The Musical Cowgirl (Bear Creek Rodeo)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Brittany laughed. “Who could get sick of the two of you?”

  Olivia clapped, even as their food was set down in front of them. “Corn dogs and rodeo!”

  Matt was glad that Brittany would be there with them at the rodeo again the next day, but he couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen when he was left to his own devices with the little girl once more. Would he be able to keep that smile on her little face?

  After supper, he drove Brittany home and walked her to her door. Olivia had fallen asleep in the truck, and he’d locked her in.

  “Are you sure you shouldn’t stay with her?” Brittany asked, not liking the idea of leaving the child in the car.

  “We need to keep it quick. I can’t leave her for long.” Matt kept glancing at the vehicle.

  Brittany stood on tiptoe and kissed him quickly. “Go to your baby. I should have told you to stay in the truck, so you could be with her.”

  “You did tell me to stay in the truck!”

  “Then you should have listened to me!” Brittany opened the door and stepped inside, going to the couch and sitting beside Emily, who was sound asleep. Stephanie was at her computer, typing furiously. “What are you working on?”

  “Another new song. Watching the crowd today made me think.”

  “That’s awesome! Olivia is coming to the rodeo again tomorrow, if you wouldn’t mind teaming up again.”

  Stephanie turned from the computer and smiled at her sister. “That little girl is just precious. I wanted to wrap her up and bring her home and just set her on a shelf.”

  “Well, it’s good you didn’t, because she would not have been happy.” Brittany smiled. “I think I’m going to marry him when he asks again. I’m half in love with him and completely in love with his niece. How could I do anything else?”

  “I knew you would. I’ve seriously always known somewhere inside me that you would marry a man who proposed within a few hours of meeting you. I know it’s crazy, but it just seemed so true.”

  “I’m glad someone always knew I would marry. I was starting to think I wouldn’t.” Brittany hid a yawn behind her hand. “Hurry up. I’m getting sleepy, and I want to read over the lyrics before I sleep. I do my best composing when I’m asleep.” She looked over at her sleeping sister. “Speaking of sleep, how long has this one been out cold?”

  “An hour or two? You might want to nudge her along to bed.”

  Brittany nodded. She and Stephanie had always marveled at how Emily could fall asleep anywhere at any time. She never seemed to have enough to eat or have enough sleep. Stephanie swore she’d once fallen asleep on a treadmill, but Brittany wasn’t sure about that one.

  She nudged Emily. “Wake up! You need to move your butt to bed.”

  Emily rubbed her eyes. “Okay. Brushing my teeth, and then sleeping for a month.”

  Brittany smiled. “I’ll wake you when your month is up.”

  “You’re mean to me.” Emily got to her feet and shuffled out of the room, still half asleep.

  Stephanie printed what she’d been writing and handed it to Brittany. “Here’s what I have.”

  Brittany read over the words, all about the loneliness of being in a crowd with no one to love. How much it hurt every time she saw a man take a woman’s hand. After reading it, Brittany looked at Stephanie. “I’m sorry you get so sad, but this is country music gold. I promise you we’re going to make millions. It’s not funny like ‘Lipstick on my Jeans,’ but everyone is going to understand the sentiment. Do you have a working title?”

  Stephanie nodded. “Yeah. It’s ‘Alone in a Crowd.’”

  “Perfect. I really do think it’s going to be fabulous, and I already have music going through my head for it.”

  “Good.” Stephanie stood and stretched. “I’m going to bed, too. Mind if I use the bathroom first?” While their apartment had three bedrooms, there were only two bathrooms. Emily had won the right to her own bathroom, so Brittany and Stephanie shared one.

  “Not at all. I’ll sit here and read your lyrics a couple of more times so they’re cemented in my brain.” Brittany was tired, but she was thinking so much about her day. Olivia . . . she wanted to keep her, and she’d marry Matt just for the little girl. It was crazy, but the love she felt for her was strong.

  Over and over she read the song Stephanie had penned the words for. It was going to be a huge hit. She could feel it deep inside her.

