Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“Not really. We don’t see eye to eye on much. And those friends of his would never accept someone like me.” My fist clenched as he made a frustrated sound. “They might not say anything to my face, but I know what they’re thinkin’.”
“Damn, I’m sorry.” When I pressed my shoulder against his, he pressed back.
“It is what it is.” He sighed. “But Travis and I have always been close, even more so with both of us having kids, and he keeps me in the loop on family stuff. Honest truth is, being the oldest, my dad expected me to take over the family business.”
“And that wasn’t something you wanted?” I asked even though I’d heard Sienna’s version of the story about them opening the farm.
“No, but hell if I wasn’t afraid to say it out loud. I think my mom always knew, though.” He looked off into the distance as if recalling some memory. “Some days I’d disappear down a trail to one of the ponds, wanting a quiet moment to think. She’d always find me, try to encourage me when my father was giving me a hard time.”
“You, quietly thinking?” I said in a shocked voice, and he cracked a smile. “Yeah, moms always seem to have a way of knowing.”
“They certainly do.”
I thought about my walks around the farm, realizing I’d never made it as far as the fence that divided their properties. “Where are the ponds?”
“We have one on our property—hell, it just occurred to me that you haven’t really seen all of the farm. We should go for a ride on—”
My hand sprang up as my stomach dropped, that same anxiety creeping back in. “Pretty sure I’m not ready for a horse ride.”
He sobered. “No, it’s cool. I meant on the four-wheelers. I’ll even race you, soldier boy.”
“You’ve got a deal, cowboy.”
There was more pressing of shoulders together, and right then, I didn’t think I’d want to be anywhere else except talking to Kerry in the middle of a rodeo.
“Anyway,” he said. “What we have at the farm is pretty much the kind of life I’d envisioned. I’m just sorry that Sienna…” He trailed off, shaking his head.
“Hey, you made your peace and did what was right. Stop second-guessing yourself.” I thought of seeing Brad again on Sunday and how she’d acted around him. “Maybe Sienna didn’t make the right decisions either.”
He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “You mean Brad?”
I nodded. “What’s the story there? Never mind, not really my business.”
“Not sure there’s much to tell. He crushed on her all through school. But he was always in trouble for one thing or another and didn’t really get his act together until a few years ago. Anyway, I think she made the safer choice.”
My eyes sprang to his. “You mean she settled?”
He picked at the frayed hem of his jeans. “Yeah, maybe.”
“You’re no one to settle for. Have you taken a good look at yourself?”
He actually blushed, and I grinned like a loon.
“Damn, life sucks sometimes,” he said, stretching his legs out in front of him.
“We live and learn, right? I joined the military because I was lost after my dad passed.”
He pressed his shoulder against mine again, and it soothed me in a way most things didn’t. “And did you find yourself even though you…” He motioned to my knee.
“In some ways, yeah. In other ways, I’m still trying to figure shit out.”
“Aren’t we all,” he mumbled just as a broadcaster’s voice came on the loudspeaker. He began announcing the events and getting the crowd riled up. As he threw out names, cowboys began lining up inside the arena and waving to the crowd.
Some tall and lean guy in one of those plaid shirts with a large buckle walked onto the field, and the audience went wild. His cowboy boots were all dusty, and his hat looked worse for wear. He was handsome, and when he smiled even more so, if all the ladies wolf-whistling had anything to say about it.
“Holy shit.” I stared harder. “Are there, like, superstar cowboys at these things?”
Kerry laughed. “Hell yeah, there are. We’ve got infamous bulls that stockmen clamber to ride, and your run-of-the-mill cowboys who just happen to be masters of their events.”
When the handsome cowboy scanned the stands, I could’ve sworn his eyes snagged on Kerry, and my stomach got all tight with a strange emotion I didn’t want to put a name to.
“Wait a minute. Is that the guy you and Sienna were talking about?”
“Zee?” Kerry said, his eyes fixed on the man in the center of the arena.
“Tell me about him.”
“Zee—Zach—is my best friend from high school. And he’s on the road a lot, so we don’t see each other too often anymore.” Kerry watched him for a long moment, his eyes softening as he took him in. “Zee was my first crush.”