The Cowboy Says I Do

by Dylann Crush

  Desperate times called for desperate measures. “Hey, remember the picture you showed me of that Cinderella-style carriage? What if we throw that into your wedding package for free?”

  Adeline stopped clacking her nails and drew a heart on the tabletop with her pointer finger. “With the twinkle lights and tulle netting?”

  Lacey squelched the panic rising from her gut. “Of course.”

  “Deal.” Adeline shoved her hand out to shake. “But I’m not going back in that building until you catch Moses.”

  Lacey wrapped her hand around Adeline’s, wondering how in the world she was going to come up with a Cinderella carriage. “I understand. They’ve got to get the floors redone anyway so the building won’t be accessible for a few weeks. By then we’ll have Moses contained and everything will be under control.” She hoped. She prayed. She tried to make a deal with God that all would go well. Not only her future, but the future of the whole town depended on it.

  “As long as you’re here, do you want to talk about a few other details?”

  “Sure. What do you have in mind?” Lacey clasped her hands on the table in front of her. They had only about two months. Not a lot of time to plan for what would hopefully be their catalyst event.

  “Just a few ideas.” Adeline reached into her bag and pulled out a thick binder. “I’ve been imagining this day since I was a little girl. It’s got to be perfect.”

  Lacey swallowed. Hard. She could picture Adeline as a little girl, orchestrating play weddings with her stuffed animals or dolls. That had never been Lacey’s style. When she was little and thought about what it would be like to grow up and get married she always pictured her and Bodie, standing under a wooden arbor on the edge of a field of wildflowers. No need for china, crystal, or towering tiered cakes. She laughed to herself at the image of Bodie in a tux. She’d most likely pictured him as her groom since he was the only boy who’d been halfway nice to her as a girl. Didn’t have anything to do with the way he made her insides warm and gooey like a brownie fresh from the oven.

  “Should we start with the invitations?” Adeline flipped the binder open.

  “Haven’t you already made arrangements for those?” Lacey gazed at the samples Adeline had stuffed into the bulging sheet protector.

  “I’d planned on going through Phillips. But with them closing their doors, I need a plan B.”

  Lacey nodded. Plan B would be up to her. “Okay, let’s break this down.” The magazine article she’d read talked about establishing a theme for the wedding. After that, the theme would guide the rest of the decisions. “Have you thought about a theme?”

  “Oooh, like we had for prom? A Night Under the Stars? Under the Sea?”

  A groan escaped Lacey’s lips. “Not exactly like that.” She racked her brain trying to remember the most popular themes they’d listed in the article. Granted, it was from over a decade ago, but the wedding business couldn’t have changed that much. Love was love. Getting hitched meant the same thing no matter what year it was. “I mean more like a fairy-tale wedding, or a simple country get-together.”

  “Fairy tale for sure. If we have Cinderella’s carriage we definitely have to do that. Although, Roman really likes to watch rugby. I want the wedding to reflect what he wants, too. Can we somehow work rugby into the equation?”

  Cinderella meets the rugby player of her dreams? Lacey screwed her lips into a frown. How would that go over? “Are you planning on a groom’s cake? We could definitely work that in somehow.”

  “Yes.” Adeline clapped her hands together. “Let’s do a groom’s cake in the shape of a rugby field.”

  “Um, okay.” It didn’t matter that Lacey had no idea who would be making any kind of cakes, much less a rugby-themed groom’s cake. But she had one goal for this meeting today: keep Adeline as their client. No matter what ridiculous ideas she came up with, Lacey would figure out a way to make them work. She had to.

  “You have a dress, right?” Lacey asked. Surely Adeline had already figured that piece out.

  “Well, since I wasn’t planning on getting married until the fall, I haven’t made a final decision. My bridesmaids and I are planning on going to Dallas next weekend to take one last look.”

  “Okay.” Lacey nodded. “It can take several weeks if you need alterations so that should be priority number one.”

  “Oh my gosh.” Adeline grabbed Lacey’s hands. “You should come with us!”

  She needed an excuse. A good excuse. Like now. “Um, I don’t think I can get the time off work. Helmut’s down a waitress right now, and—”

  “You just let me take care of that part. I’ll have a talk with him. It would mean a lot to me if you’d come. Now that we’ve got a theme and all, I want to make sure it’s all going to work together.”

  “I don’t know.” Lacey hemmed and hawed. She hadn’t seen this new development coming. She’d planned on revamping the event space and providing a new industry for her hometown. Becoming a wedding planner hadn’t factored into her goals at all. Not one tiny bit. Especially for Adeline, who’d made her high school life such a living hell.

  “Are you sure you want me there? Isn’t this a time for you and your closest friends to get together?”

  “It’s my wedding and you’re my wedding planner. You’ve got to coordinate everything so it all works together. I simply won’t take no for an answer. It’s settled. We’re going on Friday. We’ll leave early in the morning so we can fit in a few stops on Friday afternoon. This is going to be so much fun.”

  “Yeah.” Lacey nodded. “Fun.”

  “I’ve got to get back. Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate you settling my nerves.” She stood from the table and pushed her chair in. “You’ll let me know when they catch Moses, right?”

