“Randall Ranch,” she said.
“Elizabeth?”
“Yes, who—”
“It’s Toby. Have you forgotten me already?”
“No, of course not. How are you?” she asked, turning her back to the others, in particular, B.J. Once she discovered it was her son on the phone, she’d want to talk to him.
“How’s everything at the ranch?”
“Fine. They brought in the herd of steers you were rounding up yesterday. The brothers were pleased.” That was how the second generation referred to the original four Randalls.
“Good.”
“How—how are things there?”
“Good. Lonnie placed last night in both events. He’s thrilled with Cocoa, of course. Wants me to train him a horse.”
“Uncle Pete was talking about that on Sunday.”
“He was?”
“Yes, he thinks you should make it a business,” she said. Probably she should have left this conversation to Pete, but she wanted to give Toby a reason to come home.
“Good idea. How are your classes?”
“Fine.” Then she remembered something he might be interested in. “Russ is thinking about working with Bill Johnson in town a few hours a week.”
“Really? What brought that on?”
“Uh, I did. I thought he wanted something else to do besides the ranch work and he’s always been good with numbers.”
“So he’s happy with it?”
“I think so.”
“That really leaves the brothers shorthanded. I’d better hurry back.”
Elizabeth almost cheered out loud. She wanted him to have lots of reasons to come back.
“Are you still mad at me?”
His soft question grabbed her heart. “No, not really, but I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”
“I just wanted you safe.”
“I know,” she agreed with a sigh. “Are you coming home?”
He sounded surprised. “Of course. This weekend. Didn’t someone tell you?”
“I thought you might discover you missed rodeo.”
The pause before he responded killed her. She forgot to breathe until he said, “No. I miss being there.”
Elizabeth drew a deep breath. A noise behind her reminded her she’d better hand the phone over to B.J. or her name would be mud. “Did you want to speak to your mom?”
“Is she there?”
“Yes.” She put her hand over the mouthpiece and called, “B.J.? It’s Toby.”
“Elizabeth?” Toby called as she put her ear to the phone.
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to say I miss you. I’ll be home soon.”
“Okay. Here’s your mom.” And she handed the receiver to B.J. But his special goodbye to her was more than enough to put a smile on her face. Toby was coming home.
“What did the boy say?” Red asked anxiously.
“He’s coming home,” she assured him, the smile still on her face. She knew that was what Red wanted to know. “His friend is doing well. He’s placed in both events, I guess steer wrestling and calf roping. And he wants Toby to train a horse for him. I told him what Pete said about starting a business.”
“Good. Give him something to think about,” Red agreed, nodding.
B.J. hung up the phone and came back to the table. “He sounds good, and he’s definitely coming back.” She was beaming.
“Lizzie told us,” Mildred said.
It was just the four of them at the table. Janie was at her mother’s ranch, Megan at her store in Rawhide and Anna was working a few hours for Doc.
“Jake will be relieved,” B.J. confessed. “He hasn’t wanted to admit it, but he was afraid Toby would decide to stay.”
“Lots of women around the rodeo,” Red mumbled under his breath.
Elizabeth jerked her head up and stared at him. It wasn’t that she didn’t know about the women, but she hadn’t thought about them in terms of Toby.
B.J. laughed. “I asked him about that, but he wouldn’t talk about anything. He just said not to worry, he was coming home.”
“What kind of women?” Elizabeth asked. Silly question. She knew what kind of women. What she meant was what kind of women Toby would be interested in.
B.J. and Red exchanged a look that Elizabeth didn’t understand.
“Lots of barrel racers, workers, you know, those kind of women,” Red said. “He used to tell me—” He stopped abruptly when Mildred elbowed him. “What?”
“There are always lots of women,” B.J. said, “especially around men like Toby…or any of the Randalls. We’re all spoilt having them here, honey,” she said to Elizabeth. “Look at the difference between them and Cleve. Any woman would choose one of them.”
