Falling for a Cowboy

JESSE

I wasn’t happy when my sister, Amanda Jean, pulled me to the floor to square dance—a type of dance I’ve despised since grade school.

Then, while we argued about it, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a blonde-haired woman walking alongside Jack, heading toward us.

I looked away from my sister and over at the woman Jack was proudly showing off. To be sure it wasn’t the beer talking, I blinked a few times.

Yep, the beautiful woman hanging out with the little weasel wasn’t a part of my imagination or caused by the beer. She was real.

And because of her exquisite beauty, I wondered how in the hell he, of all people, managed to score a woman like her.

She must not have been from Bandera, because if she had been, there was no way she’d have hung out with him, knowing what kind of person he was.

With my eyes on her long, slim legs, I poked my sister in the side as I leaned to her ear, asking, “Who the hell is that woman with Jack?”

She looked at Jack and the unknown woman, then shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea. I’d never seen her before. Maybe she’s a cousin or something?”

Huh…

“If that’s the case, I feel sorry for her,” I said, still checking out the beautiful thin-framed busty woman.

Then, when my eyes made their way back up to her face, my ticker picked up speed upon being caught checking her out from head to toe—by her.

Then my heart stopped beating, and I quickly looked away when her mouth curved into a beautiful smile.

I don’t know why I was ogling and lusting over her the way I was.

After telling myself and others for the past five years that I was done with women, the last thing I wanted and needed was another one coming into my life and ripping my ticker into a million pieces.

Only one person deserved my entire heart, and that was Maverick.

Even though I wasn’t here to lust after women, my eyes still insisted on focusing on her.

I had to laugh, seeing that she had no clue how to dance and that she was dancing like a drunk trying to figure out if they had two feet.

“Switch partners,” the guy with the microphone ordered. And when I turned around, the blonde beauty landed in my arms.

Our eyes immediately locked, and her bright emerald-green eyes instantly mesmerized me.

Her angelic face, and the fact that she looked similar to one of my favorite singers, caused my ticker to flutter and my stomach to flip-flop.

Damn…

I had no idea how long we were staring into each other’s eyes, nor did I notice that we weren’t moving until someone ran into my backside.

Finally, I said, “Start moving before we get knocked over by the other couples dancing.”

She still didn’t move, so I leaned closer to her flushed face with an arched brow and said, “Howdy. I said, start dancing.”

Her face quickly turned different colors. First it turned a crimson red, then pale, and then she dropped to the ground like her batteries had gone dead.

Holy shit! What did I say?

Shocked by what had just happened, I quickly lowered myself to ensure she was all right. “Miss? Are you okay?” I asked, offering her my hand to help her stand.

She looked embarrassed by her fall, and when she saw others coming to her aid, she pushed herself up instead of taking my hand.

“Yes. I’m all right. Thanks,” she said, avoiding looking at me while wiping hay and dirt off her clothes.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” she said, looking mortified that everyone was standing and staring at her.

Now I knew she wasn’t from Bandera, after hearing her accent. I looked at Amanda Jean and pointed at the tables, letting her know I was walking the woman over to them.

I walked her over, then had her sit. “Stay here. I’m going to get you a glass of water.”

As I headed across the room to get to the bar, I caught myself continuing to look at her.

I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me or what it was about her, but she had me acting like a damn teenager, lusting over her like she was a fresh piece of meat.

I leaned over the bar, yelling, “Yo, Willie! Fetch me a glass of water. Would you, please?”

“Need another beer too?” Willie asked as he slid the glass of water toward me.

My fingers drummed the bar top. I wasn’t sure if I should have another. I’d only had one beer since I got there, and it had my mind acting like I was a damn fool. I looked at her, then at Willie.

“Sure, why not,” I groaned, regretting my decision to drink more alcohol, which was already messing with my mind.

“Yo, Willie,” I said, wiggling my finger at him, then nodded my head toward the blonde and asked, “See that long-blonde-haired woman sitting down yonder?”

He looked at her, then at me. “Yeah. What about her?”

“You wouldn’t happen to know who she is, would you?”

He shook his head. “Nuh-uh. Never saw her before.”

“I know she ain’t from around here. She’s got quite a northern accent.”

A light must have turned on, because he held up a finger, saying, “Oh, wait a minute. I reckon she’s the gal Callie rented her house out to.

“I remember her saying something about renting to someone from way up yonder.”

“Yonder?” I asked, looking back at the woman, wondering where that could be.

“Yeah, you know. Way up yonder... meaning Alaska.”

“Huh,” I muttered under my breath, turning to face Willie. “Alaska,” I repeated. “I wonder what made her come here?”

“Maybe you should pull that pipe out of your ass and get to knowing who she is. She’s a pretty gal, you know.” He grinned, thinking I’d fall for his match-making ways.

