Reunited with the Bull Rider

by Christine Wenger

  Reed had continued the parade of men—the parade that had started with her father—who’d walked into Callie’s life but then galloped out.

  She’d wanted to go with Reed, but what had either of them known about living on their own? They were only eighteen with no means of support. Reed would have had to steadily win a lot of events to support both of them or would have had to steadily ask his parents for money to support them both. That just wasn’t the cowboy way, nor was it Reed’s.

  And it certainly wasn’t Callie Wainright’s way!

  Chapter Six

  It’s nice having breakfast with Callie, Reed thought.

  “You know, Callie, the smell of bacon and coffee reminds me of breakfasts with my family when I was a kid. My mom loved early mornings with everyone around this old table. I can remember everyone talking at one time, and we hated to leave the fun to do chores before school. Nothing too awful, just feeding and watering the horses. That’s about all we had time for before the school bus came. On the weekends, we almost jumped out of our pajamas to get outside, do our chores and then the day was ours.”

  Callie chuckled. “I used to see you three riding ATVs, dirt bikes, go-karts and horses. You guys rode everything. I was envious. You were having so much fun. I wanted sisters to play with.”

  “I’m sorry, Callie, that you didn’t have any sisters. You had girlfriends though, right? I seem to remember you hanging around with Sally Lock and Gigi O’Brien in school.”

  “Sally and Gigi were good friends of mine, but it was hard to maintain a friendship outside of school. I tried to arrange for them to come over, but it always seemed that we were either moving or unpacking boxes.”

  He nodded. “I remember when you told me about moving around so much. I think it was early in our senior year.”

  Whenever he’d seen Callie in the school office in grammar school, he’d known that it couldn’t be for discipline—not Callie Wainright, the girl who always led the class in grades. Later, in high school, he learned that it was because she was reporting changes of address.

  “After a while, we didn’t unpack the boxes and just left them in the rooms in which they belonged. If we needed something, it was carefully marked on the side in red. It was a lot easier then constantly packing and unpacking.”

  “Smart.” And it was sad, too.

  “Necessary.”

  She barely ate her toast. “I didn’t have many friends because I couldn’t invite them over. But, of course, I’d be embarrassed to have anyone see our walls of boxes and a couple of old lumpy couches and one beat-up table with equally beat-up chairs. My father had sold the good stuff.”

  Reed felt like gathering her into a big hug, but it didn’t seem to be the right time.

  “I’m sorry, Callie. No kid should have to be that wary and distrustful of their own parent.”

  “There were a lot of good times with my brothers, though, when they got older. We carved out little alleyways for us to navigate around the house. We called it Wainright City. When they were younger, we’d put a blanket over the boxes, like a tent. We’d sit there forever, playing. I’d read in my tent and did hours of homework inside it.”

  He smiled. “That sounds like it was fun.”

  “But all throughout childhood, we’d hope that my father wouldn’t take our favorite things to sell. Mom purposely mismarked the boxes. Where it said Shorts and T-Shirts on the box, it was really my doll that I named Mary and little cars the boys collected and played with.”

  “You had a harsh childhood, Callie. No doubt about it.”

  She shrugged off his statement. “Looking back, it was my mom’s love that got us through it, but my father really hurt her and our little family. He was never there for Mom when she needed him the most.”

  Reed laid his fork and knife across his empty plate. He’d led a charmed life compared to Callie’s, and all that time, he didn’t have a clue that he was enjoying his family’s big ranch house, while she never really had a home of her own.

  Then he’d walked away from her like her father. Maybe they could have worked it out. They could have done something, but instead he felt hurt and disappointed and had reacted like a spoiled brat.

  Callie watched the billowing curtains for a moment. “I never had it as rotten as some other kids but, to this day, I never let my guard down unless I completely trust the person. Over the years, my trust radar has needed a tune-up.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because of the men I’ve dated.” She hesitated. “You don’t need to hear about my relationship history.”

  “If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay.” But he wished she would. He seemed to have caught her in a talkative mood.

  It appeared as if she wasn’t going to answer him but then abruptly changed her mind.

  “You know, Reed, I shouldn’t tell you about my past, but who cares anymore? None of them can hurt me. I’m over the whole mess of them.”

  Reed drained his coffee and Callie got up to pour more.

  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Callie. It’s your business—”

  “It’s okay.

  She put the coffeepot back in place. “My last fiancé was Mike McBride. He was the cousin of one of my clients, Bob VanPatten—you know Bob. He was a couple of grades above us.”

  “I remember him. So what happened with Mike McBride?”

  “He went into the Peace Corps. Now, the Peace Corps is a wonderful organization, but Mike could have warned me that joining the corps was part of his future plans.”

  “He didn’t tell you?”

  “He sent me a breakup text from Kennedy airport telling me that he was about to step on the plane for Guyana, South America, I was crushed.”

  Reed swore under his breath. “He was a coward.”