Elizabeth drew a deep breath. “Yes, of course, but since I’m family, it makes it a little more difficult.”
Again the others looked at each other and said nothing. “Anyway,” Elizabeth said, hoping to cover the awkward moment, “he’s coming home.”
“Here’s hopin’ he don’t bring no buckle bunny home with him,” Red added, but was again shushed by his wife.
Elizabeth excused herself and hurried up the stairs to her room. Good heavens, she hadn’t thought about that happening since he came home this time. The thought that Toby might bring home a woman—a wife or fiancée—was devastating. But B.J. was right. She couldn’t imagine any woman passing Toby by. His good looks and broad-shouldered, slim-hipped body would always draw a woman’s eye. But his mind, his heart, oh, those were the best parts of Toby Randall. He was a true-blue gentleman, warm and caring.
And, she finally admitted to herself, she wanted him. Caroline’s talk had pierced her denial. Given a choice—Toby or anyone else in the world—she didn’t hesitate to say Toby. She was a little confused with her memories and the reality of Toby now. She could almost say she didn’t know him. And yet she did. Most importantly of all, she didn’t want to do without Toby in her life.
Now, the only question was how was she going to get him? And would her family approve?
Chapter Eight
Abby dropped by the teacher’s lounge at lunchtime Friday.
“I’m thinking about going into Casper tomorrow to do a little shopping. Are you interested in going with me?”
Elizabeth had been composing a list of ways to attract Toby’s attention. She looked up, her eyes sparkling. “Yes! Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Abby looked a little confused. “Think of shopping? I don’t know. Why didn’t you?”
“Um, I mean, I should upgrade my wardrobe.” Elizabeth didn’t want to confess what she was doing.
“Your wardrobe looks fine to me. I like that jumper.”
“But it makes me look—like a kindergarten teacher.”
“Ye-esss,” Abby said slowly. “Aren’t you a kindergarten teacher?”
“Yes, but I want to appear more exciting.”
“To the kids?”
“No! Of course not. I mean I want to appear more exciting when I’m not teaching.”
Abby sat down at the table, nodding her head. “I’ve got it now. There’s a man whose attention you want to attract.”
Elizabeth turned bright red. “How did you know?”
“Because that’s the way I feel, too. Why do you think I’m going shopping?”
“Really? Who?”
“I’ll tell if you will.”
The frightening thought entered Elizabeth’s head that they might be trying to attract the same man. She stared at her friend, looking for a clue to the identity of the man holding her interest.
“Maybe—maybe we shouldn’t tell,” she finally said, looking away. “It might jinx us,” she added with a smile that took a lot of effort.
“Will it help if I tell you it’s not Toby?” Abby asked, a rueful smile on her face.
“It’s not? Oh,” Elizabeth said as she let out a long sigh. “Are you sure? You were excited that he was coming back.”
“Russ?”
Abby’s cheeks bloomed and she chewed on her bottom lip. “Was I that obvious?”
“No, not at all. I just thought you got along real well the other night.”
Abby smiled, her gaze unfocused. “We did. We always have, but—I hadn’t spent much time with him since high school, and usually Rich is around and he leads Russ away. He doesn’t want Russ to tie himself up.”
Elizabeth was taken aback by Abby’s words. “Do you think so? I hadn’t noticed that.”
“I suppose it’s hard with twins. You’re always together, so being apart is—is difficult.”
“Hmm. That would make it difficult on the girlfriend, too, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, or the girlfriend-hopeful. Saturday night was the first time I’d seen Russ without Rich in years.”
“But he had Toby with him.”
“Yeah, but Toby was totally focused on you. Russ could’ve eloped with five ladies and Toby would never have known it.”
“No, he wasn’t that bad. He was upset with me.”
“Duh. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to know that. What did you do that had upset him? Surely, he was glad you broke up with Cleve? We all were.”
