Turn and Burn_A Blacktop Cowboys Novel

by Lorelei James

  “Busted. Tell me the truth; were you secretly out cutting a clover leaf pattern around the rocks?”

  “No. I just lost track of time.”

  Sutton grinned. “That’s good to hear. So are you running barrels?”

  “Finally.”

  “How’s it feel?”

  “Slow. But good. I’ve been gone a couple of days, so I had a moment of panic when I got back in the saddle and wished I hadn’t sent Fletch away, because the man can convince me to do anything.” They’d been apart for only five hours and she already missed him.

  “Eli mentioned something about you and Fletch bein’ off on a romantic getaway.”

  “Yep.” Tanna led the horse through the gate.

  Sutton fell in step beside her. “So I don’t get the down-and-dirty details of your sexcapades?”

  “Nope.” Tanna hadn’t seen Sutton since the day she’d spilled her guts. As much as she liked him, after her conversation with Fletch, she had to reestablish some boundaries.

  “That sucks.”

  “I thought you were off rodeoin’ during Cowboy Christmas?”

  He shrugged. “A couple here and there. Nothin’ big. What about you? Need some help setting up barrels?”

  “I’m done for today. I know Sunday is Eli’s day off and I’m determined to ride every day, so I wanted to get riding in early so he didn’t spend the whole day worrying about me. Plus, I’ve got plans for this afternoon.”

  “With Fletch?”

  “With friends.” Tanna set about unsaddling the horse, her mind elsewhere.

  “You’ve made a lot of progress since the last time I saw you, Tex-Mex.”

  “Yes, I have. Still got a ways to go, though.”

  “You’ll get there.” Sutton clapped her on the back. “Holler if you need anything. I’ll probably be here this week.”

  She smiled at him. “Will do. Thanks.”

  Although she’d been in Wyoming two months, this was the first day Tanna’s schedule had meshed with Lainie and Celia’s. After Lainie had married Hank almost six years ago, Celia had stepped into Tanna’s life to fill that friendship void. But that’d changed once she’d married Kyle and quit the circuit. Their lives had taken divergent paths; still . . . she’d missed their close friendships the past few years.

  Lainie and Hank had a wonderful house. Their home embraced you as soon as you walked in the door. Tanna preferred houses that were homes, not an ostentatious showplace where you couldn’t sit on the living room furniture, the dining room got used twice a year on holidays, and the family areas were separated rather than small enough for everyone to be together.

  Her childhood girlfriends in Texas who’d married and started families—it was their goal to live in one of those McMansions in a suburb. A large brick and concrete box, with a manicured lawn, two top-of-the-line SUVs in the triple-car garage. The kiddos attended private preschool, suffered through scheduled piano lessons, dance class, club soccer practice and church on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Kids didn’t get dirty; they weren’t allowed to explore. They lived by the color-coded weekly calendar on the refrigerator.

  So it did her heart good to see Brianna, Lainie and Hank’s almost four-year-old daughter, spinning and dancing across the open field adjacent to the house, an energetic dog following her.

  Celia sat on the porch, her feet on a footstool. She waved. “Hey, stranger.”

  “Hey, yourself, mama.” Tanna stopped beside the porch support and watched Brianna. Her copper-colored curls bounced as she jumped, twirled and sang. “Is Brianna always like that?”

  “She’s a happy kid. But how couldn’t she be? Her mama adores her, she’s got her daddy wrapped around her little finger, aunts and uncles who spoil her rotten, a baby brother who worships her and her very own dog.”

  Tanna grinned at Celia. “The dog was your doin’?”

  “Yep. When Patches’s mom had more puppies, I gave Brianna the runt of the litter for her birthday. She named him Flutterbee because that’s what she called butterflies. Flutter keeps an eye on her because the girl does like to explore.”

  “She’s beautiful. Lucky to be raised around family.” Tanna glanced at Celia’s rounded belly. “And hopefully lots of cousins.”

  Celia groaned. “Gotta get through this pregnancy first before we talk about more.”

  “How you feeling?”

