Cowgirl Up!

by Carolyn Anderson Jones

  He turned and walked into the house.

  “Holy shit! Can you believe it?” Sam exclaimed to Dundee as she pulled out of the driveway. “I’m living my romance novel! How cool is that? I’ve got to call Isabella and tell her all about this.”

  Sam picked up her cell phone and dialed her friend.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  After Sam finished her call to Isabella and they agreed to meet for dinner that night, she rushed over to her parents to tell them the news about Dakota.

  “Guess what?” Sam exclaimed as she bounced into their kitchen.

  “What?” Her mom asked looking up from a recipe book. Her dad walked in and poured himself a cup of coffee.

  “Lance Wilson gave me a Paso Fino gelding. Can you believe it? He said it was in appreciation for my work in saving his stallion. I didn’t want to take him but Doc told me to do it, so I did!”

  “That is so generous of him! Is it the horse you took out on that trail ride with Cheyenne?” Sam’s mom asked.

  “Yep, the same one. Now I can ride with you and Mason, Dad, the next time you go out. I’ll need to borrow the horse trailer on Saturday so I can pick him up.”

  “Not a problem,” her dad said. “Let me know if you need any help.”

  “So when does Grandpa get back?”

  “Tomorrow,” her mom answered. “I’m going to get a pass to go to the gate to meet him. He gets so confused. I don’t want him wandering around DIA getting lost. Millie is giving the airlines special instructions so they’ll know to put him in a wheelchair and wait for me. He’s had a good time, but I think he’s ready to get back home.”

  “Yeah, it’s been kind of quiet around here without Grandpa. Well, I need to get going. I’m going to meet Isabella for dinner this evening.”

  “Wait a minute!” Sam’s mom stopped her before she reached the door. “You didn’t tell us about Lance’s nephew. He seemed to latch on to you right away after the funeral.”

  Sam smiled innocently. “Nothing to tell really. He’s a nice guy who took me to lunch today and is going back to California in his private jet tonight.”

  “Holy shit!” Sam’s mom’s eyes widened in amazement. “He has his own jet?”

  Now Sam knew where she picked up her favorite expression. “That’s what he told me. Gotta go!”

  Sam raced out of the house. Imagine what her mom would do if she knew Luke had invited her to go back to California with him for a few days, Sam thought to herself with a smile. I’d be picking her up off the floor!

  LATER THAT EVENING, Isabella and Sam were sharing pizza and beer in a Boulder pub discussing the events of the past two days.

  “Luke is almost too good to be true,” Isabella told Sam. “I can’t believe he’s exactly like the hero in your novel. That is so weird.”

  “Well, he’s not exactly like Seth. He doesn’t have a Scottish brogue. That’s the only thing he’s missing, except for a beautiful girlfriend who’s an artist. O damn! He may have that and I just don’t know about it. I could be a temporary diversion during a lull in his sizzling romance with some hottie for all I know. Oh shit, that’s probably it. Why would a rich, successful architect from San Francisco want anything to do with a small town vet? I am such an idiot!” Sam groaned and put her head down in her arms.

  “I blame Cheyenne for all this,” Isabella said. “If he hadn’t been so jealous and bossy, you wouldn’t have argued and split. He literally threw you into Luke’s arms.”

  Sam peeked one eye out above her arm. “That is so lame. Can’t you think of anything better?”

  Isabella laughed. “Okay, how’s this. You underestimate yourself, girlfriend. I don’t believe you’ve lost Cheyenne and I don’t believe this fabulous Luke guy is just using you. I think you have two gorgeous hunks who think you’re the hottie.”

  Sam looked up. “Why do you think I haven’t lost Cheyenne? I haven’t talked to him since Saturday night. Have you heard something I haven’t?”

  Isabella rolled her eyes. “No, I haven’t heard anything. But I figure he’ll hear something - like you were out with Luke today. That will drive him nuts when he finds out. You know Suzanne is going to tell him the minute he calls in, unless Lance happens to say something about it first. What do you want to bet he calls you before this weekend?”

  “What do I have that you want? I’ll bet anything but Dundee!”

  “Oh well, shit. Bet’s off if I can’t have Dundee!” giggled Isabella. “How about a day at the spa of our choice?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never been to a spa before, have you?”

  “Once. I had a full body massage by this guy named Greg. It was luscious.”

  “Okay. That’s what we’ll bet. A day at a spa. Now tell me what’s going on with you and Dr. Maxwell Chandler. Are you going out this weekend?”

  “Oh yes. We’re going out for dinner and dancing on Saturday night. He asked me to wear my red dress again. You know, the one I wore at the auction last month.”

  “Ooooh, that’s one sexy dress. Better remember the date rules, girl.”

