“Uh...no.” Jesse walked with her as she returned to ladling out food. “Sorry, Jules. It took longer than I thought.”
Jules looked at Jesse and winked. “I’m sure it did.”
“No. You don’t understand.”
“So, Sara, are you busy tonight?” Jesse asked.
“No, but can we talk later?”
“I’ll talk to you after Mickey’s riding lesson. I know where to find you.” He smiled and walked away. She tried not to watch him. Jules and Patty would call her on it.
“I wonder what you’re going to do on your date,” Jules whispered.
“I don’t know,” Sara said. “It’ll probably be a walk by the lake.” The sun shone brightly this morning, and it didn’t seem like it would rain. Maybe they would go for a stroll, sit on the rocks and talk.
Her emotions were running the gambit, from worry to excitement and everything in between. She should back off and just keep it cool and casual with Jesse, despite her eagerness to be with him.
Or maybe, as always, she was just making things more complicated than they needed to be.
No matter what, she was looking forward to being with Jesse.
* * *
“A horseback ride?” Sara asked Jesse, wide-eyed. He caught her on the path, just as she was ready to duck into her favorite spot, into the cedar trees and the bushes, to watch Mickey’s lesson.
“Yes. I thought we’d go for an after-dinner walk.”
“You can do that?”
“Who’s going to stop me? They’re my horses, and they need exercise.”
“Your horses, Jesse? I thought they all belonged to Camp Care.”
“Most of them belong to the camp, but they needed more mounts this season. There are eight Beaumont horses here especially trained for equine therapy. I brought them on a couple trips in my trailer, over there.” He pointed to a massive white trailer at the far end of the tar-covered parking lot. Its logo boasted five B’s, and Beaumont Ranch written in big letters, with Beaumont, Oklahoma, under it.
She took her sunglasses off, and cleaned them with the hem of her yellow Camp Care shirt. “I guess I didn’t notice it, but how on earth could that be? It’s huge, and so is the printing.”
“It was behind the barn before, but I moved it. With the rain, it was sinking into the ground.”
“Oh.”
“So, are you into a trail ride after dinner? We won’t go far.”
“Jesse, I’ve never been on a horse. Never. They are big, and scary and tall...and...scary and big and tall.”
“But Mickey rides. Are you going to let him show you up?”
“Yes! And Mickey rode only once.”
“Today is twice.”
“Twice, then.” Jesse grinned. “And get out of the bushes, will you please? You can watch the class by the fence. I’ll even bring you a chair. Mickey probably won’t even notice you’re watching.”
“Will you pick me out an easy, rocking one, not too small and not too big?”
“A chair?”
“No! A horse. For tonight.”
“They are all like that. My horses, I mean. Not a chair.” They both laughed. “Gotta go, Sara. My class is arriving. I’ll bring you that chair. Over there. By the fence.”
He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, and this time he caught her watching him walk away and grinned. “Caught ya.”
“I was looking at the barn,” she lied.
“Uh-huh.”
* * *
After that encounter, Sara’s mind was whirling, and at the same time, her stomach was churning.
She was never going to wash her forehead again.
She needed to ask Jesse about his sexual history.
Jesse caught her watching him walk away.
Jesse would bring her a chair to watch Mickey, and she would get out of the bushes. She’d be spider-free.
She was going to ride a horse after her supper shift.
Jesse walked out of the barn with a rocking chair over his head. He put it down in front of her. “Just as you requested.”
“Thanks, Jesse.”
“When you’re done, leave it there, and I’ll put it back.”
“Okay.”
“Mickey seems to be in good spirits today. He can’t wait to get on his horse, but first, a lesson on saddling,” Jesse said.
“He’ll love it. It’s not arithmetic or spelling or reading.”
“He doesn’t like to read?” Jesse asked.
“Nothing but superhero comic books. As much as I dislike them, at least he’s reading something.”
