And Then You Kiss

by Heather A Buchman

  “Good question. But, I feel bad for Jace. He must be pissed.”

  Lyric was pulling on Renie’s arm again. “Come on, let’s go back and see what’s happening now.”

  When they got back to their seats, Blythe and Tucker were gone.

  ***

  He was putting her in an unfair position. Could he help it though? Doubtful. Jace would have to face facts; Blythe was his. He’d upset her though, and he hadn’t wanted to.

  When she got up from her seat, she looked as though she was ready to cry. She’d hurried off before he even realized what was happening. By the time he got up to follow her, she was far enough ahead of him that he couldn’t catch her before she slipped into the ladies room.

  He hoped there wasn’t another way out of it. He’d been standing here long enough to worry she wasn’t coming back out. He thought about asking one of the women going in to check on her, but what could he say? He was tempted to go in after her himself.

  “Hey,” she said.

  He was relieved to see her walk back out that door. “Hey. You okay?”

  “No. I’m not. What’re you gonna do about it? Anything?”

  He laughed; he couldn’t help it.

  “It isn’t funny asshole. And you know what else? You’re a shitty brother.”

  He shrugged.

  “This is Jace’s night, not yours. Is this the way it’s always been with you two? Do you always sweep in and ruin his plans?”

  Tucker didn’t know what to say. He didn’t think so. Maybe.

  “You know how I feel, don’t you?” she asked him.

  “I think I do.”

  “Why did you leave?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Why did you leave?”

  “I heard you the first time.”

  “I think you have serious problems, problems I don’t want any part of. I mean, you just got up and left Tucker. What the hell?”

  “It was what your dad said.”

  “Now this is my dad’s fault.” She started to walk away.

  “Wait,” he grabbed her arm. “That isn’t what I meant.”

  She pulled her arm away. “You know, I’m getting tired of you grabbing me. Don’t do that. If I walk away you can either let me go, or you can follow me, but quit grabbing at me.”

  He held both hands in the air.

  “I don’t even know you,” she stammered.

  “But you want to.”

  “I don’t know that I do, and I’m not being a smart ass when I say that.”

  “Sure you do. You can’t help yourself any more than I can.”

  “I don’t know Tucker. It would be so much easier to walk away, find another guy who doesn’t have a twin brother, for one. And doesn’t have so many damn problems, for another.”

  Tucker and Blythe’s phones both pinged at the same time. If they hadn’t, neither might have looked. But it was Jace and he was getting ready to ride. He wanted to know if either one of them were still there.

  Blythe stormed off. Tucker couldn’t decide which way to go. There was one thing she was right about. He was a shitty brother. He headed to the chutes.

  Blythe sat back down in time to see Jace climb on the horse in chute. She held her breath as she waited for him to signal that he was ready for the chute to be opened.

  Lyric leaned over. “Marking out is the first step. Do you know what that is Blythe?”

  God she could kiss Lyric. That would certainly solve some of her problems, but this was for a different reason. Blythe had no idea what to look for, and Lyric was going to explain it to her.

  “He has to have both spurs touching the bronc above the point of the horse’s shoulder on its first jump out of the bucking chutes. If he doesn’t, he won’t get a score.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then he has to time his movements with the horse’s jumps. He’ll need to move his feet in an arc from the horse’s shoulders back to the saddle skirt. The more even and accurate his movements, the more points he will earn. Course he’s gotta stay on for eight seconds, if he gets bucked off, none of the rest matters.”

  “Thanks Lyric.”

  The chute opened. Jace looked like he was in the right position based on what Lyric told her. Blythe couldn’t tell if he was doing the rest of what she’d said, she only watched the clock. Six, seven, eight seconds…the pickup men scooped him off and he was on the ground, standing, celebrating.

  Blythe was jumping up and down, clapping her hands. Renie let out a loud whistle and Lyric was hooting and hollering. He saw her, she was sure of it. He knew she’d watched him ride. At least she hoped so.

  Tucker made her blood boil, but Jace, he melted her heart. It was at that moment she realized what she had to do. She couldn’t see either one of them, ever again.

  By the time the excitement died down and anyone was paying attention, Blythe was gone. They’d assume she went to see Jace, or to find Tucker, but she wasn’t doing either.

  ***

  “What do you mean she’s not with you?”

  “I thought she was coming down here.”

  Jace ran his hand through his hair. Where in the hell had she gone? She wasn’t with Tucker, he was standing right next to him, at least as exasperated, if not more so.

  “Call her,” he hissed.

  “What do you think I’ve been doing? I called her, I texted her. She isn’t answering. And you can stop yelling at me now Jace Rice.”

  “What’s goin’ on?” Billy put his arm around Renie’s shoulder and scowled at Jace.

  “Blythe left. We don’t know where she is.”

  “Call her dad.”

  “You think she would’ve called him?” asked Jace.

  “Why the hell would I tell you to call him if I didn’t think so?” Billy shook his head.

  Renie had her phone to her ear and was walking away, trying to get away from their chatter. A minute or two later, she came back, no longer on the phone.

  “He said she’s fine, but that’s all he’d tell me.”

  “Where is she?”

