Running a comb through his hair, he made a mental note to stop at a barbershop on his next walk around with Rose. He didn’t want to take any ribbing from the TV announcers when they got a gander at his longish hair. They loved making comments about hair and tattoos, feeling that all cowboys must fit a certain mold.
A shot of adrenaline coursed through him whenever he thought of riding bulls. The next event on the circuit would be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and it was scheduled this coming Saturday.
Just six days away.
He had to go. If he wanted to keep up his ranking, he had to compete.
Then he had to win the Finals.
Then he would retire.
This chain of events would shore up his career plan to be a TV announcer for the PBR events. He wanted to do special interviews with the riders and the stock contractors along with the sports medicine doctors, wives and fiancées and whoever else would be of interest to the fans.
He was approaching thirty, and bull riding was a sport for the young. Because he couldn’t picture his life without the PBR, announcing and commentating was the next best thing to riding.
He had to win the Finals and win the season to be seriously considered.
From Salmon Falls, Fort Lauderdale would be a twenty-four-hour, nonstop ride in his motor home. He could leave Thursday and be back here by Tuesday morning.
That’s just what he’d do.
He grabbed his hat from the top of the dresser and plunked it on his head. As he caught his reflection in the mirror, he realized that something was wrong with his plan.
Lisa and Rose. He had to think of them now.
That was a new twist for him. He had never had to think of anyone else before.
He’d enjoyed his first day alone with Lisa and Rose. He’d spent most of the morning trying to get the mower started and the rest of the day mowing the lawn, so it wasn’t much of a test. But so far, so good, in spite of the kitchen disaster.
This arrangement was going to be a snap.
He had to admit that he looked forward to seeing Lisa and Rose every day, and he just loved his outings with Rose. All the shop owners knew her by name, and she knew their names. The regulars at the Salmon Falls Diner looked forward to seeing her every morning, and she glowed from all the attention.
Rose was no shrinking violet.
Sully opened the door, grabbed the keys to Rick’s van off the dresser and went to find his two dinner dates.
An hour later, Sully was eating the best pizza he’d ever had. Rose was covered in it, and Lisa was dabbing at the girl’s face with a wet tissue.
“Can I play over there?” Rose asked sweetly, pointing. She looked enviously at the children playing in a ball pit inside a bright blue inflated castle.
Lisa looked over at the children yelling and laughing and hesitated. Turning to Sully, she said, “I’m afraid she’ll get hurt.”
“She’ll be fine,” he said. “What do you want to do? Go in there with her? Let the kid have some fun!”
“There’s a weight limit.” Lisa pointed to the sign by the mesh door of the inflatable. “I don’t think either of us would qualify.”
“I see you’ve thought of doing just that.” Sully chuckled. “There’s a worker stationed by the door watching the kids, and we can see Rose from here. Let her go.”
“I don’t think so,” she said.
“Lisa, let it go.”
Lisa nodded, then turned to Rose. “Be careful, sweetie.”
“I will.”
She scampered off, and Sully knew that it was a perfect time to talk to Lisa.
“I have to ride at the event in Fort Lauderdale this weekend,” he said, turning to catch a glimpse of Rose in the ball pit.
“She’s over there,” Lisa pointed, answering his unasked question. Lisa put down her slice of pizza and waved to Rose.
“Lisa, I have to go to Fort Lauderdale.”
Lisa dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “When would you fly out? Saturday? And you’d return on Sunday night?”
“I don’t fly. No way. In order for me to get on a plane, I’d have to be drunk and hog-tied. I like my boots on the ground.” He gave a thumbs-up to Rose.
Rose shouted, “Look at me jump, Aunt Lisa!” Rose did a belly flop into the bright balls. Lisa clapped and the little girl grinned.
When Rose turned to talk to a newly found friend, Lisa asked Sully, “Why don’t you fly, Mr. Adrenaline Rush Bull Rider?”
“I keep thinking of Newton’s law of gravity. Like, how do three or four tons of metal, glass and luggage take off and stay up in the sky?” Sully waved when he saw Rose looking at them.
“Do you want the technical answer to that?” Lisa asked.
“I wouldn’t believe you anyway.” He grinned. “That’s why I bought a motor home—so I can drive to events. I plan on leaving Thursday for Fort Lauderdale, and I’ll be back on Tuesday.”
“Are you asking me or telling me, Sully?” She clapped as Rose did a belly flop into the balls.
“I’m not used to asking anyone for permission, so I guess I’m telling you.” He laughed as Rose scrambled to stand and didn’t quite make it.
Lisa crossed her arms in front of her chest and sat back in her chair, looking at Sully for the first time since they’d started talking. “We knew this day would come, didn’t we?”
He nodded. “I’ll go to Florida, and in exchange I’ll let you fly somewhere.”
