by Liz Isaacson
“You made it.”
May turned at the sound of the owner’s voice. He was followed by his wife, a beautiful woman with black hair and a cowgirl hat with a custom-made hatband. May didn’t fit here with the three of them, but Dwayne said, “Hullo, May,” and Felicity gave her a hug as they moved past her and into the kitchen.
“Of course I made it,” Kurt said, giving his boss a quizzical look.
“We saw you pulled over on the side of the road.” Dwayne looked back and forth between Kurt and May. “Felicity said you were fine.”
“We were,” Kurt said, ducking his head to slide the lasagna into the oven. “Obviously.”
Dwayne obviously had as much experience talking with Kurt as May did, because he dropped the subject at the finality in Kurt’s tone. “Shane said he’d be over in a minute.”
“Lasagna will be done in forty-five minutes,” Kurt said. “So we’ve got time to talk before we eat.”
“What will you two be making for the cookoff?” Felicity asked.
Kurt waved for her to tell, and May took a deep breath, wondering if she married Kurt if she’d have to wear cowgirl boots the way Felicity did. “We’re doing an authentic Texas meal, hoping that will influence the judges in our favor. So we’ll serve Kurt’s tortilla soup as the appetizer. And fajitas with homemade tortillas, fresh guacamole and salsa, and crème fresh for the main dish. And we’re doing pecan tartlets for dessert.”
“And peach sweet tea,” Kurt added. “With honey and agave. May’s recipe.” He beamed at her, the kindness in his eyes easily reaching across the cabin to where she stood. In that moment, he felt like a life jacket. The very life preserver she needed to find her balance in the riptide and get back to safety.
“I tested it on my staff,” she said. “They all approved.”
“That sounds amazing,” Dwayne said. “I’m glad the win will be back with Elberta Street this year.”
“And Freestone Avenue,” May reminded him. “For the second year in a row, I might add.”
He chuckled and May joined in the laughter.
“You’re not competitive or anything, are you?” Dwayne gave her a grin and then proceeded to tell Felicity about the Spring Jubilee, and the way the different churches around town competed for the title and the prize money.
May had never felt overly competitive—except for when it came to being the best restaurant in town—so she joined Kurt in the kitchen. “Do you think I’m too competitive?”
“Not at all.” He slipped his arms around her waist and covertly pulled her closer to him. “I want to win too. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Should we practice next week?” she asked. “The Jubilee is only a few weeks away.”
“Yeah, and we should schedule a practice session with the outdoor equipment.”
“When does that signup open?”
“I don’t know. I’ll ask Pastor Gifford.”
Before May could answer, another man darkened the doorway to Kurt’s cabin, and he glanced from one couple to the next with a dark look on his face.
“Hey, Shane,” Dwayne said easily. “C’mon in. Kurt said lunch is still a ways away.”
Shane entered, closing the door behind him and blocking the wind. “I invited my brothers. Is that okay?”
“’Course, yeah,” Kurt said easily.
“They’re out taking care of the horses. They’ll be in after a while.” He moved over to the couch and collapsed onto it with a long sigh.
“Rough morning?” Dwayne asked.
“That stubborn Rocky Mountain horse of yours,” Shane said, giving the owner a glare. “He decided he didn’t like the hay he’d been offered.”
“Again?” Kurt left May standing in the kitchen and joined the other cowboys in the living room. May felt like she was on the outside looking in. Everyone across the counter from her wore jeans and boots and hats. May still had on her church clothes, which consisted of a designer dress she’d bought online and a pair of black high heels. She swept her hand over her hair self-consciously, wondering if anyone else saw the way she stuck out.
Dwayne said something in defense of his horse, and Felicity twined her fingers through his, and a rush of longing roared through May. It was obvious that Dwayne and Felicity loved each other, and she wanted that kind of easy relationship for herself.
Did she already have it with Kurt?