“I’m also married,” I reminded him.

He laughed. “No you ain’t. She walked away years ago. It’s time to let her go, boy,” he said, sliding a beer to me before walking away.

I grabbed her water and my beer and sighed as I started heading toward her.

He has no clue what he’s talking about. I don’t need another woman in my damn life. The only thing I need to be focusing on is raising my boy.

I sat across from the woman, then, with my eyes on her, I slid her the glass of water. “Here. Drink this. You’re still looking like a ghost.”

“Thanks,” she said quietly, but not without showing her beautiful, captivating smile again.

I need a damn drink. The way her green eyes were gazing at me and the way she licked her lips after taking a drink made my unit want to swell.

I had to do something or leave before I made a mistake and said the wrong thing.

I wrapped my hand around the beer bottle, picked it up, and in one long swallow I drank the entire contents inside.

“I’ve got to go. I’m glad you’re okay,” I said, standing, avoiding eye contact, then walked away as fast as I could.

I felt like an ass for up and leaving, but I had to walk away from her. I also needed to get the hell out of there.

While heading to my sister to let her know I was leaving, Jack stepped in front of me, placing his hands on my chest.

“Hey, man. I had my eyes set on her first, so you can just back off. You’re still married, you know,” he said with a smirk that had me wanting to dismantle his face.

I wanted to laugh at the little weasel standing before me, thinking he was a hard-ass and a know-it-all.

“You know what, Jack? That’s something you don’t have to remind me of. And if you think you can get her, then go for it,” I said, grinning. “Because all you are is all hat and no cattle.

“So, with that said, I wish you luck. Have a good night.” I winked.

I had to walk away from him before I decked Jack square between the eyes for bringing up my wife and reminding me of who walked away from Maverick and me five years ago.

Prick.

I walked as fast as I could over to Amanda Jean. Then, not caring who she was talking to, I interrupted her. “I’ve gotta go. Maverick’s probably going nuts that I ain’t home yet.”

“Everything all right?” she asked, looking worried.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Have a good night.”

I felt terrible leaving my sister there, but hell, had I stayed any longer, I would have gotten into a fight with Jack over a woman I didn’t know anything about.

Had I stayed and not beaten the living shit out of him, I would have drank more, to where I would have wanted to take the blonde home, to show her how we Texans like to have a good time.

It was nice to see, when I got home, that my other sister, Natalie, could get Maverick to bed and get him to fall asleep without me.

“Thanks for bringing him home and getting him into bed. Did he have any more wild outbursts?”

“No problem. We had a good time. Maverick was very good. And he also didn’t have any episodes.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Although he did bring up his mom again, asking where she was. I suppose seeing the other kids there tonight with both their parents had him wondering why his mom wasn’t there with him.”

“I reckon so,” I sighed, then couldn’t help but think about her and what she did. Finally I threw my arms up in the air.

“I don’t know what to tell Maverick anymore. I’ve spent the last five years telling him she’ll be back. And still, to this day, I haven’t heard one word or received a damn letter from her.”

“Well, you know what I think. And you knowdamnwell what Amanda Jean thinks. It’s time you quit thinking about her and move on.

“It’s been five years, Jesse. You need to go to the courts, explain the situation, andbam, you’re free again.”

I was done listening to her, and instead of arguing, I walked away and headed to the kitchen.

For five years I’d searched for that woman, looking for answers. Hell, I’d even gone to her family asking questions, and they wouldn’t give me answers.

“I need a damn beer. Want one?” I yelled, reaching into the fridge and grabbing a beer.

“No. I’m fixin’ to get going. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow training a new girl.”

New girl?

Did I just hear her right?

I closed the fridge and stepped out of the kitchen, twisting the bottle cap. “What new girl?”

“I dunno. I was told that a new girl starts tomorrow and they want me to train her. Why?”

I shook my head. “No reason.”

Natalie walked over to me, took the beer from my hand, took a swig, then handed it back to me, giving me the one look I hated, the you-better-listen-to-me look.

“Move on, Jesse. After five years and not a word from her, she ain’t ever coming back. Find a woman who’ll love you for who you are and who’ll love that sweet little boy just as much. It’s time.”

After Natalie left, I walked upstairs, over to Maverick’s room, and stood in the doorway watching him sleep for a bit, wondering how Hailey could just walk away from us like she did.

I knew she’d been having a hard time dealing with Maverick’s disability. If her reason for leaving was him, then she was even lower than I’d thought.

I pushed myself away from the doorframe, walked over to him, pulled his blanket up toward his chin, and leaned down and kissed his forehead.

“Love you, bud.”

I had difficulty sleeping all night, thinking about Hailey and how Maverick kept asking for her.

