Cowboy Professor_A Western Romance Love Story

by Ivy Jordan

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. It’s amazing how much you can learn about yourself when you put yourself in a different situation. We see it all the time with people. It’s always such a joy to watch. It’s not for everyone, mind you, but every now and again we’ll get that one person that takes right to it—and it's usually someone you'd never guess to be the type.”

  “Well, that would definitely be me. I’m glad I got a chance to talk to you too. I’ve been meaning to thank you.”

  “Actually I was hoping to take you aside today. I had a question for you.”

  My heart rate immediately quickened. Why did she want to talk to me? Did she want to ask me about Travis? Was my flirting that obvious? Why did it even matter? “Oh, uh, sure, go ahead,” I said casually.

  “Well, uh… I was wondering if you could come to town with me to look for some outfits? I wanted to get something new, but I haven’t gotten new clothes in ages. You have a great sense of style. I know you have some free hours in the morning so I thought we could go shopping. But don’t feel pressured into doing it. Only if you want to. I don’t want to take away from your time here, so please say no if you don’t want to and I promise I won’t feel offended.”

  “Oh, Allison. I’d be delighted to. I definitely want to help you out. I’m glad you asked me. That’s just up my alley.”

  She grinned. “I thought it would be. But, the shops here are not going to be what you expect. We have some nice places, but they’re probably not what you are used to back in NYC. So I just want to warn you before we go. You might have a harder time finding something than you think.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” I said with confidence. “I will find you something. If there’s one thing I know that I’m good at, it’s this. I’m good at finding things for myself, but I’m even better at finding it for other people. I’ll definitely get you something.”

  She beamed. “Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I’ll come around at about eight to pick you up. We can go get some coffee, do some shopping and be back in time for the rest of your day.”

  I smiled. “Now we’re talking!”

  The following morning Allison picked me up at eight as promised. I invited Jillian to come with, but she wanted to sleep in.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come with?” I asked her. I felt bad going out without her and wanted to cheer her up. “Shopping could be just the thing you need. Just like we do back home.”

  “I’m feeling so tired. You go without me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  I didn’t argue. I didn’t want to drag her into doing anything she didn’t want to do. Jillian hadn’t been herself since Thomas had broken up with her and I didn’t want to force her into anything. We’d been friends for a long time and we’d both been through a lot of heartache together, but this was the first time I’d really seen her in love with someone. I had a feeling this was not going to go away quickly. I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and let her get some rest.

  Allison was excited when she picked me up. She drove this big truck, and I was amazed at how comfortable she looked in it. I couldn’t imagine ever driving anything like that. At home, I had a small sports car that fit two people up front and two people at a squeeze at the back. We first went to get a cup of coffee at the cutest little café I’d ever been to that served what was possibly the best coffee I’d ever tasted. It was a very chic café that was as warm and inviting as it was trendy. It did not look like the sort of café that I was expecting us to go to. I was expecting a diner style café, with piping hot filter coffee that needed plenty milk and sugar to make it taste good. This coffee was so good it barely needed anything added to it. It put me in high spirits for the day.

  “This is so nice,” I said. “This coffee is amazing.”

  She grinned. “I bet you didn’t think we’d have such good cafes all the way out here, did you?”

  “Uh, no, I didn’t, but I’m always happy to be proven wrong. Especially if that means getting a really good cup of coffee.”

  “I know. This place is great. I think it’s a good sign of what’s to come. We’re a little bit out of touch with things here, but every now and again we get a taste of what city life is like. It wouldn’t be right if this area was filled with places like this, but having a few cafes and shops that are different from the norm is pretty nice. Sometimes the locals don’t take too kindly when things change, but the coffee here is so good that nobody can complain.”

  After that, she took me to a few different shops and told me to choose one that I thought would be right for her. She was right about the shops being different to what I was used to, but I didn’t mind. I was confident that I could go inside any shop and come out with something stylish. I often wished that I had gone into fashion but in a way, it was nice that I only had to worry about my own fashion on a daily basis. I wasn’t sure if it would be the same doing it for someone else on a daily basis. Thankfully, it was easy with Allison because she was such a similar size to me. I knew exactly what shape and style would suit her. I helped her pick out a beautiful dress and a top that brought out the color in her eyes, and she was delighted.

  “I would never have chosen this dress,” she said as she walked up to the counter to pay. “I would’ve walked right past it. It looked so flashy on the hanger and not at all suited to me, but I love it so much.”

  I smiled. “Always try things on. Sometimes that is the only way to find out what suits you and what doesn’t. Eventually, you’ll know your style. What I do is I always take what I know what will look good to the changing room but then I add on a few outfits that I’m unsure of. I’m often surprised to find that those are the outfits that end up looking good on me. And trust me, Allison, that dress looks incredible on you.”

  She grinned. “Thank you. I love it so much.”

  She couldn’t stop talking about it the whole way home. All she wanted to do was put it on. Where she was going to wear such a nice dress, I had no idea, but she told me that she was planning a date night with Mike once the group was gone and she wanted to look nice. I thought it was incredibly sweet that the two of them still made such an effort with one another. I couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of jealousy too. They were lucky to have found each other. I wondered if I would ever find someone that I felt that way about.

