This is gonna be one heck of a thirty-one hour travel experience, and an experience I hoped I’d never have.
“Now boarding American Airlines flight thirty one twenty-three,” comes over the speaker.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” I say under my breath, doing a couple squats so I don’t get deep vein thrombosis from this marathon journey.
I feel a vibration in my carry-on purse and decide to ignore it.
I know Maverick’s been trying to call me, but I need to be strong right now. I’m doing this for us, regardless of how ridiculous that might sound in this moment. I should feel a lot better about this…but I don’t.
My mind drifts back to all the fun we had doing that cattle penning and how it felt when we qualified for today’s final…the one I’m skipping.
My. Phone. Won’t. Stop. Ringing.
I reach in my bag to turn it off, making sure not to look at it…but instead of pressing the off button apparently I take the call because I hear my mom’s muffled voice.
“Harmony!” she orders, and although I may be eighteen years old, and technically an adult, there will always be something about the sound of a parent calling your name that makes the hairs on your arms stand up straight and your back stiffen.
“Shit.”
I bring the phone to my ear. “Harmony, you answer me right now, young lady.”
“Yes, mom.”
“Good, now, we need to talk.”
“We can talk in about a day and a half, mom. I’m on my way back.”
“Oh no you’re not. You went there to be with Maverick and that’s exactly what you’re going to do.”
“I did not!” I pull the phone from my ear and stare at it.
“Don’t pretend, honey. We all know why you’re there and it wasn’t to see your brother.”
“It was.”
“Listen, where are you right now?”
“I’m about to board my flight to Auckland.”
“Where are you exactly?”
“Cheyenne Airport, literally in line to board.”
“Well you back your little hiney up and come down to the car rental.”
“Car rental?”
“Yes, look for the red Mustang at the Avis counter…your father couldn’t resist. And hurry…we can’t be late. The final starts at four this afternoon and you still have to check-in and all of that.”
“I’m not competing, mom.”
“No more excuses. We didn’t raise a quitter now get down here right now or I’ll put your father on the line.”
I exhale hard, but can’t help but smile a bit too.
“Red Mustang?”
“You can’t miss it. Look for your dad’s bald dome behind the wheel and the ear-to-ear grin on his face.”
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not bald, I’m thinning,” my dad shoots back.
“If I can get a sunburn from the reflection from your skull you’re balding.”
I hear my dad huff and I know he’s simmering and stewing now. I better get down there…don’t want to make him any angrier, plus I need to take his side. It’s how we always do it.
And my mom’s right. I’m not a quitter. It’s time…time to go get my man…back.
CHAPTER 19
Maverick
“I ain’t riding, Hank.”
“Whaddya mean! This is the moment we’ve been waiting on.”
“Yeah, the right way. This ain’t the right way. You basically pushed your sister off the team and now you want me to celebrate, along with you no less, and try to win a tainted award.”
“It’s not tainted. Are you crazy? This is the championship of the highest class…class fourteen.”
“It’s tainted the way you’re going about it and I’m not joining you. As a matter of fact I’m not even going to stand for this any longer. I’m outta here.”
I take my cowboy hat and throw it into the dirt, daring him to cross it and come any closer to me. Hell, as far as I’m concerned this whole fiasco pretty much disqualifies the both of us from even calling ourselves cowboys.
Being a cowboy isn’t just about riding horses, living off the land, lassos and cattle rustling. Being a cowboy is a way of life and when you become one it’s a badge of honor, one that you never own…you just take the knowledge and pass it down to the next generation of cowboys and cowgirls for that matter.
Hollywood tries to package up our life with movies like City Slickers and TV shows like Gunsmoke. That’s fine for general population consumption, but that’s not us. What we have can never be captured and put in a bottle, or condensed into some package made for general consumption entertainment.
And dammit if thoughts of consuming her haven’t been consuming me since the day we met.
It’s time to cowboy the F up and go get my women, guns a blazin’.
CHAPTER 20
Hank
I may be sitting on top of a horse right now, but I sure do feel a lot more like a jackass.
The crowd points and laughs at the fact that I’m the only rider on my “team.”
And it’s my own damn fault.
I tried to control this entire situation and in doing so I royally screwed up, and it cost me the trust of my best friend and my sister in the process.
Now there’s no team and there’s no Maverick and Harmony…and it’s all because of my selfishness.
“I bet he doesn’t pin a single one,” someone from the crowd yells.
“Hundred bucks if he gets one!” a drunkard yells.
