settling on “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. Surely, even Rowan would know that one.

  The karaoke operator queued up the song and Rowan jumped onto the stage, adjusting the cowboy hat on her head, and hooking her thumbs into her jean pockets. She danced a little through the opening guitar, smiling confidently at Kate.

  And then she started to sing, and it became painfully clear that Rowan did not know the song. Either that, or she was completely tone deaf. Possibly both.

  If Rowan was aware of how terrible she was, she didn’t show it. She belted out each off-key note with confidence, fully committed to the song she had promised.

  Some of the other bar patrons cringed at Rowan over their drinks. Kate had to press her lips together to smother her laugh.

  But when Rowan smiled brightly at her, catching Kate’s gaze with her intense, dark eyes, the smile that formed on Kate’s face had nothing to do with amusement, and all of the off-key notes were forgotten.

  Kate wouldn’t have been caught dead on that stage. The mechanical bull was far less terrifying.

  But Rowan commanded the stage. She commanded the room.

  And she fully commanded Kate’s attention.

  ❊ ❊ ❊

  When Rowan finished delivering on her promise of karaoke, she and Kate stepped back out into the quiet streets, and the two of them walked slowly back to Kate’s truck, which was parked a block or so away, by the restaurant. The temperature was almost reasonable, and Rowan found herself in no rush to get back to her apartment. It was nice to have a friend in Texas. She’d missed having someone to hang out with. Phone conversations with Alycia weren’t the same as being able to actually spend time with someone and talk face-to-face. She’d had fun at the Stockyards, even if the rodeo hadn’t been her favorite experience.

  When they reached the truck, Kate opened the door for Rowan, who climbed up into the passenger seat, still confused about this Southern hospitality thing.

  “I enjoyed tonight.” Kate echoed Rowan’s thoughts, as she drove back toward Rowan’s apartment. “I thought I would be distracted, worrying about my dad all night and feeling guilty for leaving him. I didn’t. I had fun. I needed tonight. I haven’t laughed as much in weeks as I have tonight.”

  Rowan turned toward Kate while speaking, taking in the details of her profile. Kate was focused on the road, but turned to her for a second, smiling warmly. “I enjoyed tonight, too. Calf roping aside. Thank you. For everything.”

  Kate pulled up in front of Rowan’s apartment. She didn’t want to get out and go back into her empty home that didn’t feel like home.

  “Don’t get rid of the cowboy hat,” Kate said. “You’re a Texan now. Wear it with pride.”

  “Yeah, that’s not happening,” she said with a laugh. “I won’t be wearing it around town. But I will keep it.”

  “Okay,” Kate nodded. “Baby steps.”

  Rowan smiled and was about to reach for the door of the truck when Kate leaned in and kissed her. It was a quick kiss, but it was distinctly a kiss, not a peck. Kate’s lips were soft and warm as they closed over hers, and Kate’s hair smelled like strawberries. Rowan’s breath hitched and she leaned in, but in the time it took her brain to process what was happening and respond, Kate had pulled back.

  “Good night, Rowan,” Kate said with a gentle smile.

  Rowan’s head spun and her heart pounded hard in her chest. She raised an eyebrow and gave Kate a long look, unable to formulate words. Her thoughts flew in a million dizzying directions. She managed simply to smile back and let herself out of the truck, stopping at the stairs to her apartment to touch her lips and turn and wave back at Kate.

  Rowan was pretty sure the kissing was not Southern hospitality.

  Chapter Five

  Kate untacked Stryder and finished brushing him down. Her horse was sweaty from a hard morning rounding up the cattle for rotation. She took her time as she brushed the dust and sweat out of his coat, then scraped the mud and rocks from his hooves. She enjoyed the quiet end-of-morning routine.

  “Do you remember Rowan? She helped us round up the cattle the other day?” Kate asked her horse. “I may have kissed her last night.”

  She felt like a teenager, regaling her horse with the details, still smiling at the memory. She’d spent most of her day thus far thinking about the previous evening, enjoying the warm, happy thoughts. She hadn’t planned on kissing Rowan, but in that moment it just felt right, and so she’d acted.

  Kate laughed out loud at the memory. “You should’ve seen her face,” she said to Stryder. She could still see Rowan’s adorable happy and confused smile in her mind. Two things had become apparent throughout the evening. First, it had become clear that Rowan found her attractive. Kate had noticed the way Rowan watched her when she thought Kate wasn’t paying attention. And second, Rowan very clearly read Kate as straight. Rowan had tried to keep things friendly and detached, despite the obvious attraction. Kate had enjoyed watching Rowan’s confusion as she’d flirted throughout the evening, but when the flirting still had not cued Rowan in to the fact that the attraction was mutual, she’d decided a kiss would make things clear.

  She smiled at the memory and turned her attention back to her h
orse. She reached into her bucket of treats and held a few of the grain nuggets out, palm flat, laughing as Stryder clumsily took them from her.

  She finished brushing down Stryder, then led him back out to the pasture where she released him for an afternoon of sunbathing and hay snacking.

  “You headed out?” Owen called over to her. He was working on reinforcing the rest of the fences around the pastures to prevent another jailbreak.

  “I am,” she said. “Gotta get Daddy to his appointment. Cattle are rotated and the calves have been checked on. You and Dean are set to leave once those fences are done. We’ll tag the new calves tomorrow.”

  “Sounds great,” Owen said. “See you tomorrow, Kate.”

  She waved back at him and headed to the house. Warren had a physical therapy appointment back at the outpatient wing of his rehab facility. She would have been happy to never return, but the PT was a necessary part of her dad’s recovery, and they would be going there for the long haul.

  When she stepped into the house, she found her dad sitting in front of the unlit fireplace, staring into the concrete pit. She let out a long breath and watched him for a moment. As much as she didn’t want to return to the rehab facility, she could only imagine her dad’s resistance.

  “Ready, Daddy?” she asked, stepping up behind him and resting a hand on his shoulder.

  He gave a tired shrug.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I know.” She gave him a pat on the shoulder for reassurance and then went to get the keys to the truck.

  Warren wheeled out to the driveway, and she opened the truck door. She frowned as her dad grunted and struggled to lift himself into the truck. If they had a vehicle that was lower to the ground, the whole process would be so much easier. She needed a truck to haul the livestock trailer and pick up feed, but maybe she and her dad didn’t both need a truck anymore. They could sell one in exchange for a car. She nodded resolutely to herself as she folded her dad’s chair and tucked it into the backseat of the truck. Then she climbed into the driver’s seat and pulled out onto the highway.