The Bull Rider's Homecoming

by Jeannie Watt

  “Remodeling is an adventure,” Annie said. Not that she’d ever done such a thing, but she’d painted, refinished and disguised, which was close. Kind of. “So many decisions to make, but it’s worth it in the long run to have a cheery area to cook and eat.”

  “Richard promised he’d handle all of the decisions. Now he has a color scheme to work with.” Mrs. Helm gestured at the matching linens and canisters.

  “I do love turquoise and brown,” Annie said before excusing herself to find the original canister boxes in the back room. She’d heard her phone ring a few minutes before, but had ignored it. The school or Emily would have called back on the landline, and since that hadn’t happened she knew there wasn’t an emergency. Not one involving her daughters, anyway.

  She brought the boxes to the front counter and carefully packed the ceramic canisters back into them. She wrapped the linens in tissue, packed them in a gift box and put everything into a sturdy tote bag.

  “Thank you,” Mrs. Helm said after Annie handed her the receipt and her credit card. “Have a lovely day.”

  “You, too,” Annie said, lifting her hand in a small wave as the door closed. She started rearranging stock to cover the empty space left by the canister set and linens when the store line rang.

  Annie picked up the phone on the second ring. “Annie Get Your Gun Western Boutique.”

  “Ms. Owen?”

  Annie’s heart skipped as she recognized the distinctive voice of the elementary school principal. “Yes?”

  “Are you familiar with a Mr. Delaney?”

  “I...am.” What was going on here? Trace had all but disappeared from her life with nary a word.

  “He’s here at the school.”

  “What! Why?”

  “The twins invited him to speak at career day in place of Mr. Stewart. However, we knew nothing about this substitution and you can understand our situation. We can’t have guest speakers who haven’t been cleared.”

  “I totally understand. But—” Her face was getting hot.

  “I’m calling because I don’t know Mr. Delaney. I’ve never met him or heard of him and I was certain you’d want to know that he’d been invited here by the twins, who assured me that he’s a cowboy.”

  “Bull rider,” Annie said automatically. “Could I possibly talk to Mr. Delaney? Is he still there?”

  “In the front office. Wait one moment.”

  Annie’s heart started beating harder as she waited for what seemed like an inordinately long time for Trace to say, “Hello.”

  “Hi. I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “Katie called and asked if I could help with career day. I tried to tell her it wasn’t a good idea...” He cleared his throat as if expecting her to know what he was getting at. Well, she didn’t, no more than she understood why he had disappeared from her life. “So I stopped by the school to talk to the principal and found out that things have changed a bit. You don’t just walk in off the street anymore.”

  “I’m sorry about this.” She spoke automatically as she tried to make sense of the situation.

  “It’s okay.” His voice was deep and low and still did something to her, even though she didn’t want to feel anything. He had walked away without a word. “I think the girls had good intentions. I thought it would be simple to stop by the school and discuss matters with the teacher. I didn’t mean to stir up a hornet’s nest.”

  “I’ll talk with the girls.”

  “How about I call you back on your cell in a little bit? Mrs. Wilson wants to speak with you.”

  The principal came back on the line and assured Annie that she understood what had happened and that there was no harm done. Annie hung up and pressed her fingertips to her forehead.

  No harm done. Right.

  True to his word, Trace called her back a few minutes later.

  “Where are you at?” Annie asked.

  “Closing in on the city limits.”

  She’d hoped he was closer, close enough to stop by so that she could talk to him on neutral ground. “Once again, I apologize.”

  And so should he, for flat-out disappearing.

  “Well, I am a cowboy.” The note of humor in his voice didn’t mask the underlying coolness.

  “This won’t happen again.” Because Annie was going to have a talk with the girls, lay out a few ground rules where Mr. D’laney was concerned.

  “I probably won’t be around long enough for it to happen again. I got my release.”

  “Congratulations.” Could she possibly sound more stilted and cold? Probably not. “What’s your next move?”

  “I’ll do some practice rides at Hennessey’s and then decide. My first event is in two weeks.”

  “Well, good luck with that.” Because she wasn’t going to allow herself to worry about him.

  “Yes.” All traces of humor were gone from his voice. “Don’t...be too hard on the girls.”

  “As if,” Annie said. “Take care, Trace.”

  “You, too.”

  Annie set down the phone before she asked him a few of the questions burning in her brain. Some things were better left unaddressed.

  A few minutes later, after praying that no customers walked in, she picked the phone up and hit redial. When Trace answered, she said simply, “You know...if you’re going to disappear from someone’s life, you should at least say, ‘Hey! Disappearing.’”

  “I—”

  “Because as things stand now, I’m spending way too much time wondering what happened. You said you weren’t one to be rushed. You did not say you were walking away. And if I’m not mistaken, that kiss was mutual.”

  “Annie...”

  “What?” Her voice was hard and she wished it were also cold, but it wasn’t. She heard the emotion in the single word and imagined he did, too.

  “I was trying to protect you,” he finally said.

