The Cowboy Who Got Away

by Nancy Robards Thompson

  “Jude, put your arm around her. Juliette, put your hand up on his chest so we can see your corsage. Prom pose! Even if this is homecoming, do a prom pose. It’s good for all occasions.”

  Lucy babbled on as she snapped some shots with the camera on her cell phone. Since she was three years younger than Jude and Juliette, she wasn’t attending the reunion as a guest. She was actually working since she was the venue manager on duty that night. But it would be fun to hang out with her for a little bit, since she always added a special spark of levity.

  “Oh, these are cute,” she said as she scrolled through the pictures. “Look. I really like this one. You two are ridiculously adorable.”

  They huddled together looking at the shots Lucy had snapped. They did look good together. But more important, they were good together. They were good for each other.

  “Everything looks great, huh?” Lucy cooed. “I was so glad when Marcy and Marilyn asked about holding the reunion here. I wouldn’t mind doing more nonwedding business here at the barn. Of course, that is going to be more challenging thanks to everything that’s just happened.”

  In all her pregnant glory, Lucy looked as if she was about to bubble over.

  “Jules told you the good news, didn’t she?” she said, looking back and forth between them.

  “She told me you wanted to buy her business,” Jude said. “I take it that everything is going well in that department?”

  Lucy’s mouth fell open. “Juliette, didn’t you tell your boyfriend the good news?”

  He might have worried about Lucy making things uncomfortable with labels like “boyfriend,” but Juliette knew as well as he did that’s just how Lucy was. She meant no harm by it.

  “What’s the good news?” he asked.

  “Lucy and I closed on the sale today,” Juliette said. She didn’t look quite as overjoyed as Lucy did.

  “Yes, you are standing in the official new home of Weddings by Juliette.”

  He looked from Lucy to Juliette. “Seriously? It’s official? That fast?”

  “That fast,” Lucy said. “I think we should have another glass of champagne to celebrate. Do they have champagne at this shindig? If not, I have some in my office. Of course, mine will be club soda.” She patted her belly. “But I don’t mind. It’s for a very good cause.”

  Lucy motioned for them to follow her to the bar that was set up outside.

  “Another glass?” Jude asked as they made their way to the crowd.

  “Lucy and I celebrated with Chelsea and Tori right after we signed the papers this afternoon,” Juliette said.

  Jude shook his head. “Wow. That was fast. I mean, congratulations, but you just started talking about it earlier this week and it’s already finalized?”

  “Yes. It was a simple sales contract. The business had no debt. Lucy had quite a bit of money saved. She didn’t need to get a loan. So, it was just a matter of getting her attorney to draw up the papers. He did that today. I still need to talk to my landlord to see if I can get out of my lease. Lucy doesn’t need the space downtown since she can move it here to the barn. So, for all intents and purposes, the sale is a done deal.”

  Jude was happy for Juliette and his sister. He really was. That’s why he couldn’t understand the little pang of... He didn’t know what, but a weird feeling nudged at his insides. His little sister—his baby sister—had worked hard and saved enough money to pay cash for her second business. His brother had offered to pay him a salary and the woman he loved was now sitting on a presumably nice-size nest egg after selling a business that she had worked hard to create and grow.

  Jude refused to feel sorry for himself, but the truth was, in comparison, he felt every bit the loser that his old man had predicted he would be. He steeled himself. There was no way he was going to fall into a trap of self-pity and self-loathing. He had his options. Now he just needed to get in gear, choose a new path and solidify his new plan.

  Nothing like some friendly competition to make him get off his ass.

  When they stepped outside, Lucy was behind the bar that was positioned between two tiki torches. They lent a warm glow to the cool, dusky evening. Lucy had commandeered a bottle of sparkling wine and was pouring it into two plastic glasses. She poured herself some club soda and precariously picked up the three beverages and made her way toward them.

  Once they all had their drinks, she said, “Here’s to bright futures for all three of us. And to the two of you getting back together. I always knew you were meant for each other.”

  Okay, Lucy might have just been being Lucy, but now she was bordering on making them uncomfortable. Tonight was supposed to be fun, no pressure.

  “Juliette and I are still trying to figure things out.” Jude eyed his date to see if he could get a read on her. Just as he suspected, she was looking a little uncomfortable. “But everything’s going to be okay. I have faith that it will.”

  He wanted to add that he had enough faith and love for both of them, but at the last minute decided against it. That was implied. It went without saying.

  “So have you talked about how you’ll handle the long-distance thing?” Lucy asked.

  Juliette’s mouth tightened. She seemed to give Lucy a look. His protectiveness came out.

  “Come on, Lucy, don’t put so much pressure on us. Like I said, we’re figuring it out. I may have a plan so that we don’t need to have to do the long distance—at least not for too long—but we’re not there yet.”