  She also knew that she and Emily would be marrying soon, and Stephanie would be alone in crowds, apartments, and most other places. Oh, they’d keep their singing group together, but they were all about to become individuals and not just identical triplets.

  Brittany took off her glasses and looked at them. They were what set her apart from her sisters, and suddenly she didn’t want to wear them, if only for a little while. She wanted to feel like identical triplets again, and not just onstage. She knew the feeling would pass once she wasn’t feeling so . . . strangely about things.

  Once she was in bed, she thought about the song some more, thinking they needed to do something special for Stephanie. Maybe a vacation the three of them could take together, their last one as single women. The money they were making from the rodeo would surely cover it, if Emily didn’t find a way to throw all of the extra back into the business. As the business manager, she was constantly thinking of new ways to spend their money.

  She laid awake for hours, wishing she could go to sleep as easy as Emily did. It was crazy how her sister could be having a conversation one moment and sleeping the next. Brittany had to be lying just so. She had to shut her mind off. Maybe that was the difference. She had a mind that constantly worked, and Emily shut hers off easily. It had to be her advanced intelligence.

  She chuckled to herself as she lay there, wishing she could sleep. It would happen. Eventually. In the meantime . . . Matt filled her mind.

  Five

  After the rodeo was over, Brittany didn’t see Matt as often as she had. It made her sad, but they both had lives to live. He was there for the concert at Rebel’s Saloon along with Chris and Joe, one of Chris’s employees who he brought to meet Stephanie.

  They sat with the men after their first set, which went amazingly well. Brittany was thrilled with their performance, and they sang their new rodeo song for the first time. The song about being lonely in crowds needed a few more tweaks before they were ready to sing it for others.

  By the time they were ready to go back for the second set, Stephanie had scooted her chair almost on top of Brittany’s to get away from Joe. He was a pig and coming on way too strong for someone as shy as Stephanie. Brittany was about to get up and go to the back with Stephanie to get ready for the next set, but Emily whispered something to Chris and left with Stephanie.

  Joe looked over at Brittany. “Don’t you need to get ready, too?”

  Brittany shook her head. “Nope. I’m ready. Emily probably just needs help redoing her hair. It tends to fly away during performances.”

  Joe crossed his arms over his chest. “Have you three ever shared a guy?”

  Her eyes widened with shock. “Excuse me?”

  Chris stood up. “Joe, you can leave now.”

  “But I rode here with you.”

  Chris tossed some cash on the table. “Take an Uber and go home. You are ridiculous, and I don’t ever even want to look at you again.”

  “Are you firing me?”

  After a moment of consideration, Chris shook his head. “I need you. We’re too busy to let you go. But you’re going to behave better than this around ladies. You hear me?”

  Joe grabbed the money and stormed out of the saloon.

  “I don’t know why you thought he was right for Stephanie,” Brittany said shaking her head. “What a jerk!”

  “I really screwed up with him.” Chris returned to his seat, his fists still clenched. “Please apologize to Stephanie for me.”

  Brittany nodded. “I will. I need to get backstage now.” She walked over a
nd dropped a kiss on Chris’s cheek. “Thank you for taking care of him.”

  Chris smiled at her. “I shouldn’t have brought him.”

  “No, but you took care of it. It’s all good now.” Brittany hurried away, joining her sisters backstage.

  After their third set of the night, all three sisters were pumped up and excited. The men had left after the second set, so the three of them went home together. Emily couldn’t stop talking about having dinner with Chris’s mother the next night. Brittany and Stephanie let her go on and on about how nervous she was.

  “Everyone loves you,” Brittany finally said. “I don’t know what you’re so nervous about.”

  “I don’t either, but she really makes me freak out. She likes our music, so I know she doesn’t have horrible taste or anything, but what if she doesn’t think I’m good enough for Chris? I can’t imagine life without him!”

  “You’ve known him for less than two weeks!” Brittany responded, shaking her head.