  “Oh, there’s more. Jack Cummings, a CPA that I met when I was taking a class at community college, left me for Florida and the Coast Guard. Another worthwhile endeavor, but, dammit, so am I. He drove over to my mother’s house. I wasn’t home at the time, so he left a breakup message for me with her then he hopped on a plane.”

  “Another coward,” Reed said.

  “Noah Young was in between. Remember him from home room? He went back to his old girlfriend who was in the symphony in Toronto. He at least told me that he was breaking up with me when he’d had too much to drink after we’d gone to a wedding of one of his frat brothers. Liquid courage, I guess.”

  “You were better off without them, Callie.”

  “I know that now.”

  “And I was the first who’d left you, but I asked you to go with me. But you couldn’t go. Your family needed you because your father, um...”

  “Left my mother for Tish Holcomb He raised an eyebrow then knocked on the table. “What about your father? Do you hear from him?”

  “The last that I heard, he was in Tahiti with Tish. She must still have money, but I’m sure that when it runs out, he’ll be back.”

  “But aren’t your parents divorced?”

  “They are, but somehow they’ve remained friends through everything. My mom is a better person than I’ll ever be.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.” He winked. “You’re a pretty great person, Callie. You’re hardworking—maybe a little too hardworking—and I like it when you really, really laugh.”

  “And at least you realized why I had to stay. You might have not liked my reasoning, but at least you understood.”

  “Nope.” His nostrils flared. “I do now. But, dammit, not back then when I was in love with you—and I really was in love with you, Callie. Maybe I was scared to leave my family and wanted company on the road. Maybe I wanted a cheerleader for just me and not Luke. Who knows? Maybe both. It was a long time ago.”

  “It’s obviously still bothering both of us. It’s not the first time
we’ve talked about it.”

  “Can we start over, Callie?” He’d like nothing better.

  “We’ve started over already, Reed. We’re friends now.”

  * * *

  CALLIE GATHERED UP the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, wiped off the table and handed Reed his crutches.

  “Time for me to go to work, Reed.”

  “Callie, just a second.”

  She sat back down and waited for him to speak.

  “What do you seriously think about a class reunion here at the ranch? Do you think we could pull it off?”

  “Are you looking for me to do the work?” she asked.

  “I hoped we could both work together.” His eyes were twinkling and he couldn’t sit still in his chair.

  He wanted to reconnect with his old friends and classmates. He never saw them, unless they approached him at bull-riding events, but Callie saw them all the time, at least the ones who hadn’t moved away from Beaumont.

  “If you want a reunion, let’s organize a reunion. How many grades do you want to attend?”

  Just our graduating class. We’ll celebrate ten years. That’s—what?—about one hundred and thirty people, plus spouses or a guest. We might as well plan for about two hundred,” he said.

  “We could do a barbecue and amateur rodeo on the Friday night, but let’s have a buffet at Al’s place. We could book Al’s place on Saturday, Reed. Then we don’t have to do a lot of work in getting your arena ready.”

  “Great! Let’s do three days—a long weekend. We can have a picnic with everyone’s kids on Sunday. We could play ball and have other games for the kids. Nothing special, just hot dogs and hamburgers, potato and macaroni salad and a chef salad.”

  “And cotton candy, watermelon and ice cream!” Callie added.

  “Nice touch.”

  “How about if we have it at the town square?” She grinned. “It’ll just be like a summer picnic. What could be nicer than that?”

  He could think of a couple of things but, yeah, a summer picnic would be nice.

  “Hmm...” He rubbed his chin. “How about a dinner-dance after the buffet? I can get the Cowhand Band to play.”

  “Perfect! We can work on the details after my workday is done,” Callie said. “Later, we can find something to eat in the fridge since you’re an expert cook now.”

  “Food! You’re a girl after my heart!”

  “I’m not after your heart. I know you’re just joking, but I’m not in a place to be anything more than friends with you.”

  “Callie—”

  “I know it’s been ten years.” She sighed. “But we really don’t know each other. Sheesh, we didn’t even know each other back then. It was a whirlwind summer. We just had a fling—a summer fling before you left for the PBR.”

  He shook his head. “I was in love with you, Callie. As much as an eighteen-year-old can, I loved you. And what a time we had, Callie. Yee-haw!”

  She laughed, and he laughed along with her. Callie Wainright was way too serious these days, and he was just the one to lighten her mood and keep her laughing.

  He was going to try like hell.

  * * *

  LATE THAT AFTERNOON, finally, Callie put a stamp on the last thank-you card for flowers, mass cards and donations upon the death of Valerie Lynn over three years ago. On the monogrammed stationery, she apologized for the delayed responses and signed off as “The Beaumont Family.”

  She also made a spreadsheet of the donors to various charities—names, addresses and other pertinent information—for the Beaumonts to review.

  The phone rang.

  “I got it!” yelled Reed.