Jesse rubbed his chin, as if he were thinking.
“I have to go. Time to start class.”
As usual, the class started in the barn, and while she waited, she turned her face up to the sun. It was a fabulously beautiful day. The scent of horses and hay and cedars wafted on the air, and Sara took a deep breath to remember this day forever.
The wranglers came out of the barn helped along by their assistant, who could be an aide or a therapist or a ramrod. There were eight riders in all. Some looked very serious, while some, like Mickey, had nervous smiles plastered on their face. But Jesse wasn’t leading him. Jesse stood in the middle of the corral watching each rider like a hawk.
“Whoa!” Jesse said. “Wranglers whoa!” He waited until everyone stopped their mounts. “Wranglers, reverse!”
The ramrods halted, then assisted the wranglers in turning their horses.
“Excellent job, wranglers! Excellent. Wranglers, walk your horses!”
Jesse asked the campers to do another reverse, then said, “I am preparing you wranglers for a trail ride. It’s going to be part of the end of the month rodeo! Yeehaw! Let’s hear it wranglers!”
“Yeehaw!” said most of the kids.
Sara held her breath, hoping that Mickey would yell, too.
“Wranglers, I can’t hear you!”
“Yeehaw!”
Mickey didn’t answer, but he did pump the air with his fist. She laughed with happiness. That was as excited as she’d ever seen Mickey. She crossed her fingers that maybe he’d have a breakthrough soon.
“Mickey, keep your hand on the reins, cowboy.”
Mickey held the reins so hard, Sara could see that his knuckles were white.
Jesse cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, “Okay, wranglers, return to the barn and clean your horse’s tack. Don’t forget to give your horse a carrot from the bin.”
Sara liked how Jesse spoke to the kids. He didn’t treat them like little boys. Instead, he spoke to them like adults and they rose to the occasion. Every kid got the attention that they needed from Jesse.
The man is hot, Sara thought. Who didn’t love a guy who liked kids and animals?
When she wasn’t looking at Mickey, she couldn’t take her eyes off Jesse. He had a presence that had everyone gravitating toward him. It didn’t hurt that he was a sports figure, a top bull rider. This gave him a type of aura that he was tough, that he liked to flirt with danger, and because he downplayed his bull riding, it made him more intriguing.
Sara continued to be intrigued.
She headed to the chuck wagon for her lunch shift. At the same time, Jesse headed for the rec hall. She wondered why he was going there when it was lunchtime.
Sara rolled her eyes. She had to get him out of her head. Who cared that he went to the rec hall? I do.
Cookie assigned her to the kitchen to make potato salad, about eighty tons of the stuff! The potatoes were already peeled, but she had to dice them up, add mayonnaise, and mix it all up. Once she finished, she put everything in the walk-in fridge, and went out front to see what else she could do.
Scanning the dining hall, she looked for Mickey. He was sitting next to Jesse, and—oh, my—her son was actually
reading a book. She couldn’t help herself; she walked over to the table, and raised an eyebrow at Jesse.
Jesse looked up at her from his place at the table. “I picked up a copy of Black Beauty for Mickey. I thought he’d be interested in it.” He gave Mickey a nudge with his elbow. “Since Mickey rides a black horse. Only Mickey’s horse is named Socks.”
Sara stopped herself from giving Jesse a big hug and an even better kiss for thinking of her son, and going through the trouble of getting the book at the camp library.
Oh! That’s where he’d been going, she thought. The camp library was in the rec hall.
“I loved Black Beauty when I was a kid.” Sara purposely left out that she’d cried during most of the book, so Mickey would keep reading.
As she looked at Mickey, bent over the book and turning the pages. Her son was riveted in a book that wasn’t a superhero comic book. She owed it all to Jesse.
Okay, so score another point for the bull rider.
“So, cowgirl, are we still on for later?”
Her stomach churned when she thought of getting up on a horse. A real horse!
