Pumpkins, Cowboys & Guitars

by Patti Ann Colt

  “Well, it’s kinda hard to fight when she ran to the ivory tower.” Damn, did he just say that? Jess contemplated his frustrated emotions. He hadn’t started the fight. He hadn’t left. He’d just opened his mouth and said a few things he shouldn’t have.

  “You know for a fact that’s where she went?”

  Jess blew out a breath. “Yeah, ran into Edgar just a bit ago. She’s home. He’s thrilled.”

  “That man’s a snake lying in wait.”

  “He’s still her father and I’m trying like hell not to rile anyone else.”

  “Well then, side-step your mother. Compliment the new craft project on the wall above the dining room table, god awful thing. And note how clean the house is, and she’s reading a new book. Ask her about it.”

  Jess couldn’t stop his ‘you’re crazy’ expression. “You really think that will work?”

  “Hell, no. But O’Hare men don’t go down without a fight.”

  “Oh man. I’m screwed.”

  “Or not as the case may be.”

  Jess drew back. “Thanks, Dad. Let’s leave references to my sex life alone, shall we?”

  “Happy to.” Chase lifted the lid and forked the steaks over to the platter. “Let’s go get this over with.

  Jess paced himself a few steps behind his father, hoping for rescue in some form – a phone call, a drop-in visitor – anything. Growing up, his mother had always been the one to ride herd on two rambunctious boys and assign punishment. He’d rapidly learned how bad he hated the look of utter disappointment in her eyes and avoided it at all costs.

  He stopped in the hall bathroom and washed his hands, then met his parents at the table. He did everything his father said to do and more. He’d give his mother credit. She played along and let him get almost done with his steak before she asked.

  “Have you heard from Amy Rose?”

  “She’s in Dallas at her parent’s, Mom.” He quickly cut his remaining steak into pieces, determined to eat the rest before she ruined a good meal.

  His mother laid her fork on the edge of her plate. “Yes, but have you talked to her? Is she all right?”

  He chewed his last bite, toying over what he should say versus what he wanted to say. Blunt honesty won. “Mom, I understand you’re upset. I am, too. God knows hurting you and Dad wasn’t my intention. Could we just leave this be?” Because he had nothing else to say. Yes, the argument was stupid, but she’d left. For the life of him, he thought they had the kind of relationship where despite any flare ups, they depended on each other.

  He guessed he had that wrong.

  His cellphone beeped an incoming text message and he jumped on the request like a bronc-rider hitting the dirt.

  Amy Rose, please!

  But it wasn’t. He read the text and typed in a reply. “I have to go. Ethan Hardy needs some help with his cattle.” The Hardy Ranch was down the road from Amy Rose’s homestead.

  He wiped his mouth and rose. “Thanks for dinner. Can I have a rain check on the pie?”

  His mother gave him an indulgent smile. “Only if you call me when you hear from her.”

  He bent and kissed her cheek. “Mom, you’ll be the first.”

  He grabbed his hat, waved at them both and escaped.

  ∞∞∞∞∞

  Amy Rose Adams leaned back against the bathroom wall and cursed the all-day-every-day morning sickness that pretty much kept any food from her stomach for the last three weeks. Not for the first time, she wished Jess was there to hold her and tell her in that humorous way he had that everything would be okay.

  But she’d been anxious and worried after figuring out she was pregnant. She’d gone to Jess, ready to tell him and discuss their future. Instead, she’d screwed up. She’d approached the whole discussion in the wrong way, and it had blown into the mother of all arguments.

  In a fit of temper and over-emotional worry, she’d wanted as far away from Jess as she could get. First mistake. Second mistake followed. Coming to her parent’s house. Because she’d moved out of here years ago for a damn good reason. And because very soon, she was going to have to crawl back and tell Jess about the baby. Her eyes flooded with tears and she tried to sniff them away.

  She heard a noise in her room and froze.

  “Amy Rose, are you okay?”

  “Yes, Mother. Out in a minute.” She put a hand over her stomach, and rose from the floor, hoping the sudden action wouldn’t force her to upchuck again. She hated vomiting.