  “Protect me?” she sputtered. “From what? Making my own decisions?” She paced through the store, trying to stem the tide of her anger, but now that she’d started venting, she didn’t know if she could stop. “If you’re protecting yourself, I can deal with that. But at least give me some closure. Tell me what you’re doing.”

  “Maybe I was protecting both of us.”

  “Then maybe both of us should be in on the secret, Trace. You don’t just take something like that into your own hands and make the decision without consulting the other party. Or at least saying, ‘Goodbye. This is it.’”

  There was a brief silence, then Trace said, “This is a conversation we should have in person, Annie.”

  “Just let me know when and where...if you dare. I have to go. A customer is at the door.”

  She hung up and tried to smile as an elderly lady peered in through the window before moving along to the next store.

  Probably just as well, because after pouring out her feelings, she didn’t know if she was ready to paste a smile on her face and pretend that all was well. Not when her nerves were buzzing and she was wondering what she’d just done. The bell on the back door rang and Danielle breezed in.

  “Hey, did I miss anything?”

  “The twins invited Trace to school, and campus security got him.”

  “What?”

  Annie told the story as she tidied up displays, leaving out the part where she’d called Trace on his behavior. Danielle laughed. “Those girls are going to keep you hopping when they hit their teens.”

  “Thanks for the pick-me-up,” Annie said with a wry smile.

  She went back to her tidying, still feeling as if she had unfinished business—because she did, although there wasn’t much she could do about it. As the old saying went, it took two to tango, and Trace was excusing himself from the dance. It stung, but life would go on. It a
lways did—especially when you had kids to raise.

  * * *

  “MOM...IT JUST made sense,” Katie said in her best adult voice as Annie backed the car out of Emily’s driveway. “Mr. Stewart couldn’t come and we didn’t want to have to do spelling.”

  “You invited Trace so you didn’t have to do spelling?”

  “No.” Katie hesitated as she always did after stretching the truth. “Well, we didn’t want to do spelling, but the kids wanted to hear about being a cowboy.”

  “And that’s the only reason you asked him?”

  “He’s the only cowboy we know.” Kristen spoke so earnestly that all thoughts of ulterior motives evaporated from Annie’s brain. There’d been no ulterior motive. No trying to ease Trace into the family.

  “And he’s your friend,” Katie added. “He’s fun to play rodeo with. He does things you don’t allow us to do.”

  “He’s our friend, too,” Kristen added, making Annie’s heart twist a little. “I wish we could have seen him today.”

  “He’s almost as fun as Uncle Grady. And he never loses the bull. He should come over more often. I think he’s lonely.”

  “No,” Kristen said. “We should go over there and go riding!”

  “Yeah!”

  Annie sighed. “We’ll hold off riding until Uncle Grady comes home, okay? And by the way, how’d you manage to call Trace?”

  “We used Ella’s phone at recess. Her mom lets her bring a phone to school!”

  “How’d you get the number?”

  “It’s an easy number,” Katie said. “One-two-one-two. You wrote it down by the phone, remember?”

  Annie did. She’d copied it out of her cell phone onto the pad next to the landline.

  “And the first part is almost like ours. Instead of six-seven-eight, it’s five-seven-eight,” Kristen added.

  Okay... “Well...please don’t call anyone without telling me first, all right? And never call anyone from school again.”

  “We won’t...but can we invite Trace over to cook for us?”

  Annie took care to monitor her tone, keep it matter-of-fact as she said, “Trace is going to leave pretty soon to ride bulls.”

  “He’s all better?” Katie asked.

  “Then he can cook for us when he comes back,” Kristen said as if it were a done deal. “Maybe Lex and Uncle Grady will be back, too. We can have a big party.”

  The girls started discussing possibilities for homecoming celebrations, and Annie refrained from informing them that Trace wasn’t likely to come back. Memories would fade and, in a matter of weeks, her life—and her girls’ lives—would be the same as they’d been before her brother had invited Trace to watch his property. Busy, fulfilling, satisfying.

  Oh, yes they would.

  * * *

  THE MORE TRACE thought about his conversation with Annie, the more irritated he became. She was the one who’d wanted to be just friends and nothing more. Well, friends didn’t kiss like they kissed, so the friend thing was out the window. He’d thought it would be easier on Annie if he simply backed off for a while. Gave them both some breathing room. It wasn’t like he hadn’t missed her. Or that he was never going to see her again.

  It wasn’t like he had an easy time driving past her place every day on the way to Hennessey’s. It was no easier today, after she’d lit into him, but Trace steeled himself and sailed by her mailbox. Jasper had a bull waiting for him, and he was going to ride early, before most of the crowd got there.

  He’d taken months off with this injury—the longest time he’d been off during his entire career. It had to have an effect, which made him all the more determined to make up for lost time. He’d spent the last several days watching tapes, getting into his head, prepping mentally as well as physically. He’d be back in the points by the end of the year.

  And he’d be able to make that event in Portland, as planned. He and Grady would be on different tours as he worked his way up through the ranks, but he’d undoubtedly run into him. That was going to feel... Odd was the only word he could come up with. There would be a whole new dimension to their friendship now that he’d messed up with Annie.