“I think so, but I have to tell you that I am nervous, almost as nervous as when I thought about Mickey getting up on one.”
“I promise you that riding a horse is just like rocking in a chair, only you cover some land. I will pick out a perfect horse for you.” He raised a palm as if taking a pledge. “Camp Care ramrod’s honor.”
“Helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and Bubble Wrap included?”
He chuckled. “Absolutely.”
She sighed. “Then I guess I’ll see you after dinner.”
He pushed his white cowboy hat back with a thumb. “Don’t sound so excited. You’re going to bruise my ego.”
“Oh, I think your ego will survive intact.”
“What makes you say that?”
“All your buckle bunnies have certainly puffed up your ego to last you at least fifty years.”
He whistled. “And how do you know about the...ahem...buckle bunnies that hang around me?”
“The ladies in my bunkhouse filled me in about you, Jesse.”
Open mouth, insert foot!
“So, you’ve been talking about me?”
“Yes. I mean no.” Sara’s face heated up, and she was sure that she was about to burst with embarrassment. “I mean no. No. Oh, darn it. All right, yes.” She couldn’t think fast enough to get out of this one.
Jesse raised an eyebrow. “What else have the ladies in your bunkhouse been saying about me?”
Sara raised an eyebrow in return. “That you are as conceited as...as...uh...”
“As the day is long?”
“That works.”
Sara wondered if she could actually die of embarrassment. If so, her will was ready and at her lawyer’s office, and her aunt Tysia had wholeheartedly agreed to take care of Mickey.
She felt better, but she was out of her comfort zone in flirting with Jesse, if she could call it that.
How could she face him again?
Chapter 10
Jesse didn’t have time to eat; he was too busy trying to find a roving ramrod to watch his wranglers for a while.
Jeremy Dixon finally agreed to do it, but Jesse had to promise him two front row seats to the Tacoma bull riding event.
Because he didn’t want to ride in the dark with Sara, he’d also arranged with Cookie to release her from her dinner duties. That cost him two tickets to all five days of the PBR World Finals in Vegas in November.
If he’d had the time to negotiate, he would have gotten Cookie to agree to just one or two days, but he had to dash to the barn and get two of his horses saddled, and then head over to the chuck wagon to pick her up. When Cookie saw him at the front porch to pick up Sara, Cookie would surprise her and let her go.
For Sara, Jesse picked out a mare named Midnight. She was a chestnut with four white socks and a white spot on her rump. She was the sweetest and gentlest horse on four horseshoes. Jesse always used Midnight for the kids who were agitated, couldn’t sit still or needed a special saddle.
Midnight was comparable to Socks, the horse he’d assigned to Mickey. The Beaumonts had received both horses from a generous neighbor who helped out with the equine therapy on various weekends at the Beaumont Ranch.
As he walked both horses to the chuck wagon, he had to chuckle when he thought about Sara talking herself right into a corner.
The ladies in my bunkhouse filled me in about you, Jesse.
His reputation had preceded him at Camp Care. Sure, he enjoyed the attention of his female fans, and some were more beautiful than others, but he’d never found that special someone.
His brothers had both found special women, and Jesse had never seen Luke or Reed that smitten before. They were even happier building their homes on Beaumont land.
Maybe someday he’d be as crazy in love as those two galoots with their ladies.
Until then, he was enjoying the company of Sara Peterson. She was unlike any woman he’d ever known. She was stubborn, opinionated—mostly about him—and she was like a rose that had been kept under a rock for too long. An unhappy marriage would do that.
Just then, he saw Cookie open the side door of the chuck wagon, and push Sara gently out the door. “Sara, we don’t need you tonight,” Cookie said. “But Jesse here thinks you need a horse ride.”
“Walk. A horse walk,” she corrected. “Are you sure you don’t need me, Cookie?”
He puffed up his white chef’s hat. “It’s a slow night tonight.”
“It’s the same crowd as every night.”