  Emily gave her a look. “And how would you feel if Matt was killed in a car wreck tomorrow? You’ve known him for less than two weeks!”

  Brittany felt a lump in her chest at the idea of losing Matt. “I guess I understand, then, don’t I?”

  After they were home, Emily slept sitting up on the couch, while Stephanie and Brittany hammered out the last of the notes for the new song.

  “I really think we have a hit with this,” Brittany said. “Wanna wake Em up and play it for her?”

  Stephanie grinned and nodded. “I wish I could sleep like she does.”

  “I’ve said that a million times. And I’m never worried about waking her, because she’ll go back to sleep in under a minute again.” Brittany put her hand on Emily’s arm. “We want you to hear the song.”

  Emily nodded, sitting up straighter. “Lyrics?” She held her hand out for the sheet of paper she knew Stephanie would have ready for her. Emily always woke up as quickly as she fell asleep. It was unnerving.

  Brittany strummed the chords on her guitar as she and Stephanie sang. After one verse and the chorus, Emily jumped in. It was when their three voices melded together that the real magic happened.

  After the final notes drifted away, Brittany held out her arm. “I have goosebumps.” She looked at Emily, knowing she’d probably want to change one or two things, which was always her role in the songwriting process. “What do you think?”

  Emily held her goosebumped arm against her sisters. “Not a single note or word. That was absolutely amazing.”

  Brittany grinned. “It felt pretty incredible, but it’s hard to know.”

  Stephanie jumped up and ran into the kitchen, returning with three bottles of water. She opened hers, and the three of them toasted together. “To The Kelly Sisters!” The other two chorused her words, and they all took a drink of their water.

  Brittany looked over at Emily. “Tomorrow night is going to be amazing, because we just wrote our first top ten hit.”

  Emily nodded, grinning. “You know, I think we have!”

  Minutes later, they all went their separate ways to their rooms, and Brittany smiled as she rolled to her side, hugging a pillow. “We’re really going to make it.”

  Monday afternoon, while Emily worked, Brittany went shopping with Chris. He wanted help picking out just the right ring to propose to Emily, and taking someone identical to her was helpful for the right sizing.

  “She seemed really upset when she got home last night,” Brittany said as she pointed to a ring she thought would be perfect for her sister. “That one. It’s just right.”

  “I don’t know how I’m going to get her to see me. She pretty much ran away from me last night after saying goodbye. My mom made it really clear she wanted her to have babies right away, even thought I told her it was fine if we waited a little while.”

  “So that’s what happened. She didn’t say, but it was pretty obvious she was upset.” Brittany held out her hand so he could see if they could use the ring in the size they were selling. “Maybe I should ask her to go to supper with me tonight, and I’ll meet you somewhere. When she sees you, I’ll duck out.”

  “I think that’s a really good idea.” He nodded. “You don’t mind?”

  “Mind deceiving my sister and best friend? Why would I mind?” She grinned at him. “Truthfully, I know she’ll be happy after you two talk, so I will happily help deceive her. No problem at all.”

  “Oh, good.”

  She looked down at the ring he’d slipped onto her finger, and she nodded. “This is absolutely perfect!”

  “It fits well?”

  “Yes! It’s just what she needs.”

  They set up a time and place for her to take Emily before Brittany left the store. She’d go home and work with Stephanie for a while until Emily got home from her job selling cowboy boots. Once Stephanie understood the plan, she wouldn’t even try to go to supper with them.

  Stephanie laughed when Brittany told her what they were doing. “You’ll go to supper with me after, right?”

  “Sure. Or we’ll make something here. No skin off my nose either way.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll think about which I’d rather do.” Brittany knew that often Stephanie, the youngest of the three, didn’t like to eat out. It was a problem of having too many people around her. She called it peopling, and she flat out preferred not to do it.

  When Emily got home, she wanted to work out, and it worried Brittany a little that she wouldn’t be able to get her to Chris on time. “I’ll work out with you.”

  Emily nodded, still looking sad.

