Under a Rodeo Moon

by Roni Adams

  Her anger piqued. Ignoring the customers in the busy diner, she rushed around the counter to stand in front of him. “You couldn’t do it, could you? You couldn’t set your pride aside for us? I don’t know why I bother, I don’t know...”

  Tears fell from her eyes, which made her even madder. She spun around to head to the ladies’ room, but Dusty grabbed her upper arm and held her firmly in place.

  “Whoa, calm down. What’s going on? What’s the matter now?” He brushed his thumb underneath her eye where the tears had spilled over.

  Carrie jerked her head back from his touch. “Where’d you go?”

  He searched her eyes and then glanced over her head again. “I just went to the arena. I needed to get some things and talk to Henry. You can’t seriously be mad because I took your car?”

  She shook her head. “Joyce said you put an offer in on the Kincaid place.”

  “What? I never said that.” Joyce spoke up, obviously listening to their entire conversation.

  Carrie spun around to stare at the realtor. “You said the other person interested put in an offer.”

  Joyce shook her big red hair. “No, I said an offer was put in. I never said it was from him.”

  “There’s an offer on the ranch?” Dusty’s hold on her arm tightened.

  Carrie turned back to him. She swiped at her cheeks with her hands. “I thought that’s where you went, when Joyce told me that.”

  Dusty wrapped his arm around her shoulder to hold her to his side and closed the space between them and the realtor. “How much did they offer?”

  “I’m not at liberty...”

  Dusty glanced at Carrie before turning to Joyce again. “If we offer more than the other guy, we’d get it, right? I mean the seller can’t turn down an offer for more money, can they?”

  Joyce frowned. “The seller can do anything he wants, but I suppose if the offer was more he’d be a fool not to consider it.”

  Carrie lifted her chin, and she clung to Dusty’s waist. “Tell the seller we’ll pay cash.”

  Joyce raised her eyebrow, but obediently lifted her cell phone to her ear. She spoke into it and Carrie turned her head into Dusty’s side and closed her eyes. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her head, murmuring softly. It was as if their entire future rested on the outcome of the phone call.

  Joyce shut the phone. “I left a message. There was no answer.”

  Dusty cussed.

  Carrie realized she’d been holding her breath, and she raised her head. She patted his chest with her hand. “Okay. It’s okay, we’ll wait.”

  She slipped away from him and moved back behind the counter. She had work to do, and it would keep her busy. “I’ll get you some lunch.” She jerked her head toward an empty booth, and Dusty moved toward it.

  Joyce set her phone back on the counter. “Could I get a turkey club, hold the mayo, and unsweetened iced tea?”

  Carrie nodded and placed the order with Sam, along with a cheeseburger and fries for Dusty. When the lunches were up and all her customers were taken care of, she moved to Dusty’s booth and sank into the seat across from him. “I’m sorry for being upset about this morning. At first I thought you’d gone to run some errands, but you were gone so long.”

  “You thought I’d skip town with that car? Hell, Carrie, my truck is bad, but it’s not as ugly as that thing.”

  She grinned. “Good point. We can go get your truck when I get off work, if you want.”

  “It’s here. I left your car at the arena.”

  She widened her eyes. “Why?”

  He reached across the table and grabbed her hands. “Because that way you can’t get away from me.”

  “I can’t believe you’ll let me buy the ranch.”

  Dusty pulled his hand away. “Yes, but not without some strings of my own attached.”

  Her heart lurched. She should have known better than to think he’d do this without any questions. “What kind of strings?”

  Dusty glanced around the diner and then back at her. He patted his shirt pocket and pulled out a red bag. Carrie watched as he opened the drawstrings. Across the diner, they heard Joyce’s cell phone chime. Dusty froze and Carrie turned to stare at the realtor. Joyce slid off the booth and hurried to the doorway of the diner, her finger pressed to one ear. She took the call in the tiny vestibule of the diner and Carrie thought she’d lose her mind with wondering what was being said. Before long, Joyce pulled open the door and stepped back inside.

  Dusty sprang up from the booth, his hand raised in warning. “Don’t say anything, Joyce. Don’t tell us the answer yet.”

  Carrie’s chest tightened. “You went through all this, and now you’ve changed your mind?”

  Dusty turned to her. “I don’t want to know if you bought the ranch or not because it doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is your answer to this.”

  He sank to one knee on the black and white linoleum floor. All around them people gasped.

  CoraBeth’s hushed, “Oh, my Lord,” reverberated throughout the diner.

  Sam pushed open the swinging door and started to growl, but stopped short at the sight in the middle of the diner. “Oh, hell,” he swore.

  Dusty pulled a ring from the small pouch in his hand and held it up for her to see. “I bought this ring right before Cheyenne. I’ve had it all this time, Carrie. I think I always knew that somehow, someday, I’d give it to you.”

  He took her hand in his without dropping his gaze. “What do you say, honey? Marry me, with or without a ranch to live on?”

  “Oh, Dusty.” She put her hand to her mouth.

  “Oh, wait.” He pulled the ring back.

  Her eyes flew open wide and her blood ran cold. “Dusty?”

  “It’s only fair to warn you that I’m unemployed. I quit the circuit this morning, and I don’t have another job lined up. Unless Sam has an opening for a dishwasher, you’re the new breadwinner in the family. Is that okay with you?”