  Now that the thank-you cards were finished, Callie reached for a pile of papers she’d clipped together and marked Household Expenses. Booting up her laptop, she began entering information into yet another spreadsheet program. Items without the information she needed would have to be researched to see if it had been paid or not, and what the withdrawal or deposit was for.

  Soon Reed appeared at the arched entryway.

  “That was Big Dan on the phone. He wants to see you. He also said that he has jobs for you to do. Something about hiring a cleaning service for his apartment and stocking his place with groceries. It looks like Big Dan is going to be released in a couple of weeks and he doesn’t want to bother with the mundane.”

  “I can do all that.” She made a notation on a notepad. “I’ll need the keys and the address. What else does he want me to do?”

  “I’m not sure what else he has in mind. He wants to meet with us tonight at the rehab place,” he said. “There goes our planning for the reunion.”

  “Your father is more important, Reed. We can talk reunion back and forth in my car.”

  “I hate to keep bumming rides.”

  “You can’t drive, and getting you around and making sure you stay off your feet as much as possible, is part of my Personable Assistance business, so don’t worry about it.”

  “I hope you’re getting paid buckets of money to deal with my family,” he said.

  “I am, but they’re not all that bad.”

  “Like me?” he asked, widening his eyes.

  She grunted. “Yes, Reed. You are not all that bad.”

  “What a compliment!” He snapped his fingers. “And we’ll have to go out for dinner because it’ll be late, won’t we?”

  “Maybe.”

  The man had a one-track mind, and that track was his stomach. How did he keep so trim and buff?

  She knew the answer to that. He worked at it. She should do more. She told herself that she got a lot of exercise just doing errands, but she was kidding herself.

  Maybe she and Reed could exercise together!

  No. No way. She was seeing way too much of Reed already, and she was going to do what she could to distance herself.

  Then it hit her. Beaumont High School reunions were always well attended. If Reed and she were successful in throwing their ten-year reunion, Noah Young, one of those who’d left her, would probably attend.

  His presence would ruin the reunion for her.

  “Reed, you know you don’t have to come with me to see your father. I’m just going to figure out what he wants me to do.”

  “I need to visit him. Since you’re going, I might as well bum a ride. That is, if you don’t mind?”

  “No. Not at all.” In fact, she liked his company. That was because there was nothing between them.

  They were just acquaintances, former schoolmates, and old friends. If she had a bit of sentimentality for Reed, it was because he’d been her first.

  Of course that was it. Reed Beaumont was her first, and she’d been his.

  “You’re awful quiet, Callie. Something wrong?”

  “Just thinking. Thinking about the past, about the future, about all the things I need to do right now.” She retrieved her notebook from the right side of the big desk and leafed through the pages. She really needed to make a new to-do list. She would after she saw Big Dan.

  “Are you thinking about me? Which category do I fit in?”

  “Reed, you’ll always be a part of my past, but right now you’re in my present. As for the future, we’ll be together because I’m working here, but soon, it looks like I’ll be spending some time at your father’s apartment.”

  “I’ll help you.”

  “No. You can’t.”

  “You don’t know my father. He can be a real pain.”

  “Like father, like son. Right?”

  He laughed. “Hell, no!”

  She handed him his denim jacket from the closet. She retrieved her hoodie. “It’s my job. Some of my clients are a dream to work with. Some are not. I’m familiar with Big Dan, and he’s a sweetheart.”

  “Like father, like son.”

&nb
sp; It was her turn to laugh. “Okay. If you’d like to visit your father, let’s go.”

  They both slipped into their coats. “Always thinking of someone else, aren’t you, Callie?”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  She knew exactly what he meant, but she wanted to hear it from him. “Tell me, Reed.” She closed the door and they made their way to Callie’s SUV.

  “Not now. Not when we’re getting along.”

  He held the door open for her, and they made their way outside. “Which means that we didn’t get along before.”

  “We did. Until you thought about your family instead of yourself.”

  She stopped with her hand on the door handle of her car. “My mother had cancer, Reed. And she was all alone.”

  “That was over a year after I asked you to come with me. You could have flown home when your mother got the diagnosis.”

  “My brothers needed me. They were young and a handful. Mom couldn’t take care of them by herself after my father left. Besides, I needed to help bring in money.”

  “All of that was still after I asked you to come with me.”

  “Well, dammit, Reed. You could have come home. We could have talked more! You could have called me.” She opened the door of her SUV, got in and slammed it shut.

  He did the same. “You could have come to some of the bull ridings. We could have dated. You could have called me.”

  “We didn’t part on the best of circumstances. We were young and dumb.”

  “Let’s not talk about it anymore,” he said. “We just succeed in making each other mad.”

  They drove the rest of the way in silence.

  Reed broke the silence when he said, “Big Dan’s in room 4009. Fourth floor of the Beaumont Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Center.”

  She nodded but didn’t talk. Reed Beaumont pushed all her buttons.

  “You know, Callie, it’s not as if we resolve anything whenever one of us brings up what happened ten years ago. We just keep rehashing the same old hash, and we get hurt all over again.”