Riding the River (The Westerners, Book One)

by Jeanne Harrell

After freshening up, Sarah and Tess trooped into the big dining hall with windblown cheeks, rosy from the exercise. Their faces shone and their sunny smiles spoke volumes of how much they had enjoyed their morning. They got into a line heading up to the buffet. People were chatting about their activities. Sarah almost salivated with the aromas drifting her way.

  Dale was in the back of the room and saw them come in. He was curious to find out more about Sarah, in particular, after her dance with Matt last night. He started slowly working his way toward her. Matt was nowhere in sight. Good. Then he was close enough to talk to her.

  “Good day, ladies. Have a good morning?” Dale’s smile beamed.

  “… You bet,” smiled Tess. “We had a riding lesson.”

  He looked at Sarah. “Did you enjoy it, miss?”

  “Sarah… Please call me Sarah.”

  “Did you have fun, Sarah?”

  “It was terrific. I haven’t ridden much before, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I want to ride every day that I’m here.”

  Dale smiled. Enthusiasm. He liked that.

  “Good for you. Oh, and by the way, try my Humdinger Casserole. Let me know what you think of it…” And he passed by them to speak with another guest.

  “Wow,” said Tess. “Everyone is so friendly here.”

  “I know… It’s wonderful. I can get used to this.”

  Then they were at the front of the line, got their plates and began loading them up.

  “I’m going to gain weight on this trip, Sarah.”

  “…Ditto. Now where’s that casserole the cook mentioned?” Sarah found it and spooned some on her plate. A cowboy behind her said to break up a cheese slice and mush it down in the mixture. Sarah took a slice of cheese to do just that.

  Sarah and Tess sat at one of the large tables with other guests. Everyone talked and laughed, while eating lunch. It seemed a happy group. Dale watched from the back to make sure all was well and to get another look at Sarah. She looked over and waved at him. He walked up to her table.

  “This casserole is great, Dale. I just wanted to let you know.” Dale beamed again.

  “Thank you, Sarah. Do you like to cook?”

  She blinked, looking in the face of this curly-haired man. No one had ever asked her that before.

  “I do,” she said finally. “But I don’t get much chance.”

  “Busy job?”

  “… Busy life.”

  “Sounds too busy.” Sarah nodded at that comment.

  “You’re right there.”

  He had an idea. “Well, if you have a mind to learn some cowboy cookin’, stop by the kitchen any time.”

  She smiled. “Thanks, I just might do that.”

  “If you sign up for the horse drive, I might put you to work. What do you think?”

  Tess was thinking that Sarah was nuts about now, as she happily ate her lunch. The last thing she wanted to do on this trip was work. But… she didn’t know Sarah all that well. Different strokes for different folks.

  “Okay, Dale. You’ve got yourself a deal. I am signing up for the drive and I’m sure I can spare some time to learn a recipe or two.” She looked at him and smiled. “Thank you for asking me.”

  Dale smiled back. “My pleasure, ma’am.” And he left her table thinking that if Matt didn’t snap her up, he’d find someone else for her. She was terrific… Any idiot could see that. Pretty blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes…

  He helped a bit more with getting food out to the buffet table and saw Matt come in with Richie. This should be interesting… Dale watched as Richie spied Sarah and Tess -- He walked over to say hi. What would Matt do? Matt stayed put in the food line and tried not to look over at Richie speaking with Sarah. Interesting… He tried to keep his eyes forward, but couldn’t help himself when he heard her laugh. She had a nice laugh… Then Matt full on gazed at her.

  And meanwhile, Sarah might have been speaking to Richie, but she was glancing at Matt across the room. She finally looked up at Richie as he said good-bye, but her eyes immediately went back to Matt. He broke off his stare to look down at the plate he’d picked up.

  “Who in the world is that?” said Tess, having just seen Matt.

  Sarah looked in her plate now. “He’s one of the cowboys who works here.”

  “My God… Doesn’t he look a lot like Gregory Peck from that Western movie? Oh, what’s it called?”

  Sarah turned to her as her mouth dropped open. “Do you think so?”

