The Rodeo Star's Return (Sapphire Springs Book 1)

by Angie Campbell

  He grinned at her, seriously thinking about just telling her he wanted her. “Do you think you could help me with something?”

  “Doubtful,” she answered dryly. “I don’t think anyone can help you.”

  “Oh, come on, Baby. I just need to know where to find the cornstarch.”

  “Really?” she asked, giving him a dubious look.

  “Yeah, really,” he grinned back at her.

  She took maybe five steps down the aisle he’d just been in and reached up to pull something down from one of the higher shelves. She turned and slapped him in the chest with it, then put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Oh, I guess I just kept over-looking it. I’ve been up and down this aisle at least ten times.”

  She just gave him a dirty look before walking off without saying a word.

  “Thank you,” he called, trying to turn his cart around to follow her.

  “Whatever,” she said, not turning back to look at him.

  “Come on, Luce,” he pleaded, sounding like a little kid, begging for a popsicle. “Talk to me for a minute, please.”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  She spun around, glaring back at him. “First-of-all, you’re still calling me Luce.”

  “Okay. Sorry, Lucy.”

  “Next, you are always trying to drive me crazy.”

  “It’s never been my intention to upset you.”

  “Sure, whatever,” she shrugged, turning to try and leave once more.

  “Hey, you can cook. What’s cornstarch used for, anyway?” he asked, just grasping for a topic of conversation.

  “What?” she snapped. “I’m fat, so obviously I know how to cook?”

  “No, you’re not fat. I just talked to your mother the other day and she said you were a great cook.”

  “Right?” she asked, sounding doubtful. “You talked to my mother?”

  “Yeah. I always talk to your mother when I see her. Is that a problem?”

  “No. Why would it be a problem?”

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “You don’t seem to believe I’d talked to her.”

  “What I don’t understand is why you would bother to talk to my mother.”

  “Your mother is a wonderful, sweet woman. Why wouldn’t I talk to her.”

  She just shook her head at him. “Right, Tyler. I know better than that. You always have an agenda.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Whatever.”

  When she tried to walk off this time, he gently grabbed her elbow to stop her. “What is it about me that you don’t like? No matter how hard I try, you always act like you would rather run me over with your daddy’s semi than talk to me.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. “You’d think after a while, you would take the hint.”

  “Oh, come on.”

  “Come on, what?” she asked with a really confused look.

  “Well, if nothing else, could we just start over?” He gave her a really hopeful look and reached his arms out. When she smacked his hands away, he dropped his arms down to his sides and gave her a pout.

  She huffed, glaring back at him. “Fine. Let’s start over. You first.”

  “Okay,” he said with a grin. “Hello, Lucy. You look very beautiful today.”

  “Grr,” she growled, turning to storm off.

  “What?” he asked, throwing his hands in the air. “What did I do this time?”

  “You ask to start over, but aren’t willing to be completely honest.”

  “I was being honest,” he stated with a hurt look. She didn’t bother to answer this time. She just spun back around and stormed off.

  “I see you still have the same finesse that you always did with that one.”

  Tyler looked over to find Mark Harris, the store owner’s son, standing there. “I don’t understand women, and that one’s worse than most. It doesn’t seem to matter though. I was gone for eight years, and she’s still the only one I really want.”

  “Unfortunately, I think that’s the way it always works. Maybe it’s so we have to work harder to get what we want.”

  “What does she want from me?”

  “Don’t ask me. I’m having a hard-enough time trying to figure my own out.”

  “Jenny Townsend?”

  “Yeah. How did you know? You did just mention being gone for eight years.”

  “Mom’s always tried to keep me up on what was going on around here. She knew I missed everybody. Her being really close friends with Momma Townsend probably helped.”

  “Yeah. Jamie keeps telling me to be patient, and not to push too hard. I’m not sure she really understands just how difficult that really is.”

  “But if you can’t push, how are you ever going to figure out what she wants from you?”

  “Exactly.”

  “And women say men are bad,” Tyler sighed.

  “Then spend most of their time tying our insides into knots,” Mark finished.

  “Yep. I know what you mean.”

  *******

  Tyler shouldered the door open and toed his boots off at the door. It may have finally stopped raining several hours ago, but it would take a couple days for all the mud left behind to dry up, and that was if it didn’t rain for the rest of the week. He had mud caked on his boots up to the ankles, and knew if his mom caught him tracking it through the house, she’d rip him a new one.

  “Hey, Mom, I’m back,” he called, sitting the grocery bags down on the kitchen table. He had already started putting things away when she made it to the kitchen.

  “Well, there you are,” she said, coming in from the living room. “That took longer than I expected.”

  “Sorry, I had trouble finding some of the stuff on your list,” he answered, looking down at the box he’d just pulled from a bag, prompting him to inquire about it. “Speaking of, how is cornstarch used in cooking?”

  His mom dragged another bag across the table to where she stood across form him, and started unloading its contents. “It’s a thickener for making gravy, or thickening stew. For example, if you take the drippings from a roasted chicken or turkey, then add a little oil and cornstarch, voila, you have gravy.”

  He grinned, shaking his head. “I have a feeling it’s not quite that easy.”

