Big Sky Bachelor (9781460320624)

by Mcdaniel, Lesley Ann

  She frowned. “What’s that got to do with—”

  “Then your engine problem becomes my problem. I’d be the one stuck on that bridge with other drivers cursing at me.”

  That cute little pout returned, only this time the eyes above it held a glint of misgiving. “I thought you said if you lost you’d fix my truck and drive it.”

  “Yeah.” He climbed down again. “I thought that too till I looked under the hood.”

  “And?”

  “It’s nothing but rust.”

  Her face fell. “No guts, huh?”

  “None worth resuscitating.” Now that he was back on her level and looking her in the eye, the urge to draw a finger down her cheek was tough to ignore. “Needless to say, I’m highly motivated to win. I don’t want to be saddled with that car of yours for who knows how long.”

  “Motivated to win?” A match lit behind those pretty, mistrusting eyes. “Are you deaf? How many times do I have to say it? I am not competing in—”

  “That is Micah Brody. I told you!”

  Their attention was diverted by two kids, a boy of about ten and a girl of about eight. Brother and sister, if he had to guess.

  Micah gave Janessa a look that said I’m sorry. This will only take a second. In the past, he’d assumed that women were impressed when fans had interrupted. But with Janessa, he needed to make sure she knew their conversation was important to him. That was just one way his eyes had been opened over the past few days.

  As the kids scurried up to him, he flipped on his rodeo-guy smile. “Hey, there.”

  “You’re Micah Brody.” The boy turned calflike eyes up to him. “The bull-riding hero.”

  “I wouldn’t say I’m a ‘hero.’ At least not to some people.” He gave Janessa a look, which won him a good-natured eye roll.

  “But you ride horses and you’ve won all kinds of awards, right?” The girl’s little cheeks looked like a couple of polished apples.

  “I guess that’s true. You like horses?”

  Both their faces lit up and they nodded.

  “You have one?”

  The faces fell, and the girl answered. “We don’t have money for one. And our yard’s too small.”

  “Oh.” He knelt down to meet her, eye level. “Do you ever get to ride?”

  They shook their heads.

  “Our mom says we need all our money for food and stuff.” The boy sounded like he was trying hard to accept this fact but wasn’t quite there yet.

  Micah looked up at Janessa, whose eyes brimmed with concern. “Well, food and stuff is important, too.”

  Just then, a wild-eyed woman in jeans and a paint-spattered T-shirt appeared at the top of the stairs. Her eyes darted around, then landed on the kids. She blew out a groan. “There you two are.”

  Micah straightened as she approached.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I told them they could try to meet you, but I didn’t mean for them to—”

  “It’s all right,” he assured her.

  The boy continued. “Our mom told us we could either spend our money on carnival rides or the rodeo, and we told her the rodeo on account of the competition being so important.” He looked up at Janessa for the first time, admiration and shyness in his eyes. “All our friends are talking about it.”

  Clearly embarrassed, the mom allowed Micah to autograph a couple of napkins from Janessa’s stand for the kids, then hustled them away.

  As Janessa trailed them with her gaze, Micah eyed her, grateful for the opportunity the kids had innocently afforded him. He made a little show of shaking his head. “It’s going to be awfully sad to disappoint those kids.”

  “You won’t have to.” Janessa regarded him from under an arched brow. “You’re the big celebrity, not me.”

  He tilted a downward glance. “If you cancel, I have to cancel, too.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “I can only compete if you do. That was the deal.”

  “That might be the deal you agreed to, but not me.” She started to tidy up her counter, but her eyes fixed on the livestock floor below.

  He followed her gaze down to where the woman and her kids were headed toward some buckets that had been set up for painting the screen wall.

  Janessa spoke softly. “I’ve seen that woman working the checkout in the drugstore. I got the impression that she’s a single mom.”

  “Oh?” His heart went out to those kids. He knew as well as anybody what it felt like to only have one parent.

  “She’s probably volunteering here today so her kids can see the movie for free.” Melancholy had crept into her tone. “You know, my family’s had some financial problems over the years, but I’ve always had my horse. I guess I took it for granted that if you want to ride your family finds a way.”

  He nodded. “I’ve always taken that for granted, too.” That and a lot of other things.

  The thought landed on his head like a bucket of cold water. He had taken a lot for granted. Like still being alive, for instance.

  An unwelcome rush of memories hit him like a tsunami. The accident and those awful months spent getting back on his feet. The pain. The fear and confusion. Pouring out his heart to the night nurse in rehab because she was the only person who seemed to care enough to listen.

  “Micah?” Janessa’s concerned voice yanked him back to the present. She nodded at a point behind him.

  Turning, he saw a boy of about eight shyly approaching with his dad’s encouragement. Micah twisted full around and smiled down at the boy.

  “Mr. Brody?” The boy’s small voice held a quiver, as if he was unsure of how he’d be received.

  Micah knelt closer to the boy’s level. “Well, hey there.” He reached up for Janessa to hand him another napkin to sign. “What’s your name, son?”

  “Daniel.” The boy’s face brightened at the encouraging reception.