  “All right, dear. But hurry along, will you?”

  Amy Rose grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. She swished her mouth out with water, careful not to swallow the slightest bit. She eased to the mirror to see how close to normal she looked and balked at the pale face and messy hair. She reached for the brush and with a few strokes, righted her hair, then pinched her cheeks.

  Her parents didn’t know about the baby yet. She refused to tell them until Jess knew. Once that news was sprung, it only followed that it was time to tell her father she wanted no part of his law firm. She feared that would cause a fallout that would end the relationship she had with him and her mother.

  She needed to sort things out in her own head, get her ground stable. Her whole world was topsy turvy since the pregnancy test had screamed “baby” and she struggled against the overwhelming feeling. She wasn’t even a wife yet and now she was going to be a mother.

  Jess was pretty straight forward in his beliefs. If you said something you didn’t mean, you said sorry. If you loved someone, you told them so. She’d always subscribed to that philosophy, too. But days after their argument, she’d realized she’d told him time and time again that she loved him too much to ever walk away. Yet that was exactly what she’d done while in a tailspin about the baby.

  “Stupid, Amy Rose. Men don’t come any better than him. Even if my parents don’t agree.”

  She opened the door, expecting her mother to still be in her room, but finding her gone. Since she’d gotten home, her thrilled mother had been culling her list of friends and inviting their eligible sons to dinner, filling the social agenda. Amy Rose had no energy for those social occasions and even less interest. All she wanted to do was sleep. Tonight she got a reprieve. Son #5 had decided box tickets to Ranger Ballpark was better than an obligatory dinner with a blind date and her parents.

  Fortunate.

  Her stomach wasn’t going to let her smell the usual Thursday night halibut dinner without rebelling again.

  She carefully moved to the bed and wished she were in her own room in Copper Canyon. She loved the country cowboy look of the old homestead that had been her grandmother’s and the wide-open space of the ranch. She belonged there, had made it her home, belonged with her cowboy.

  Coming to the family home in Dallas had been an epic mistake made in the temper of an argument. Less than an hour’s drive separated the two homes, but atmosphere was eons apart. She hated the sleek white designer look of this house and the closed, fenced in, security enforced neighborhood with a former President living down the street. She always had.

  But at the time, she was stinging from hard words and had needed to get away before she blubbered like a baby in front of Jess. She didn’t need him to ride to the rescue and try to make things right for her. Didn’t he understand that she had to be the one to make things right in her own world?

  She needed one person to respect her choices.

  One frigging person.

  She’d believed that person was him, hoped it was him. But the argument had left festering hurt and doubts that were challenging her belief in herself and them as a couple.

  Now she didn’t feel well enough to go anywhere. She was nauseated all the time. She was light-headed and shaky from upchucking every attempt at food with nerves trashed from trying to hide the pregnancy from her mother. She had less energy than a blackout in a Texas thunderstorm and fell asleep without the slightest planning. Driving anywhere was going to be a dicey proposition.

  She la
y back on the bed as gently as possible and closed her eyes, then rubbed her tummy. “Oh, baby, what am I going to do?” She’d almost lapsed into sleep when a knock sounded on the door.

  Her mother hastened into the room dressed in black slacks and a pleated white top. “Honey, Mattie has dinner ready.”

  Amy Rose cracked an eyelid, the mere mention of food making her struggle to get the upper hand on her stomach.

  Her mother opened the closet doors and began sorting through the limited choices in the closet. “Really, dear, you’re going to have to go back and get the rest of your things. Or let’s go shopping. Time to update everything in your wardrobe.”

  You have no idea, Mother.

  Amy Rose turned on her side, pulling the bedspread over her exhausted body. “I’m not hungry, Mother. Eat without me.”

  “You’ve been so tired all the time lately, dear. You should go see the doctor and have some tests done. You might be anemic. I suffered from that a lot when I was your age.”

  “Hmmm, maybe.” I’m just pregnant, Mother. Go away.

  Her mother sniffed, her nose tilting in that way that said she was about to say something Amy Rose would not like. “Still mooning over that cowboy? Honestly, Amy Rose, I thought by now you’d be over it.”