  “He wouldn’t say, but I think he’s coming to get her.”

  “How does he know for sure she’s okay?”

  “Jace!” Renie stamped her foot and put her hands on her hips. “Stop it. I told you what I know. Her father said she’s okay, but that’s all he’d say. Now quit barking at me.”

  “Yep, this little lady right here, she’s all mine,” Billy bragged. “Spitfire, that’s what she is. Damn that makes me hot Renie. Let’s get outa here.”

  Jace wanted to wipe the smile off Billy Patterson’s face. Smug bastard.

  Renie slugged Billy, but smiled. She gave Jace a completely different look. He didn’t remember ever seeing her mad, but he guessed this was what it looked like.

  “And you,” she pointed at Tucker. “You started this. She was fine until you showed up.”

  Tucker raised his head and looked at her, but didn’t say a word.

  “Where’s Lyric?” asked Jace.

  “I have no idea,” answered Renie. “Wasn’t she here a minute ago?”

  ***

  “Did they see you?” Blythe asked her.

  “I don’t think so. They were too busy arguing amongst themselves.”

  “Thanks for coming and rescuing me.”

  “No problem girlfriend. Let’s get outa here before they realize I’m gone and come lookin’ for us.”

  Lyric took Blythe to meet up with some of her friends, ropers mainly. They weren’t competing tonight and were hanging out at the Grizzly Rose bar, not far from the stock show.

  “What about Renie, you think you should at least let her know you’re okay?”

  “I did. She texted me and said she was pretending she was talking to my dad. She said she’d tell everybody I was okay and that’s all she’d say.”

  “Shoulda figured.”

  “What?”

  “You two. You don’t even have to talk, do ya? You’re both so in sync wit
h each other.”

  “It isn’t always that way, or it hasn’t been in the last year anyway.”

  ***

  “You didn’t call Mark, did you? You know where she is.” Billy said on the ride home.

  “She’s with Lyric.”

  “Who’s Lyric?”

  “It’s not important,” Renie answered. “She’s fine. And she’s away from Jace and Tucker. That’s all that matters.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know exactly. She said she needed to get away from them.”

  ***

  “Dance. Drink. Repeat.” Lyric held up her glass to Blythe’s.

  “I like you Lyric. You’re a good friend.”

  “Back at ya girl. Now let’s go find some more cowboys to dance with.”

  “There are hundreds of them here.” Blythe surveyed the room. “And only ten girls.”

  Blythe’s counting skills might’ve been impaired, but she had the right idea. Cowboys outnumbered them by at least four to one. They’d be doing a lot of dancing tonight.

  ***

  Jace stopped at the front desk to see if he could change his room from a king to one with two queens. It hadn’t been a problem. He was stretched out on one of the beds when Tucker came in with a bottle of Crown Royal and a six-pack of cokes.

  “Cups by the sink,” Jace pointed.

  “You get the ice?”

  “Bucket’s next to the cups.”

  “Coke?”

  “Nah. Crown’s good.”

  Tucker handed him the red solo cup. “Here’s to her,” he said.

  “Why’d you have to come back?”

  “What’d you expect when you told me you were going to see her?”

  “Why Tuck? Why is she affecting us this way? Shit. I thought I was in love with Irene, and she didn’t get under my skin this way.”

  “Yeah, she did.”

  “She did?”

  “She’s all you thought about when you were in Spain.”

  “So why Blythe?”

  “I don’t have an answer for you bro. I feel the same way you do.”

  “I wanted to rip your face off when I saw you kissin’ her.”

  “I know.”

  “Best thing would be for both of us to leave her alone.”

  “Not happenin’.”

  “You’re not gonna give her up?”

  “Nope.”

  “So it’s up to me?”

  “Yeah, it’s up to you.”

  “She isn’t gonna want to have anything to do with either one of us.”

  “Don’t matter.”

  ***

  “I think you should come to work for me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “For RodeoChat. It’s growin’ faster than I can keep up with. I need help.”

  Blythe laughed. “You want help from a girl who doesn’t know shit about rodeo?”

  “You don’t seem to have any trouble attracting cowboys.”

  That made Blythe laugh again. “We did have fun last night, didn’t we?”

  “Sure enough. But I’m not kidding. I need help. You can learn. I need someone who can help with interviews, make sure we’re on top of all the rodeos, not only around the country, but also around the world. Most of the job will be research, and it’s somethin’ you’ll have to be on daily.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Yeah, I’m serious. Dead serious.”

  “Where would I work?”

  “You can work from home. You can work wherever you want.”

  “Where do you work?”

  Lyric told her she was based in Tennessee, but with all she did, she spent most of her time traveling. “I’ve been thinking about moving to Colorado for quite some time now.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yep.”

  “I might have a place you can stay.”

  Blythe’s parents had a rental house in Palmer Lake that had recently become vacant. She and her dad were supposed to get it ready for the next tenant. She wouldn’t have been able to afford to move in by herself, but maybe with Lyric, they could swing it.

  Blythe would have to see if she could work at the tea house and for RodeoChat at the same time, but why not give it a try?

  “So what’s the job pay anyway?”