I should have known by then that she was never coming back and that I should move on, but I was still so angry about what she’d done that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I didn’t know what I’d done to make her feel the need to disappear. And if she hadn’t been happy in our marriage, I wished she would’ve talked with me about whatever she’d been bothered by.

I would’ve fixed whatever that was.

I might have deserved her leaving me, but Maverick hadn’t.

Everyone kept telling me to forget about her and move on. But how do you forget about someone you’ve known all your life?

Our first kiss had been when we were eight years old, down by the pond, when we were gathering toads. Hailey had asked me if it was true that if you kissed a toad they would become a prince.

I’d responded, “You’re already looking at him,” and kissed her.

After that kiss, we were inseparable. Then as we grew up, if any boy gave her a hard time, I was there, kicking their ass.

It wasn’t until we were in the tenth grade that we’d lost our virginity together in her father’s barn after I’d helped her clean it. Afterward we were caught—still naked, of course—by her father.

After that, she wasn’t allowed to see me anymore. But that didn’t matter. We still figured out ways to hang out and see each other. Then after high school graduation we eloped to Vegas.

Two years later she got pregnant with Maverick. Even though we were young and scared about bringing a child into the world, we still managed to figure things out.

My life forever changed the day Maverick was born. I thought he was the perfect baby. He was beautiful yet handsome, looked like her, and had my attitude.

Then everything changed the day we brought Maverick home. He cried—a lot—, especially at loud, surprising noises.

There were also days when he’d scream and cry for hours, and nothing seemed to soothe him.

So we brought him in for a check-up and were told his crying was because he had colic. Then, at about three months old, we started noticing more issues with him.

He stopped smiling and laughing, avoided eye contact with everyone, and stopped responding to us whenever we waved our hands in front of him, snapped our fingers, or talked to him.

We thought he had gone blind or deaf, so we brought him in again. But unfortunately that was the day we were told he had autism.

As he aged, the symptoms progressed, and Hailey had a harder time dealing with Maverick’s autism, which caused us to fight constantly.

Hailey always blamed me for Maverick being the way he was, saying that it didn’t run in her family.

It didn’t run in mine either, but it killed me daily for her to accuse me of being at fault.

After a while I believed it was my fault.

The night she left, I thought everything was fine. After a long, hard day working on the farm, I came in to a nice home-cooked meal.

Later that night, after bathing Maverick and putting him to bed, she sat next to me as I watched TV.

From the look on her face, the way she was fidgeting, and how she was acting, I knew something was on her mind, so I asked her what was wrong.

Of course she said nothing was wrong, and everything was fine, so I let it go.

I should have known something was majorly wrong after we went to bed, because she did what she had never done: deny me. The following day, I woke up to her gone.

Five years later, here we were, with no sign of Hailey.

Finally I got tired of tossing and turning, so I got out of bed, showered, made coffee, and then fed Maverick.

After he ate and I dropped him off at school, I returned to the farm to feed the cattle and the horses.

A few hours later I was hungry. So I went into the house, opened the fridge, then dug through it to see what I could make.

Then I started thinking about what Natalie had said the night before, that she was training a new girl.

I looked at the lunch meat staring me in the face, then reached for it. But as I wrapped my hand around it, I let go and closed the fridge.

I couldn’t believe I was going to do this.

I had a couple of hours before Maverick needed to be picked up from school, so I left for the diner in my ratty old pickup truck.

Along the way, I kept asking myself why I was going out for lunch when I had plenty of food at home.

But curiosity got the best of me. I was curious if the new girl my sister was training was the new blonde in town.

I walked into the diner, found a place to sit, and picked up the menu left on the table.

Curiosity got me again, so I looked around the room, but when I saw the same employees, I looked back at the menu.

“Jesse, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be working that farm of yours?”

I looked up at Natalie. “I’m hungry and didn’t feel like making anything. So what’s cooking today?”

She looked away from me and over at the kitchen. “Well, why don’t you hang on a minute? It’s been slow today, and the new girl needs to learn. So I’ll get her to help you with your order.”

Not wanting Natalie to see the excitement in my eyes, I looked at the menu. “As long as I’m getting fed, I don’t care who takes my order.”

She shoved my head. “You’re such a grouch.”

I waved my hand for her to go away. Then, as I waited for this new girl to wait on me, my ticker thought it would be nice to prepare me for an adventure and started racing.

A new but familiar voice caught my attention as I rested the palm of my hand over my heart.

It’s her. The beautiful blonde babe.

I looked up, and when I saw it was the gal from the night before, my stomach went for a dive, and my ticker thumped harder and faster.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, tipped my hat, and turned my frown into a smile. “Howdy. What’s cooking today, sugar?”

Sugar? Really?

Why the hell did I just say that to her?

What the hell is wrong with me?