Lisa turned back to Rose. “You’ll let me fly? Let me?”
Sully shook his head. This wasn’t going right at all. “Did I put my boot in my mouth?”
“Try both boots.”
Sully pushed his hat back with a thumb. Most of the time Lisa reminded him of his second grade teacher, Mrs. Moth. The only thing she was missing was a ruler ready to crash down on his knuckles.
“You know what I’m trying to say, Lisa,” he said.
“Let me backtrack a moment, please.” She cleared her throat. “You stuck me with both sets of parents while you disappeared with Rose for most of the day every day of their visit. The rest of the time you hid in your motor home. I’m going stir-crazy.”
“Sorry about the stir-crazy part.” He nodded. “And you’re absolutely right. Sorry about abandoning you, but our mothers insisted on teaching you how to cook.”
“And both of our fathers enjoyed the spectacle,” she snapped.
He supposed he had unconsciously—or maybe consciously—stuck her with them all, but he’d had to get out of there. He was used to peace and quiet and solitude, for the most part.
When he was parked at one of the arenas and wanted company, all he had to do was walk out the door of his RV. Most of the other bull riders were there in their motor homes or truck campers, too. They’d all pitch in for potluck meals, and most of the time they’d all sit out in lawn chairs and talk until it was time to get ready for the event. Sometimes, it was like one big tailgate party and he could jump right into that. But most of the time, it was quiet.
A loud squeal came from the direction of the ball pit and both of them stood, searching for Rose. She was rolling around in the colorful balls, and Sully wished that he’d brought his camera.
“So, I’d like a change of scenery and want to get out of the house for a while,” Lisa said. “Here’s the deal. You can go to the bull riding on two conditions.” She sat back down.
He met her gaze. This was even worse than second grade at Mountain View Grammar School with Mrs. Moth. He slowly sat down.
“I’m listening,” he said, dreading her conditions already. She held up two fingers, just like Mrs. Moth. “One, I get two flights with you taking care of Rose.”
“Agreed.” That was easy.
“And two, Rose and I go with you to Fort Lauder
dale.”
He pointed to his chest. “Didn’t I just rant about how I don’t fly?”
“We’d all go in your motor home. And we’ll make it a week-long trip. It would be the perfect opportunity for all of us to get to know one another—to bond, so to speak.”
He fished for the words, and with his mouth flapping, he probably looked like a freshly caught trout. Rose would love the trip, but he wondered how he and Lisa would get along in such cramped quarters.
“Us? Together for a week in my small motor home? Wouldn’t you and I kill each other?” he asked.
“Perhaps.” Lisa laughed, and he liked when she did that. As far as he was concerned, she didn’t laugh enough, but he wouldn’t count that against her just yet. She’d just lost her sister. Still, on the handful of occasions when they’d met in the past, she seemed to sit in judgment of him—and she appeared to find him lacking.
Granted, most of those occasions were party times—Rick’s bachelor’s party, the Super Bowl, Rick and Carol’s wedding, Rose’s christening—and he loved to party. Still, she didn’t have to seem so prim and proper all the time.
Did she ever have fun?
“Uncle Sully, Aunt Lisa, look at me!” Rose shouted.
They both looked as their niece jumped into the balls for the hundredth time. Lisa clapped and Sully whistled loudly and shrilly as if he were calling a bull for dinner.
“Sully.” Lisa inhaled deeply, and he braced himself for what she was going to say. “I think I’m going to put my name on the list for private charters for now instead of working a regular schedule with Cardinal Global. Private charters are on an as-needed basis, and JFW Aviation flies out of Albany, so that’s convenient to Salmon Falls and totally doable.”
He breathed a little easier. “Sounds like a good idea.”
“That’s what I was thinking. It’ll work out better for Rose.”
“I really appreciate that, Lisa. I do.” It was a totally nice and unexpected concession on her part. He’d do his best to reciprocate.
She nodded. “So, what about my idea of all of us traveling together to Fort Lauderdale?”
He paused, his hands itching for his rope and the cement statue so he could weigh the pros and cons more thoroughly. “Let’s do it,” he blurted.
Lisa held out her hand, and they shook. As his rough and calloused hand closed around hers, he decided that he liked her style. Keep everything businesslike, negotiable, but do the best they could do for Rose.
He looked over yet again at Rose jumping on the balls, her face red with laughter, her hair wet from the exertion. She was having a great time, and maybe for a while, she’d forget that she’d lost her mommy and daddy.
In their place were Aunt Lisa and Uncle Sully—pale substitutes for her parents.
He knew that he and Lisa would do their best to raise Rose. Yes, he made a slight blunder not asking Lisa if he could ride at the Fort Lauderdale event, but for heaven’s sake, he wasn’t a kid having to ask a parent for permission.