  “Date rules?” Isabella grinned. Those went out with the 90’s. By the way, while I’m thinking about it I want to thank you for telling me about the wire cutters. I know my dad and Estefan will try to use that in Pablo’s defense. They’ve been busy taking affidavits of all the men who worked in the field that day. Every one had the same story. Pablo rode to work in the farm bus that morning and when he got there and grabbed his pouch he noticed his knife was missing. The foreman had to find another one for him to use that day. They all swear he never left the group at any time. “

  “I don’t have a good feeling about any of this,” Sam said. “My gut feeling is that Pablo was set up and that the real killer is still out there. Unless we find the wire cutters or some other clue pops up, he doesn’t have much of a defense.”

  Isabella shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid what you’re saying is true.”

  IT WAS LATE when Sam returned home and the message light on her phone was blinking. She pushed the button that told her she had 3 messages.

  “Hot damn, I’ve hit the jackpot!”

  Sam sat down on the couch with Dundee while she played them back.

  “Doc?” said Mitch’s voice. “I’ll call you back. I need to talk to you.”

  Oh shit! Sam moaned as Dundee cuddled up next to her. If he calls me back I’ll have to tell the Sheriff.

  The second call was from Luke.

  “Samantha, I just got in and wanted to thank you for all your hospitality. Actually, that’s not totally true. I do thank you for showing me around, but I also called because I wanted to hear your voice again. I don’t want you to forget your promise to come back with me the next time I’m out there,” he paused for a second. “I’ll be tied up for the next few days but I’ll try to call again when things calm down. Hopefully I won’t miss you the next time. Take care.”

  “Wow!” Sam poked Dundee in the side. “Did you hear that? Unbelievable!”

  The last call was from Cheyenne. “Hey princess. Can we get together and talk when I get back on Sunday? I really miss you and I want to work things out between us. My cell phone doesn’t work down here so I’m using a pay phone. I’ll try to catch you later in the week. Bye.”

  Sam’s eyes were wide with disbelief as she grabbed her phone and dialed Isabella’s number.

  “I owe you a spa day, girlfriend!” Sam told Isabella. Then she told her about the message from Cheyenne. “How did you know?”

  “I bet he heard about Luke. He’s got a little competition now.”

  “Yeah, well Luke left me a message too. He doesn’t want me to forget about my promise to go back with him to San Francisco the next time he comes out. Do you think he’s serious?”

  “I think he’s as serious as a heart attack. What do you want to bet he comes back within the next two weeks?”

  “Oh no! No more bets with you, sister!”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

/>   The next morning dawned gray and cool. Light rain was falling and Sam knew it was going to be a miserable day.

  She stopped by her office, loaded up her truck and then headed toward town. This was definitely a Bunker’s bagel day. She parked in front of the shop and ran in to pick up her usual order, a cinnamon raisin for her and a plain one for Dundee, both filled with cream cheese.

  Sam got back in her truck and she and Dundee consumed their bagels in a matter of minutes. Actually, Dundee ate his faster and was done before Sam was halfway through hers. He gave Sam his best begging stare but she ignored him until she got to her last bite, then she split it in two and gave him half. Dundee loved kosher food.

  Sam was headed to Ralph Anderson’s again, only this time it was to look at his old mare, Maggie Mae. Ralph thought she needed some dental work so Sam had packed several syringes filled with Ace, a strong relaxant for large animals.

  Ralph had Maggie in her stall ready to go when Sam got there. Sam looked out at the pasture next to his barn and saw Sampson on top of his pile of cow crap. He was still ‘king of the hill’.

  Sam took two syringes of Ace out and put them in the pocket of her rain duster, grabbed her dental headgear and walked toward the stall with Ralph.

  Maggie was in a piss poor mood that morning. She had her ears laid back and was standing in the rain. She had a nice clean, dry stall to go in, but instead she was standing outside in a small pool of water. Sam stopped and gave her a long hard look. She could tell Maggie was in the throes of PMS and wasn’t going to take any shit off anyone. Just the kind of mood Sam was in that morning.

  Sam walked up and rubbed her nose. Maggie threw her head back and bared her teeth. Ralph came up and grabbed Maggie by the halter and held her head down.

  “I think I’ll go ahead and give her this injection right now,” Sam told Ralph. “Even if she doesn’t need a tooth pulled I don’t believe I’ll be able to give her a good examination without some strong drugs in her system.”

  Ralph held Maggie’s head while Sam put the needle in her neck and a few minutes later the shot took effect. Maggie was getting tipsy and looked like a cheap drunk. Sam put the headgear on Maggie and gently forced her mouth open. She shined her flashlight down Maggie’s throat and could see the problem immediately. She had an abscessed tooth.

  “She’s got a bad tooth back there,” Sam told Ralph. “It’s gotta go.”

  Sam went back to her truck and got the special pliers she used for extractions. When she returned she looked at Maggie cautiously to make sure she still had enough medication in her system. One thing Sam didn’t want was to have Maggie go from a bad mood to a pissy one.

  Maggie looked like she was feeling no pain so Sam decided to go ahead with the extraction. Ralph held Maggie’s head up while Sam positioned the pliers.

  “She’s going to feel a lot better once this is out. I’ll probably have to put her on antibiotics for a few days to keep the infection down. Okay, Mr. Anderson, on the count of three. Are you ready?”

