Shelby laid her hand on Luke’s as Katie disappeared into the kitchen. “You’ve never done things the easy way, have you?”
He shook his head like a punch-drunk fighter, his emotions wrung dry between anger and despair and now hope again. “There’s got to be some reason why Katie’s the only woman for me. I guess love really is like herding cats.”
Marge joined them, taking Katie’s seat. “Luke, what do you think—should I ask Katie if she’d like to buy into the Queen? There’s only two people in the world I’d consider asking, and it doesn’t look like Lucy will be around much. Katie has a sassy mouth, but I couldn’t abide some meek little mouse I’d always worry about offending.”
“Why ask me? I’ve got no say in it.”
Marge heaved an exaggerated sigh. “I’m soliciting your opinion and preference as a courtesy, assuming you plan on becoming her husband. Maybe you don’t want her tied up with that kind of responsibility.”
“Do I look stupid?” he said. “Like Doc Barnett told Dad and Shelby, the bull stomped on my back, not on my head. You really think I’d try to steer Katie off something she’d like to do? She wants to help run the Queen, we’ll make it work.”
Marge turned to Shelby. “I’ve always said this boy is a lot smarter than he looks. Okay, I’ll get her out here...”
“Whoa!” Luke struggled to his feet. “I don’t want to be anywhere around when you talk to Katie. She has to decide for her own self with no pressure from me or anyone else.”
He dropped a ten-dollar bill on the table. “Let’s blow this joint, Shelby.”
Shelby didn’t break into his silence on the drive home. “Did I do the right thing?” he said at last. “Not sitting in with Katie and Marge?”
“If it felt right to you, then it was. And I agree—Katie has a lot of heavy decisions to make right now. She doesn’t need to worry about what you might think.”
Luke fiddled with the fastening on his right brace. “Hey, she could change her mind and go back to her husband. I mean, the guy really upped the ante. How can I compete with that kind of offer?”
Shelby cast an exasperated glance at him as she steered under the Cameron’s Pride sign. “This isn’t a cattle auction, Luke, Lot number forty-three to the highest bidder. If you trust Katie that little, you’d be better off without her.”
He flung his head back and squeezed his eyes shut. “God, you’re right and I’m an idiot.”
“She told me while we were decorating Auntie Rose’s cupcakes she loves being on her own for the first time in her life. She needs this time to herself.”
Gloom settled in his mind like smoke from a prairie fire. “Maybe she’ll find out she doesn’t want to get married again.”
“Didn’t you tell me she wants kids? Can you picture her doing that outside of marriage?”
She braked in front of the barn. “Get on your horse and ride the south fence line. Visit Auntie Rose and let her talk about her party. Stop fretting about Katie—she won’t let you down.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
MARGE TURNED THE Closed sign outward at exactly three o’clock and summoned Katie to her office.
“Would you like to buy into the Queen as my partner?” she asked with no lead-in.
Katie was dumbstruck. She had thought about the possibility but only as a far-fetched dream. “I don’t know what to say.”
“That’ll be a first. I know I’m not easy to get along with, but we’ve done pretty well so far. You don’t argue with the way I’ve always done things, but your new ideas are good. Things keep going like this, we’ll be able to start opening for dinner again.”
“Maybe on Friday and Saturday nights when folks come into town for shopping or a movie,” Katie said, excitement bubbling in her chest. “Nothing fancy, just our lunch menu expanded a little. And we could offer small plates of new items so people can sample and let us know what they like. Have special tasting events, maybe even music on the weekends.”
Her heart fell. “How much of an investment would you need?” Living rent-free and eating mostly on the job, she still had most of the money she’d brought from Connecticut, but a big expenditure could wipe that out. She could apply for a loan...
“I’ve got no clue,” Marge said. “I just wanted to float the idea past you to see if you’d strike at it. I’ll have to sit down with my accountant to come up with a figure.”
“Besides...” Katie hated to seem ungrateful for this dream opportunity. As different from Elizabeth Gabriel as an irascible alley cat from a cozy tabby, Marge had come to fill the hollow in Katie’s heart left by her mother’s death. “I shouldn’t take such a big step until I get settled with Brad.”
“Maybe you’ll decide to take the hubby up on his offer.”
“You know better, but I can’t focus on any new commitment with the divorce hanging over me.”
“Including Luke?”
“Especially Luke. He already knows I can’t give him what he wants until I’m free of Brad. Not that he’s pressuring me.”
“He wouldn’t,” Marge said. “Under that wild, good-ol’-boy front, he’s a real gentleman—all the Cameron men are.”
“Can we go on with our present arrangement awhile longer? I hope you know how much I want to accept your offer.”
Marge leaned forward and patted her knee. “Don’t fret—I’m not planning to sell the Queen out from under you. Any notion how we can light a fire under your soon-to-be ex, as Luke calls him?”
“I do have an idea. Brad probably figures I’m not smart enough to track his screwing around, but I know someone who is—my cousin Greg, who’s buying my mother’s house.”
“He’s a private detective?”
