Food began to be passed around the tables that were aligned in a U-shape to accommodate us all. Tucked in the corner, Leah and I ate and listened to stories and conversations that naturally took over the entire room. I noticed Jesse and Shannon exchanging glances, and when Jesse stood, I had a feeling what was about to happen.
“Hey, everybody, if I can have your attention,” he said.
“You have the floor,” Cassidy said, taking a big swig of his beer.
“Well, we weren’t going to say anything just yet, but since everyone’s here…” Jesse began. Shannon stood up beside him, pulling her shirt tight around her belly.
“We’re pregnant!” she said, and the room erupted in cheers.
“I wondered why you didn’t want any wine!” Annabelle said, laughing. “Congratulations!”
“Ain’t that a son of a bitch,” the normally quiet and reserved Boone said. “Youngest one in the bunch and the first to carry on the family name.”
“Well, I’ll be,” Cassidy said. “I think this deserves a toast.”
He reached behind him to the liquor cabinet, but Boone put a hand on the door and shook his head.
“Nah, not that stuff. The good stuff.”
“That is the good stuff, Boone,” Cassidy said.
“No, that’s the expensive stuff,” he said. “I mean the good stuff.”
“You don’t mean…” Cassidy began. Boone simply nodded, then took off around the table into the recesses of the house.
“He doesn’t,” I said.
“Apparently, he does,” Cassidy said.
“What?” Leah asked. “What does he have?”
Boone came back in with three large clear bottles. Each one simply had a crude drawing of an apple pie on them. Boone was grinning like a maniac.
“Since this is the announcement of a new line of Montgomerys, I thought it only fitting to open a few bottles of the best damn moonshine in Montana,” he said.
“How in the world did you get that much of Old Man Farnsworth’s Apple Pie?” Wade asked incredulously. “He won’t sell it. I’ve tried.”
“I did him a few favors years ago,” Boone said. “He always repays me with a bottle. I’ve been saving them for something special. Since we got all of us here, a new Montgomery coming and our boy Colt finally found himself a good woman, well, I can’t think of a better excuse.”
“Hear, hear,” Cassidy said, pulling out small glasses and passing them around the table.
The moonshine lived up to its reputation, tasting almost exactly like apple pie and going down smooth with a punch. I turned and grinned at Leah, whose smile was infectious. She was having fun, and it meant the world to me that she was. I was beginning to realize a lot of my apprehension about coming back to the ranch wasn’t the ranch at all. It wasn’t even my memories of Dad. It was that I never believed I would have someone to share it with, and because of that, I didn’t want to remind myself of it all the time. But sitting there at dinner with Leah leaned into my shoulder, minding my ribs that were still on the mend, I felt like for once this was home.
“Golly,” Boone said as he downed a glass of the moonshine and shook his head. “Do you remember when Dad brought back a bottle of this stuff, Cass?”
“I do,” Cassidy said, nodding. I turned my head on its side and looked at him.
“I never heard this story,” I said.
“Oh lord,” Boone said, laughing. “We were, what, ten, eleven?”
“I was eleven, you were ten,” Cassidy said, trying to repress a smile.
“Colt, you couldn’t have been more than five or six,” Boone said. “Jesse and Sawyer weren’t even born yet. Anyway, Pop came home with a bottle of this stuff for him and Mama. He sat it up on the dining-room table and walked away, and me and Cass stumbled onto it.”
“Oh no.” Leah laughed.
“Oh yeah,” Cassidy said.
“Yup,” Boone continued. “Cassidy saw it and saw the little apple pie drawing and said ‘its apple juice!’” Laughter filled the room as I pulled Leah in tight. “So, I went and got us a couple of glasses and brought them to him, and we were just going to have ourselves a little drink, right? Well, Cassidy went and poured himself a glass full all the way to the top, and before I could pour any of mine, he was already drinking it.”
Cassidy had his head in his hands, shaking it as his shoulders went up and down in laughter.
“He drank Farnsworth’s moonshine at eleven years old?” Wade asked, laughing himself. Seeing Wade laugh was so rare I wanted to whip out my phone and take a picture.
“He did,” Boone continued. “Dad came in the room just as he finished his glass and I had started pouring mine. Boy, he lit into Cass like you wouldn’t believe. Then Mama came in and told him to lay off, that he was just a curious little boy.”
“How mad was he?” I asked Cassidy. I feared the answer and was surprised when he looked at me with a grin on his face.
“Oh, he was plenty mad at first. Then he thought it was hilarious. I was drunk as a skunk in about five minutes, and then sicker than a dog. He wasn’t mad at me, and he never mentioned it again except to ask if I wanted a sip when he had some. Every time he did that, I thought I’d throw up.”
Hearing stories about Dad being silly or pranking the older brothers brought back memories I had put away a long time ago. Memories I locked away because they hurt. They hurt because I always compared them to how he treated me at the end. But sitting there with my brothers, I was able to let go of a lot of that and just enjoy the stories of Dad when he was still him.