  Moses . . . Lacey’s mind had gone blank.

  “The armadillo.” Adeline narrowed her eyes. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale.”

  Shaking her head, Lacey stood. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Or at least she would be when she had a moment to compose herself and evaluate the situation.

  “Great. See you Friday.” Adeline turned and walked away, a bounce in her step that hadn’t been there before.

  Lacey figured she was one for two. She’d succeeded in keeping Adeline from freaking out, but now she found herself even more ingrained in the wedding-planning process.

  Frustrated and with one person to blame, she pulled up Bodie’s number. If she had to go to Dallas to shop for wedding dresses all weekend, he’d have to pick up the slack around town.

  seventeen

  Bodie cringed as the overpowering scent of antiseptic enveloped him. He hated going to the hospital. It was bad enough when he had to interview a victim or follow up with a suspect. But having to visit his dad in the hospital was ten times worse, especially since Pops had been less than helpful on the phone.

  With the help of a nurse, two volunteers, and a doctor who looked like he’d just rolled off a twenty-four-hour shift, Bodie located his dad. He was in the emergency room, bellowing orders from his bed. Bodie pushed back the curtain and did a double take.

  “Dad?” Clearly the man in the flimsy hospital gown was his dad. But a giant bandage covered half his head, including his right eye. “What the hell?”

  “Just a little accident.” Pops stood and pulled the curtain closed.

  “Are you going to be okay? What happened?” For someone trained in crisis management and critical situations, Bodie’s natural instincts took over. “Who did this to you?”

  Pops shot him a silencing glare. “Like I said, just a little accident. He’ll be good as new by Friday.”

  Bodie’s gaze drifted over his dad’s face. The bandage covered most of his right cheek, stretching up to his eyebrow. A purple-bluish tinge spread from under the edges. “Good as new by Friday” seemed very optimistic. “But you said s
omeone sent him a—”

  “Shh.” Pops’s eyebrows drew down into a fierce line. “We can talk about that later.”

  Dad waved off the nurse messing with his IV. “I’ll be fine. I don’t know why your grandfather called you to begin with.”

  “What happened?” Based on Pops’s reaction, Bodie hoped they’d fill him in later.

  “Tried two-stepping with a two-by-four,” Dad joked. “The board won.”

  Bodie shook his head as he stepped closer to the bed. “I’m glad to know you’ll be all right. Pops could have mentioned that on the phone so I didn’t race over here wondering if you were about to take your last breath.”

  Pops shrugged. He was never one to waste unnecessary words. Bodie should be used to that by now.

  “Looks like I’ll live to tell.” Dad lowered his voice. “At least for another day or two.”

  He and Pops were tighter than two ticks on a coonhound. But until they felt like bringing Bodie into the circle of trust, it wouldn’t do any good to pry.

  “Can I do anything for you? When are they going to let you out of here?” Based on what he saw, his dad wasn’t in any danger. At least nothing more than the danger of having a bad headache and a face that might frighten small children away for the next couple of weeks.

  Pops slumped into the vinyl recliner next to the bed. “I’ll make sure he gets home okay. But we need to talk about this.”

  Nodding, Bodie agreed. “Yeah, you two need to tell me what’s going on.”

  “Stop by tomorrow afternoon,” Pops said. “We’ll chat then.”

  Bodie stepped closer to the bed. “Let me know if you need anything.” He reached out to put his hand on his dad’s, then thought better of it and pulled back.

  “You know what we need,” Dad grunted. “Did you make arrangements yet?”

  Bodie’s heart squeezed. Dad was talking about Lacey. What was it with those damn beavers anyway? “No.”

  Dad’s fist came down on the thin hospital mattress with a whomp. “Dammit, we don’t have forever.”

  “What’s going on?” Bodie asked. It wasn’t like his dad to get worked up over something so weird. Wasn’t like his dad to get worked up over something, period.

  “I said we’ll talk about it later,” Pops ground out. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, okay. Tomorrow.” Bodie parted the curtain and moved down the hall. Whatever his dad and pops were up to appeared to be getting out of hand. Before he had much time to think about it, his phone rang.

  The sight of Lacey’s number surprised him. He figured she needed longer than a couple of hours to cool off after he’d shut down the Phillips House.

  “Did you call to apologize?” Bodie asked.

  “Absolutely not. I called to let you know that I’m going to be shopping for wedding dresses in Dallas this weekend so you’ll have to hold down the fort here in town.”

  “Who’s the lucky guy? Do I know him?” He assumed she was joking, but his heart pinched the tiniest bit at the thought of Lacey getting married. Whomever she chose as her groom would be one lucky bastard.

  “Very funny. I caught up to Adeline and convinced her not to cancel.”

  “Good job. How did you do that?” For a moment his heart swelled. Lacey could do just about anything she set her mind to. Hopefully he’d figure out his dad’s secret before she got a whiff of something rotten going on there.

  “I told her the armadillo used to be the caretaker’s pet.”

  “Armadillo? From what I heard you’ve got armadillos, a total infestation. They wouldn’t close you down for a single armadillo.”

  “I know. But she bought it and that’s all that matters.” A low groan came through the phone. “Now somehow she’s convinced that I need to go to Dallas with her to shop for the perfect dress.”