He looked at her and indicated with a quick nod that she should join them. So she walked around the counter, her heels making the wrong kinds of noises, and entered the living room. The couch was full, with Dwayne, Felicity, and Shane sitting there. Kurt took up the armchair, and he patted his knees. May perched in his lap, her heart bouncing around inside her chest as she settled into place.
Her mind spun, barely catching onto words, as the others spoke around her.
“Shane,” she heard Felicity admonish.
May tucked her hair and pulled herself out of her shell. She didn’t need to be embarrassed. Everyone here already knew she and Kurt were together. And everyone here was also now watching her. Even Kurt.
“What did I miss?” she asked.
“The ring?” Shane asked, earning him a swat from Felicity this time, and a growl from Kurt.
“No,” he said, and May whipped her attention to him.
“No, what?” she asked. She scanned the crowd again, landing back on Kurt’s storming face. “What ring?” Her heart thundered now, the kind where everyone knew to head indoors because a great rainstorm was about to be unleashed.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Kurt said, nudging May off his lap. She stood, and he checked the lasagna while an uncomfortable silence reigned. “I’ll be back in a while,” he said. “If that goes off, would someone take it out for me?”
“Sure thing.” Felicity wore a sympathetic look, and Shane’s whole face beamed a bright red.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“It’s fine.” Kurt clapped Dwayne on the shoulder, and the two men exchanged a meaningful glance May couldn’t decipher before Kurt swept her out onto the front porch. He gazed past the railing for a moment, taking in a deep breath. “Sorry about that,” he said.
“About what?” she asked. “Kurt, what’s going on?”
“You didn’t hear what Shane said?”
“No, I was….” She didn’t want to tell him about her inner struggles. But if not him, then who deserved to know? “I’m nervous here,” she admitted, starting down the steps without him. He followed, the clunking of his boots against the wood and the jangling of his dog’s tags comforting.
She turned right and moved down the hard-packed dirt road, needing to stay on somewhat solid ground in her shoes.
“Nervous?” Kurt didn’t take her hand or touch her.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “With your friends, and sitting on your lap. It was…overwhelming.”
Kurt nodded. “You should come out to the ranch more often.”
If she had time, she really would. She didn’t know how to tell him that, though. So she just said, “I should.”
“Dwayne and Felicity are great,” he added.
“They certainly seem like they love each other.”
“Yeah.” Kurt exhaled heavily again. “Look, May. I’m too old to play games. You know I like you a lot. Shane mentioned a ring, because I told him and Dwayne I was going to give you my grandmother’s diamond ring.” He stopped walking, and May froze completely.
She couldn’t do more than one thing at the moment, and thinking was all that was happening. “A diamond ring?” Her voice sounded like Mickey Mouse, and her throat felt like she’d swallowed cotton.
“It’s not an engagement ring,” Kurt rushed to add. “But more of a promise ring. A symbol that reminds you of me when you’re working.” He scuffed one booted toe in the dirt. “Since we don’t see each other a lot, I was thinkin’ about giving it to you. And then, when you’re ready, we can go pick out a real wedding ring together.” He kept his chin down, the brim of
his hat concealing his face.
May found it absolutely maddening, and she reached out and gently pushed his face up with her fingers. “A real wedding ring.” She wasn’t asking what that meant. She knew what that meant.
“You won’t like my grandma’s ring,” he said with a chuckle. “It looks like it’s a hundred years old. Because it is. And you’re more modern, and sophisticated, and—” His voice cut off, and his throat worked, and his blue eyes looked like polished stones. Bright and glassy and wonderful.
“What do you think of wearing an old cowboy’s ring?” he asked. “I mean, is that something you’re interested in doing?”
When she didn’t answer right away, Kurt scraped his boot through the dirt again and said, “It’s fine if you don’t want to. I get it. We’ve only known each other for a couple of months. And you’re you, and I’m me, and—”
“What does that mean?” she asked.
He looked up from the ground. “It means you’re pearls, May. And I’m, I don’t know. Fool’s gold.”