  “I can’t believe how quick that was. I thought we were still going to be gone another hour. I swear if I had gone in there without you I would still be looking for something. I’m so hopeless. I have gone into that shop so many times and always come out empty handed. It’s put such a fear in me that I end up never buying new things. I have so many clothes at home, but they all pretty much look the same. I get nervous when I’m looking for something new.”

  I smiled. “Well, I spend a great deal of my time shopping. Perhaps it’s not the greatest achievement in the world, but I’m glad I could be of help to you today. The funny thing is that while you were looking for these fancy outfits to wear I was wondering why I hadn’t bought some more sensible clothes to wear while I was here. You have really nice clothes.”

  “You look great though, Harper. You always look amazing.”

  “Thank you. But a lot of the clothes don’t feel right for here, especially not during the day. I feel like I stick out so much here, and not in a good way. I was thinking of buying some today, but I’m not sure if I’ll end up wearing them when I’m back home.”

  “Well, I’m glad you said something. Now I can repay you for helping me today.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We have some time to kill. I’m going to let you borrow some of my clothes. We’re so similar in size, and I have so many clothes like this at home. I mean, if you don’t mind wearing my clothes of course. No offense if you’d rather go buy something new.”

  “Allison, I’d love to try on your clothes. Thank you. That would be amazing. Are you sure?”

>   “Of course I’m sure.”

  Allison took me to her house and straight to her bedroom. She pulled out a few different outfits and told me to scour through them until I found something that I liked. I found a few clothes that I really liked. I found some different appropriate jeans-centric cowgirl outfits that fit the feel of the ranch a lot more than my designer jeans and t-shirts ever did.

  “Try them on. See if they fit,” Allison urged.

  And so began the most entertaining fashion show I had ever been a part of. I never thought I’d ever be in the middle of Texas, modeling some cowgirl girl’s clothes in front of a rancher’s wife. I exaggerated my walk and pretended like I was walking down a catwalk, and Allison laughed the entire way.

  “You look incredible!” she said.

  “Really?”

  “Seriously. Take a look.” She pulled out a full-length mirror and held it in front of me. I was taken aback by the woman looking back at me. This was not the kind of outfit I was used to wearing. But I liked it.

  “Hey, not bad,” I said. “And definitely a lot more comfortable.”

  “You look gorgeous. Not everyone can pull off clothes like that, but you make it look amazing. You know… this outfit might be useful in catching someone’s eye,” she said and winked at me.

  I blushed and turned my attention away from her and back at the mirror. Was she referring to Travis? Did she know that I was attracted to him? I could feel the heat coloring my face, so I quickly rushed off to put my old clothes back on. I threw everything into a bag and headed back to the car with her.

  “I can walk,” I said.

  She shook her head. “No way. You have a big bag of clothes. I’ll drop you off, and you can change into them when you get back to your room. Thanks again for all your help today. It was a lot of fun too.”

  I smiled. “And thanks to you. It’s pretty cool that I got to spend a morning shopping. It was like getting a little taste of home.”

  When I got out the car and made my way back to my room, I couldn’t stop thinking about what she said. Was Travis going to like me in this outfit? Or did he only like me in my fancy city wear?

  Chapter Nineteen

  Travis

  I made my way to the ranch with Mike to spend some more time with the group. Mike loved this part of the experience when he got to show the group some mild jumping tricks with the horses.

  “I didn’t know you did that. You don’t make them do it too, do you?” I immediately thought about Jillian and knew that she would never be able to do this.

  He shook his head. “No, definitely not. In fact, most of the time we just showcase what you can do with a trained horse. We invite some of them up to try, but it’s nothing fancy, and we don’t force anyone to do it. You have to be so confident around the horses to try something like this. But it’s always a lot of fun, and the crowd is usually thoroughly impressed. I’ve organized a pitcher of iced coffee for us all when we arrive and some snacks. So we’ll do that first and then we’ll head on out to the horses. It’s really all about getting them excited about the whole thing, showing them that there’s more to what we can do out here. I think they come with a specific idea of what it’s going to be like here, so we like to shake things up a bit.”

  “Cool, I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s a great idea. And nobody knows their way around a horse quite like you do.”

  “I hope you’re going to partake.”

  I looked at Mike and grinned. “Of course I will. You don’t think I’ve really forgotten how to do all this, do you? I remember it all. You seem to have forgotten that I grew up here too.”

  He grinned. “I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your touch. Actually, I must say, Travis. You’ve settled in here a lot quicker than I thought you would, and you’re not complaining nearly as much either. I’ll be honest with you; I didn’t think you’d last longer than a week.”

  “Mike! I told you I was staying for a month.”

  “I know,” he said pleasantly, and I realized that for the first time he wasn’t actually trying to be horrible to me. He was just kidding around, and it was nice that we could have this sort of banter. “You can’t blame me for thinking that though. Come on, Travis, you and I both know this place isn’t where you want to spend your holiday. And we both know you only made the decision because you were inebriated.”

  I laughed. “You got that right. But, and I admit to this reluctantly, I’m enjoying myself.”