“Go. Have fun with Jesse,” Cookie said, turning her toward Jesse and pointing.
Her eyes grew wide. “Can’t we walk on foot, Jesse? They are awfully big.”
“If your son can do it, you can do it.”
“That’s too logical. Which one is mine?”
“Midnight.”
“I see them!” She grinned. “Boy or girl?”
“Girl.”
“Good. Maybe we can bond before she bites me with her big yellow teeth. Yours looks like the one Roy Rogers had.”
“Just how old are you?” he joked. “Anyway, mine is called Sunshine. He’s a palomino like Trigger.”
“Midnight and Sunshine, huh?”
“Yep. Do you want to pet them?”
“I would, but I’m chicken.”
“Follow my lead.”
She walked down the stairs and tentatively petted Midnight on her face. “She’s pretty.”
“Want to feed her a carrot?”
“I do.”
“Hold it up and out in front of her. She’ll be gentle.”
All was fine until the carrot shrank to a nub, then Sara panicked. “Now what, bull rider?”
“Hold your palm flat. She’ll gently take the carrot.”
“Remember that I need all ten fingers to type.”
“Shoot, Sara! Some people have typed with less.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Sara gave both Midnight and Sunshine carrots and an apple. “Are you comfortable to try riding Midnight now?”
“I am if she is.”
“She is.” He laughed. “Put your left foot in the stirrup, and swing your right leg over the saddle and put it in the other stirrup.”
“If I can get up there, do I get a ten from the French judge?”
He chuckled. Sara could be a hoot, or maybe her comical side came out when she was under stress. If that was the case, then he’d be laughing all evening.
“Quit stalling. You want me to help you?”
“No.”
Her snippy side came out when she was angry or nervous, like when they’d first met and she found out that he was a bull rider. Jesse still thought that Sara didn’t tr
ust him to help Mickey.
If nothing else, the bunkhouse environment was helping Mickey make friends, and Mickey was laughing again. Big belly laughs, and it was music to his ears.
Ty, J.B. and Glen were all close in making breakthroughs. Jesse could feel it.
He could say the same for Mickey, too.
Jesse planned on taking the four boys who didn’t talk on a little hike around the lake. Maybe they’d have a campfire, and if nothing else, Jesse could tell them about bull riding.
Returning to the present moment, he snapped his fingers when another brilliant idea crossed his mind.
“What are you thinking, Jesse?” Sara asked.
“I’ll tell you later, but if you’re done petting the hair off Midnight, we should get riding.”
“Walking. The horses are going to walk,” Sara insisted.
“Sure.”
“I mean it, Jesse. Nothing fancy.”
“Of course not. You’re a beginner.” He was serious, and he meant it. As tame as Midnight and Sunshine were, an animal had a mind of its own.
“Mount up, Sara. I’ll help you.”
“I can do it myself. I’ve watched Gunsmoke reruns enough times. Mickey is a Gunsmoke addict.”
“Isn’t everyone?” He waited for Sara to get on Midnight while he held the mare still. It took her only four tries, but she finally did it.
“I’m so high up, I can see Canada from here.”
“Can you see Calgary, Canada? I’ve passed up the Calgary Stampede and working on our ranch to come to Camp Care.”
“What’s that?”
Jesse nodded. She was talking to avoid showing her nerves. But he could appreciate her determination to even give horseback riding a try.
“The Calgary Stampede is several days of events. Rodeos, music, carnival rides, chuck wagon races and, of course, bull riding.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“It is.” He stared up into her green eyes. They were as big as his belt buckles. “Shall I lead Midnight around for a while?”
“Please.” Her voice was shaky.
“Relax, Sara. Just relax, breathe and enjoy the ride. I mean...the walk.”
He walked the horse on the road to the barn, around the bunkhouse row and then back to get Sunshine.
Home on the Ranch: Oklahoma Bull Rider Page 10