  Yep. Her temper flared. Two weeks to get over three years together? Not to mention a baby weighing on her mind? Crap.

  “We were together a long time, Mother. I’m not ready for anyone else.” Or calling it quits.

  “Well, your father will miss you at the dinner table.”

  “Is he home?”

  “Not yet. But when he found out our guests cancelled, he invited Miles to dinner.

  Oh, God. Oh, holy God!

  Miles Justin was a partner in the Adams-Henry law firm. She’d dated him for a while before she’d moved back to Copper Canyon. Before she’d found Jess again and realized he still had her heart. God, just shoot me.

  “I can’t, Mother. I really don’t feel well.” Please, save her from having another endless conversation about joining the law firm. Couple that with subtle pressure from her mother to get closer to Miles. He probably occupied the #1 slot on her “Amy Rose potential husband list.” Her stomach threatened to heave.

  Was Miles handsome? Yes.

  Was he articulate and well-educated? Yes.

  Was he rich? Yes.

  Was he an asshole? Why yes, thank you.

  She swallowed hard against the nausea, praying to hold it together. “Sorry, Mother. Must have some kind of bug and I wouldn’t want to pass it on.”

  “Well, all right, I guess. If you’re sure. I’ll call first thing and get you a doctor appointment. Constance will be sorry she missed you. She’s joining us, also.”

  She bit her lip to stifle a groan. Holy Mary and Joseph!

  Another of her mother’s friends who just happened to have two eligible sons. What did her mother want? Backup in case Miles was a no-go for the second time around?

  She didn’t have the energy to even address that, so she didn’t answer. She closed her eyes and didn’t have to pretend to be ready to sleep.

  Her mother touched her forehead. “You feel warm, dear. I’ll have Mattie bring you up some ice water. Get some rest.” She bustled from the room, quietly closing the door.

  Amy Rose sagged. Jess, I’m sorry. I need you so much.

  But, of course, he couldn’t hear her and that brought a new flood of tears.

  ∞∞∞∞∞∞

  CHAPTER TWO

  Jess shoveled out Lady’s stall. The four-year old filly had a finicky need for a horse. She didn’t like a dirty space and would kick up a ruckus if her stall was the least bit slovenly. Hence, her space got cleaned twice a day. He wiped his forehead, pausing to look down the long row of stalls. The sounds and smells of the ten-horse barn coupled with the mundane rhythm battled back his depression.

  Texas weather for July had been unseasonably hot, bone-dry and wildfire prone. For weeks, it had meant extra hours in the saddle making sure the acre-upon-acre of tinder-dry ranch stayed fire free. It helped that the McCormick Ranch that bordered theirs on the east had several men making the same rounds.

  But the Adam’s Ranch which bordered them to the south had two part-time hands, doing next to nothing as far as he could tell. So he kept an eye on the place and the two horses in the barn. If anything happened to the old homestead, Amy Rose would be heart-broken. He just couldn’t stand that idea. If that made him more of a fool, then so be it.

  He’d finally called her again last night. She hadn’t answered and he couldn’t come up with a way to get into the Adam’s Fort Knox of a house without causing a huge ruckus.

  He worried about her, replayed their fight and struggled with his parent’s hurt for the better part of the night. Then, he’d risen early, before the stars had burned out, before the moon had set. He’d driven his Jeep the two miles from his house on the opposite corner of the family property, saddled Lady and taken to the trails.

  He’d lingered at sunrise, staring at the front porch of the Triple A – named after Amelia Anna Adams, Amy Rose’s grandmother. He let himself replay making love on the back porch swing, remembered her satisfied cry, her sweet scent, the rightness of holding her close while she came apart in his arms. The purgatory soothed even as it burned.

  “You spoil that horse.” His older brother Shane led his black filly to a stall, drawing Jess away from his memories. Shane was a mere ten months older, and because their builds were similar, they frequently got taken for twins. Jess watched him scratch behind the horse’s ear and hand her an apple. The sassy filly was happy to munch.