  Blythe called her mom and told her she’d be bringing Lyric down to their place for lunch, and that they wanted to talk about renting the house by the lake.

  “We have to be back in Denver by seven though,” Lyric overheard her tell her mother.

  “You’re goin’ back tonight?”

  “I have a job to learn, don’t I?”

  Lyric high-fived her. “Yep, you sure do.”

  ***

  Billy had just taken a drink of water when he saw Blythe walk by. She wasn’t close enough to them that Jace would necessarily see her. He started to cough and Jace smacked him on the back.

  “You all right?”

  “Yeah, went down the wrong way, thanks.”

  What the hell was she doing back here? Last night Renie told him that she wanted to get away from Jace and Tucker. Now she was back? She was a pain in the ass, that Blythe. Billy hoped to hell Jace rode before he discovered she was here. And where was the twin? Was he here tonight? Jesus, he was starting to feel like damn babysitter for these Rice boys.

  ***

  Tucker was sitting in the box waiting for the rodeo to start. Billy told him Liv and Ben would be coming again tonight, and Renie would be coming with them. No one expected Blythe to come along, so there was an extra seat he was welcome to.

  He pulled out his sketchbook when the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He looked up and saw her. She was back. This was an interesting development.

  She was with the girl from the night before. Blythe had introduced them, but now he couldn’t remember what her name was.

  He wondered if Blythe had actually gone home at all. The girl disappeared and no one saw her again, right after Blythe disappeared. It seemed obvious what had happened.

  It looked like the two of them were chatting up a couple of cowboys. He watched as Blythe pulled out a notepad. The girl was talking to her, and Blythe seemed to be taking down everything she was saying.

  Tucker sketched her doing it.

  The cowboys left, but the girl kept talking. And Blythe kept writing. Soon two more cowboys walked up and the process began again.

  “Do you know who that lady is?” Tucker asked a guy sitting in the row behind him.

  “Where?”

  Tucker pointed up to where they were now seated, looking as though they were in an intense conversation with two men. Blythe was still writing.

  “Yeah, that’s Lyric Simmons. She hosts RodeoChat. She posted somethin’ on Twitter earlier sayin’ she be here tonight with her new sidekick. Guess that’s her. She’s got a good head on her shoulders, that Lyric.”

  First he and Jace argued about Blythe, but finally, they came to an agreement. They decided to back off. Neither of them would pursue her. They’d give her some time to breathe. They both admitted they’d been coming on way too strong.

  Now that she was here, Tucker wondered if he’d be able to keep up his end of the deal. He wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and carry off—caveman-style. He laughed to himself at the thought.

  He looked up again, and she was looking straight at him. He tipped his hat, and she looked away. This would be fun, to see how Blythe reacted to being ignored.

  ***

  “Did he see me?” she asked Lyric.

  “Yep.”

  “Is he heading this way?”

  “Nope. He’s just sitting there. Looks like he went back to whatever he was doing before he saw you.”

  “Interesting. Maybe he got the message. I don’t want anything to do with him or his brother.”

  “Careful what you wish for, I always say.”

  “What about you Lyric? You think they’re so hot, why don’t you go after one of
’em?”

  “Don’t you think that hasn’t crossed my mind. I’m gonna take a little step backwards and wait and see how this thing with you plays out. Then…who knows? That Jace Rice is mighty fine. You’ll get no argument from me about that.”

  “What about Tucker?”

  “Girl, there isn’t a woman with eyes who wouldn’t see that Tucker’s your man. You haven’t figured it out yet, but he’s it.”

  Blythe was stunned. It was obvious? That obvious? He made her heart beat faster, absolutely. But in the long run, she wasn’t sure she could deal with all the drama. She laughed.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Too much drama with Tucker. If you knew me better, you’d see the irony.”

  “I can only imagine. Okay, back to work. We have to figure out a way for me to interview Billy Patterson without you getting involved.”

  “Renie will be here later, she can set it up.”

  “Perfect. Now, let’s make a game plan for the rest of the week.”

  Blythe had her laptop out and was posting day sheets from some of the rodeos, and results from others. Lyric told her she didn’t need to worry about her lack of rodeo knowledge and she’d been right. So far, it hadn’t mattered. It would in the future, when Blythe was ready to take over some of the interviews, but until then, there was plenty she could do to help.

  When the announcement came over that the rodeo was about to begin, Blythe couldn’t believe it. She’d been here two hours already, and it seemed more like minutes.

  “I love it already,” she told Lyric.

  “I can tell. You’re so focused.”

  Yep, she hadn’t thought about Tucker or Jace since she turned her computer on.

  “Hey, I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” said Renie. Tonight she had Willow with her, who was dressed like a little cowgirl.

  “Oh my gosh,” said Lyric. “Is this Billy’s daughter?”

  “This is our daughter, her name is Willow,” answered Renie.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it Renie.”

  “It’s okay. Very few people know she isn’t my biological daughter and we want to keep it that way. When she’s old enough, we’ll tell her about her mama, but until then, I’m the only mama she’s got.”

  “I like that, you’re a good mom Renie.”

  “Thanks Lyric. I appreciate it. Won’t be too long before Willow has a little brother or sister, will it baby?”