Boots and Buckles

by Myla Jackson

  And what about Sam? She’d pushed him into a threesome he obviously hadn’t felt comfortable with. But he’d agreed to it, though he’d seemed awkward and a little uncomfortable with another man in the room. He hadn’t even come. Now that he’d engaged in a ménage with her, did she owe him her love ever after? She barely knew him, but what she did know was that he would be loving and caring. She feared she’d used him to keep some distance between her and Grant.

  For three years, she’d promised to never fall in love with another rodeo cowboy. They had a history of love-’em-and-leave-’em that had bitten her before.

  But if she let Grant walk out this time, he may never come back. Did she want to let him go? Would fear stand in her way of possibly having the love of her life?

  “Mona, honey?” Charli Sutton rested a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  Mona shook her head. “No. I’m not okay.”

  “You don’t have to dance tonight. The crowd will be just as happy with two girls as three.”

  “No. I need the money, or I’ll lose my business.”

  “Hear that, Kendall?” Charli said. “We need to dance extra sexy tonight. We need to rake in the tips.”

  “Mona, you can have my share of the tips,” Kendall said. “I’d planned on using the money to buy Ed a new barbeque grill. But if it’s between keeping my favorite hairdresser and a grill, the money’s yours.”

  “Mine too, for that matter,” Charli added. “Can’t have you going out of business. You’re the only one who knows how to cut my hair.”

  Mona wiped away the tears and smiled at her friends. “No, really. I’ll be fine. I’ve got just about enough to make the down payment for the loan. Tonight and tomorrow night will round it off and I’ll be good.” With a sigh, she pushed to her feet and hugged Charli and Kendall. “But thanks.” The women at the Ugly Stick Saloon pulled together when someone needed help. It was a legacy Audrey had started and continued to perpetuate.

  She wished they could help her decide what to do about Grant and Sam, but she figured she’d have to make that choice on her own. She’d have no one else to blame if her world came crashing down around her.

  “Grant, I’ve been thinkin’.” Sam sat across the table from his partner at PJ’s Diner the following morning.

  “Oh, yeah?” Grant said, the first two words for the day, his hands wrapped around a coffee mug like it was a life preserver.

  “Yeah.” Sam leaned forward. “I’ve come to the conclusion that you and Mona belong together.”

  “Wish she’d come to that conclusion.” He tipped his mug and drank, then set it back on the table. “I’d about decided she’d rather be with you.”

  “Seriously. The only way you’re going to convince her is to show her how serious you are about the relationship.”

  “I thought that’s what I did last night. I let you be a part of making love with her.”

  “Like you said, I think she’s using me.”

  “She’s not that mean-spirited.”

  “I know that,” Sam said. “But I don’t think she realizes she’s using me against you.”

  “How so?”

  “She’s afraid to love you again. Apparently you hurt her really bad last time you came to town.” Sam’s gut twisted. He’d grown fond of Mona himself, and the thought of anyone hurting her didn’t sit well with him. “You screwed up so royally you’ve got to do something big to show her you mean to stay this time.”

  Grant turned his mug around and turned it again. “And if I do something really big and she still refuses to believe me, then what?”

  “You walk away.” Sam shrugged. “I’m not an expert on love. All I know is that if you leave without trying, you’ll regret it the rest of your life.” He stared hard at his friend. “And frankly, I don’t want to be the one to have to pull your ass out of the bottom of a whiskey bottle.”

  Raising his hand, Grant said, “I’m not going there again. I promised.”

  “Yeah, and you haven’t been turned down by Mona yet. And hopefully you won’t be. But you gotta come up with something that will absolutely convince her you mean to be with her for the long haul.”

  Across the table, Grant sat for several long moments in silence. “I don’t deserve you as a friend.”

  “No, you don’t.” Sam smiled. “But I’m stuck with you.”

  “I should have been upfront with you. I knew you liked her and wanted to get to know her better. But seeing you two together nearly killed me.”

  “You could have said something in the very beginning.”