  “Tired. Which is stupid because Kyle won’t let me do anything while I’m gestating baby G. I’ve even learned to crochet, if you can believe it. I’ve turned into this home-cooking, housecleaning, crocheting, waiting-for-my-man-to-come-in-from-the-fields kind of ranch wife.”

  “And you love every minute of it,” Tanna said.

  Celia smiled and rubbed her hand over her belly. “It’s absolute bliss. I do miss workin’ cattle. And I miss riding my horses, but Kyle makes sure I don’t lose my riding skills entirely.”

  “More than I needed to know.”

  “Oh, pooh. You and I used to talk about sex nonstop. Okay, you talked, I listened and took notes.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Which Kyle is very thankful for, by the way.”

  The screen door opened and Lainie stepped onto the covered porch, her dark-haired baby boy perched on her hip. “Pay no attention to Celia. She’s in that ‘me so horny’ stage of pregnancy.”

  “That’s a real stage?”

  “Yep.”

  “I learn something new every day.”

  The boy squirmed to get down.

  Celia said, “I got it,” and started to get up.

  “Stay put,” Lainie warned. She passed the squirmy kid to Tanna. “Hold Jason for a sec while I get the gate up.”

  Tanna hadn’t spent much time around kids. Tiny babies fascinated her, but scared the crap out of her. Kiddos this age, well, they were fun because they’d started to do tricks. She balanced the boy on her hip. Talk about solid. He was a Hank replica, from his near-black hair to his thoughtful expression.

  “All right, the baby jail is in place so he can’t escape.” Lainie plucked the boy from Tanna’s arms and sat him down.

  “It won’t be much longer and the baby jail won’t hold him,” Celia remarked.

  “Bite your tongue,” Lainie shot back. “He walked early, which was bad enough. And he wants to do everything Brianna does.”

  Jason ran to the baby gate stretched across the porch supports, blocking access to the steps. He grabbed the top of the gate and jerked on it, testing whether he could break it down.

  “Oh, shit,” Lainie said and ran back into the house.

  Tanna looked at Celia. “Was it something I said?”

  “No. Something she smelled, most likely. She’s pregnant.”

  “Again?” Tanna said. “Jason is what? A year old?”

  “Fourteen months. I doubt you’re really surprised because Hank and Lainie want a houseful of ranch hands—I mean kids.”

  Tanna walked to the opposite end of the porch, resting her hips against the railing. She gazed across the rolling landscape. No cattle within view, but they grazed in different fields in the summertime. The Lawsons and the Gilchrists had roots here that would carry through another generation.

  There’d been a time when Tanna figured her life would play out the same way. She’d meet a ranching cowboy during her on-the-road travels, fall in love, take him back to the family ranch and set up housekeeping.

  Now she realized her dream had been vague. She hadn’t made a plan for how she’d earn a living beyond barrel racing. Her mystery husband . . . she’d never imagined him having his own life and connections; she’d just expected him to be with her and make her happy.

  For all of her supposed love of the family ranch, she’d never considered what her part would be in it. How that piece of dirt would support three families. She’d created a dream life that had as much b
asis in reality as Brianna twirling through the field, chasing butterflies and playing princess.

  “Tanna? Are you all right?”

  She spun around. “I’m fine. Just thinking about how quiet it is here.”

  Then Jason shrieked at the top of his lungs.

  “So much for that.” Celia patted the chair beside her. “Come sit. Lainie made iced tea and she even remembered to bring sugar for you.”

  She wandered over, watching Jason dig through a box of toys after abandoning all hope of escape.

  “How’re things goin’ at the Split Rock?”

  “Good. The place does a steady business. Except Sundays are quiet. The clothing store is closed and we rarely have to staff the bar.”

  “What do you do on Sundays?”

  Laze in bed with Fletch as long as possible. “Depends. Why?”

  “Just curious how often you’re goin’ to Eli’s.”

  “If I go, it’s during the week. He keeps Sundays as a day off for him and Summer.”

  “What’s she like?”