Soon, talk moved on from Dad stories and on to various discussions within the group. Sawyer made mention of Roy Hayes, and Cass and I both bristled. It was Jesse who broke the tension, joking about him and his defeat at the bar. Apparently, the locals had begun talking about it quite a lot, and Tommy was getting nicknamed “Spartacus” for standing up for me. I made mention that Cass should invite him to the next family dinner when we were all together and he agreed before going back into joking about Roy and his ineptitude.
As dinner wound down, I made to stand and take my plate into the kitchen, but Garrett waved me off. He grabbed my plate and clapped my arm.
“No excess moving around for you, Captain Ribcage,” he joked. “I can take care of this.”
With that, he grabbed my dishes and Leah’s and headed into the kitchen. As he left, Cassidy returned and sat down near me, smiling. Pouring another glass of the strong moonshine, he handed one to me and Leah and then poured a small one for himself.
“So, what’s your next move?” Clayton said from behind him. He had come over to grab his own moonshine glass. “You sticking around Green Valley for a bit?”
I exchanged a look with Leah and shook my head. “No, I think we have a bit more adventure left on the road,” I said. “Though, I think it’s pretty safe to say you will be seeing a little more of me, of us, than you used to.”
“Good deal,” Clayton said and clinked his glass against mine. “It’s good to have you back, brother.”
“It’s good to be back,” I said.
It was. For the first time in my life, I felt a pull to come back to the ranch one day and stay for good. Maybe raise a family with Leah on our own plot and make some cousins for Jesse and Shannon’s little one. Either way, whatever was in store for me, I knew it was going to be with the girl of my dreams. Leah Lightning was going to be my woman until the end of time itself.
Epilogue
Leah
July
The heat of summer seemed to come on suddenly. The weather was mild and comfortable, but come July, the sun sizzled down and the air grew thick. It beat down on me as I rode. I always felt like Renegade and I had a special bond, that we almost became one when performing in the rodeo. But that day, the intense heat and sweat making me feel like I was adhered to the saddle through my jeans gave that a whole new meaning.
Even with the heat and the blistering sun, Renegade and I were performing at
the top of our game. He moved like lightning and it felt like I barely even had to guide him. He instinctively knew what I wanted him to do, from our basic run to the show-off demonstration that came after the barrel-racing competition.
Performing the tricks was a new part of our participation in the rodeo. It wasn’t something I ever really planned to do. Playing around with Renegade and teaching him jumps and agility exercises along with playful little tricks was just something I did to let off steam and relax when I was feeling stressed.
We started when we were still living on the farm. Then when we joined up with the rodeo, it was a way for me to deal with my emotions and get me through the more challenging times, especially before I was fully accepted in.
Recently, the head of the rodeo found me out in one of the fields near the carnival grounds at one of our stops, doing jumps and relaxing with Renegade. I thought he might be angry when he said he wanted to talk to me. After all, messing around like that could put the horse and me at risk of injury, which could end my career right when I was starting to be a real money-maker for him.
Instead, he shocked me by saying he wanted me to become one of the exhibition performances at the shows. I would still compete in barrel racing, but I would also get a chance to show off with Renegade. I could come up with my own agility performance and do some of the tricks. It would be a fun way to get the audience even more excited.
Even though he didn’t say it, I knew he was also trying to come up with ways he would be able to capitalize on it and turn the act into another income stream. I saw cheesy T-shirts splashed with images of my horse and me in my future. But I didn’t care about that. I was just excited to get to do more with Renegade. Padding my pocket with the extra pay didn’t hurt the prospect, either.
That was several weeks ago, and since then, I’d been working on planning and practicing the exhibition. Today was my first official performance of it. There were a lot of nerves after winning the race. Riding that high of the win made me want the exhibition to be even more impressive, and I worried something would go wrong or the show would just fall flat.
But within seconds of riding out into the ring, all that disappeared. The crowd cheered and laughed as we ran around and I led Renegade through the series of obstacles and tricks we practiced. Every one of them went perfectly. Just like the head of the rodeo predicted, the audience got more excited and involved by the second. They were getting riled up and wrapped up in the whole experience, which meant a lot of them would want to come back for another show.
Some might even end up as fans who followed us on the road or went to all the shows within a certain area. There were a handful of those already and it was always fun to see the familiar faces when we were in the area.
Finally, my show came to an end and the announcer shouted out my name. It made the audience thunder with applause and cheers. I couldn’t resist taking one more lap around the ring so I could wave at them before heading to the gate to go backstage.
I dismounted directly into Colt’s arms and he spun me around happily.
“That was so good,” he said.
“Really?” I asked breathlessly as he lowered me to my feet in front of him.
“Are you kidding? It was amazing. Those people out there are still going completely crazy for you.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and smiled down at me. “Not that I blame them. I’m pretty crazy for you, too.”
I kissed him and we brought Renegade to the paddock. He was hot and tired, so he was eager to be sprayed down by the hose and brushed before I settled him into his stall to eat and rest. When he was all set up and munching happily on the slices of a crisp red apple I brought him, Colt took my hand and we walked out of the paddock.
“Do you want to go back and watch the rest of the show?” I asked.
Colt looked down at me. “Do you?”