  The dad looked pleased. “Danny here’s a big fan. He competes in mutton busting in the rodeo.”

  “No kidding.” Micah gave Danny a look that said he was as impressed as if the boy were a world-champion bull rider. “You ever win?”

  “Sometimes.” Danny nodded. “But my dad says that’s not the most important part.”

  Micah looked at the dad, who shrugged. “I guess winning gets to be more important when it’s your job, but I figure for the kids, rodeo should teach them something more than how to win.” He gave Danny a slug to the arm that made him laugh. “I’m mighty proud of my boy.”

  For Micah, that comment went down like a bitter horse pill. He hadn’t been that much older than Danny when he’d been set to compete in his first steer riding event. He’d been scared out of his wits, crying that he didn’t want to do it.

  “Be a man,” his dad had barked, which had seemed like a strange thing to say to a kid.

  He’d gone ahead and gotten on the animal, because he’d wanted to please his dad. When the chute opened and the steer took off bucking, Micah was terrified. He gripped the rope, waving his right arm in the air for balance like his dad had taught him. He held on for what felt like forever.

  Then the buzzer sounded and he jumped off, hearing the crowd cheer for him. He was the happiest he’d ever been in his life. He ran to his dad, expecting him to say how proud he was.

  “You weren’t moving with the steer. He could have bucked you off.”

  The words stung the same now as they did then.

  That particular memory threatened to break through the dam of cold emotional detachment he’d maintained for all these years. Years spent trying to please his dad but never being good enough.

  He couldn’t let that dam break. Especially not now.

  He looked away, blinking, then back at Danny. “You’re real lucky to have such a great dad
.”

  The boy looked up at his dad, clearly in agreement.

  After a minute or two of Danny telling Micah all his techniques for staying on the back of a sheep, he and his dad left. Micah stood, his head reeling. He didn’t want Janessa to know that he’d just been knocked off the bull he’d been struggling to stay on in one way or another for the past twelve years.

  Janessa said something about not needing any more help if he had other things to do, but by the time he’d fully tuned in, she’d changed the subject.

  “Will I see you tonight?” Her eyes held a hopeful glint that he would have found encouraging if he hadn’t been so preoccupied.

  He hesitated, hoping his voice wouldn’t shake if he spoke. “Oh...sure.” Muttering something about helping out downstairs, he walked away. Just walked away.

  He was starting to get real good at that.

  Chapter 7

  “This is almost as exciting as a livestock auction.” Leonard’s unmistakable husky baritone cut through the crowd noise.

  Janessa and Andra had been so busy for the past hour that they’d barely had time to look up. Now as the guys from the Bar-G postured with their movie star sunglasses and their thumbs hooked in their belt loops à la Gary Cooper, Janessa admired how nicely they cleaned up.

  Her pulse increasing a notch, she took a quick visual inventory. Next to Leonard stood Hank, Jimmy and Liam. She frowned. Micah must be lagging behind with Owen.

  “What can we get for you fellas?” Andra, who was normally very self-assured, suddenly went a little pink-cheeked.

  Janessa shrugged that off as Hank, looking remarkably like a young Clint Eastwood, made a big show of removing his shades.

  “Got any buffalo bourguignonne?”

  Janessa and Andra drew back at his surprisingly well-articulated query.

  “Actually,” Janessa responded. “We decided not to go quite so upscale.”

  “Okay.” He nodded. “I’ll just have a hot dog.”

  As Andra took the rest of their order, Janessa waited for the next patrons in line to decide between the Caulfield Cooler, the Bijou Punch or the Montana Mocktail. Her gaze drifted past them to the mass of moviegoers scurrying around the exhibition area. As far as she could see, Micah wasn’t among them.

  The bad feeling that had gnawed at her ever since he’d left that morning expanded into something she could no longer ignore. Something had triggered his mood shift, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with his apparently going AWOL after his accident. There was definitely more to this guy than met the eye.

  Taking a couple of the cake pops from the popcorn tub she’d carefully filled with tissue-paper-dotted floral foam earlier in the day, she scanned the crowd one more time.

  “What are you looking for?” Andra asked slyly. “Or should I say who?”

  She handed the cakes to a couple of her riding students, then responded to Andra. “Oh. Nothing.”

  “Uh-huh. I’ll let you know if I spot ‘nothing’ in the crowd.”

  She gave Andra a look. At least she could always count on having her around to understand how she felt.

  “Can we save you ladies a couple of seats?” Even though Hank looked at them both, it was clear that the question was directed at Andra.

  Janessa started to answer that they had planned to just watch from up there, but Andra cut her off.

  “That would be great, Hank.”

  Janessa frowned at the higher-than-normal pitch to her friend’s voice. Suddenly, it dawned on her why Andra had looked uncharacteristically nervous when the guys had shown up, and why Hank had spent the whole day carting cupcakes and popcorn tubs in his truck.

  She sighed. So much for always having her best friend around.

  As Hank tipped his hat and followed the rest of the guys to the stairs, Janessa jabbed Andra in the ribs. Andra gave her an innocent look, then grabbed the overly full trash can and tied up the bag with the speed and expertise of a champion tie-down roper.