  Lucy looked confused. “I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about Juliette moving to London. Didn’t you tell him about the job with Tori?”

  Jude blinked, feeling foolish at being caught unaware of what was going on in the life of the woman he loved. “You’re moving to London? Since when?”

  “Uh-oh,” said Lucy. “I didn’t realize you two hadn’t talked about this yet.”

  Something in her demeanor told him his sister knew exactly what she was doing. She was forcing them to talk about this because she probably sensed that Juliette had been reluctant.

  “No, Lucy, I hadn’t told him that, either. I hadn’t had a chance and I didn’t think tonight at the reunion would be a good time.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Well, y’all are a couple of nincompoops. Clearly you need to talk this out. I had a feeling if I left it to the two of you, Juliette might be in London before you realized what happened.” She gave her brother’s arm a gentle push.

  “I need to go check on some things,” said Lucy. “I’ll leave you two to talk amongst yourselves.”

  They stood in stinging silence for a moment. “So, London, huh?”

  “Tori is starting a new wedding division of her design house. She wants me to head it up. That means I’ll need to be in London where her offices are located.”

  Jude was speechless. His vision was a little white and fuzzy around the edges. Was he really watching history really repeat itself? Because from his vantage point, it sure seemed that way. For the second time, just when they were trying to figure things out, she was leaving the country.

  “Is this really what you want?” he asked.

  Chapter Twelve

  What did she want?

  Juliette wanted Jude. But she knew they couldn’t continue to live the snow globe existence they’d pretended was real life since he’d come back to Celebration.

  Some people searched for love their entire lives and never found it. Others found it and the timing never seemed to be right. Since Jude had been home, it had become obvious to Juliette that she and Jude fit into the latter category.

  Being star-crossed lovers was not nearly as romantic in real life as it was in romance novels.

  It hurt.

  It was breaking her heart almost more than when she thought she’d lost
Jude to Glori. In both instances, she couldn’t have the man she loved. But when the competition was another woman, at least it seemed like she might have a shot if she tried to win him back. Back then she’d been too young, too immature to realize she needed to fight for him.

  So she let him go.

  But now? How could she compete with Jude’s dreams? She knew that if he didn’t compete this next year—if he gave it up for her—he would always wonder what if... He’d always regret it and he might even grow to resent her for coming between him and the shot to regain his title.

  She wasn’t going to keep him from his dreams.

  He was a grown man. He knew the risks he was taking by riding against doctors’ orders. But that didn’t mean she had to stand by and watch him do it. The best place for her right now was in London, where, she hoped, out of sight would mean out of mind.

  Fat chance.

  She could’ve throttled Lucy for opening this can of worms tonight. She hadn’t been ready to tell him and she had hoped that they could have one more good night together before she did, because she knew he wouldn’t be happy about it.

  Of course, he would be happy for her. He just wouldn’t be happy about the distance.

  The band had switched gears to a slow song.

  “Is that what I want?” She repeated Jude’s question to him because she really didn’t know the answer. “All I know right now is that I want to dance with you. Will you dance with me, Jude?”

  He had heartbreak in his eyes, or maybe it was her own feelings mirrored back to her. He took her hand and led her to the dance floor where a handful of couples had the same idea and were swaying together to the band’s cover of Blake Shelton’s “Mine Would Be You.”

  Jude pulled her close and they held each other like they would never let each other go. If only that could be true. She clung to him with the same resolve she felt in him.

  Love shouldn’t be this hard.

  It should be so simple. A woman loves a man, a man loves a woman—and they make it work. Somehow, they make it work. Why did making it work feel like such a monumental task?

  Juliette lost herself in his arms and for a few glorious moments she was able to shut out the world and her fear that their time was almost up. Then the song ended. Jude stepped back and looked down at her.

  “Let’s go outside,” he said. “We need to talk about this.”

  Jude took Juliette by the hand and led her out the open side doors, past the cars parked in the parking area, to Lucy’s house that she shared with Zane. The place was dark. Zane must’ve been out for the evening while Lucy was working.

  Jude walked up the porch steps and gestured to the cushion-covered front porch swing. Juliette sat down and crossed her arms in front of her because she was chilly. The wrap she had brought wasn’t meant for an evening on a dark front porch. As if reading her mind, Jude took off his jacket, draped it around her shoulders. He slid in beside her.

  “When were you going to tell me?” he asked.

  The moon was bright and she could see his hurt expression illuminated in the glow. She could hear the faint sound of the music emanating from the barn. The band was playing a faster song, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was called. It didn’t matter.

  “Soon.” Juliette knew her voice sounded defensive. “But I have to be honest, I wasn’t going to tell you tonight and I’m not real happy with your sister for spilling the beans. But I’ll talk to her about that later. Jude, Tori just offered me the job this afternoon. It’s still new to me.”

