by Cat Johnson
Neal grinned. “No worries. I got a brother myself. I understand.”
“Thanks, dude.” Tyler grabbed his rope with one hand. After knocking the dust off his hat, he clamped it onto his head.
“Great ride, Ty.” A stock handler slapped him on the back as he walked.
Tyler nodded. “Thanks.”
It was still half a point shy of being good enough, and he was sure his brother wouldn’t let him forget it. He braced himself for the gloating as Tuck met him at the out gate.
“Your shoulder okay?” Tuck’s glance dropped to where Tyler hadn’t realized he’d been holding his shoulder. The bull rope and attached cowbell dragged on the ground, dangling from his limp arm.
He forced his hand down. “Yeah. It’s fine.”
“It was a good ride, right up to the end. I haven’t seen you on the back of a bull in quite a while. You’ve improved. You looked good out there.”
Tyler frowned and tried to figure out what game his brother was playing. Tuck should be acting like an asshole. Instead, he was being nice and giving compliments. It was strange. He didn’t like it.
Colton appeared and interrupted Tyler’s obsessing. “Great ride, Ty. I didn’t think you’d be able to hang on there at the end, but damned if you didn’t. You held on to that rope all the way until you hit the ground.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” Which was exactly why his shoulder was hurting.
“You’re both gonna finish in the money for bull riding.” Colton glanced from Tuck to Tyler.
Tyler had finished in the top three for the tie-down roping and bareback bronc, too. Losing fifty bucks wasn’t the issue—the sum was a pittance compared to what he’d won. His competitive streak and the ego attached to it was the problem.
He decided to just get it the hell over with and bring up the subject that Tuck seemed to be avoiding. “You won the bet, Tuck. You’re just gonna have to wait for your money until we get back to the truck. I got my wallet locked in the glove compartment. Or I can give it to you out of my pay envelope.”
“All right. Whenever. I’m not worried.” Tuck shrugged. “Hey, how about I use it to get the three of us a decent meal on the drive home?”
Colton’s eyes lit up. “Sounds damn good to me.”
Tyler knew his older brother. Tuck was not going to win a bet—one that Tyler had made in a rash moment while he was feeling full of himself—and not gloat about it. It was coming, the gloating Tuck was somehow hiding. He felt it, the same way he felt the approach of a big storm blowing in on a summer’s day. It was right on the horizon, and when it hit, he’d have to grin and bear it. That was the price for coming up short.
Tuck turned toward him. “Ty, what are you in the mood for? Steak? Barbecue?”
This magnanimous behavior put Tyler even more on edge. “Your choice, bro.”
“Nope. Loser’s choice. It wouldn’t seem right for me to choose since I won and all. Besides, you’re hurt and I’m not. You should get to pick. Go on. Anything you want.” Tuck grinned.
And there it was, the dig he’d been expecting, but twofold. He was a loser and he was hurt, while Tuck was neither.
Tyler pursed his lips and nodded as a scheme began to form. “All right. I know a place right off the highway, halfway between here and home. We can stop there and eat.”
“Really? What place?” Colton frowned.
“I don’t think you know it.” Tyler dismissed Colton’s question with a warning glare before his friend went and ruined the plan.
Colton picked up that something was going on and nodded. “Oh, okay.”
“Sounds good, little brother. Whatever you want. It’s your money. Or at least it was until I won it.” A satisfied smile tipped up the corners of Tuck’s mouth.
“Yup. It’ll be good all right.” A slow grin spread across Tyler’s face, but he squelched it before his brother got suspicious.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go see about collecting my other winnings. You know, from first place in bull riding. Not from that little bet against you.” Tuck glanced at the scoreboard behind Tyler. “And look, Ty. You came in second. Right behind me.”
Tuck smiled wider as he strutted toward the payout window, but in spite of that, Tyler felt okay. He’d get the last laugh. Tuck wanted the loser to pick the restaurant? He’d pick the restaurant and it wouldn’t sound so good to Tuck once they got there.