  Damaged. Like me. Tanna spooned sugar in the bottom of her glass and poured in tea. “Why’re you asking me? Aren’t you and Eli tight?”

  “We were. Then Kyle and I got married. Since Summer’s come into Eli’s life, the way he’s always wanted her to, he’s been around everyone a lot less.”

  Tanna shrugged. “I guess it happens when you find the one.”

  “Is that why we haven’t seen you? Because you’re with Fletch and he’s the one?”

  The screen door opened and Lainie strolled out, hand on her stomach. “I guess I won’t be eating yogurt again for a while. Bleh.”

  Brianna skipped up the sidewalk and climbed over the baby gate. “Mama, can I—”

  “Bri, sweetie, don’t do that. I don’t want Jason trying it.”

  Brianna’s face was damp with sweat, making her freckles more pronounced. Her pink unicorn shirt bore the imprint of two muddy handprints. She had bug bites on her skinny legs and she wore only one sock. Her deep blue eyes lit up when she spied her little brother smashing plastic trucks together beneath the porch swing. She immediately joined him and dumped the remaining toys out of the box.

  Tanna could so identify with the tomboyish spitfire. And the way she bossed her little brother around. She hadn’t heard from Garrett since that last phone call and that worried her.

  “So what did I miss?” Lainie asked.

  “Tanna was about to tell all about her and Fletch,” Celia said slyly.

  “No, I wasn’t. We’re . . . hanging out while I’m here. That’s it.”

  “But he’s still staying up at the Split Rock?”

  “No. He’s back in Rawlins as of today, actually.”

  “What happens now?”

  “He’ll be busy with his practice.”

  Celia rolled her eyes. “No. I mean what happens between you guys now?”

  “I guess we’ll see.”

  “That’s it? That’s all the juicy insider stuff we get?”

  “What else do you want to know?” She dropped her voice. “Yes, he absolutely rocks my world in bed. Happy now?”

  Lainie and Celia looked at each other and laughed.

  “What?”

  “Oh, you’ve got it bad for Fletch if you don’t wanna give us explicit details.”

  Tanna bared her teeth. “Or maybe I’ve just grown up and no longer need to brag about everything and everyone I’ve done.”

  “Or maybe Fletch is the one and you don’t want to admit it to us, let alone yourself.”

  “I stopped believing in, and looking for, the one a long time ago.” Such a liar, Tanna.

  Celia pushed to her feet. “That tea ran right through me.”

  After she waddled into the house, Lainie leaned over. “You don’t have to tell us everything. You don’t have to be upbeat, wild child Tanna around me all the time either, okay? I’ve had darkness in my life, if you’ll recall.”

  “Which is why I’m so thrilled to see you living the dream with your hunky hubby, your beautiful two-point-one kids in this bucolic place. I’ve missed you. And it’s been . . . I won’t say good for me to learn to deal with this stuff on my own, but it’s been necessary.” She blew out a breath. “So can you please steer the conversation away from horses and Fletch? Celia’s like a dog with a bone when it comes to this stuff.”

  “Only because she cares about you as much as I do.” Again Lainie looked at her and seemed to look through her. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

  Tanna nodded, but didn’t say anything further.

  “I can see by the look on your face you haven’t told him.”

  “There’s too much up in the air for both of us right now.”

  “I understand.” Lainie squeezed her hand. “But all this that you see? The hunky hubby, the beautiful two-point-one kids and a home in this bucolic place . . . you deserve that too. So does Fletch.”

  “I know. But what if I’m not the one who can give it to him?”

  The door squeaked and Celia lumbered into view. “Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?”

  Lainie gave her a haughty look. “A pregnant woman shouldn’t be asking questions, lest she ruin a possible surprise.”

  She groaned. “Not another surprise shower. I still haven’t lived down the last one.” She jabbed her finger at Tanna. “I never did get even with you for the basket of vibrators.”

  Tanna laughed.

  “My mom is the shower queen,” Lainie said.

  “She did throw a great bash in California for Brianna. I was glad I got to come. No issues from your mom about you naming your son after your late father?”