“Thousand if he even gets one in front of the pen, not even inside it.”
The crowd wails and more importantly no one steps up and takes the bet.
There is absolutely zero confidence in me right now, in my skills. The whole point of this competition was for Maverick and I to show off our skills together, and now the crowd has not so subtly reminded me that without my best friend by my side there are no skills to show. Cattle penning is a team event. No way you can do it by yourself…no way.
It’s the ultimate all or nothing event, and right now I’m a whole helluva lot of nothing…alone.
“Ten seconds,” the announcer bellows out over the loudspeaker. You can even hear the laughter in his voice.
I look up and see him put his hand over the microphone. “This outta be good,” he says to his co-announcer, but even with his hand over the mic he says it loud enough that the mic picks it up a bit.
“This is gonna be the biggest shit show in the history of the Stampede and I can’t wait to watch!” another drunk guy yells, spilling peanuts on his red tank-top as he stands up to cheer.
Great, now the entire peanut gallery, literally, is seated at the modern day Roman Coliseum and they’re ready to see the slaughter, the human sacrifice…me.
What a fucking fool I was, and now I have to pay the price.
“Five seconds…”
“Five seconds to a fuck-up!” another person yells.
I steel my jaw and get pissed off as hell. Screw it. If I’m gonna be a failure I’m at least gonna try. I’m going down with the ship. I’m not hanging my hat or putting my tail between my legs and trotting off stage. This is what I deserve and I deserved to feel the pain and be reminded of what I did. Plus I hope taking my medicine, in front of the entire country and all the people watching on TV and streaming online, will help my cause when I go to apologize to Mav and Harmony…and that’s exactly what I’m going to do as soon as the worst minute of my life, which is just about to start, ends.
“Three seconds,” the announcer coughs out into the mic in-between laughs.
“Yaw!” a throaty, deep voice echoes from behind me.
“Giddy-up, Daisy!” a woman calls out from the same direction…the entrance to the ring where all eyes are now focused
What the?
The horn sounds and I feel a hard slap on my back and the gust of wind as a horse blows by me on one side and then the other.
“Let’s go!” Mav
calls out.
“That one! Over there,” Harmony yells pointing to one of the cattle with a number three on it. “I’m sending her towards you, bro!” she yells.
I pull back on the reins of my ride and my horse rises up on two legs as I turn her to the side, channeling the cattle that Harmony is already sending my way, into the pen.
“Behind ya!” Maverick yells just as I pen the first cattle. I turn and see a second coming my way and I get my horse turned and the cattle runs right into the pen behind the first.
Before I even know what’s going on, Harmony’s got the third coming my way and all I have to do is stay put.
The calf turns on a dime and head’s right into the pen.
“Time!” the announcer yells.
“Ladies and gentlemen…a new Stampede record! Seven seconds!”
The crowd goes absolutely wild as some of the other competitors complain that we cheated because Harmony and Maverick came shooting out of the gate…but it’s not cheating, if anything it puts us at a huge disadvantage.
It doesn’t matter anyway. Maverick turns and stares down the complainers, baring his teeth and that’s quickly all they have to say about that as their bodies pull back and their mouths shut.
“What took you so long?” I joke.
“What took you so long,” Maverick fires back, “too see that the three of us make one helluva team, but only when we’re together.”
I nod, not able to say much of anything to that. He’s absolutely right.
“Ladies and gentleman the winners of this year’s Calgary Stampede cattle penning championship…Maverick, Hank, and Harmony.”
“Harmony,” Maverick says, looking up at the announcer’s booth.
“Beg your pardon?” the announcer says.
“You say her name first. First, because she’s a lady and second, without her we wouldn’t even be together. She’s the glue that binds, in more ways than anyone could ever know.”
“Har-mon-y! Har-mon-y! Har-mon-y!” the crowd cheers as Maverick and I move to either side of her, taking her hands and raising them up high in the air.
I look at my sis and see the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her face in all her years. Then I look past her at Maverick just in time to see he’s got one more trick up his sleeve.
CHAPTER 21
Harmony
Maverick quickly sweeps my hand in a downward motion as he simultaneously whips his leg over the top of his horse and dismounts in between his horse and Daisy.
“Perfect timing for the gold medal presentation.”
“I don’t need gold when I’ve got my diamond,” he says looking up at me.
His free hand slides into his pocket and he whips out a tiny black box, popping off the top.
The entire crowd gasps and then falls completely silent.