Thankfully, she accepted my uncalled-for spur-of-the-moment pet name by giggling before listing off today’s lunch specials. “Do you need a moment to decide?”

I closed the menu and held it out to her. “No. I’ll take the chicken-fried steak special and a tall glass of sweet tea. Please and thank you.”

“Be right up, cowboy,” she happily said, taking the menu from me and shoving it into the pit of her arm.

As she walked away, my eyes refused to look anywhere else but at her. And it drove me nuts that this woman was causing me to act this way.

Was it because of her long blonde golden locks, piercing emerald-green eyes, long slim legs, and smile? Or was it her northern accent drawing me to her?

Or…was it because of Jack and how he’d told me he wanted her?

Natalie stepped in front of the new girl, locked her eyes with mine, and then grinned after busting me, watching the woman’s every move. Then, hearing the door chime, I turned to see who had come in.

Great, what’s he doing here?

I quickly turned around after seeing him heading my way. And what I wished he wouldn’t do, he did: pulled out the chair across from me.

“Jack,” I groaned.

“Jesse, what a nice surprise it is seeing you here,” he chirped while sitting.

I looked at all the empty tables surrounding us, then at him, growling, “There are all sorts of empty tables, and you have to sit at mine?”

“Why not?” he asked, waving for my sister to come over. “Is there something wrong with having company?”

“I reckon not,” I muttered lowly. “What are you doing here?”

“Same thing you are. I’m hungry. Plus, Josie mentioned last night that she started working here today.”

“Josie?”

“Yeah. The hot new girl in town,” he said, his eyes brightly sparkling.

What a buffoon.

“I see,” I said, looking away, quietly chuckling under my breath.

She was way out of his league, but what did I know?

“You know, I was thinking... about what you said to me last night.”

I looked back at him. “What’s that?”

“Well, you said I was all hat and no cattle. So I was curious if you needed any help on the farm.

“I know a while back you were looking for help. And with the rodeo coming up, I thought maybe you could use some help with the horses,” Jack said, looking serious.

Wow. He was determined to win her over, wasn’t he?

I laughed and shook my head.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. I think I’ve got it handled, but thanks anyway.”

Josie came over with my plate of food, set it in front of me, and then looked at Jack and asked what he would like. He leaned forward, looked at my plate, then sat tall.

“I’ll have what he’s having.”

Of course he’d copy me. What a moron.

As I ate, I tried my hardest to ignore him. And the more he talked, the more irritated I became.

Finally I’d had enough, and I set my fork down. Then I looked at him and snapped, “Damn, Jack. Don’t you ever shut up? Can’t you see I’m trying to eat in peace?”

His eyes widened, shocked by my outburst. I didn’t mean to snap as loud as I did, but I couldn’t help it. The man was an idiot.

“Rough night?” he asked.

“You can say that,” I said, my mouth full of food. “Plus, I came here to eat and mind my business. But now I got someone jibber-jabbering my damn ear off.”

He frowned, asking, “Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

“Look, if I needed help, I’d say it.”

Josie setting Jack’s plate in front of him relieved me. I thought it would finally shut him up. But I was wrong. He opened his stupid mouth anyway.

“So, what do you say when you get off I come here and pick you up? I’ll show you around the town, and then afterward I thought maybe we could go to the saloon and have a couple of drinks?”

She looked at me, shrugged her shoulders, then looked at Jack.

“Sure, why not? I have nothing going on. It would be nice to start meeting the people around here,” she said, then looked at me. “What about you? Will you be along?”

I set down my fork, then laid my napkin over my plate, shaking my head. “Nope. I have other engagements to attend to.”

Her lips twisted, and then she innocently asked, “Oh, okay. Maybe another time?”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said as she picked up my plate. I looked at her, winked, then smiled, mockingly saying, “You two have fun. May I have my check, please?”

Had Jack not shown up, I wouldn’t have eaten as fast as I did and would’ve wanted to stay longer. But I couldn’t be around him any longer, watching and listening to him trying to woo her.

He looked and sounded ridiculous, but there was nothing I could do or say about what he was trying to do.

Hopefully, when he took her out, he would treat her respectfully.

Because I knew how Jack had been with the last girl he’d dated. And if he treated Josie the way he’d treated the last one, she’d end up kicking him where the sun doesn’t shine.

As I was getting ready to leave, Jack ran up to my truck, gripping his hands on my doorframe with a nervous look in his eye.

“Do you have any pointers for me? I really like this girl, and I don’t want to screw this up with her.”

I laughed. He really was dumber than a box of rocks.

I adjusted my hat and smiled. “Then don’t screw it up,” I said as I stepped on the gas and backed up, causing Jack to jump away from my truck.

I leaned out of the opened window. “Good luck!” I yelled, kicking up dirt and leaving a trail of dust behind me as I sped off.