The sun had finally started to set and the sky above us was turning purple. It was my favorite time of day and I had no intention of spending it crushed into stands with hundreds of people I didn’t know. There was only one person I wanted to spend the evening with.
I shook my head. “No.”
Colt grinned. “Good.”
We looked around to make sure no one had noticed us, then stole away from the show area. On the way to the area where all the trailers were parked, we passed through a ring of food trucks set up to give the rodeo-goers a place to go in between shows and competitions to grab something to eat. Like most of the rest of the carnival, the food trucks went on the road with the carnival, so we had gotten to know the people who ran them.
Barry, the guy running the pretzel stand, leaned out of his window and waved at us. I stopped to chat with him and Colt wandered away from my side. I didn’t notice where he was going until a few moments later when he appeared at the back of the truck. The doors were open to let out more of the heat and I could see Colt’s face slide into view through the large front window.
I giggled and Barry noticed my eyes flickering toward the back of the truck. Colt was probably trying to be sneaky, but I couldn’t help the laugh as he slipped into the truck and reached into the cooler for a couple of the beers tucked in the ice.
Barry looked over at him. “Hey! What are you doing, Colt?”
Colt got up with the beers in his hand and jumped out of the back of the truck. “Run, Leah!” he yelled. “I’ll meet you in our secret hideout.”
I looked at Barry. “And by that, he means our trailer.”
We were both laughing and I wrapped up my conversation with him before heading for the trailer. Colt and I both knew Barry wouldn’t mind us having the beer. The food truck owners were known to pretty well spoil the rodeo riders. They figured they got the entertainment of watching us practice and perform and also got to hang out with us and our animals, so they should take care of us.
Most nights ended with the trucks handing out food and drinks to us anyway. Colt snatching the beer out of the cooler was just his silly style of fun.
I found him standing outside the trailer still holding the beer.
“What took you so long?” he asked.
“I had to come a different way so they couldn’t track us,” I said. “Protect our life of crime.”
He nodded, managing to keep a straight face. “Good move. You know, with hauls like this, it’s just going to be another hundred years or so before we’ve made the big time.”
“Practically spending the money already.”
Colt kissed me and we went into the trailer. The inside was cooler thanks to the air conditioner, but we tried to be conservative with the generator, so it wasn’t nearly as cool as I would like it to be. Locking the door, we cracked open our beers and headed into the bedroom. It was the coolest room of the trailer thanks to its small size, proximity to the vent, and constantly moving ceiling fan.
We kicked off our boots and peeled off our jeans. It felt good to get the tight denim off my skin and feel the cooler air on me. Bringing our beer with us, Colt and I climbed onto the bed and flopped down on the pillows. We kept a fresh sheet spread out over the blanket just for such occasions. This way, we could relax without getting the remnants of the rodeo and our sweaty day all over the bed.
The fan was directly above us and we both tilted our faces up toward it to try to get as much of the cooling effect as possible.
“It’s so damn hot,” Colt complained. “Why is it so hot?”
“Because it’s July, babe,” I said. “Tends to be hot.”
“Not in Australia,” he said. “July is winter there.”
“Is it cold in Australia during the winter?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but I think so,” he said.
I took a sip of my beer. “Then let’s go rodeo in Australia.”
“But then it would be hot on Christmas,” he said.
“No, we’d come back here,” I said.
“So, we’d travel to the cold during both seasons,” he said. “We’d be the reverse of snowbird
s.”
“Pretty much.”
He nodded. “I could get down with that.”
We lay there for a few moments and I waited for the cool of the trailer to sink in, but I still felt sticky.
“It really is so freaking hot,” I said.
Colt looked over at me. “But it’s not too hot.”
He waggled his eyebrows up and down and I laughed. Setting his beer down on the small table beside the bed, he rolled over on top of me and pinned me down. I took off his hat and put it on.
“It’s not too hot,” I said, forcing my voice to go down deep so I could mimic Colt.
He laughed. “Is that supposed to be sexy?”
“Of course,” I said. “What wouldn’t be sexy about me impersonating you while I’m grimy and sweaty?”
He laughed and took the hat off my head, tossing it to the side. I gasped, pretending I was horrified by having the hat taken, but Colt didn’t care. He reached down and tickled me, making me squeal and laugh.
His head tucked down and he kissed the curve of my neck and shoulder, nuzzling me. Colt moved his mouth over and pretended he was trying to use his teeth to open up the buttons on my shirt. I laughed and he slipped his hand up, opening the buttons, then moving the fabric aside with his mouth so he could kiss my chest.
I reached for the buttons on his shirt and opened them, running my hands over his muscled chest. Our mouths nipped at each other and our tongues briefly tangled. As we undressed and explored each other with our hands and mouths, it was sexy and playful at the same time. I found myself going back and forth between moaning at his touch and giggling as we tumbled and played together.
I managed to flip Colt over onto his back and sprawled out on top of him, savoring the way his skin felt against mine. I looked down into his face and ran my hand along the curve of his jaw.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you,” he replied.
Outside, the sky went dark as night fell on yet another perfect day spent in the saddle.
His Sexy Smile Page 23