  “I know.” Grant stared down at his coffee. “All I can say in my defense is that I’ve loved her for a long time, and I know, without a doubt, she’s the one for me.”

  “Then don’t screw up this time.” Sam glared at him, then his brows eased up. “I haven’t known her that long. You have. I guess I’ll get over it. All your talk of buying a ranch kinda got to me.”

  Grant nodded. “Yeah, and the rodeo has a way of making a man old before his time.”

  “But I’m not as old as you are. Guess I can wait a little longer before I settle down.” Sam grinned. “I think I’ve always known Mona’s heart was somewhere else. Never thought it would be with my no ’count partner.” He stuck out his hand. “No hard feelin’s.”

  “None here.” Grant gripped Sam’s hand and shook it. Then he slapped his palm on the table. “I know what I have to do, and I’ve been wanting to do it anyway for a long time.”

  “Tell me.”

  “It involves you gettin’ a new team ropin’ partner.”

  “You’re not goin’ back to Dalton, are you?”

  “No way in hell.” Grant pushed to his feet. “Think you can convince Mona to come to the rodeo just before I do the saddle bronc ridin’?”

  “I’ll do my best. If I have to hogtie and kidnap her, she’ll be there.”

  “Good. I have to go get ready. I ride around one in the afternoon. Wave a red bandana or something so I can pick you out of the crowd. I need to know if she came.”

  “Will do.” Sam stood and clapped his hand on his partner’s back. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks.” Grant hugged Sam. “I’ll need it.”

  Grant practically ran out the door.

  Sam sat back in the booth, thinking through what he had to do in order to get Mona to the rodeo on time.

  “I hear you might be lookin’ for a new team ropin’ partner.” The woman Grant had left the bar with two nights before slipped into the seat across from him and stuck her hand out. “Tacey Reese.”

  “Sam—”

  “Whitefeather,” she finished. “I know.”

  “I’m not lookin’ for a new partner.”

  “Givin’ up rodeoing?”

  “Nah. Just not lookin’ yet.”

  “If you change your mind, I’m pretty good. All you gotta do is give me a shot. I’ll prove it to you.”

  Sam glanced across the table. “You got a lot of balls asking before we’ve officially announced anything.”

  “Had a long conversation with Grant the other night.”

  “Was that all you had with him?” Sam glared at Tacey, his loyalties still with Mona.

  She raised her hands. “Let me tell you, I tried to have a lot more. He wasn’t buying it.”

  Sam nodded slowly. “Been a crazy couple of days in Temptation.”

  “You’re tellin’ me.” She leaned forward, her elbows on the table, her long sandy-blonde hair swinging down around her shoulders, her gray eyes shining. “So what are you going to do to get Mona to the rodeo?”

  “Not sure yet.”

  “She has to have some friends who’d help run interference. You need to contact them first and get them on board.”

  “Good idea.” Sam smiled. “So what’s your story? Why help someone you don’t even know?”

  “I might look like a tomboy and ride as well as any man, but deep down, I’m just a silly romantic.” She shrugged. “So sue m
e.”

  “If all goes as planned, I’ll be at loose ends tonight. You have plans?”

  “Depends on what you have in mind? If it’s shoveling horse shit, I get enough of that with my own horse.”

  “Feel like dancing at the Ugly Stick?”

  “Can I lead?”

  Sam laughed. “You bet.”

  “Then let’s get your plan rollin’.” She rose and held out her hand. “I have a new dress to buy before tonight.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Mona yawned and turned the sign in the front of her shop to Open. She hadn’t slept a wink the night before. Today was the last day Grant would be performing in the rodeo. He had no need to stay for the last day once his event was over. He’d pack up his trailer, and he and Sam would move on to the next town.

  Her heart heavy and no nearer to making a decision, Mona grabbed her broom and swept the clean floor.

  The bell over the door rang announcing Bunny’s entrance. “I’m going to have to buy you a new broom by the end of the day if you keep that up.”

