was sure I wouldn’t come off sounding like a befuddled schoolgirl. It took longer than I thought.
“I’m going to leave you to your cow shit,” I curled my nose at the wheelbarrow, “and ego. Not enough room for anything else with that head of yours in here.” I was halfway down the barn when Garth spoke up.
“Going after Jesse?”
I bristled and stopped in my tracks. “No. I’m planning on staying as far away from Jesse as Willow Springs will allow.”
“Glad to hear it. I know the outcome to a girl like you chasing after a guy like Jesse Walker. And it isn’t a pretty one.”
I closed my eyes. I knew that. Even with a girlfriend he’d lied to me about, Jesse was still ten levels above me on the dating scale. Nothing I’d done or would do could ever be worthy of the likes of Jesse, even on his worst day, which, after today, may have been it.
I was heading for the entrance when Garth spoke up again. “What are you doing Saturday night?”
I paused. I knew better than to answer, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Nothing.”
“Ever been to a rodeo?”
I almost snapped back Does it look like I have? when I remembered I wasn’t in my usual attire. As far as I knew, Garth didn’t know anything about me except what he’d seen after he arrived that morning.
When I didn’t reply, I heard him move closer. “You want to come watch me at one?” There wasn’t one note of doubt in his question.
Twisting around, I narrowed my eyes. “Does it look like I do?” The question was rhetorical, but Garth didn’t take it that way.
“Yeah,” he answered. “It sure does.”
I hated it like I couldn’t have hated anything more, but he was right.
I never knew being surrounded by a couple of hot guys would be such a chore. After that week, I knew better.
The day in and day out chores at Willow Springs kept me busy from dawn to dusk, but it didn’t seem to matter how busy I was or looked. Almost every time I turned around, I ran into Garth. Or Jesse. I literally couldn’t escape them.
With Garth, I rolled my eyes, threw something snarky at him, and was back on my merry chore way. He still looked at me like he was just waiting for me to trip his trap, but I knew guys like him. I’d dated legions of them. His mysterious aura combined with his troubled vibe might have scared off other girls, but not me. Troubled and mysterious was my Kryptonite. My Achilles’ heel. My weak spot. My specialty.
With Jesse, it was harder. Infinitely so. Bumping into him around the ranch wasn’t so easy to shrug off because whenever I came within a foot of Jesse, my body went on high alert. Every molecule zinged to life. I tried to brush it off, like being around him didn’t undo me, but I doubted I did a very good job.
He’d tried to corner me that same day, to explain the whole Josie thing, but I basically told him enough had been explained and to leave me alone. He did.
And he didn’t.
Just when I was sure Jesse had forgotten my name, I’d find him watching me in the middle of lunch. As soon as I’d look his way, his gaze would shift.
After a few days, though, I didn’t catch Jesse staring at me once. He’d taken my advice after all.
It was Saturday night, and the ranch was quiet. Other than the cattle mooing, the crickets chirping, the noise coming from the ranch hand bunkhouse, and the washing machines whirring a floor below me. So, yeah. Quiet wasn’t the right word for it, but it was as quiet as Willow Springs ever could be.
It was rodeo night, and I guessed around those parts, that was a big deal. Like Texas football big deal. Most everyone had already headed out. Rose had stopped by my room to see if I wanted to go and needed a ride. I told her I wasn’t sure if I was going yet and that I was sure I could find a ride if I decided to go. I didn’t like telling Rose a white lie, two of them at that, but I didn’t want to take the chance of finding myself crammed next to Jesse in the family Suburban.
From the sounds of it, the rodeo fairgrounds weren’t far away. I’d hoofed it plenty of times in my life.
I watched the Walkers’