Her eyebrows stretched right up to her hairline. “You think you’re not good enough for me?”
“I know I’m not good enough for you.”
“Have I ever said that?”
“No.”
“Do I act like that?” May’s anger rose, and she took a step forward.
“Well, no.”
She tiptoed her fingertips up his chest. “Kurt, I’d like to see the ring.” Heat filled her, and not just from the sun that would become brutal in just a few weeks. “As you know, I like you too, and I don’t think it really matters how long people know each other. When there’s a spark, there can be a wildfire, right?”
He nodded, anchoring his hands along her waist. “The ring’s at the cabin.”
“So we have to go back in there with all those people staring.” She sighed and glanced back the way they’d come.
“And we have to talk about a lot more than a ring,” Kurt said.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, like where we might live, and what we might do to make things work between us. If we’re really going to try mixing vinegar and water, things like that have to be ironed out.”
May had never much liked ironing, but the thought of doing it with Kurt made wild horses gallop through her bloodstream.
“All right,” she said. “I need to tell you something about—”
“Kurt!” someone yelled in a panicked voice, and he backed up quick. He looked across the street, and May followed his gaze to see a cowboy waving both hands above his head frantically.
“That’s Dylan,” he said. “And that’s a bad sign.” He whipped his phone from his back pocket as he used his long legs to stride toward the cowboy. She heard him say, “Dwayne, Dylan’s in trouble. Barn two,” before he was too far away for her to hear much more.
She watched the people spill out of his cabin and take off in the same direction he’d gone, and May, feeling useless and out of place, went back inside his house. After all, she knew how to babysit a lasagna, and it seemed that that was her task on this ranch at the moment. She hoped she’d have another opportunity to tell Kurt about the deal with her father and her restaurant empire inheritance before she started wearing his grandmother’s ring.
You have to tell him, she told herself as she wore a path in his floor from the front window to the stove.
Chapter Fourteen
Kurt reached Dylan first, and got, “Tiger’s out,” in a puff of breath before they both ran through the horse barn toward the bullpens on the other side. Sure enough, that stubborn black-and-white bull was out of his pen. Again.
He had a real knack for it, and Kurt wondered if the bull was more trouble than he was worth.
Dwayne and Shane arrived, and the boss said, “Let’s get our horses,” like this was an exciting adventure he couldn’t wait to conquer. But Kurt wanted to talk to May, and slip that ring on May’s finger, and find out what she needed to tell him about.
Felicity arrived, out of breath, a groan leaking from her mouth. “Not that bull again. We’ve got to get rid of him.”
“I like him.” Dwayne grinned at his wife, and Kurt cocked his head as he heard something that didn’t belong on the ranch.
“Listen,” he said, holding up his hand for quiet. For stillness. The moan sounded again, and he scanned the area to find the source of it. Left. Right. Left. Right. “Do you hear that?”
Suddenly, as if God Himself had put a magnifying glass to Kurt’s eye, he saw the body on the ground. Tiger was standing over it almost protectively, and Kurt pointed. “Lord Almighty,” he whispered, pure terror flowing through him. “There’s someone on the ground out there.”
Dylan and Shane rushed forward, but Dwayne followed and pulled them back. “Whoa, boys.”
“That could be Austin.” Dylan struggled against Dwayne’s hold on his shirtsleeve, his panic palpable. “I left him out here when I ran to get you guys. He was supposed to saddle up for us.”
“Could be anyone,” Dwayne said. “And running out there and gettin’ Tiger all riled up isn’t going to help.”
Dylan stopped struggling, and Dwayne released him and Shane. But everyone just stood there.
“All right,” Kurt said in an authoritative voice. “Felicity, call 911. Tell them we have an injured cowboy, but we don’t know how bad it is. Dwayne, put out the emergency text. We need all the boys here. Shane and Dylan, let’s get our ropes.”
“Should we saddle up?” Shane asked, turning away from the still figure on the ground. Kurt couldn’t hear any more moaning, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.