  “Does that mean you haven’t yet made up your mind whether you’re going to take it or not?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a great opportunity. Do you know how many women would stand in line for this opportunity?”

  “Probably the same women who would’ve stood in line for your scholarship to St Andrews.” Jude raked his hand through his hair and fisted it into the strands above his temples.

  It was true. Many of the same people who would’ve coveted her scholarship would kill for the chance to work for Tori Ashford Alden Designs. Heck, a month ago—three weeks ago—before Jude came back into her life and changed everything—she would’ve given anything for the chance to leave the unfulfilling wedding planning business for the greener pastures of an international design house.

  But that was before Jude had come back.

  Now she was torn.

  “You’re right. Probably those exact same women.”

  They sat silently for a moment. The squeak of the swing was like a metronome over the music in the barn. Or like a countdown registering the time they were wasting sitting here like this.

  “Then why is it that we can’t seem to get it together when we are together?” she said. “It’s clear to me that you don’t want to stay in Celebration—”

  “And you said the reason you couldn’t come with me was because you wanted to stay in Celebration. How do you think it makes me feel to know that you’re running back to Europe at the very first chance? Jules, it feels like history is repeating itself all over again. How am I supposed to take that? You won’t go with me, but you’ll leave me again like you did the first time?”

  She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the swing’s gentle back-and-forth motion, trying to calm herself with each glide, but it wasn’t working.

  “Moving to London is different than going on the road with you. You have to be able to see the difference, Jude. In London I will have a purpose. I’ll be doing something. I won’t simply be following my boyfriend from competition to competition, holding my breath and closing my eyes every time he gets on a bull, praying that this time won’t be the time that finally breaks him.

  “I told you I was road weary. I am road weary. But there’s a difference between living out of a suitcase, going from town to town—like I’ve been doing for five years now with my wedding planning business—and moving somewhere. I’m tired of that, Jude. I’m twenty-eight years old. I need roots. I want a family. I need to come home every night to...”

  She shook her head and swiped at a tear that was threatening to betray her. “And why is this all my fault? You could stay. But I know you don’t want to.”

  He blew out a breath.

  “The perverse part about this is I came here tonight thinking I had a plan. One that would allow me to stay here with you. But now...”

  “What was the plan?”

  He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. The rodeo school will keep,” he said. “Since you won’t be here, I might as well do the circuit one more year. With the money I can make, I’ll be that much better off.”

  He sounded hurt, as if she’d betrayed him in the worst possible way. But he also sounded like he’d made up his mind.

  “Is that what you want, Jude?” she asked. “Or is this your way of punishing me? Telling me you came here with a plan to stay, but now you won’t tell me because lo and behold, now you’ve decided that you’re going back on the road. Imagine that.”

  He braced his forearms on his knees and stared at her for a solid fifteen seconds without saying a word.

  “When you left me the first time, you broke my heart,” he said. “You were my life. You were the only woman I ever loved. Hell, you were the only person I felt like I could ever really trust. You broke my heart, Juliette. But even after you did, I still wasn’t able to move on.”

  “You know I care about you with all my heart,” Juliette said. “But it’s not fair for you to pin al
l the damage and heartbreak on me. You had plenty of opportunities to move on and plenty of time to get over me. You found Glori, didn’t you?”

  Her tears were flowing now and she wasn’t even trying to stop them.

  “I did have plenty of opportunities. I’ve dated plenty of women, but none of them were you. I guess the joke was on me because it seems like you’ve already moved on. I guess we both have our answers. Now maybe we can both move on.”

  * * *

  “I have good news,” Bob said around the large bite of burger he was chewing as he talked. “Clive Curtis at Copenhagen has agreed to keep the charitable donation in the On-Off clothing contract intact.”

  Jude was in Las Vegas having lunch with his agent. The news was good. So why wasn’t Jude happy to have an opportunity to throw himself into something this year while he worked to reclaim his title and go out on top?

  Why? Because his head hurt and when he’d gotten up this morning his body had ached in that way that was becoming a maddening fact of life. Some mornings when he woke up he felt like if a bull tossed him, his bones might shatter into a million irreparable pieces. He knew this was no way to live. And if he continued to ride it would probably get worse.

  “But wait, it gets better,” Bob continued. “Copenhagen is willing to use that charitable bit in the promo. They think it might help boost sales. They realized it will make them look good. I’ll make sure we get it in the contract that they have to do some PR to get the word out that the charity thing is your idea. We’ll make it known that it’s your hard-earned money that’s going to the needy kids, not Copenhagen’s buck.”

  A surge of irritation coursed through Jude. “Bob. I don’t want any recognition for making a donation. I don’t want to use children to boost my image.”

  “Suit yourself, but if you don’t grab the credit you know Copenhagen will.”