  “I have to sweep.”

  “Man troubles still? I heard you, Grant and Sam had the costume room to yourselves for a while at the Ugly Stick last night.”

  Her cheeks heating, Mona swept harder. “Gossip spreads like wildfire around here.”

  Bunny hugged her, forcing her to stop. “I think it’s great. Two men can be wonderful.”

  “If you’re in love with both of them.”

  “And you aren’t?” Bunny stood out of the way of the swishing broom.

  “Yes…no… Oh, I don’t know.” The broom moved faster.

  “Honey, you have to figure it out.”

  “I know!” Mona stopped sweeping, rolled her shoulders and went back to it. “I just don’t know if I can put my heart out there again. What if Grant leaves again and doesn’t come back for three more years?”

  “Grant, huh? What about Sam?” Bunny sat at the appointment counter, trailing her hand over the appointment book. “Is he an option?”

  “I thought he was, but now I don’t know.”

  Bunny jumped up. “Well, honey, you better decide soon. I’m sure those men aren’t going to wait around for you forever.” She hurried toward the door. “Sorry, I just remembered, I have to get some orders out. See you later.”

  Mona stopped sweeping to stare at the door. Bunny usually stuck around, listened and offered advice when Mona was troubled. And she really needed some help right then.

  With no one to talk out her problems with, Mona swept, hoping it would clear away the fog of indecision.

  The phone rang. Mona answered and it was Mrs. Smith, her noon appointment, calling to reschedule. Her dog was sick and she had to take it to the vet.

  A few minutes later, Jodi Hughes called to reschedule her one o’clock, claiming she couldn’t get off work because someone else had called in sick.

  Two reschedules in one day wasn’t unheard of, but when the third and fourth customer called to reschedule the two and three o’clock hours, Mona wondered if the rest of Temptation had heard of her indiscretion in the back of the Ugly Stick and they were boycotting her business. Unfortunately, she had been counting on that money to help pay the bills and put toward the down payment she needed in two weeks.

  She was in the shampoo room at the back of the shop, sweeping corners she’d missed the night before, when the bell over the front door jangled.

  “I’ll be right with you, Mrs. Biedel,” she called out. At least her nine-thirty hadn’t called to reschedule.

  “It’s not Mrs. Biedel, it’s me, Joseph Spillman.”

  “Oh.” Mona had counted all her tips and the money she’d squirreled away over the past few weeks and was a little less than one hundred dollars short.

  She rounded the corner and stopped.

  Mr. Spillman had a pained expression on his face. “The shop owner had a death in the family and the property needs to be moved. I asked him for another two weeks, but I’m afraid he’s ready to take the offer from the other buyer today, if you’re not ready to commit.”

  Commitment had been her problem all along with Grant. When she was ready to commit, he wasn’t. Now he was ready and she was waffling. The shop had been another commitment dilemma as well. When the past shop owner had asked if she wanted to buy it, she’d waffled, not certain she was ready for the responsibility. Now that she was, she was short almost a hundred dollars. A measly hundred dollars.

  “I’d planned on stopping by to see you tomorrow. I’ll have the money for you then.”

  “I need it today.”

  Mona’s heart plummeted. “They won’t wait one day?”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Daley.”

  “If you could wait for a moment, I’ll run and get my money.” At least what I have. Oh God. Oh God. It wasn’t going to be enough.

  Mona left Mr. Spillman in the shop and ran up the back steps to her apartment, her stomach sick at the thought of losing the building she’d put so much work into to make it the pretty little beauty shop it was. She pulled out the rooster cookie jar where she’d kept the money she’d been saving. With the ceramic rooster in her hands, she ran back down the steps to the shop.

  Her pulse slamming through her veins and out of breath, she turned the jar over and emptied it on the counter, praying she’d miscounted and there’d be an extra ninety-eight dollars and twenty-five cents among the bills and change.

  As Mr. Spillman started counting, Bunny entered, the bell over the door ringing loudly in the silence. Her questioning gaze met Mona’s and she pointed at the man’s back.