  “Yep,” he grunted.

  Sam dug her heels in and started counting, “One – two – three!”

  Sam yanked with all her might and pulled the tooth out. At the same time Maggie tossed her head and the momentum threw Sam off balance. She went flying backward and landed on her butt in the middle of a mud puddle with a large pile of fresh horse poop in it. Luckily she had her rain duster on, but her jeans were covered with the gooey mixture of horse shit and mud from her knees down.

  Ralph stood over Sam grinning and offered a hand up. Sam tried to wipe her dirty hands on her filthy clothes and only managed to smear even more poop on her jeans.

  “You might need to go home and clean up,” Ralph told Sam.

  “Yeah, I will after I do my morning rounds.”

  “You might not want to wait that long,” he said grinning even more.

  Sam looked down at her clothes. If she kept her duster on, she didn’t look so bad. Her boots were muddy and the bottom of her jeans were wet and caked with mud but Sam thought she could manage until she got home.

  “Yeah, I look a mess, but heck, most of my clients look as bad as I do in weather like this.”

  Ralph started chuckling and pointed to her head. Sam reached up and felt the mud on her cap. She pulled it off and looked at the disgusting mess. Then she put her hand on her ponytail and pulled out a big glob of horse poop. No wonder Ralph was laughing. Sam had a truckload of horseshit in her hair.

  Sam took the rubber band out and tried to comb through her hair with her fingers. She was hoping that if she got most of the poop out the light rain would rinse the rest off. She didn’t have time to go back home and change so this was as good as it was going to get.

  Sam went back to Maggie and finished her dental work and gave her a shot of antibiotics. Then they got Maggie settled in her dry stall and Sam and Dundee took off for their next appointment.

  When Sam pulled out of Ralph’s driveway she looked in her rearview mirror and almost drove off the road. She could see now why Ralph had been laughing so hard. Her hair was frizzed from the rain and sticking out all over. She looked like Medusa but instead of snakes she had ringlets of mud and horse do-do hanging around her face. She had to find something to cover her head. She pulled over and dug through her stuff in the back seat.

  “Yippee!” Sam yelled when she found an old chewed up baseball cap stuck under Dundee’s pillow. She quickly pushed her hair under the cap and drove on.

  They were bouncing down a country road when Sam felt her truck jerk and she quickly pulled over to the side.

  “Damn! Flat tire!” Flat tire in the middle of nowhere and it was raining.

  Sam jumped out and pulled her tools out of the back seat. She was a member of Triple A but by the time anyone got there she could have the tire changed. She had helped her dad change tires often enough to know what to do.

  Thirty minutes later Sam was back in her truck. She was wet, dirty and way behind in her appointments.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  It had been a slow, crappy day. It was so bad that it had taken Sam all day just to get through her morning calls. At 4 o’clock she drove back to her office and called her remaining clients and rescheduled their appointments. Sam decided it was better to give up and call it a day rather than go through any more misery.

  The rain had stopped and Sam dried out, but that’s when the odor set in. She reeked of mud, sweat and horse poop. Even Dundee noticed the smell and wouldn’t get too close to her. After Sam rescheduled her last appointment they headed for home.

  “You know what I want when we get to the house.” Sam told Dundee. “I want a really long shower and a cup of hot tea. With whiskey in it. Maybe two shots of whiskey!”

  Dundee looked over at Sam and sniffed. Then he sniffed again and moved closer to his door and tried to put his nose out the window. The window was shut so Sam took pity on him and cracked it a bit.

  Sam drove up to her house and sighed. This day was finally over. Her cell phone beeped. She picked it up and looked at the number calling in. It was her mom.

  “Hi Mom, what’s up?”

  “Hi sweetie. I don’t want you to worry, but I’m on my way to the emergency room with your father.”

  Sam put her head down on her steering wheel. “What did he do this time?”

  “He was trimming some branches out of that big Aspen tree in the back yard and he fell and hit his head. I begged him not to do that today because of the rain, but he wanted to get it done before the weekend. He’s got a huge bump on his head and a headache to go with it. I’m afraid he may have a concussion. I have Mason with me but I need to ask you to do me a really big favor.”

  “A favor?” Sam asked slowly.

  “Yes. I was getting ready to go pick your grandpa up at the airport when this happened. Can you run out to DIA and pick him up for me?”

  Sam knew she had no choice. “Sure. Tell me what airline and I’ll go get him.”

  “Hi
s flight gets in at 5 o’clock, so you should have enough time to get there and get a pass to pick him up at the gate.”

  Sam’s mom gave her all the flight information and she hung up. This was the day from hell and it was never going to end.

  Sam ran into her house and brushed as much mud and poop out of her hair as she could and pulled it back into a ponytail. Then she grabbed a clean cap and headed for the door. Sam was tempted to spray some perfume on but she was afraid the mixture of Ralph Lauren and horseshit would be too much. She got back in the truck and drove toward the airport.