“Cleve was a little heavy-handed about the breakup. He tried to—well, Toby stopped him, but he thought I should’ve stayed home and not spoken to men for a number of years, apparently.”
“Ah, the nunnery comment.”
“Yes. And I was angry with him about that. But before we could work it out, he left.”
“He’s gone? I hadn’t heard that. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Elizabeth sighed. “Because it’s supposed to be temporary. He’s due back Sunday evening. He took his horse to Denver to loan him to a friend for the week and stayed to take care of him.”
“Oh, good. Gee, Denver. They’ve got great shopping in Denver. Too bad we couldn’t— Hey! What if we flew to Denver tomorrow from Casper, shopped all day, got up the next morning and caught a ride back with Toby?”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “It would be fun, but I don’t have to go to Denver to shop. People might consider it a little over the top.”
“So what? I’ve got money saved that I can use. And we all know the Randalls can afford it. Besides a one-way flight to Denver won’t run that much.”
Elizabeth felt excitement creep in. Why not? She was careful with money, but she had a little savings, too. Would Toby hate bringing them back? He had a double cab in his truck. “We’ll have to call Toby and see if he minds,” she said, her mind sorting through the things they’d have to do, “and call the airport to see if we can get seats and what time we’d have to get there.”
“I’ll call about the flight and you call Toby,” Abby said. “There’s another phone in the office. I’ll go use it.” Abby was out the door before Elizabeth could change her mind.
Elizabeth didn’t have Toby’s cell-phone number, so she called the ranch. By the noise she heard when Red answered the phone, she gathered the men, or at least some of them, had come in for lunch. She explained that she needed B.J., only to discover she was out on a vet case.
She almost left word and hung up, but then she had an inspiration. “Is Russ there?”
“Sure, honey. Hang on. Russ, telephone.”
Her cousin answered the phone, and she told him about Abby’s idea, adding that she needed to talk to Toby to see if he’d bring them home. Then she added, “You want to come, too?”
He didn’t say anything, but Elizabeth didn’t rush him.
After a minute, he said, “It sounds like fun, but I’m not sure I can take off. What? Uh, just a minute, Elizabeth.” He covered the receiver with his hand. Then he came back on the line. “Dad says I can have the day off. Why don’t I call Toby and check it out? Oh, and can you get me a seat on the plane? Abby won’t mind, will she?”
Elizabeth grinned. “No, I don’t think so, but we’ll be shopping. So be warned.”
“No problem. I’ll talk to you when you get home.”
“Okay, Russ. Thanks.” She hung up the phone and sped down the hall to the office. Abby was still on the phone and she tapped her on the shoulder and held up three fingers.
“What?” Abby whispered.
“Make it three seats on the plane.”
With a questioning frown, Abby reserved three seats. After hanging up, she said, “Why three? Who’s going with us?”
“Who else? Russ!”
Abby’s eyes glistened. “Russ? How did you pull that off?”
“Just remember you owe me one,” Elizabeth told her, linking her arm with Abby’s. “We’re going to have an exciting weekend!”
THEY PICKED UP Abby at five-thirty the next morning in Russ’s truck. Elizabeth claimed she might get sick if she didn’t sit by the window, putting Abby between her and Russ. Elizabeth decided she was getting good at this romance thing, at least for someone else.
Once they were settled and on the road to Casper, she told Abby about Toby’s response to their request. “He was pleased, according to Russ. He’s taking us to dinner tonight and then to the last night of the rodeo. We get to see the finals.”
“You’re kidding. That’s great! Are you pleased, Russ?”
“Yeah,” he agreed with a smile, sparing her a look. “You bet. We won’t get to see Toby perform, but we can watch Cocoa.”
“And all the other performers,” Elizabeth added. “Lots of cute guys, right, Abby?”
Abby stared at her friend as if she’d lost her mind. “What?”
But Elizabeth had her gaze on Russ and she noticed his concern. Yep, she was good at this.