“No, but he was an MP in the Marines, and he’s a whiz with computers. All I need is a record of few overnight stays at a hotel for Mr. and Mrs. Garrison while I was taking care of my mother 24/7.” Bitter reality struck again. “Of course, he probably just took women to our house the last few months, since he knew I wouldn’t walk in on him.”
“Until you did. Too big for his britches, so to speak.”
“I’m hoping I won’t have to get hateful—better to end a fifteen-year marriage with a little dignity. But I will take him to court if he forces me to.”
“You’re better hearted than I would be.” Marge said. “Rub his nose in his dirty business, I say.”
“If Greg can get me hard evidence, my attorney can send it to Brad’s and let him point out the consequences. Right now I’m being reasonable, but if Brad wants to play rough, I’m up for that, too.”
* * *
“SO THAT’S THE STORY,” she told Greg that evening. “I’m sorry to drag you into this mess, but you’re my best resource. I don’t have the money to hire a PI, but I’ll bet you can find out what I need.”
Her cousin had listened to her tale without comment. Now she heard a deep sigh. “The kids are right here,” he said, “or I’d tell you what I think of that—” he cleared his throat “—that rotten so-and-so. Give me his credit card info and which hotels he’d be likely to pick. I’ll start there.”
“I really don’t want this to get around. I just want to pressure him into agreeing to the divorce quickly. I’ve wasted enough of my life on him.”
“Not to worry, I’ll dig up the dirt on Mr. Can’t Keep It Zipped. It’s the least I can do to thank you for everything you’re doing for us.”
“I’ll probably have to make a flying trip back once Brad agrees to the divorce. We’ll finalize the sale then.”
She had called Greg first because of the time difference; now she could talk to Luke at her leisure.
“Hey, cowgirl,” he said when he answered. “Your horse is looking for you. Another hundred pounds and she’ll be ready for some light work.”
“I’ll be
ready when she is. And Luke, I have incredible news.”
“From Brad?”
What else could he think? “I’m afraid not,” she said, her elation dimming a little. “Marge asked if I’d like to buy into the Queen as a partner. I’ve wanted something like this for years. We work well together, and it would take a big load off her shoulders. What do you think?”
“Something that makes you sound this happy, I say go for it.”
“You wouldn’t mind?”
“I’ve got no right to mind.” His voice held an edge. “And I don’t. You’ve been bossed and held back long enough.” His tone softened. “You want this, girl, we’ll make it work.”
Tears stung her eyes. What had she ever done to deserve this luck, this kindness? Loving Luke, being the woman he needed would be her joy.
“Got a plan how to pry yourself loose from what’s-his-name?”
She told him about her call to her cousin. “I’m hoping that waving embarrassing evidence in his face will make him fold. But I will go after him if I have to—no more Ms. Nice.”
He laughed. “I’m not surprised, the way you backed down Oscar’s bull. Which reminds me, Tom and Jo are taking the kids to Pueblo next weekend for a bull-riding event. They asked if we’d like to go along. We could pick you up right at noon—then we’d make it in time to watch on Saturday night and stay over for the final rounds on Sunday.”
She thought she caught a note of pleading in his voice. “It’s important to you, isn’t it?”
“Sort of, I guess,” he said. “Maybe I’ll never go back into the arena, but I still need to face the bulls down. Better men than me have been hurt as bad without shying off.”
“Will my going along help?”
She could almost see his shrug. “You watched those videos with me—that was my first step.”
“I’ll talk to Marge tomorrow. She’s almost a hundred percent now—she and Roger can probably finish up lunch if I leave at noon.”
“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” Luke said. “You may change your mind about having kids after five hours in the car with JJ.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
AT TEN MINUTES before noon on Saturday, Katie swapped her black work shoes for her cowboy boots and placed a sack of cookies beside her overnight bag in Marge’s office. She had just set an order of the meatloaf special and a garden salad on the pass-through counter when she heard Missy’s voice.
“Mama said to come get Miss Katie. We’re outside waiting.”
Marge bustled into the kitchen. “Get moving, girl. Sue’s here to work till we close, so you have a good time. You’ll understand Luke better after seeing real bull riding.”
“I hate to leave early...”
“You’re fired if you’re not out of here in one minute flat. They’re probably double-parked.”
Katie hugged her and grabbed her gear, following Missy, who wore pink cowboy boots matching her pink plaid shirt.
Tom sat at the wheel of a Ford Expedition with Luke in the front passenger seat. “Sorry we have to stick you in the back seat,” he said, “but Luke needs the leg room in front. You and Jo can take turns swatting the kids.”
“Just JJ,” Missy said. “I’m too big to swat.”
Jo rolled her eyes at Katie. “Welcome to the Cameron traveling circus. You’ll probably be ready to jump ship by the time we get to the top of Wolf Creek Pass.”
“I imagine you guys have had lunch,” Katie said, “but I brought dessert. Okay if the kids have cookies? I made them this morning.”
Missy and JJ quieted for the moment as everyone accepted the saucer-size disks, aromatic as a spice cabinet. Jo took a bite. “Gingersnaps?”
“They’re called Joe Froggers, a local specialty in Marblehead, Massachusetts, where my grandmother grew up.”
