Jace put his arm across the back of her chair, and when he did, Tucker glared at him. It didn’t deter him. Instead of moving his arm away, he reached farther and laid his hand possessively on her shoulder.
She wanted to shrug it away. She didn’t want him touching her. She didn’t want Tucker to touch her either.
Tucker looked at her plate. “Not hungry?” Those were the first words he’d spoken since he sat down at the table.
“I’m not,” she murmured.
“Me either,” she thought she heard him say, but he had cleaned his plate.
It was as though the three of them were frozen in silence—trapped in an air pocket of stifling tension.
“Jeez, look at the three of you. What happened, did somebody die?” her father asked. Blythe felt the already overpowering tension spread around the table. Her dad laughed, but it was too late; the words were already out there.
Tucker mumbled, “excuse me,” and left the table.
“What?” asked Mark. “I was joking.”
“It’s okay,” said Carol, Jace and Tucker’s mom, who was sitting next to Mark. She patted his hand as she said it.
“So, somebody did die?”
“Mark, drop it,” said Paige, giving her husband a stern look.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Stop,” Paige said again.
“Who’s ready for pie?” asked Liv. “Anybody?” She looked around the table, trying to draw attention away from Mark, who wasn’t doing a very good job recovering his gaff.
Blythe got up in search of Tucker. She hadn’t seen where he’d gone, so she went downstairs first, but didn’t see him. When she turned to go back upstairs, Jace stopped her.
“He’s gone.”
“What do you mean, he’s gone? Where did he go?”
“I’m not sure. He took the truck.”
“What happened, Jace?”
Jace rubbed his hands over his face. “Blythe, I…it’s a long story. One I’d rather not get into right now.”
There was an ache in Blythe’s chest she couldn’t put a name to. Dread mixed with sorrow was as close as she could get.
Before Thanksgiving, Renie had talked Ben and the rest of the guys in CB Rice into playing at the Goat that night. The bar, owned by the Rice family, was an institution on Elk Avenue, the main drag in Crested Butte.
With Tucker gone, the mood was subdued.
Her dad sat in on a couple of songs, and when he wasn’t, he danced with Blythe.
“My turn.” Jace tapped her father on the shoulder. Mark stepped aside, and Jace wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her in, close to him. He rested his cheek against her hair and breathed in the scent of her.
“I’m sorry about today.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“Tucker…”
“Again, why are you sorry? Tucker was the one who disappeared without saying goodbye.”
He didn’t know what to say. He understood how Tucker was feeling, more than he wanted to. The guilt began to creep in again.
“Jace, are you okay?”
He knew she could feel the tension that was slowly spreading throughout his body. He’d hoped holding her would stop it from happening this time.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
She pulled back so she could look in his eyes, but he didn’t want her to. Not tonight.
“Let me hold you, Blythe.” He wrapped his arm around her waist a little tighter. He felt her breath catch as much as he heard it.
“It must be bad, whatever it is.”
He couldn’t answer her, but yes, it was bad.
The rest of the band took a break, but Ben stayed where he was, just him and his guitar. Every word he sang cut into Jace’s heart. It was as if Ben knew what had happened, but Jace knew that wasn’t possible. Nobody knew but him. Not even Tucker.
So don’t fall in love, there’s just too much to lose
If you’re given the choice, then I beg you to choose
To walk away, walk away, don’t let her get you.
I can’t bear to see the same happen to you.
Please, don’t be sad now, I really believe,
She was the greatest thing that happened to me.
5
It was January before Blythe heard from Jace again. She still hadn’t heard from Tucker.
Jace rode back to Aspen with his parents the day after Thanksgiving. When they said goodbye, it was friendly, almost cordial, but lacking the enthusiasm he’d had for her before Tucker disappeared.
Renie asked her if Jace had commented on Tucker’s strange behavior, but Blythe told her he hadn’t wanted to talk about it.
The Cochrans spent Christmas in Monument. Liv and Ben brought Ben’s sons over with them Christmas night, so they could spend the morning with their mother and her husband.
Blythe and her parents spent the day quietly. Her older sisters were both married to Air Force officers who were stationed outside of Colorado. Brooke, the oldest, was in Germany with her husband, Tom. Blythe’s other sister, Bree, was the one she was closest to. She was in Northern California. Her husband, Zack, had been deployed and was in Afghanistan. Paige and Mark wanted her to come and spend the holidays with them, but Bree told them there was a chance Zack would make it home for Christmas, and if he did, she wanted to be there.
Billy and Renie were at the ranch in Black Forest, but Blythe didn’t want to intrude on their time together. They saw each other between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Then Billy took Renie and Willow back to Crested Butte.
Blythe didn’t recognize the phone number when the call came in. She considered letting it go to voicemail, but changed her mind. There was a chance, however remote, that it was Tucker, and if it was, she doubted he’d leave a message.
“Hey, it’s Jace,” he said when she answered.
“Oh. Hi. How are you?” She tried not to sound disappointed, but she was.
“I’m good. How ’bout you?”
“I’m good. Um…how’s Tucker?”