  Stephanie said she wanted to stay home and play with some depressing lyrics Emily had written. Even Brittany could see that there was hope for them, so she let it go and changed into her workout clothes.

  After they worked out, she took Emily to the restaurant where she’d agreed to meet Chris, and when Emily saw him, Brittany faded into the background, watching as Emily sat down with him.

  As she left the restaurant and was walking to the car, she got a text. Waiting until she was in her air-conditioned vehicle, she read the text. Olivia’s afraid to get on a horse. She said she’d do it if you were here. There was a sad face emoji next to the text.

  Brittany called Stephanie. “Olivia is afraid to get on a horse, and Matt needs help with her. Can you handle yourself for supper?”

  “You know I can. I think I have these lyrics like we want them. We’re totally going to have a fabulous second CD with these songs we’re writing.”

  “Okay, you have fun with that, and I’ll go see Matt and Olivia.” Brittany hung up with her sister and called Matt. “Do you want me to drive out there and help?” She knew he’d said he was on a ranch outside the cities, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember where.

  “That would be wonderful if you really don’t mind. Do you have GPS?”

  “Sure do.” She tapped in the address he gave her. “Tell Olivia I’m on my way!”

  “Thank you, Brittany. I don’t think you have any idea how much you mean to us already.”

  Brittany had been in touch with Matt quite a few times since the rodeo was over, but she’d only seen him on Saturday night, and Olivia hadn’t been there. She was excited to see two of her favorite people again. She drove out of the city and to the east of Houston, heading into an area that was completely new to her. She had her music turned up and was singing along to the songs as she drove. She didn’t know why Emily didn’t like to drive. It was one of her very favorite things in the whole world.

  When she got to the ranch, she pulled under the big sign that announced it was the Sullivan Ranch. She drove up to the house and parked, getting out of her car. As soon as she’d shut the door, she heard a scream and saw Olivia running toward her.

  Brittany squatted down and spread her arms wide as she hugged the girl. “I missed you!” It was strange to admit it aloud, but that little bit of nothing had become incredibly important to her.

  Olivia pulled a
way with a grin. “I missed you, too. I’m so glad you came. Are you going to watch me ride my new pony?”

  “New pony? Did your uncle buy you a new pony before you even learned to ride?”

  Olivia nodded. “He said it would be better for me to learn on a kid-sized horse.”

  “I think that’s a great idea. What did you name him?” Brittany didn’t know a lot about horses, but she did know that most riding horses were geldings.

  “Buttercup.”

  “Is it a girl?”

  Olivia shook her head. “No, I just like the name Buttercup. Uncle Matt doesn’t like it, but what does he know?”

  Brittany laughed. “Very little apparently.” She let Olivia lead her to the paddock. “Oh, what a nice pony!” She reached out and patted the gelding’s nose while Olivia danced around. “I can’t wait to see you ride him!”

  “I have a helmet!” Olivia said, rushing off to put a helmet on, and then she came back.

  “Where’s your uncle?”

  “He said to tell you he’s on his way.” Olivia ran back to Brittany and hugged her once more. “I wish you were here all the time.”

  “I wish I was, too.” And she did. Brittany realized that she really did love Matt and Olivia, and she was ready to move on to the next stage in her life. Stephanie would be lonely, but they’d still see her often for rehearsals and concerts.

  She saw Matt walking toward them, and her heart skipped a beat. She wanted to run to him and kiss him like crazy, but she wouldn’t do that with Olivia still hugging her. “Hey, you!”

  He grinned at her, his eyes seeming to see right through her clothes. She knew he was as attracted to her as she was to him. “Howdy. I see you found Olivia.”

  “We seem to be attached.” Brittany grinned down at the little girl.

  Olivia giggled. “I’m keeping Brittany here!”

  “Oh, good. I think she’d run away if you weren’t hanging onto her so tightly.”

  Matt didn’t seem to mind the little girl attached to Brittany. When he reached her, he slid his arm around her and kissed her. “I’ve missed your face.”