  Mona nodded. “My time’s up,” she said quietly.

  “How much more do you need?” Bunny asked.

  “This cash, plus what I have in my savings account will leave me about a hundred short.”

  Bunny turned to leave. “I’ll get my checkbook.”

  “No. You have bills to pay.” Mona shook her head. “I can’t let you.”

  “You’ll pay me back. I know you’re good for it.”

  “I can’t let you. Borrowing money from friends strains a relationship, and I can’t afford to lose you now.” She touched Bunny’s shoulder. “But thanks for offering.”

  “Fine. Be that way.” Bunny left the salon, letting the door slam behind her.

  Mona’s chest squeezed. Had she offended Bunny and strained her relationship by refusing the money? A hundred dollars. She might make that in tips that night and pay Bunny back in less than twenty-four hours. Was she piling one mistake on top of another?

  Mr. Spillman continued counting.

  Mona didn’t feel a bit sorry for him having to go through the nine hundred dollars of ones, fives, tens and quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. She’d worked hard for every bill and coin.

  Five minutes into the count, Charli entered the shop, Kendall in tow. “We just stopped by to let you know that Audrey counted the tips wrong last night. She shorted you forty dollars.” Charli handed her a wad of wrinkled cash.

  Mona eyed the money without taking it. “Bunny said something to you, didn’t she?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kendall tossed the cash onto the pile Mr. Spillman was still counting. “Audrey asked us to bring it by this morning. She’d have delivered it herself, but she’s on a liquor run to Dallas with Jackson. Seems the cowboys are drinking more this year than last. Should be a good year for the Ugly Stick.”

  The bell over the door rang again and Libby burst in. “I found this twenty under a beer bottle last night at one of your tables after you left.”

  Mona laughed. “And you just happened to stop by to leave it with me?”

  “I was on my way to…” Libby glanced left then right, her gaze shooting to the door, “…the drugstore for condoms. You know the guys—always in the mood.” She winked and skipped out the door, the color high in her cheeks.

  Bunny entered, waving a twenty. “Remember the time you loaned me twenty dollars to buy groceries when I was
flat broke and going through my divorce?”

  Mona shook her head. “You paid me back.”

  “No, I didn’t.” She smiled brightly and tossed the bill on the stack of money. “But I have now.”

  “I’m not taking your money,” Mona said.

  Charli, Kendall and Bunny each planted their hands on their hips and tipped back their chins.

  Bunny spoke for all three. “It’s not our money. It’s your money and… Yes. You. Are.”

  Mr. Spillman looked up from his pocket calculator and announced. “With the money you have in your savings account at the bank, plus what you have here, you’re still eighteen dollars and twenty-five cents short.” He glanced at the women in the room, sighed and dug his wallet out of his pocket and added a twenty to the cash. “My wife would kill me if this shop closed because I was too stingy to pitch in.” He stuck out his hand. “Congratulations, the bank will approve the loan for you.”

  Mona took his hand and pulled him into a hug, her heart turning somersaults.

  Rattled by the embrace, Mr. Spillman gathered up the cash and, promising to deposit it to her account and cut a check to the real estate agent, he left the shop.

  Mona squealed and hauled the women into her arms, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I’m going to own my own building! All because of you.”

  Bunny shook her head. “You did it yourself.”

  “We’re so happy for you,” Charli said.

  “And we get to keep the best beautician this town has ever had.” Kendall laughed and danced around.

  Amid smiles and well-wishes, Kendall and Charli left soon after.

  Bunny grasped her hand one final time. “I’d stay and chat, but we both have work to do.”

  Mrs. Biedel entered the shop and Mona got started on her morning customers, finishing up all her appointments at ten minutes before eleven. Her heart was lighter and her thoughts turned to Grant and Sam more times than she cared to admit. With her entire afternoon free, she decided to close the shop and go somewhere to think about the cowboys and what she should do.