Jace hesitated long enough that Blythe thought she’d made a mistake by asking. “He’s back in Europe. I think he might be somewhere in France at this point, or back in Spain.”
“Oh.”
More silence.
“I’m calling because I’m going to the stock show, with Billy of all people,” he laughed. “I wanted to see if we could get together while I’m in town.”
“Sure. I’d like that.”
Jace told her they’d be in Denver for six days. Maybe longer, depending on what happened at the show.
“What do you mean?”
“Well…you’re not going to believe this, but Billy is my trainer.”
“For what?”
“Saddle bronc riding.”
“Huh?”
“I’m riding saddle broncs.”
“I heard you the first time. Why?”
“Kind of a long story.”
“Have you always done this?”
“No, I used to ride bulls,” he answered. “Listen, I’ll explain later. I’ve got to run now, but I want to see you, Blythe. Can I call you in a couple days?”
“Uh, sure. Of course. Bye, Jace.”
Jace hadn’t told anybody of his plans to get back into bull riding. He’d intended to tell Tucker, but his brother was gone when they got back from Crested Butte.
“Be in touch,” was basically all Tuck had said. Jace knew better than to ask more than that.
Instead, he called Billy Patterson.
“You goin’ back on the circuit?” Jace asked.
“Thinkin’ about it, even if only to officially announce my retirement. Why do you ask? You hopin’ I’ll leave Renie here alone or somethin’?”
Jace laughed. “No, nothing like that. It’s more that I’m thinkin’ of goin’ out myself.”
“For what?”
“Bulls.”
“Huh? Since when are you a bull rider?”
“You don’t know m
uch about me, do ya?”
“Can’t say I ever wanted to. Still don’t.”
Jace told Billy that his dad had been a bull rider and his grandfather had been one, too. Jace had toured on the circuit at the same time Billy had. He wasn’t as competitive on bulls as Billy was on broncs, so their paths had never crossed.
When Jace tore his ACL skiing, he figured his bull-riding career was over. He’d kept it quiet, but he’d been riding practice bulls for about a year. He also rode bareback as often as he could, getting his muscles to grip and release without relying on a rope or spurs.
“You know what I don’t get,” Billy said after listening to him talk for a while.
“What’s that?”
“Why bulls? Why not broncs?”
“I don’t know. I never thought about broncs.”
“My dad was a bull rider, too. He retired before I came along. Riding broncs wasn’t intentional, at least not with competin’ in mind. Had a couple rough ones to break, and my dad saw somethin’ in the way I road ’em. He said I was a natural. You’ve ridden all your life, haven’t ya?” He didn’t wait for Jace to answer. “You’re ridin’ now, a flat-back horse, I’d guess, if you’re workin’ your muscles for bulls. But what do I know?”
“What are you sayin’, Billy.” Trying to follow Billy’s train of thought was like trying to follow a jackrabbit through a thicket.
“Get on some broncs for Christ’s sake. What do ya think I’m sayin’? Jesus. How many bulls bucked ya off? You got noodles for brains?”
“I guess it’s worth a try.”
Jace spent most of December in Crested Butte. Ben Rice and his brothers were talking about getting into stock contracting, so they set up a practice area on the ranch, where he and Billy trained most every day.
He’d rented a studio apartment near the ski area in town, and no one, other than Billy and Renie, knew he was there.
Once he got in the saddle, getting back on bulls never entered his mind again.
Jace wasn’t sure he’d be ready to compete in Denver, but he’d be Billy’s travel partner, and part of his crew anyway. Billy was serious about his retirement, and this would be the beginning of his last season. Going to the National Western would give the two some time out on the road together, working and practicing.
When Jace told Renie he and Billy would be traveling together, she didn’t believe him.
“But, he never travels with anybody.”
“I don’t know what to tell you darlin’. It was his idea, not mine.”
“Huh,” she answered, still looking perplexed.
“Isn’t it weird?” Blythe asked Renie when she told her what had been going on for the past few weeks with Jace and Billy.
“It was at first, but now it isn’t. They’re a lot alike. They still bicker all the time, if I didn’t know better, I’d think they hated each other. But whatever. It works for them.”
“Is Jace any good?”
“Better than he thinks. That’s why Billy wants him to go to the stock show. Jace may be a full-time bronc rider a lot sooner than he thinks.”
“I can’t wait to see you,” Blythe said, and meant it. The whole thing with Tucker had thrown her. She wished there was someone willing to tell her what his story was, but other than Jace, she didn’t know anyone who knew any more than she did. She’d asked Renie to ask Ben, but he had no idea, and didn’t offer to ask his aunt and uncle about it.
“Is Jace staying with you and Billy at the ranch in Black Forest during the stock show?”
“Yeah, there’s plenty of room, so it would be silly for him to stay anywhere else. I still don’t understand why he got his own place in Crested Butte when he could’ve stayed with my mom and Ben.”
“You have no idea why he got a place of his own?” Blythe laughed.
“No. Why do you think he did?”
“Come on, Renie. You don’t think Jace spends very many nights alone, do you?”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
Blythe laughed again. Jace probably had a revolving door of cowgirls keeping him company in Crested Butte.