“Beautiful, I knew you were the one the moment I laid eyes on you, and I always will because you always will be. We may have had a trying last twenty-four hours, but my commitment to you never wavered. If anything it only got stronger if that’s somehow possible, and it gave me the time to go out and find the most incredible diamond in the world to give to the most incredible woman in the world…you.”
I feel like I’m about to fall off Daisy.
“Will you wear this with pride? Will you wear this so the whole world knows your mine? Will you marry me?”
I open my mouth to say that one three-letter word, but before it’s even out of my mouth he’s sliding the ring on my finger.
The crowd cheers.
“Did she say yes?” the reporter asks.
“She doesn’t have to say yes. She’s always been mine,” Maverick snarls.
“Yes!” I yell to make the moment complete and the crowd absolutely goes bonkers.
I slide my leg over and slide off Daisy and into Maverick’s arms.
He holds me as if I’m as light as a feather, pulling me in for a long kiss before he sits me on top of his horse and quickly jumps on himself.
“What are you doing?”
“What every cowboy always dreams of, but I get to live it. I’m riding off into the sunset with my woman.”
“Yours,” I say.
Maverick looks at Hank who tips his hat once to me and then to Maverick before reaching out for Daisy’s reins letting us know he’ll get her to a stall safe and sound.
And safe and sound is where I’ll always be as long as Maverick’s at my side, which is exactly where he’s going to be from now on.
“Yah!” Maverick says and we take off into a gallop, out of the ring and through the tunnel and into the streets of Calgary.
Where we’ll go I don’t know exactly, but I am crystal clear when it comes to knowing where this road will take us.
A life together, of love, happiness, children and into the sunset…forever.
With my brother’s Canadian cowboy friend…but not anymore. Now, he’s mine. Mine all mine.
EPILOGUE
Harmony
One month later
I admire the mountain view as I squeeze the fresh maple syrup over my morning pancakes.
The eight-hour drive from Calgary to Nelson, here in Western Canada was more than worth it. The town is a haven for artists, writers and musicians…and soon to be a cowgirl and cowboy if Maverick is feeling the way I am about it.
“What’s the plan for today?” I ask.
“Take a dip in Kootenay Lake and then go look at a few Victorian-era homes.”
“Huh?” The bite of pancakes, which was half way up to my mouth, stalls.
“Girl, you know we’re on the same wavelength. Do you think I brought you here just to celebrate our engagement, ravish you from head to toe, and just enjoy every single second of this time, and the rest of our lives with you?”
I smile.
“Yeah, I’m absolutely going to do those things but how about we find out a way to do it here, in paradise, forever.”
“What about Hank and Suzy?” Suzy is finally back in Sweet Grass and my brother is a lot more relaxed and level-headed again. Thank god.
“What about them? We’re living for us.”
“I know, but we’re going to need someone to babysit.”
“We’ll worry about that when it happens.”
“Well…it’s time to start worrying then.”
Maverick’s entire being freezes. I swear he even stops breathing.
“You…mean…”
I nod.
He jumps up from the table so fast his knee catches the bottom with a loud thud. What would probably shatter my kneecap is not even so much as a distraction for him.
The table falls on its side, the maple syrup spilling everywhere, but Maverick is in no rush to pick it up. As a matter of fact the only thing he seems interested in picking up, is me.
He lifts me in the air, spinning me around before releasing me, only to scoop me up just as I start to fall.
“I would say you always catch me when I fall, but you never even let me fall.”
“My angel doesn’t fall. She belongs up in the clouds…always.”
Almost as quickly as I can I stiffen my neck and bring my face up to meet his, his lips crashing down on mine.
After a long embrace a few waiters come by and simply clean up the mess with no fuss, smiling the whole time.
“Sorry about the mess,” Maverick says. “I’ll reimburse you for whatever we broke and of course give you extra for the hassle. I know maple syrup isn’t a fun thing to clean.”
“It’s no problem, really. Not to eavesdrop, but I overheard what you two were saying.” One of the waiters says.
“Oh,” I say. I was lost in the moment with Maverick, but now I kind of feel like my privacy has been violated. And knowing Maverick, and I absolutely do, I’m ready for him to rip into this waiter for trying to listen in on our conversation.
But just as quickly as Maverick’s face bunches together and his now grinding teeth are exposed, the guy immediately adds a bit more dialog...whi
ch may mean the difference between him walking away from our table or being thrown.
Brother's Canadian Cowboy Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 107) Page 8