“You interested in a rodeo star?” Russ asked, frowning.
Abby spoke slowly, as if picking her way through a minefield. “I like to watch them perform, but I’m not interested personally. I think it would be difficult to d-date one. They’re never in one place for any length of time.”
“Good point,” Russ said, his body more relaxed. “I guess that’s the reason Toby hasn’t settled on a wife yet. He’s going to be twenty-eight in October. He needs to think about the future.”
Like a chorus, both women said, “He does?”
“Well, he hasn’t said that, but I reckon that’s why he’s tired of rodeoing.”
Elizabeth was torn between hoping Russ was right and worrying that he was. What if Toby started looking for a wife before she could catch his eye?
She was fully occupied worrying about her future until they reached the airport in Casper and boarded a small plane to fly down to Denver.
When they started shopping, she expected Russ to find other things to do. He could go to the rodeo grounds, or do his own shopping. Instead, he said he didn’t really have much to shop for, so he was available to carry their packages if they wanted.
Elizabeth left the response up to Abby, knowing what her choice would be. In fact, Abby consulted Russ so often, Elizabeth could completely focus on her own wardrobe.
They broke for a late lunch. Already, they had a number of packages. After they were seated and had ordered their food, Russ suggested he run across the street to the hotel and put their purchases with the concierge where they’d left their bags earlier.
They were going to check into the hotel before they went to dinner. With Abby and Elizabeth’s approval, he loaded all the bags into his arms and hurried out.
“Isn’t he a delight?” Abby said with a sigh, a big smile on her lips.
Elizabeth grinned. “An absolute angel.”
Abby blushed. “You’re teasing me.”
“Just a little. Russ is a good guy. Maybe not as perfect as you think, but he is a Randall, after all,” she added, thinking of B.J.’s words again. “They’re head and shoulders above most of the male population.”
&n
bsp; “And you’re not prejudiced at all,” Abby teased.
“Maybe a little, but after Cleve, we both know I’ve sampled the dregs of the human race. I can’t believe I was so blind as to think I could marry that man.”
“At least you woke up in time.”
Before the conversation could continue, the waiter arrived with their lunch.
“Russ’s hamburger will get cold if he doesn’t hurry,” Abby worried, staring out the window that looked down on their hotel.
“It won’t be the first time Russ has eaten cold food,” Elizabeth assured her friend. “I guess that will change for him if he works for Bill Johnson.”
“Is he going to?” Abby asked, surprised. “I haven’t heard anything about him changing jobs.”
“You should ask—oh, here he is.”
Russ, a smile on his face, rejoined them. Elizabeth decided he put his chair a little closer to Abby’s this time.
“I’m glad you’re back,” Abby said with a beautiful smile that seemed to impress Russ. “I didn’t want your food to get cold.”
“No problem. It looks good.”
Elizabeth wasn’t sure he’d even looked at the food. He kept staring at Abby.
She cleared her throat to get his attention. “Abby and I were wondering if you’d come to any agreement with Bill.”
He rubbed his chin. “We’re thinking about it. He wants me to start off working half a week, see how it works out.”
“You mean you’ll be in town all day?” Abby asked. “Why, you could even have lunch with—with Elizabeth,” Abby said hurriedly, her cheeks turning red.
Elizabeth was sure Abby’s red cheeks meant she’d been thinking of herself as Russ’s lunch partner.
“Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that.”
The other two continued to discuss the possibilities of the change in Russ’s life and Elizabeth played with her food. Their enjoyment of each other’s company made her feel a little lonely. And a little envious. She’d shared a meal with Toby many a time in her life, but not much as adults, and almost always in a crowd. A crowd of family. She’d never had a dinner conversation with him. She’d never been the focus of his attention, the way Abby was Russ’s.
Except for last Saturday night, and that hadn’t been pleasant. He’d wanted to skin her alive, not chat her up.
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