  “I’m just going to run this out to the Dumpster. We’ll close up when I get back and go find our seats, okay?”

  Wiping her hands on a towel, Janessa nodded.

  As Andra hurried off, Janessa spotted Owen in the dwindling crowd. She called out to him.

  His face brightening, he wove his way to the stand. “Well, hey, Janessa.” He looked sheepish. “I suppose you want to talk about practicing our roping.”

  “Not right now.” She waved that away. “You want a hot dog? I still have a couple left.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Grabbing a paper plate, she composed her words. “You here on your own?”

  His face dropped like a soufflé. “No date, if that’s what you mean.”

  Actually, that possibility hadn’t even occurred to her. She cradled the hot dogs in a couple of buns, then placed them in two of the wrappers she and Andra had made to look like tiny tuxedoes. “I thought you might be here with...the other guys.”

  “Yeah, I’ll probably sit with them.” His eyes lit up as she set the plate on the counter in front of him. “I would have ridden in with them, but I was waiting on Micah. He was out riding forever and when he finished, he said he just wanted to stay home.”

  “Oh?” Disappointment sat in the back of her throat like cough syrup that wouldn’t quite go down. “What made him change his mind?”

  Owen shrugged, handing Janessa a couple of bills. “I don’t know. He was real quiet all afternoon.”

  The lights started to flash, and the hum of conversation grew to an enthusiastic cheer. Owen looked like he was about to go, and she blurted out the only question she could get a grip on.

  “Has he said anything about the dinner he’s making tomorrow?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Owen smiled. “He promised us the best dinner we’ve ever had at the bunkhouse. We’re all looking forward to it.” He took a step back as the lights flickered again. “Well, I should be finding the fellas.” He held up his plate. “Thanks for dinner.”

  Janessa gave him a distracted smile. “Enjoy the movie.”

  Shutting off the fryer and the heat lamp, she thought about what Owen had said. Something had upset Micah enough to make him change his plans about coming to the movie. What was going on?

  Andra appeared again, looking anxiously over her shoulder at the movie audience. “Come on. We should get to our seats.”

  “Actually,” Janessa looked around and reached for an empty box. “I’m going to run a load of stuff to your car. Save us some time later.” A plan formed in her head as she reached out her hand. “Can I have your keys?”

  “Okay...” Andra gave her a suspicious frown. “But you might not be able to find us once they turn off the lights.”

  “That’s okay. I’d rather just watch from up here anyway. You go on and find Hank.”

  Andra opened her mouth in an obvious intended objection that quickly dwindled to a dreamy grin.

  After Andra had beaten a hasty retreat, Janessa looked around at the near-empty exhibition area. A chant had started to rise from the audience down below.

  All at once, she knew what she had to do. She grabbed a napkin and scribbled out a note.

  Andra, I borrowed your car. Please tell my mama not to worry. I’ll be back after the movie.

  She left the note on the counter, weighed down by a napkin holder, then headed for the stairs, hoping no one would stop her before she hit the exit.

  As she slipped quietly out the door, she shot up a quick prayer. God, please make sure I know what I’m doing!

  * * *

  Micah paced the bunkhouse living room like an untamed horse penned in a corral. Not even a full day of work and a long horseback ride had put to rest the dark giants of the past that had been stirred up that morning.
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br />   Crossing to the window, he stared out at the little front yard and rubbed his hands against his temples. He’d planned on going to the movie with the guys, but for the first time since he could remember, he wasn’t up to putting on his “public” face. For years, he’d thrived on being the center of attention, but now he just wanted to be alone.

  That wasn’t entirely true. He did want to be with Janessa.

  Of course, after he’d run out on her so abruptly that morning, she most likely wouldn’t want to be around him anyway. Why had he done that? She didn’t expect him to put on a show, the way everyone else did. He could be himself around her. Trouble was, he’d spent so much time being what everybody else expected, he didn’t even know who he was anymore.

  The air in the room started to get heavy. Running his hands down his face, he moved to the front door and threw it open so he could catch a good breath. Those giants were awake all right, and staring him down, giving him no choice but to face them head-on.

  And facing them meant dealing with his dad.

  He shut his eyes, pushing back the whole slew of emotions brought on by that thought. Guilt. Anger. Regret. For years, all they’d had was each other. Each other, the thrill of the rodeo, and the fans. Now they were left without any of it. And in spite of all the pain his dad had caused him over the years, he had to admit that he missed him.

  Remorse burned in his throat. It wasn’t too late. He could still go back. Pick up right where he’d left off. Maybe even figure out a way to keep the good parts but dispense with the bad.

  He rubbed his eyes. Who was he kidding? The good and the bad were interwoven as sure as the fibers in a saddle blanket.

  His body started to shake and a pressure in his head pushed at his eyes and his throat. He stumbled to the bathroom, turned on the faucet and leaned down, splashing his face as if that might freeze out his feelings. It didn’t work. Leaving behind his dad had only reignited the grief they’d been running from in the first place.

  He leaned on the counter as distant memories popped in his brain like firecrackers. Warnings that this would happen. That he would eventually cry after his mom passed.