  “You look ready,” Jasper told him a half hour later.

  “You have no idea.” It’d felt so good to put on his gear, rosin his rope, get ready to face reality.

  “Leonard here isn’t our roughest bull, but he’s no pansy.”

  “He’ll do for a start.” Trace eased onto the animal, situated himself, adjusted his rope, his grip. An aura of sheer strength rose up out of the animal, surrounding him, and Trace did his best to tap into it, use it to his advantage.

  He nodded and the gate swung open. Leonard took one mighty leap out of the chute then short hopped and started to spin. Trace pushed down through his feet, countered the spin and refused to think about his shoulder. He’d told Jasper he was going for ten seconds instead of eight, even though it was his first ride. Ten because if he could do ten, then he knew for certain he could do eight.

  Bill blew his whistle and Trace disembarked easily. Leonard didn’t give Trace a second look once he was on the ground. The big bull trotted over to the gate and waited for it to open. Trace picked up his rope and grinned at Jasper, who gave an approving nod. No, Leonard wasn’t the toughest bull around, but he wasn’t the easiest, either. It was a good start.

  Trace rode again that practice, hitting the dirt before ten seconds had elapsed, and jarring his shoulder, but it didn’t send that bone-numbing pain shooting through him that he’d experienced every single ride before the surgery. This was just normal pain. He decided to leave well enough alone and call it a day.

  “You won’t be around for much longer, will you?” Jasper asked as Trace left the practice pen.

  “Nope. I’m going to Portland and from there I’m heading back to Oklahoma. My friend there just bought a smaller place, but he still has a practice pen.”

  “It’s been good having you.”

  “I’m not gone yet.”

  Jasper gave a short shake of his head as if he didn’t quite believe him. Trace dusted off and headed to his truck. Cody drove in as he was pulling out and Trace lifted his hand to wave. They were almost ten years apart in age, but one thing they had in common, other than bull riding, was that neither of them had a chance with Annie. Cody had no chance because Annie wasn’t interested in him, and Trace had no chance because he wasn’t going to seek one. He knew what was best for both of them.

  The thought stopped him cold.

  That was exactly what Annie had been angry about. His deciding what was best for both of them. He’d understood why she felt that way when they’d spoken on the phone, yet he’d still stubbornly believed that he’d done the right thing. He’d done it the wrong way, but the outcome was the same—Annie was protected—and he’d been willing to live with that.

  Until now.

  How insulted would he be if someone assumed that he needed protection without his permission or knowledge? Because they thought they knew best.

  Pretty damned insulted. Just as Annie had been.

  * * *

  ANNIE STOPPED UNPACKING groceries and went to the window when she heard the crunching sound of tires on gravel. Trace.

  Why?

  Because she needed more frustration ammunition?

  Well, she was at capacity, thank you very much. She drew herself up and stepped out onto the porch as Trace got out of his truck. Before she could speak, though, he raised his chin to meet her gaze and the expression on his face stalled out whatever it was she’d been about to say.

  “We need to talk,” he said simply. “And I believe you dared me to come by.”

  Annie swallowed the sudden dryness in her throat. She had dared him, and she couldn’t back out now.

  “Are the g
irls here?” he asked, following her back into the house. Annie shook her head as he shut the door. “Good.”

  As per usual, a moment of awkward silence hung between them that neither attempted to break. As far as Annie was concerned, he’d accepted the dare, so she’d let him start, because she wasn’t certain where to begin—or even where she’d left off.

  “I was trying to make things easier by disappearing.”

  The note of quiet regret in his voice almost did her in. “I know you were, Trace. That’s the hell of it.”

  “Like I said before, friends don’t kiss like that.”

  “Well, maybe I changed my mind about being friends.”

  “And maybe I thought you’d come to regret that.”

  Annie tilted her chin up. “Maybe we should have talked about it. Maybe I should have told you with words that I was changing my mind. Although, I thought I’d made it pretty obvious.”

  “I was—still am—afraid of hurting you, Annie.”

  “Why? Because you don’t think I can handle it?”

  “No. Because I care for you.”

  Her heart stuttered. Before she could answer, he went on, “I am leaving. It’s a given. I had my first ride today. It was good. In two weeks I’ll be in Portland. Next month I’ll be in Austin. I’ll be back in Oklahoma during my off time where I can train on decent bulls.”

  Annie lifted her eyebrows in a cool expression. “Maybe I’m good with that.”

  “Maybe?”

  “As in, I don’t know, Trace. I’ve never experienced anything like this. I’ve never had a whirlwind affair. I’ve never had a husband. I’ve never had a lot of things. I think I want one thing, then come to find out I want another.”

  He studied her with an ever-deepening frown.

  “Translation?” he finally asked softly.

  Annie lifted her hands in surrender. She had no idea how to articulate all the contradictions that kept shooting through her brain.

  Trace moved a few steps closer, close enough that she wondered if she could feel the warmth from his body or if she was just imagining it. “When you kissed me...” she said softly, letting her gaze drop down to his perfect lips, remembering that kiss and somehow losing track of what she was trying to say in the process.