  He couldn’t stop the deep chuckle from escaping. “So a girls’ weekend with one of your favorite home gals, huh?”

  “It’s not funny. I need to be here, planning for the opening, taking care of our rogue-pet issue, and making sure everyone stays on task.”

  “One weekend in Dallas isn’t going to derail you.”

  “That’s what you think. You’re not spending two days with Adeline.”

  “True. What’s that saying about something not killing you makes you better?”

  “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

  “That’s right. Just think of Adeline as your personal strength coach.”

  Lacey sighed. “This had better work.”

  “The weekend in Dallas?”

  “Not just that. Restoring the house, my proposal to rename the town, all of it. If it doesn’t, I don’t know—”

  “It will.” The uncertainty in her voice pulled at him. He’d say anything in that moment to ease her worry, even though he had no idea whether she was right about her plans for the town or not.

  “Thanks, Bodie.” The waver in her voice did funny things to his stomach. Made it flip over on itself, kind of like how he felt the first time he caught a snake—a little uncomfortable but pretty proud of himself all at once.

  “So when do you leave?” he asked, trying to shake off the weird sensation.

  “Sometime on Friday. Any words of advice?”

  “You’re on your own with this one.”

  “Gee, thanks. And here I thought we were in this together.”

  Together. Another wave of flip-flopping hit his gut. She didn’t mean anything by it. But he still couldn’t shake the sliver of unease sliding around in his belly. “I’ve got your back. If anything goes wrong, just give me a call, okay?”

  “And you’ll race up to Dallas and save me?”

  “Hopefully it won’t be anything that drastic. But if Adeline gives you trouble, I’m only a phone call away.”

  “Got it. I’ll make a list of things going on this weekend so you know what to check on. Do you want me to text it or e-mail?”

  “Are you going to be at the warehouse at all in the next day or two?”

  “Sure am. Since I can’t work on the house right now I figured I’d get a few more things organized over there. Why?”

  “Why don’t you jot it down and I’ll swing by to pick it up next time you’re over there.” Maybe he’d have a chance to snoop around and find the box of beavers. For some reason his dad and his pops were desperate to get their hands on them. There had to be a reason why.

  “You sure you don’t want me to just text you?”

  “Nah, that’s okay. I think I might have dropped something while I was over there for the sale. It’ll give me a chance to look for it.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there tomorrow after my shift. Probably after eight.”

  “I’ll stop by then.”

  “Sounds good.”

  He waited until the call disconnected then dropped his phone into his pocket. Tomorrow night. His pulse sped up when he thought about seeing Lacey again. Either something was wrong with him or after the past few weeks he’d developed some sort of unnatural feelings for his gorgeous new mayor. He put his hands to his head. No, his best friend’s little sister. He kept trying, but he couldn’t seem to think of Lacey as the tagalong tween he’d known all those years ago anymore.

  Now when he thought of her, which was way too often, he saw the swell of her breasts, the curve of her hips, and the fullness of that bottom lip she always seemed to have captured between her teeth.

  The more he tried to not think of her as a woman, the more his brain latched on to visions of her wrapped in his arms, her tongue tangled in his. Only one way to chase the impossible images out of his head. He needed to run.

  He climbed into his truck, hell-bent on getting home, changing into his running gear, and hitting the road to pound out a few miles. Hopefully Shotgun was up for it. Because if he didn’t get his run in be
fore he met up with Lacey again, he might be running into a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.

  eighteen

  With the new key she’d had made, Lacey unlocked the front door leading into the office. She’d typically not worry about rekeying the locks, but with the onslaught of interest in the warehouse event space, the continued obsession of Bodie’s family with the beavers, and the pressure she’d been feeling from the past employees, playing it safe was better than playing it sorry.

  Once inside, she flipped the lights and let the door close behind her. A quick glance around the front office assured her everything was in its proper place. What could Bodie be looking for? He’d helped out with the pet-rescue portion of the sale so if he dropped something it had to be in the front area.

  She leaned down, searching under desks and chairs. Apart from a few dust bunnies that might be mistaken for tumbleweeds, nothing stood out. Bodie didn’t seem like the kind of man who needed a ploy. But she couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t just have her text him the information. Oh well. At least she’d have a chance to see him before she left town.

  That intimate moment they’d shared a few weeks ago had left her reeling. She needed to set eyes on him and prove to herself that he was still the annoying bully he’d been since she moved back to town. Anything else might get in the way of her focusing all of her attention on transforming the Phillips House and she couldn’t have that. With so little time left before their first event, she still couldn’t believe she’d let Adeline talk her into going wedding dress shopping.

  But she’d do just about anything to hold on to the hope that Ido would someday be a destination wedding site. It would work. It had to.

  As she took a final look around, headlights swept through the window. Bodie.

  His footsteps crunched on the gravel outside and she heard him coming long before he knocked at the door.

  “Hey.” She pushed open the door to the outside, then stepped back when she realized whom he’d brought with him. “Shotgun! Hey, girl.”

  The pup danced on her hind legs, trying to jump up and smother Lacey’s face with kisses.