  “And you don’t?” Jess went back to spreading fresh hay.

  Shane snorted. “Well, there is a degree of spoiling here. Mine is sensible. Yours is…ah, stupid.”

  Jess laughed a bit and went back to work, not mentally up to a verbal sparring match with his brother.

  “You’re a stick-in-the-mud lately, you know that? Can’t tease you. Can’t insult you.” Shane tied the horse to the railing and began loosening the saddle.

  “Just tired. Long hours trying to keep the place fire free.” Jess tensed waiting for another person to butt into his life

  “I can take a few of those morning hours when I’m not on shift, you know.” Shane started brushing down the horse, who whickered and tried to sidestep. Shane soothed a hand down her throat, settling her. “Come on, baby. You know you want this.”

  “Does Kendra know you talk to your horses like that?”

  Kendra Dawson had been Shane’s girlfriend for all of six weeks. Shane was smitten and didn’t even try to hide it. “Ummmm, she’s scared to death of horses, so no she doesn’t.”

  Jess let the shovel fall. “She’s scared of horses?”

  “Yep. Car accident. Hit one with a car when she was sixteen. Big gelding by the sounds of it. Totaled her car and landed in the hospital for a month. Killed her best friend.” Shane finished brushing down the horse and opened the stall door.

  “Uh, that’s bad.” He traded his shovel for a pitchfork and tried to bite his tongue, but he just couldn’t. “Um, she does know she’s dating a champion, regular-bone-breaking, bronc rider, right?”

  “Nope. She’s dating a fireman.”

  “Right. Traded crazy bucking horses for charging into burning buildings.” Jess shook his head. “How could she not notice all the memorabilia in your apartment?”

  Shane stayed silent, backing the horse into her stall and patted her again. He closed the gate and looked at Jess. “A. She hasn’t been to my apartment. B. I packed them all up.”

  “Packed them all up? Why?” Jess had never had any kind of desire to do rodeo. He’d been more interested in the raising of horses, cattle and the business end of the ranch. But he’d always been real proud of Shane’s accomplishments.

  Shane walked to Jess and bent to examine Lady’s hooves. “That part of my life is over, never to be revisited again. I’m happy being a fireman.�
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  “Not that it’s any of my business why you became a fireman, but is there a problem here? You never said why you decided to leave bronc-riding.” There was something bothering Shane about the situation, but Jess had asked more than once for him to share the problem and he hadn’t. Still, Jess persisted. God knows, nobody seemed to have problems butting into his life. “You can talk to me, you know.”

  Shane blew out a breath. “I know. Just nothing to it. Got bucked off one too many horses and realized that wasn’t how I wanted to spend my life.”

  Jess paused a beat to bury the skeptical answer on his tongue. “Kendra does know your family has a ranch – a horse and cattle ranch? Right?”

  “Of course.” The words sounded like the lie they were.

  “Shane?”

  Shane rose to his feet. “Look, Jess. This girl’s important to me. Just let me do this my own way and I’ll butt out of why you screwed up with Amy Rose.”

  “I didn’t screw up.”

  “She’s gone. So yes, you screwed up. Not my business and not my problem.”

  “You’d be a first. Everyone else has an opinion.”

  “Well I have an opinion, too. I’m just not going to tell you what it is.”

  Jess sighed. “You don’t have to.” He already knew.

  Shane leaned against the railing and gave Jess a hard stare. “You’re smart enough to know that letting her get away is going to be something you’ll regret for the rest of your life. You’ve been hung up on her since tenth grade and it took you for-ev-er to ask her out. That’s a hell of a long time and a lot of dithering. I figured the two of you’d be married with a kid about two years back.”

  “We’ve got a couple things to work out first.” Acid burned in the back of Jess’s throat. He should have just kept shoveling manure instead of starting this.

  Shane laughed at his stupid answer. “You love her? Yes. Work the rest out married. Ranch is doing well. Dad’s semi-retired and loving the hell out of it. You’re the big hat around here now and doing a damn fine job. You can more than afford a wife and a couple of kids. Since she left, you’ve been the most unsettled I’ve ever seen you.”