  “I’m glad. Now, we better go our separate ways while we’re both still getting along. This is so unusual. If Allison saw us, she wouldn’t believe it for a minute.”

  I chuckled, and as soon as we arrived, I headed over to pour myself a glass of the iced coffee. Most of the crowd had already gathered around, and everyone was drinking and eating and getting along nicely. The more the group got to know each other, the more everyone started to get along. There was now a nice atmosphere amongst them all, and I wondered if any of them were going to keep in touch after this. I hoped Barry and his wife stayed in touch with Jillian. That would be nice. Already now I could see them all talking together. I looked around for Harper, but she wasn’t there yet. I wondered if she was getting herself ready in the room. Probably straightening her hair or putting on makeup, or something equally as ridiculous.

  When Harper came out, I almost didn’t recognize her. She was wearing an outfit that was much better suited to the environment than I was used to seeing her in. The closer she got, the more beautiful she became to me. I thought she looked great in her city clothes, but nothing could prepare me for the way she looked in a more natural attire. She was breathtaking. The moment she got near, she smiled, and I resisted the urge to pull her in for a kiss.

  “Wow.”

  She blushed. “Do I look ridiculous?”

  “Are you kidding me? You look gorgeous. Uh… you look amazing.” I didn’t know what to say without sounding like a bumbling idiot. “Where did you get the clothes from?”

  “From Allison. I took her shopping this morning. She wanted something a bit fancier. And, well, I wanted something a little less fancy. She said I could wear some of her clothes while I’m here. It’s so comfortable.”

  I smiled. No wonder the clothes looked so familiar. “It suits you.”

  She looked down at her boots and then back up at me. She looked shy suddenly. “Thank you.”

  I was just about to say something else when Mike gathered everyone around and asked us all to meet by the horses. Some stands had been set up so that everyone who wasn’t partaking could watch. For now, we all went to sit while Mike spoke to the crowd. He explained to them what jumping tricks were all about and then proceeded to demonstrate them for everyone to see. I could see that Mike was in his element and I was proud of him. He then invited me up with him, and the two of us did the same tricks that we used to do when we were younger. I was glad to see that we hadn’t forgotten the routine. And I was having more fun than I could have imagined. Also, every time I looked out onto the crowd, I saw Harper clapping and I felt excited. For a guy that was claiming to prefer city life, I sure was overly excited about seeing her in her new outfit. She looked radiant.

  Once we showed them what we could do, we invited everyone to come up and try if they wanted to. Mike emphasized that nothing was compulsory and if they didn’t feel comfortable, they didn’t have to. In the end, only Harper and Jackson came up to try. I was sure Barry wanted to as well, but in the end, he chose to sit and watch with his wife and Jillian. Jillian had been the first person to say no. I figured her horse riding days were over. She just couldn’t seem to get the horses to stay calm around her, and I had a feeling she would simply never be the type to enjoy it. That was fine. She seemed happy to just sit and watch, and I was glad some of the others had stayed too so she didn’t feel like the odd one out.

  Mike and I showed Jackson and Harper a few tricks, just a few simple jumps, and then told them to give it a try. I was a bit nervous watching Harper,
but both her and Jackson executed the whole thing perfectly.

  “You guys are amazing,” I said as I went up to congratulate them. They were both beaming. Jackson was punching the air with his fists while Harper was just sitting with a big smile on her face. I remembered back to a time when my father had first shown Mike and me how to do tricks. We’d been so pleased with ourselves. It was a great feeling knowing that you could do something like this, especially if you never before thought you could.

  “Do you guys want to join us in putting on a show for the rest of the guys? It won’t take long to learn,” Mike said to them. “And it will be a lot of fun. We can get a video taken so you can show everyone back home how good you were.”

  “Yes!” Jackson yelled.

  “That would be great,” Harper agreed. “Nobody will believe it otherwise.”

  I told the rest of the crowd to go off and get some snacks and drinks and to meet us back in half an hour. During that time, Mike and I spent showing Harper and Jackson what we were going to do. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a couple of rounds around the perimeter with each of us taking a turn to do a jump, but it was a big step for newcomers. While we practiced, I realized that I couldn’t take my eyes off Harper. I had to literally tear my gaze away from her so that it wasn’t so obvious. She just looked so beautiful in her new gear up on that horse, and she looked more the part than ever before. I was amazed at how easy she could go from one role to the other. A stylish city girl to a comfortable cowgirl. She looked good in both roles and seemed to move between the two with ease.

  After a half an hour of practice, the crowd was back. Mike introduced us all, getting more extravagant with every name.

  “And finally we have the beautiful Harper the Horse Whisper and her trusted stead, Thunder!”

  Everyone clapped and laughed, and we all took turns making our way around our horses and doing our jumps. The whole thing was perfect, although Jackson did go a little overboard when it was his time to go around. He loved all the attention, and for a brief moment, I wondered if he really thought he was a cowboy. I felt a little sad watching him. I could easily have this life but I didn’t want it while he so desperately wanted it and probably couldn’t have it. Life was funny like that, but I was glad to see that he was enjoying himself.