  “None. She was actually pleased. It helps that Jason looks nothing like me or my dad.” She shot a fond look at her son. “With the exception of those curls.”

  Tanna looked at Celia. “What baby names are the front-runners in the Gilchrist household?”

  “Since we don’t know the sex, we’ve picked a couple.” She scowled. “Kyle nixed Marshall; I thought it would be nice closure to name the baby after his grandfather.”

  “I think you’re having a girl,” Lainie said. “So Marshall definitely won’t work.”

  “So how about . . . Jasmine?” Tanna suggested.

  “Stripper name,” Celia said.

  “Mallory?”

  “Too stuffy.”

  “Gillian?”

  “Ugh. Gillian Gilchrist? No. Poor kid. First letter of her first name and first letter of her last name both start with G but it isn’t pronounced the same? And it always looks like Gilligan to me.”

  “I’m thinking Skipper would be awesome for a boy or a girl,” Tanna said.

  Celia laughed. “We watch entirely too much classic TV. But I can promise you, we won’t be saddling the poor kid with a weird name like some people I know.” She and Lainie exchanged a look.

  “What?”

  “Our neighbors? Josh and Ronna? They named their little girl Style.”

  “Style? As in . . . doggie style?”

  “Only you would think of that, Tanna.”

  “What? You didn’t?”

  “No. I thought of freestyle, no style, bad style and hairstyle.”

  “I can guarantee the kids on the playground will have thought of it.”

  “True.”

  “Besides, I have the perfect name for a girl,” Tanna said smugly.

  “Spill it.”

  “Kyla.”

  “Oh, my husband will love that one. What else you got?”

  “Cecil for a boy.”

  For the next few hours as they discussed baby names and gossiped about former rodeo friends, Tanna was happy to let the decisions of the real world fade away.

  Chapter Twenty-nine
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  First thing Fletch did Monday morning before he headed out of town was stop by Jet Eriksen’s office to pick up copies of client paperwork he’d handled during Fletch’s sabbatical.

  The parking lot of Jet’s veterinary office was empty at seven a.m., but Fletch knew he’d be in the office working. He entered through the side door, yelling “knock, knock” before venturing down the hallway.

  Jet grinned at him from behind a massive desk. “Fletch! Good to see you, man. There’s coffee in the break room. Help yourself.”

  “Don’t mind if I do.” After he filled a mug, he wandered back to Jet’s office and sat on the stool by the window. “Thanks for filling in for me. Although since Cora set it up, I’m not sure which weeks you took.”

  “The first two. Arguably the hardest two because none of your clients wanted to hear you were unavailable. One guy, Les somebody, argued with me for fifteen minutes about your dedication to animals and how you never took time off.” Jet sipped his coffee. “Which I happily pointed out was exactly the reason you deserved time off.”

  Fletch laughed. “So, besides grumpy Les, you have any issues?”

  “Only the fact you work so hard all the time, with nothing less than total dedication, that you make the rest of us look like slackers.”

  “Yeah. I’ve heard that a time or twenty.”

  A pause ensued. Then Jet said, “Fletch. How old are you?”

  “I’ll be thirty-seven in a few months. Why?”

  “You’ve been in business for yourself how long?”

  “Almost a decade.” He sipped his coffee. “Again, why?”

  Jet leaned forward. “I’ll cut to the chase. There’s plenty of business for all of us in this area, since our ‘area’ covers well over three hundred miles. I just wondered if you’d ever considered taking on a partner.”

  That was completely unexpected. Jet Eriksen was a decade older and had been running a successful solo practice since before Fletch had started out. They were friendly colleagues who consulted each other when needed. “All right. Where the hell did that come from?”

  “Due to a screwup with the answering service, Arnie, Tasha and I got called to the same emergency. Once we had it handled, the three of us ended up having coffee and realized we’re all suffering from being overextended in our practices, despite that we’re all at different stages in our lives and careers. Arnie’s looking to retire in about ten years and Tasha is still fresh enough out of vet school she’s retained that dewy-eyed optimism. I think that’s something neither of us has seen for a few years.”