“What’s going on with you and school, Renie? Are you goin’ back?” she asked, wanting to change the subject.
“Yep, so I’ll be home more often than I am now. It’s going to be so hard to be away from Willow, but I only have one more year of school left, so Billy thinks I should just get it done and over with now. Plus Billy said that he and Willow would stay with me in Fort Collins as much as they could during the week.”
“So, you’ll be here on the weekends?”
“I sure will. It’ll be just like old times.”
Blythe didn’t say it, but it wouldn’t be like old times at all, not now that Renie was not only a mom, but practically a married woman too.”
“Will Billy have to work after he retires?” Blythe asked.
“Sort of. I think he’s been talking to Ben about partnering in a rough stock contracting business.”
“What’s that?”
“You know how every rodeo has bulls and broncs for the cowboys to compete on?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, stock contractors are the ones who supply them.”
“Do they get paid?”
“Oh, yeah.” Renie laughed. “They get paid a lot.”
Blythe had never known much about Billy’s financial situation, but it had always been obvious his family didn’t hurt for money. Other than working on the ranch and traveling to rodeos, she’d never known Billy to do anything else. Renie had said something about investments the family had in oil, somewhere up north, but Blythe hadn’t paid much attention when Renie told her. Obviously he had enough money to buy Liv’s ranch, along with a very nice house in Crested Butte, and rent a place in Fort Collins.
Blythe didn’t have the luxury of a flush bank account. Her parents had been patient with her, but she could tell it was wearing thin. Her mother started suggesting different career fields she might be interested in. So far, she’d given her brochures on becoming a home health-care aide, a dental technician, and a computer programmer. None appealed to her. She’d hated the nursing program she’d been in so much, she quit. Any job in a medically-related field was out as far as she was concerned and sitting in front of a computer, writing code, sounded like the most boring thing she could imagine.
She’d been working at the tea house in downtown Monument since right before Christmas. The people who owned it were very nice, as was everyone else who worked there. She enjoyed it, despite her mother’s nagging that she wasn’t being sufficiently challenged.
Now that Renie was going to finish her degree, Blythe knew her mother’s pressure would intensify.
“My mom and Ben are coming to town for the stock show, too,” Renie told her. “I think they’ll be staying with you and your parents.”
“How’s your mom feeling?”
“She feels great, and she looks even better. She says it’s a girl glow.”
“She’s having a girl?”
“She thinks so, but they haven’t found out for sure. Ben isn’t too excited about it.”
“Why not?”
“He says he doesn’t know how to raise girls.”
“Have him talk to my dad.”
“I think he did, and your dad said that at least Ben has two sons and some other testosterone around, unlike him who’s still the only guy in your house.”
“That’s right. Even our dog is a girl.”
Blythe hadn’t wanted to say goodbye, but Renie told her Willow had just woken up from her nap, so she had to go.
She couldn’t imagine not being able to finish a telephone conversation because of a baby. It would be a long, long time before she’d be ready to let go of her freedom the way Renie had.
Jace called the day before the stock show opened, and asked if he could see her that night. He’d said he still wanted to see her once the show opened, but he wouldn’t have as much free time.
Blythe w
as a nervous wreck, waiting for him to get to the house. A couple of times she thought about texting him and canceling, but she and Renie had plans to be at the show every day Billy and Jace were in town, so it would’ve been awkward to see him after begging off their date.
When he got there, she invited him in, but an hour later, she wished she hadn’t. Jace fit in so well with her parents and Ben and Liv, she wondered if he remembered she was there.
Lost in thought, feeling ignored, she checked Facebook on her phone. When she looked up, Jace was watching her. He smiled.
“You ready to go, darlin’?”
“Sure. I mean, if you still want to. We could hang out here if you’d rather.”
Jace stood in front of her. “Of course I still want to spend the evening with you, sweet girl. I was trying to make a good impression on your parents, but I neglected you in the meantime, didn’t I?”
She shrugged, not wanting to admit she’d been feeling sorry for herself.
“C’mon, let’s get outta here.”
“Where are we going?” she asked once they were in his truck.
“I have options for you. Either St. Augustine Grille or the Castle Café. What’s your pleasure, darlin’?”
That was a tough decision. Both were in Castle Rock, about twenty minutes north of Monument. The Castle Café was more casual and St. Augustine Grille was definitely more romantic. She hated being the one to decide where to eat. Renie knew that about her and never made her pick. When she went out with Tucker, he hadn’t even asked.
“Oh my,” Jace said, touching her chin. “You’re workin’ quite a pout over there. You want me to choose, Blythe?”
“Yes. You pick. Either one is okay with me.”
He didn’t say anything else during the drive. When he pulled up across the street from the grille, she grinned, happy he chose romance.
“Figured I dropped the ball, wooin’ you at Thanksgiving. Maybe you’ll let me give it another try. Whaddaya say?”
She smiled, but didn’t answer, which seemed to make him happy.
Over dinner he told her about training with Billy, and she asked him if it was weird, like she’d asked Renie.
Kiss Me Cowboy (Cowboys of Crested Butte Book 3) Page 5