“No,” Kurt said. “Let’s get Tiger away from whoever that is so we can help them. Slow movements, boys. Calm your feelings. We can do this.”
They moved back into the barn with sure strides. Kurt handed out ropes, listened while Felicity spoke to the emergency operator, and got word from Dwayne that the other cowboys were on their way over.
“Great. Give them ropes, have them fan out and approach Tiger from all sides,” he said. “I’ll go with Dylan and Shane right now.”
“Kurt, be careful.”
Kurt acknowledged Dwayne, and he and the other men moved out. “I’ll go around to the west,” he said. “Dylan, you come at him from the front. Shane, the east. Dwayne’s sending the others out, and they’ll come from the north. All right? Stay back, watch him for signs of charging. He always huffs and puffs first. Keep something nearby you can dodge behind.” He paused and looked both men in the eyes. “Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” they said in tandem, and they split up. Kurt’s boots on the hard ground sounded loud in his own ears. He pushed everything away except the sight of that one-ton bull standing there, his front legs spread like he was defending the whole earth. Tiger had always been on the aggressive side, and it took a long time to tire him or calm him when he broke loose.
As he moved west, back toward the homestead, Kurt kept his eye on the man on the ground. He didn’t move, but Kurt thought he detected a slight rise and fall of his shoulders. He seized onto the hope that he was still alive as the sound of sirens broke the still air.
It was definitely Austin, if the flop of blonde hair against the dark ground was any indication. The ground was wet around him, which didn’t make sense to Kurt. He pushed the detail away. He needed to get Tiger away from Austin so Shane and Dylan could get him to safety.
He whistled through his teeth, one long, high-pitched noise. Tiger glared at him. Kurt whistled again, this time two shorter pitches.
Patches appeared, skidding to a stop across the corral from Kurt. His tongue panted out of his mouth, and if Kurt were closer, he’d see the keen intelligence in the border collie’s eyes. Though Patches hadn’t worked with bulls in over a decade, the old dog still had it in him.
All he waited for was Kurt’s signal. He whistled once, twice, three times, and Patches streaked toward Tiger. The bull danced, nearly crushing Austin’s chest, but Patches barked a
nd nipped at his front legs, forcing the bull back.
He darted away, barked twice, and dove in again, pushing Tiger back another couple of steps.
Kurt whistled, and Patches ran to his side. “Good boy,” Kurt murmured, his rope hanging loosely at his side. “Again, all right? Get him off that cowboy.” He emitted the three whistles, and Patches went from zero to fast in under a second. He looked like a well-oiled machine, though he was twelve years old and would probably be hurting tonight. Kurt watched as he growled and barked and nipped the bull further from Austin.
Dylan had arrived just on the other side of the fence, and he ducked through the bottom two rungs, reaching for his brother’s hand. He got a hold of him and pulled just as Shane arrived. Together, they got Austin contained behind the safety of the fence, and Kurt whistled his dog back to his side.
With Austin out of harm’s way, and Tiger huffing and puffing, Kurt needed to get on a horse, quick.
He glanced toward the barn to see Dwayne and a dozen more men riding horses pour from the doors, and relief overcame him. Striding now to put distance between him and the angered bull, Kurt hurried back toward the barn. With the corner fencepost between them, he relaxed further. Tiger couldn’t corner fast enough to hurt him, even if he charged now.
Still, the afternoon was far from over. The last time Tiger had gotten out, Dwayne had put himself between the bull and Felicity, and it had taken hours to get the animal back where he belonged.
He wondered where May had gotten to, and he hoped it was as far from this situation as possible.
“Paramedics are here,” Felicity announced, and Kurt glanced at the two people in uniform. Of course one of them was Alicia. Their eyes met, but her jaw hardened as she looked away quickly.
“They’re out in the corral,” Kurt said, pointing. “He looked alive to me.”
The paramedics moved with purpose toward Austin, leaving Kurt with Felicity. “What do we do now?” she asked.