  She laughed, shaking her still full head of hair, even if it had gone completely gray already. She was in her mid-forty’s, with crow’s feet just starting to show at the corner of her bright blue eyes. She had put a little extra weight on her five feet, six-inch frame in the last twenty some years, but for the most part, was very healthy for her age.

  “Well, technically, no,” she answered. “Why do you ask?”

  He shrugged and continued unloading grocery bags. “I thought it was used in baby powder.”

  “Yeah, same stuff. It helps prevent diaper rash.”

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  She gave him a sly look, turning her back on him. “Speaking of baby powder and diaper rash, are you ever going to settle down and have a couple of kids? I want grandbabies. I don’t think your brothers and sister are going to until you do.”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “Mom, I’m only twenty-six. And the others are twenty-four, twenty-two and nineteen. I don’t think there’s any reason to be in such a hurry just yet.”

  She paused in unloading the groceries and gave him a serious look. “That may be so, but you’ve been in love with the same girl since eighth grade.”

  “Yeah, about that,” he huffed, pulling out a chair and plopping down in it. He rubbed his hands over his face and thought about banging his head on the table.

  “What’s wrong, Son? You know you can tell me anything.”

  “I don’t think she likes me very much.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  He took a deep, sighing breath and sat back in his chair. “For one, she’s always angry with me. I try to be nice, and she bites my head off.”r />
  She nodded her head, giving him a thoughtful look. “Maybe she feels you’re being insincere.”

  “Anytime I see her, my brain cells desert me to the point I can’t be anything but sincere. Whatever I’m feeling or thinking shows on my face and comes right out my mouth. I always end up having a really stupid grin on my face.”

  “Have you tried simply asking her out?”

  “Our conversations never last long enough. I say something like, ‘Hi. You look beautiful today.’ The next thing I know, she’s storming off in a huff. It can give a guy a complex.”

  “Well, you’ll figure it out,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “I have faith in you.”

  “Yeah,” he sighed, sounding gloomy.

  She just chuckled. “By the way, Jamie Townsend called. They’re having a barbecue tomorrow. We’re invited. I told her your dad and I probably won’t be back in time, but you might make it. Especially since I won’t be here to cook.”

  “Isn’t it supposed to be too cold for a barbecue tomorrow? It’s pretty cold out there now, and I think it’s supposed to be colder tomorrow,” he said with a shiver. “If we get any more rain, the roads will be icy.”

  “You never really know with this Missouri weather,” she shrugged. “Besides, when has that ever stopped Carl Townsend when he wanted to barbecue?”

  “That’s true. That man loves his barbecues.”

  “That does however give me another idea of my own.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about. You’ll know when the time is right.”

  “Why does that cause me to worry?” he frowned, not sure he was going to like whatever his mother was up to.

  She stopped at the door to the living room and turned back to give him a smirk. “Be afraid. Be very afraid,” she replied, then laughed maniacally as she walked off.

  *******

  Lucy pulled onto the parking lot of the Sapphire Café, and sighed as she came to a stop next to a bright orange muscle car. Well, at least Jenny is already here, she thought to herself. The Townsend family’s love for classic cars usually made it easy to tell if one of them was around. She turned her car off and climbed out, making her way to the door.

  She had dinner plans with her three best friends, Jenny Townsend, Jessie Long, and Mary Ellen Edwards. Due to the friendship between their mothers, they had spent a lot of summers together at one or the other of their houses, having sleepovers. So, despite the age differences between Lucy and the other three, they had all grown up close. Lucy had graduated with them, but was two years younger than the rest of them. She had skipped fourth and fifth grade when she was in school, and would have skipped at least one more year, if her mother hadn’t told the school she wouldn’t allow them to skip her through anymore grades. She had been concerned she might feel too awkward being in a class with other students that much older than her. The only reason she had allowed them to skip her the two grades they had, was because she knew she would be in class with the other three girls in the first place.

  When she entered the building, she immediately saw her friends. She walked over to their table and plopped down in the empty chair with a huff. She yanked the menu up in front of her, not even bothering to say hello. She didn’t want to look any of them in the eyes. She knew they were going to ask what was wrong, and she wasn’t ready to answer.

  “Well, hello to you, too,” Jenny laughed. “Is something bothering you?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled, peeking around the edge of the menu, then withdrawing once again.

  Jessie laughed, shaking her blonde head, her green eyes sparkling with mischief. “I would bet you five dollars, I know the name of the bug that’s up her butt, but I figure you know his name just as well.”

  “Tyler Wentworth,” Jenny and Mary Ellen replied in unison, nodding at Jessie.

  Lucy growled, slamming the menu down, causing the table to bounce, and knock over the salt and pepper shakers.

  “Easy there, Killer,” Jessie chuckled. “What happened?”

  “That man is the bane of my existence,” she growled.

  Jenny sat back and crossed her arms in front of her, giving the other girl a serious look. “How is Tyler Wentworth the bane of your existence?”

  Lucy huffed, glaring back at her. “You know the answer to that.”

  “Oh, no,” Jenny said, feigning shock. “Did he tell you, you were beautiful again? Or did he tell you how brilliant and sexy you were? What compliment did he dare to give you this time?”