He’d see how his meat-loving brother who hated all flavors exotic felt about sushi.
Chapter Sixteen
Janie glanced out the window of the kitchen door and saw the sun hovering just over the barn roof. It was getting late. Her gaze moved to the digital readout of the clock on the stove.
That was probably the hundredth time since getting home from church she’d checked the time. When she wasn’t doing that, she was checking the driveway, watching for Tyler’s truck to turn in.
With a sigh she went back to washing the blueberries in the strainer in the sink. They’d been ripe for a while but she’d put off picking them until today, when she needed something to occupy her mind.
Waiting for him was crazy. He never said he’d come to work today. He’d simply said he’d be back soon. But he’d been here every day so far, so why the change now? Maybe he didn’t work on Sundays? That was very possible, though ranchers generally couldn’t take days off since the animals needed tending every day, including weekends and holidays. Rohn employed a few hands. They could take turns covering the chores, she supposed....
Obsessing over Tyler and his work schedule was self-destructive behavior. Knowing she thought entirely too much about that man, Janie shook the water off the berries while scowling. She was upset not only at herself for looking for him all day, but because these berries were about to go into a homemade crust to make a pie in case he came over, which he might not.
Her gut twisted with expectation, nerves, anxiety, and very possibly a good dose of lust that she was trying to ignore.
Yup. She was definitely crazy. That didn’t stop her from flipping on the oven to preheat before she dumped the blueberries, sugar, and flour into the bottom crust.
Janie flung a handful of flour onto the counter and pounded the ball of dough for the top crust with the heel of her hand. The whole situation had her so crazy that it felt good to hit something.
Dealing with her attraction to him was bad enough, but the memory of that sweet kiss was impossible to forget. Not to mention his words, which swirled through her brain until she was exhausted.
When you’re ready to take a chance on me, you let me know.
How could she give him a chance? She was too old. He was too young. She’d been married for too long to even think of these things. Yet it seemed it was all she could think of. She grabbed the rolling pin and slammed it against the lump of dough, using more vigor than she needed to flatten it.
“Crazy. Stupid. Insane.” She spat each word in time with the roll of the pin across the floured crust. When she lifted the dough, it was way too big and much too thin.
She was pitiful. Thoughts of him had her so crazy she couldn’t even roll out a simple piecrust. She folded it in half and then in half again. This time she went back to rolling with less force and held back the running verbal commentary. Only crazy women talked out loud to no one.
She used to find the process of baking very soothing. Almost like yoga or meditation. The careful measuring. The mixing. The kneading. The quiet of the kitchen. The heat of the oven and the smells filling the air. They would all work to calm and relax Janie.
It seemed baking a pie for Tyler did the exact opposite. His energy replaced the peace and quiet in the kitchen, just as he’d shaken up her world and her life . . . and she’d never felt more alive since meeting him.
That was exactly the problem, because when he was no longer around, when he’d moved on, what would she feel? Janie feared she already knew the answer. She’d go back to her boring life, and the fire he’d lit inside her would fizzle and
die, leaving her feeling burned out. Charred. A black hole.
With a sigh, she lifted the crust for the second time. Happier with its size and thickness this go, she laid it across the berries. Crimping the edges, she spun the pie plate, pinching until it was picture perfect.
It felt better working the dough with her hands than it had when she’d used the rolling pin. In this final step, there was no potential to let herself get carried away and beat the crust into submission. She was feeling a lot calmer by the time she bent and slid the pie onto the top shelf of the open oven, until the crunch of gravel on the drive had her heart leaping.
Slamming the oven shut, she whipped around, toward the door. She recognized the white car she saw creeping slowly toward the barn. Her afternoon student, the one she’d forgotten all about, had arrived.
She blew out a breath. “Get a grip, Janie.”
There she was talking to herself again, but that was a worry for later. She had a student waiting for her. Janie grabbed her cell phone and scrolled through the apps. She found the clock utility and set the timer for the amount of time it would take for the pie to bake.