“Frog cookies!” JJ made croaking sounds, and Missy answered with her own rendition. “I want another frog cookie.”
“Half,” Katie said. “If your mother says okay.”
“And after you say please,” Jo said.
Peace reigned again, and Katie watched the scenery flow by. Had she really driven down this road tight jawed with fear little more than a month ago? Then she had been fleeing from her ruined marriage in shock and heartbreak. And in guilty shame that she hadn’t been able to keep her husband faithful, neglecting him to care for her mother. Now she knew Brad’s behavior had already been an established pattern; her mother’s illness had simply made his betrayal easier to continue.
On impulse, she leaned forward and laid her hand on Luke’s shoulder; he turned with a smile and covered it with his.
“Enjoying the ride? A little different than coming down off the pass in a snowstorm.”
“Everything’s changed since then.”
“For the better, I hope.”
“In so many ways,” she said and sat back to enjoy the ride.
* * *
THEY ARRIVED IN Pueblo just before the event started. JJ and Missy, after making the long drive with relative good behavior, began bouncing around in their seat belts demanding food and souvenirs.
“What you get tomorrow depends on your behavior tonight,” Tom said. “You don’t want Miss Katie to think you’re little animals, do you?”
Tom dropped Luke and Katie off at a rear entrance before parking closer to the main doors.
“They’ve got second-row tickets,” Luke said, “but I figured we’d watch from the chutes.”
He led Katie past the locker room, stopped every few steps by well-wishers pleased to see him walking and amazed at his high-tech braces. Katie couldn’t keep track of the introductions, although she understood that bull riders wore thick vests and brightly colored leather chaps while the other men—and a few women—wearing simple jeans and plaid shirts were bull owners or other Professional Bull Riders functionaries.
“Time to put these babies to the test,” Luke said and pointed to a steep metal stairway leading to a walkway behind the bucking chutes.
“You can’t possibly be serious. What if you catch a toe in the open gaps?”
“Then you’ll have to catch me before I hit the dirt,” he said with a grin and started up the steps.
Katie shook her head in disbelief and followed, keeping one hand on his back, just in case.
Luke hung on to the hand rails and made it to the platform. “You mind standing to watch?” he asked. “There are seats the next level up, but maybe I shouldn’t push my luck.” He led her to a corner just beyond the chutes and waved to the rest of the family. Missy and JJ jumped up and down and waved their arms.
“Is this their first event?” Katie asked.
“Heck, no. Missy’s been coming since she was two and JJ since before he could walk. Look at all the kids here.”
Katie scanned the sold-out crowd. Fans ranged from babies in arms to silver-haired women wearing fringed jackets and weathered men in hats that had seen hard usage.
The lights went down, Klaxons sounded and Warning! flashed on the message boards. Men ran into the arena splashing liquid from fuel cans onto the dirt.
“Cover your ears, darlin’,” Luke said. “It’s about to get noisy.”
Explosions accompanied jets of fire and letters spelled out in flames as the announcer yelled, “Welcome to the one and only PBR!”
“This is crazy!” Katie said, giddy with excitement.
“You got that right, even before the bucking starts.”
Luke gave her quick thumbnail bios on the cowboys parading into the arena. Three men followed the riders, their loose-fitting jerseys, shorts and gym shoes in odd contrast with their cowboy hats.
“Those are my partners, Wes Jenkins and Billy Daws,” Luke said, “plus the new bullfighter who took my place.”
Katie turne
d to study his face. “How are you doing?”
He gave her a crooked smile. “Fine so far, but I might get the screaming heebie-jeebies in the middle of the night.” He turned away and removed his hat as a mahogany-skinned girl with lustrous black hair delivered a country-style rendition of the national anthem.
The lights came up, and bulls filled the chutes. A huge brindled beast with sweeping horns kicked the gate directly below them, shuddering the steel floor where they stood.
Luke tightened his hands on the railing.
“Will the bull that hurt you be here?” she asked.
Luke reached into his hip pocket for the day sheet he’d picked up on the way in and ran his finger down the list of riders and bulls. “Yep, he’s here, ol’ Sidewinder himself. Toby Wallace should get a good score on him. He’s not a mean bull—I just got between him and the exit.”
Cowboys began lining up behind the chutes, some performing elaborate warm-up routines before their rides while others chatted apparently without care. Katie had an unobstructed view as a young man who looked no more than fourteen eased onto the bull’s back below them. He settled his mouthpiece in place, wrapped the thick rope around the bull’s chest into his hand and nodded his head. The gate swung open.
The next eight seconds looked to Katie like a carnival ride gone berserk as the bull jerked the rider back and forth like a dog’s toy. When the buzzer sounded, the cowboy flew off, arms and legs windmilling. He landed hard and crawled to the fence while the bullfighters danced around the huge beast as if performing some primitive rite.
Defeated, the bull snorted and trotted out of the arena while the announcer gave the rider’s score.
“A little different than watching those videos, right?” Luke’s face was alight with excitement.
“It’s...” Katie tried to come up with something positive to say but couldn’t. “It’s completely useless. What earthly good is riding a bull? Risking your life like that?”
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