  She growled again, picking her menu back up. “I don’t want to talk about it, anymore. I’m hungry.”

  “Stop hiding, Lucy,” Jenny scolded. “That’s not going to fix anything.”

  “There’s nothing to fix,” she snapped back. “Now, leave me be. I’m trying to decide what I want to eat.”

  “Leave her be?” Jessie asked, turning a confused look on Mary Ellen. “What’s with her lingo, today?” The other girl just shrugged her shoulders, wondering the same thing.

  “Come on, Lucille. You know that menu from cover to cover,” Jenny sighed. “You don’t need to look at it, to decide what you want.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, right now.”

  Jenny only relented, for the time being, because the waitress had finally worked her way across the crowded room, to their table. “Hey, Ladies,” she greeted with a bright smile. “Are you all ready to order? I got the feeling Lucy was using the menu to hide behind.”

  Jessie laughed so hard, she snorted, drawing a dirty look from Lucy, which she shot around the edge of the menu, before going back into hiding. “Lucille, I think your cover has been blown. Stephenie is sharp as a tack tonight, or she just knows you very well. You might as well put the menu down.”

  “Stop calling me Lucille,” she said, barely keeping her volume below a shout. “I hate that name.”

  “We’ll stop calling you Lucille, when you start talking and tell us what’s got your panties in a twist,” Jessie said, titling her head to the side and giving her a stern look.

  “Don’t look at me that way. I feel like I’m talking to my mom.”

  “Good. Maybe you’ll talk,” Jenny said, eyeing her the same way.

  When Lucy noticed Mary Ellen was wearing a similar look as the other two, she groaned and dropped her head in her hands. “You three aren’t going to drop this until I tell you, are you?”

  “No,” they all replied together.

  “I ran into Tyler at the grocery store earlier. I was hoping after his eight years on the rodeo circuit, he would have grown up a little bit. He hasn’t. He still teases me every chance he gets,” she huffed, throwing her hands up.

  Jessie shook her head and looked to the other two. “Will she ever understand, he’s not teasing?”

  Jenny sighed. “One of these days, maybe, but it’s going to take a miracle.”

  Lucy gave Stephenie her order, ignoring the other three the best she could. Once they had all finally placed their orders and the café owner, turned waitress had walked away, they all turned back to stare at her, waiting for her to spout off again.

  Before they managed to draw even a groan from her, a guy they had all went to school with walked up and said hello. “Well, hello. How are four of the most beautiful ladies in Sapphire Springs doing tonight?”

  “Hello, Harry,” Mary Ellen smiled up at him. “We’re all doing good. How are you?”

  “Wonderful,” he said, looking down at Lucy. “I was wondering if Lucy would like to have dinner with me tomorrow night.”

  Lucy sat up straighter and looked over at him. “I’m sorry, Harry. I really don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  He nodded his head. “Well, a guy has to try. I guess you’ve still got a thing for Tyler, don’t you?”

  “Harry!” she exclaimed, turning bright red. “Please, keep it down.”

  “Sorry,” he said, looking around the crowded room at all the other p
eople eating dinner. “I didn’t realize it was supposed to be a secret. I’m pretty sure most of the town already knows.”

  Jessie snorted, finally unable to hold her humor inside. “I’m sorry, Harry. You’re a great guy, but I think you’re just out of luck where this one’s concerned. I’m sure she’s always going to have ‘a thing’ for Tyler.”

  “Well, he’s a lucky guy,” he said, looking back down at Lucy once again. “I wonder if he knows just how lucky.”

  “I don’t think he knows, yet,” Jenny added. “But if we have anything to do with it, he’ll know soon enough.”

  Lucy gasped, turning a shocked look on her friend. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I haven’t decided yet,” Jenny said cryptically. “I’m still thinking about it.”

  “Well, you ladies enjoy your evening,” he said, before walking back over to a table with a couple of his own friends from school.

  Mary Ellen waited till he was out of ear shot, then turned back to Lucy. “Why won’t you go out with him? He’s asked you out several times just this last year.”

  Lucy shrugged, picking up the dessert menu to give herself something to do.

  “Harry is a really good guy. He and Rick are really good friends.”

  “Then why don’t you go out with him?” Lucy asked, not looking up from the menu she held in her hand.

  “Well, he’s never asked me out, and we’re like brother and sister, anyway. He spent a lot of time at our house, growing up.”

  “Whatever,” she shrugged. “I know he’s a good guy. I’m just not interested.”

  “We know,” Jessie added. “He’s right, you know? The whole town knows you’re in love with Tyler.”

  “They do not.”

  “Yes, they do,” Jenny chuckled. “Well, everyone except for Tyler, himself.”

  Chapter 2 – Saturday, April 27

  Tyler pulled up in the Townsend’s driveway, thinking for about the hundredth time, it was crazy to be having a barbecue on a day like today. It wasn’t raining, but you could feel the moisture in the air, and it couldn’t be much more than thirty-five degrees outside. It was really cold for this late in April, and he wasn’t looking forward to hanging around outside, in the damp air.