  “Oh, my, yes. Look at all that black, wavy hair… Dark eyes… muscles…Trim build…” She sighed. “Altogether yummy…”

  Sarah blushed for some reason. “It’s ‘Big Country’.”

  “… What is?”

  “The movie title you’re thinking of. “Big Country’.”

  Tess flashed a smile at her. “Yes, that’s right. Oh, that’s a good one.”

  Sarah just smiled. You’ve no idea.

  Across the room, Matt and Richie were filling their plates. The smells were making Richie’s stomach growl. They searched to find seats just as Sarah and Tess rose with their empty plates.

  “Ladies, can we have these seats?” said Richie pleasantly.

  “Sure. They’re yours,” replied Tess who was openly admiring Matt.

  Richie nodded at Tess and then glanced at Sarah who was scraping some spot on the table -- Matt was looking out a window. He knit his brows and wondered what was happening here.

  “Thanks,” he said and sat down. Matt sat across from him as Tess and Sarah walked towards the door. Richie watched Matt steal a furtive look her way. They placed their hats under their chairs.

  Once they began eating, he started in.

  “… Okay, what was that?”

  “What was what?”

  “You know what I’m talking about.” Richie took a big bite of his casserole.

  “I haven’t got a clue,” replied Matt getting pissed now. “Let me eat in peace.” He began eating his salad.

  “First, you stare at her across a crowded room and then you won’t even say hi when we get close. What gives?” He took another forkful of casserole.

  Matt chewed and swallowed. “Nothing gives.”

  “I’ve known you a lot of years, Matt, something gives… with that girl.”

  “I’m not interested in any girl, Richie. Cut it out.”

  Richie had seen Matt in various states of sad, mad and glad, but he’d never seen him not interested in women. He looked at him as his mouth dropped.

  “Are you going to sit there and tell me you’re not interested in Sarah?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why not for Heaven’s sake?”

  “Aren’t you interested in her?” Matt looked over at him as Richie started to smile.

  “I’ve been with her all morning. Trust me when I tell you, I might have been interested in her, but she sure as shootin’ is not interested in me. Not even a little bit…”

  “Okay, then. This conversation is over.”

  “Not even. You like her, Matt. Admit it. I saw you dancing with her last night.”

  Matt looked sharply at him. “So? I’ve danced with women before.”

  Richie started laughing. “Not from ninety miles away. I thought she might have cooties until I saw you caress her ponytail and smile at her.”

  “Caress? That’s a fancy word… And you’re way off the mark.” Matt lowered his head and ate faster.

  “Well, you know what ‘caress’ means, right? To lovingly embrace.”

  “Am I going to get a vocabulary lesson with my lunch?” growled Matt. Then he looked away and mumbled, “Besides, she’s only here for a week and that’s not enough time to...”

  “To what? Fall for someone?” He laughed. “It’s plenty of time…”

  “Richie, it just complicates things. She’s going back to Baltimore…”

  “Maybe.”

  “There’s no maybe here.”

  “What if there
was?” Richie let that thought dangle out there.

  Matt frowned. “…Um.”

  Richie laughed and ate another big mouthful. After he swallowed, he chuckled. “You can fight it all you want, but she’s under your skin already. Isn’t she?”

  “…Ah…”

  “And I think she likes you too. When we came in and I was talking to her, she was looking past me. She was looking at you, wasn’t she?”

  Richie’s smiled widened and Matt was ready to leave.

  “Richie, knock it off or I’m going to get the hell out of here.”

  “Are you fighting this because of what happened in your past?”

  “That could be a damn fine reason, don’t you agree?”

  “… No, I don’t. Just because Betsy burned you, it doesn’t mean someone else will. She was just the wrong girl for you.”

  Matt looked up at him astonished. “I thought we’d agreed not to say that name out loud.”

  “You’ve got to get past this, man…” Matt gave him a look. “Okay, okay, I’m shutting up. But you’re making a mistake if you let Sarah go by without even trying. She’s seems really nice.”

  Matt sighed. “I know. That’s what I’m afraid of.”