The pie could bake while she was out in the practice ring. It would be fine as long as she didn’t forget to take it out. The loud and obnoxious alert on her phone should be enough to remind her, even in her distracted state.
With one more glance at the phone to make sure she’d actually turned the alarm on, she saw the little icon in the corner of the screen. That confirmed her pie would be safe. Confident, she headed out to the barn to meet her student, but not without another glance at the road to check for Tyler.
Dammit, she was a goner, and what the hell she was going to do about it, she had no clue.
Tyler’s truck was parked by the barn when she pulled into Rohn’s driveway late that afternoon.
Just the sight of it had Janie’s heart beating fast, hard enough it seemed to vibrate against her rib cage. If his truck was here, he must be here, too. Probably in the barn finishing up his afternoon chores, which was why he wasn’t at her house.
Feeling foolish that she’d obsessed over his not coming to her place today, when clearly he couldn’t because he was working at Rohn’s, she pulled her truck up next to Tyler’s.
Since there was a pie riding shotgun next to her in the passenger seat, it would have made more sense to park by the house. That way she could take it right inside. Nothing she did lately made a whole lot of sense. Why should where she parked be any different?
Janie cut the engine and swung the driver’s side door open. She’d find Tyler and then deliver the pie to Rohn’s kitchen, where the guys could all enjoy it.
Happy with that plan, she slammed the truck door and headed for the barn.
A figure stepping out of the building had her pulse quickening. It only took a few seconds for her to realize he wasn’t the cowboy she’d been looking for.
She smiled. “Hey, Rohn.”
“Janie. Good to see you.” Rohn strode forward and hugged her. “How you been?”
“Good.”
His stare focused on her for a few seconds, making her think he was trying to decide if he believed her answer or not. “Glad to hear it. Everything going all right over at your place?”
“Yeah, actually, that’s why I’m here. A couple of your guys did me a big favor the other day by telling me about my downed fence and then fixing it for me.”
“So I heard.” Rohn nodded. “They’re good kids. A little on the wild side, that Tyler, but both he and Colton are good-hearted souls.”
The offhand comment had Janie’s mind spinning as she absorbed all Rohn had told her about Tyler in two short sentences.
Wild. She’d guessed that already. Good-hearted. She’d figured that out, too. That was why he was helping her at her place.
Rohn had really only confirmed what she’d already known about Tyler, except for where he was.
“Tyler and Colton around?” She realized that sounded strange, even with her decision to add Colton to her inquiry so it didn’t sound like she was stalking Tyler. She scrambled to explain. “I baked them a pie. You know, as a thank-you. And a thanks to you, too, for letting them off work to come over to my place to help me.”
“It’s my pleasure, Janie. Anything I can do to help you, just ask. You know that.”
“Thanks, Rohn.”
“But to answer your question, no, they’re not here.”
She glanced at Tyler’s truck. “Oh. I thought . . .”
“They took the trailer. They hauled a load of stock to a rodeo in Elk City for me.”
“Oh. Okay.” A rodeo. Of course. Breeding and raising rough stock was a huge part of Rohn’s business. “You didn’t go?”
“Nah. The kids can handle it.”
Kids. Rohn had reinforced her doubts about Tyler’s age with that one word. Even so, she could see Tyler was cowboy to the bone, and born to handle animals. “I’m sure they can. So, let me grab that pie out of the truck and let you get back to what you were doing.”
The pie she’d baked before she’d lost her mind from waiting for Tyler and decided to come find him. She suppressed her embarrassment at that knowledge, opened the passenger door, and grabbed the dish, still warm from the oven.
Rohn let out a groan when she turned and he saw the pie in her hands. “I haven’t had home-baked pie since . . .” He let the sentence trail off but Janie knew what he’d left unsaid. Since his wife had died.
“Yeah, I figured you weren’t over here baking. I also remember what it’s like to have hungry farm hands around the place. Never enough to eat, so I figured it wouldn’t go to waste here.”
“It most definitely will not go to waste. I can promise you that.” He reached out and took it from her. “You want to come in for a cup of coffee?”
