by Jodi Thomas
“I’m in North Carolina, I think. I didn’t win any money the last ride.” She heard his long exhale of breath. “The rodeos aren’t much fun when you don’t make the eight seconds.”
She didn’t miss that he hadn’t answered the second question. More and more when Noah called from the road she had a feeling he wasn’t sober. Maybe he only got homesick when he drank. Maybe he needed the whiskey to give him enough courage to talk about going on. Somewhere along the way the boy she’d known in high school had lost his big dreams and, in so doing, had lost himself.
His easy laugh came over the phone. “What are you up to, Rea? No. Let me guess. Sitting in the yard with your uncle waiting for the sunset or maybe walking in that forest you call an orchard. One of these days you’ll fall over a tree root and we won’t find your bones until spring.”
“You know me pretty well,” she said, figuring he knew her better than anyone else alive. “You planning on making it home before spring?”
“Sorry, Rea, I don’t think so, but I’ll call. I promise. No matter where I am, I’ll call. There’s always a rodeo somewhere and, as long as I’ve got the gas and the fee, I’ll be riding.”
He was the first real friend she’d ever had. He’d been the first boy to kiss her, her first date, her first heartbreak. “Take care of yourself, Preacher.”
He laughed without much humor. “No one on the circuit calls me that anymore.”
They’d called him “Preacher” because when he rode in high school rodeos the announcers used to say he got religion when he climbed on a thousand pounds of mean muscle. Now, four years later, Reagan knew he’d lost his religion, along with the joy he had for the sport. Now he rode like it was an addiction. Only even when he won, she had a feeling the money never made it to the bank.
“Why don’t you come home, Noah?” she asked as she did almost every time he called.
“I’ll think about it,” he said, but his words didn’t ring true. “Got to go, it’s my time to drive. I’ll talk to you again soon. I promise. Good night, Rea.”
Reagan closed the phone. She hadn’t told him what was happening in Harmony or in her life. She had a feeling he didn’t care. Even if she’d said she needed him right now, he wouldn’t come and if he promised tonight, he’d only break his word come morning.
They’d been best friends in high school, talked every night on the phone, drove all over the panhandle so he could ride in every rodeo they heard about. Then his father thought he was good enough to turn pro and Noah gave up his plans for college. The first year, he barely made enough in prize money to stay on the road. The second year he told her it looked like he might break a hundred thousand, enough to start his herd on his small ranch. But halfway through, Noah got hurt again. This time when the doctors patched him up, they seemed to have left out his love for the sport.
Noah McAllen was on a merry-go-round—not with painted wooden ponies, but with huge angry bulls—and he couldn’t seem to find the way off the ride.
Reagan leaned her head on her arms atop the steering wheel and cried. She feared for Noah the ride wouldn’t stop until one night one bull killed him.
Noah flipped his phone closed as he walked around his pickup, now so dirty he couldn’t even tell what color it was. He slipped into the driver’s seat as his buddy slid across and began building his nest for the night.
“Just head west,” Don grumbled already sounding half asleep. “We’ll be lucky to make it to where we turn south by noon tomorrow. If you get sleepy, wake me.”
Noah knew the routine but he let Don ramble. They both knew they probably wouldn’t be friends if it wasn’t for the rodeo. Though they both rode bulls, they did it for different reasons. Noah saw it as a fast way to make money and he had long ago become addicted to the thrill of adrenaline that jolted through his body every time he climbed on. Don, on the other hand, rode for the thrill that surrounded the game. The wild unpredictability of the game, the giggles of the girls when bull riders entered the bar, the flash of camera lights when he won. He didn’t care for the sport, he liked the parade.
Noah let Don talk himself to sleep; for once he didn’t really want to talk about what they’d face tomorrow. He just wanted to drive and think of Reagan. He hadn’t seen her in months and then their last words had been yelled at each other. He’d waited two weeks before he called. He’d forgotten what they’d been arguing about and she didn’t mention it.
He drove through the night trying to remember exactly what she looked like. Her voice had sounded older somehow tonight. Part of him still saw her as that frightened new kid at a school where everyone else knew one another. She wasn’t his girlfriend then or now. Maybe she never would be. They’d grown apart, he told himself, like people do. He’d seen best friends in high school go away to different colleges and a year later struggle to keep a conversation going over coffee.
She was just a friend, he reminded himself. Only . . . Once in Oklahoma City after the rodeo, the girl he was with said he’d called her Rea when they made love.
Noah shook his head figuring that could mean one of two things: Either he’d have to try to get along with Reagan and marry her, or he’d have to learn to keep his mouth shut when the lights go out.
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
BESTSELLING AUTHOR
JODI THOMAS
Welcome to Harmony
• The First Book in the Harmony Series •
Sixteen-year-old runaway Reagan has always wanted a place to belong. She���s never had a real home of her own, but maybe she can borrow someone else’s. Under an assumed name and identity, she moves to Harmony, Texas, but keeps her distance from the welcoming townsfolk. But when prairie fires threaten Harmony, Reagan learns the true meaning of family, friends, and home.
penguin.com
M797T1110
THE SECOND BOOK IN THE HARMONY SERIES
FROM NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
JODI THOMAS
Somewhere Along the Way
Ever since she claimed Harmony, Texas, as her home, eighteen-year-old Reagan Truman has found herself drawn to others who have made their way here. Shaped by the loneliness she’s known most of her life, Reagan has finally found a place she belongs—and doesn’t want anything to ruin it. But when her life is put in jeopardy and the whole town comes together to save her, she’ll discover that learning to trust the love that’s come into our hearts is the greatest gift of all.
penguin.com
M796T1110
DON’T MISS MORE TEXAS ROMANCE
from New York Times Bestselling Author
JODI THOMAS
Tall, Dark, and Texan
A Whispering Mountain Novel
When Jessie Barton and her three little girls show up on Teagen McMurray’s land, he unexpectedly finds himself proposing marriage. Thanks to the correspondence he shared with her dead husband, Jessie knows she loves the man from the letters. But will he still have her when she reveals her tangle of lies?
PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR
“A gripping, emotional read . . . I found myself
completely sucked into the lives of the characters.
In fact, several times I found myself thinking about
them late at night, rather than sleeping.”
—All About Romance
“A beautiful story about unexpected love. An
exceptional storyteller, [Thomas’s] emotionally moving
stories are the kind you want to go on forever.”
—Romantic Times
penguin.com
M472T0809
Titles by Jodi Thomas
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY
WELCOME TO HARMONY
REWRITING MONDAY
TWISTED CREEK
TEXAS BLUE
THE LONE TEXAN
TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN
TEXAS PRINCESS
TEXAS RAIN
THE TEXAN’S REWARD
A TEXAN’S LUCK
WHEN A TEXA
N GAMBLES
THE TEXAN’S WAGER
TO WED IN TEXAS
TO KISS A TEXAN
THE TENDER TEXAN
PRAIRIE SONG
THE TEXAN AND THE LADY
TO TAME A TEXAN’S HEART
FOREVER IN TEXAS
TEXAS LOVE SONG
TWO TEXAS HEARTS
THE TEXAN’S TOUCH
TWILIGHT IN TEXAS
THE TEXAN’S DREAM