  Crying, she nodded. “I’m perfectly fine with that.”

  “So, what’s your answer?”

  She wiggled her finger. “Yes, Dusty, I’ll marry you.”

  Applause broke out in the restaurant, and whistles of encouragement echoed around them. Dusty grabbed her in his arms and swung her around. “Joyce? Do we have a home or are we living over the diner?”

  The room went silent. “The seller thought a cash sale was a wonderful idea. You can take possession as soon as we get the papers in order.”

  Both of them let out a holler of joy, talking and laughing at once.

  Carrie slid down Dusty’s body and before her feet hit the floor, he captured her lips with his own. She wrapped her arms around him as hard as she could and went up on tiptoe to kiss him back.

  Dusty pulled back and kept his arm around her shoulders. “CoraBeth, okay with you if I take my fiancée away for a private celebration?”

  She started to pull off her apron, but Dusty stopped her.

  “What?”

  “I’ve got this really wild fantasy of you and that apron and some whipped cream.” He kissed her again.

  As they walked through the diner, CoraBeth leaned across the counter and handed her a paper bag. Carrie glanced inside and blushed. Dusty laughed and gave the waitress a thumbs-up.

  “It ain’t homemade, but it’ll work just fine,” the older woman cackled.

  Epilogue

  The sky promised a brilliant, dusky light show as Carrie carried in the last tray of food from the backyard. If these Sunday night dinners were going to become a tradition, they’d definitely need to add a dishwasher to the kitchen renovation plan. She set the tray down next to empty bowls of coleslaw and a large, steak-less platter. A full-size freezer might be a smart addition, too.

  They had started on the more necessary repairs like electricity and stabilizing the foundation of the old ranch. Now, finally moved in, they could work at their own pace on the esthetics of interior design and convenience.

&nbs
p; “Where do you want these?” Free asked as she waddled through the back door.

  Carrie eyed the condiment bottles in her sister-in-law’s hand and nodded to the refrigerator. “You should be out there in a lounger with your feet up,” she admonished.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You sound like Zane.” She rolled her eyes and opened the fridge door. “I don’t know how I’m going to last another three months without hog-tying him.” Her brow raised, and she chuckled at the petite blonde. “Bet he’d go for that.”

  Free’s grin grew into her pink-tinged cheeks. Carrie put her hands on her sister-in-law’s shoulders and turned her toward the door. “Go on and find your cowboy. And while you’re at it, find mine, too. He was supposed to—”

  “If you say take out the trash, I’ll divorce you on the spot.”

  Large hands snaked around her waist and she giggled as her husband’s scruffy jaw tickled the sensitive spot on her neck.

  Husband.

  The word had been easier to get used to than she had expected.

  “I am so out of here,” Free groaned. “Get a room,” she tossed back as she hightailed it out of the kitchen as fast as her pregnancy would allow.

  “Now that’s not such a bad idea.” Dusty turned her in his arms and kissed her soundly. “We have eight of them, which one do you want to try out?”

  Carrie slapped his arm and wiggled from his grip. “Your whole family is here. What would they think?”

  Her tall husband bent his head to glance out the kitchen window. “Bet they wouldn’t even notice.”

  Carrie sidled up beside Dusty to see what had softened his smile.

  Out on the grass, Elizabeth chased Gretal, who giggled and bounced on her father’s back as he dipped and dived around the two apple trees. When Elizabeth nipped back the other way, she caught him coming up and the smile Grey gave his wife held so much more than joy at a simple afternoon game.

  On the other side of the yard, Zane stood with his arm around his wife’s shoulders as they watched two young colts kick and frolic in the new pen Dusty had finished just yesterday. Zane put his hand over Free’s on her protruding belly, and Carrie felt like an intruder on such a tender moment.

  It was funny what the last few months had brought all of them, especially the three siblings. Each in their own way had found their way back to love. And in doing so, they’d found their way back to each other, creating a family again.

  Carrie covertly brushed a hand over her still-flat stomach. A family that would soon be growing by leaps and bounds. Hmmm, maybe now was the right time to let Dusty in on her little secret.

  She smiled up at her husband. “You’re right. I don’t think they’d notice at all.”

  A word about the author...

  Roni Adams’ writing career began as a young girl writing stories about her family pets. When a friend of her family typed these stories up for her and put them in a three-ring binder, her life course was set. Roni has worked as a newspaper journalist, an administrative assistant, and in other positions, but she has always known in her heart she was a writer.

  Roni resides in a tiny hamlet in upstate New York nestled along the Erie Canal. She's been married for 27 years to Scott. They have three sons, ages 17 to 24. Escaping into the lives of her characters takes Roni's mind off the fact that her family is growing up way too fast.

  While she is no longer active with RWA, she considers the San Antonio Romance Authors RWA chapter to be the chapter of her heart.

  She is also one of the founding members of www.rosescoloredglasses.com, a writers’ community devoted to helping new writers grow and learn.

  Roni loves to hear from readers and you can contact her at roni@roniadams.com.

  Visit Roni at www.roniadams.com or at her blog at www.roniadams.blogspot.com.

  Thank you for purchasing

  this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.