“Thanks, but I better be getting back.” To what, she didn’t know. But home was her default. Her safe place to run and hide since Tom’s death. Her comfort zone.
“All right. It was really good seeing you, Janie.” He glanced down at the pie. “I’ll return your plate as soon as I can.”
“Sure. Whenever. No rush, really. I have a couple. I’ve made lots of pies over the years.” She realized she was babbling, and stopped herself. “Well, I better get going. Have a good night.”
“You, too, Janie. And thanks again for the pie.”
“You’re welcome. Thanks for, uh, loaning me Colton and Tyler.” She nearly groaned at how stupid that had sounded.
He laughed. “You’re welcome.”
She gave a little wave and got into her truck, feeling foolish and just a step down from a stalker. Tyler made her do crazy things. She knew that, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
Chapter Seventeen
“Sushi.” Tuck was still grumbling when they reached the last stretch of highway leading to the ranch. “Of all things.”
“What?” Tyler asked, managing to sound innocent. “You like fish. You go fishing all the time.”
“Fried catfish is not the same as frigging raw, slimy . . . ugh.” A visible shudder ran through Tuck.
“Aw, come on. It’s good for you. All that raw fish and rice and vegetables is very healthy.” Tyler grinned while at the same time bracing himself, because at any moment, Tuck was likely to haul off and crack him one.
“Both of you shut the hell up. Jesus. For hours you’ve been fighting.” Colton shook his head. “Here’s the sign for the exit. Thank God we’re almost home. I couldn’t take you two another mile, I swear.”
Tyler grinned wider. Pissing off Tuck had been his main goal, but annoying Colton sure was a nice bonus. “What’s the matter, Colton? Don’t you have a brother you fight with?”
“I’ve got two brothers, but we sure as shit don’t act like you two. My da would’ve tanned my hide when I was coming up if I talked to either of my brothers the way you two do to each other.”
“Hmm.” Tyler pressed his lips together and considered that scenario. “Sounds prett
y boring to me.”
“It figures you would think that.” Tuck shot Tyler a look and then leaned forward to address Colton. “I can tell you, after being his brother for twenty-four years, your house sounds pretty damn nice to me. Quiet. Peaceful.”
“Yup.” Tyler nodded. “Like I said. Boring.”
“A little boring would be real nice right about now.” Colton let out a deep sigh and flipped on the blinker for the turn off the highway.
As they passed the beginning of the fence that marked the start of Janie’s property, Tyler decided that a visit to her place would be a great end to a pretty good day, and seeing her sure as hell wouldn’t be boring.
Colton steered the big trailer rig into Rohn’s driveway, pulling slowly up the gravel drive. When Tyler saw his truck parked there, it reminded him that there’d be no stopping by Janie’s this evening. He had Tuck with him, and they’d driven over together in one truck. He’d have to unload the stock and then hit the road for home with his brother. Poor planning on his part, he supposed. He smothered a sigh.
There was always tomorrow. Besides his desire to see her, there was actual work to do there. He’d have to get his normal work done and then sneak over in the afternoon to get at least one field mowed. The weather was supposed to be nice.
Make hay while the sun shines, they always said. Whoever they were. That went for more than just hay. He’d have to make his move on Janie soon, too, and ask her out for real. Not just hint about it. He wanted to take her out on a date and prove to her he was serious before some other man scooped her up.
A woman like her wouldn’t be single long. Before the line formed, he intended to let his intentions be known. When she was in the mind-set to move on, he wanted her plans to include him.
Colton pulled the truck to the back pasture. They had the broncs in the top compartment of the trailer, the bulls in the bottom half, and in a small compartment separate from the bucking stock was Tyler’s roping horse.
It took a little while to get the animals back to their proper places. They had to move the truck twice. Finally, Colton parked the trailer where it would remain until the next time they needed it as Tyler led his horse to the barn. One nice benefit of working for Rohn was being able to board his horse here for free. This was a good job all around. Even better now that he’d met the neighbor.