Well, okay, okay. Maybe he had to stop thinking of just himself. And, yeah, once in a while he could ask Lisa to go on his walk arounds with Rose. She’d dropped enough hints.
But sometimes he had to get away from her, too. Sometimes she could be just as demanding and rigid as his parents.
Especially when she looked at him with her green eyes flashing disappointment.
He’d never have a nine-to-five job. He’d always be ready for a party or to throw one of his own. He’d make sure that Rose would have a fun, happy life. Lisa could take care of the blah, boring stuff.
Sully knew he’d never measure up to Lisa’s expectations, nor did he want to even try.
So, he was going to hit the trail with his new family, and he’d try to get along with Mrs. Moth...er...Lisa Phillips.
Chapter Three
Three days later, Sully drove his rig back from downtown Salmon Falls. He loved the little town, loved the sidewalks, the flowers, the town square. He loved that there were no chain stores or chain eateries, and how the little shops were just that...little.
He’d just left Marv’s Garage. Marv was the town’s hangout for gearheads, gossip central for men and the home to a bottomless coffeepot.
Though Sully had gone over his motor home from top to bottom, he’d figured that Marv should check it anyway.
Marv had cleared the RV and everything was ready to rock.
When he pulled up in front of the Victorian, Lisa and Rose were ready to pack the RV. Over the next hour they made several trips to the vehicle, carrying loads of clothes, food, toys, shoes and more shoes. Heaven only knew what they’d put in the small bathroom cupboard. And there were plastic containers stacked all over containing bottles and tubes of stuff.
Lisa and Rose had gone shopping, so the closets and cabinets were overflowing with their purchases. That was okay with him. He traveled light. Mostly, whatever he needed—his wrap tape, rosin, bull rope and bell, jeans, shirts, underwear, socks and a couple of riding gloves—was in his gear bag.
Last night, he’d slipped out of his room in the Victorian and sat at the kitchen table with a map of the East Coast. He plotted the route he wanted to take and flagged some campgrounds along the way. Remembering how Rick had told him that Rose loved the water, he flagged the ones with swimming areas for her. He’d programmed them into his GPS.
Lisa and Rose were back with Molly and Snowball and yet more plastic containers. Sully looked on in amazement.
“Hey, we can’t fit the whole house into this motor home, ladies. We’re camping, not moving into a mansion in Beverly Hills.”
Lisa chuckled. “This is the last load—well, except for more food.”
“We bought hot dogs. And stuff for sloppy joe’s,” Rose announced to him. “And beans in a can...for you. Aunt Lisa said that cowboys like beans.”
Sully looked at Lisa. “Beans, huh?” He winked at Rose. “Well, your aunt was right. I do like beans...in a can.”
As a matter of fact, they’d already loaded in a supply of microwaveable foods—beans, hot dogs, chicken and TV dinners.
Since the burned meatloaf incident, Lisa had given the oven in the house a wide berth, like it was a Brahma ready to charge at her, but the microwave was her pet.
He had both in the motor home.
Rose looked up at him with brown eyes, the color of his brother Rick’s. “When are we going to see Mickey Mouse?”
Huh? There wouldn’t be any time for that! He raised an eyebrow at Lisa. “We’ll leave as soon as Aunt Lisa is ready.”
“I just need to lock up the house, and that’s it,” she said. Her face was flushed, maybe from slogging everything, but Sully liked to think that she was excited to go on the trip.
That would be a change for her—being excited about something.
She dropped an armload of groceries on the table. “You could have helped, you know.”
“I was securing everything,” he said. “Can’t have all those plastic boxes flying around.”
“I’ll do it. I’ll do everything.” She rolled her eyes, turned and left the RV.
What was her problem?
He shrugged it off, hoping that everything would go well on this trip. If it did, maybe he could convince her to travel to the next stop on the bull riding circuit.
He’d have to get through this trip to Florida first.
Lisa didn’t seem to be the camping type, although traveling in a motor home was a step up from camping. He thought of camping as backpacking or pitching a tent. A motor home was luxury camping.
But he still wondered how he and Lisa would get along. They were superficially being nice to one another for the sake of Rose, but Sully knew that underneath their façade they were one word away from an argument.
But slowly Li
sa was growing on him. He saw how sad she was over losing her sister. She’d sit on the garden bench and stare endlessly at the note from Carol and Rick, still not opening it.
Sometimes, he’d wanted to sit next to her and say a couple of comforting words, but then he decided that his sympathy wouldn’t be welcome. Instead, he’d rope the statue, think and watch her out of the corner of his eye, pretending he didn’t know she was crying.
He liked how she read books to Rose. She pointed to the pictures, asking her questions, and got her to make up her own stories.
He liked how she tried to cook, too. He saw the recipes she’d printed out from the Young Cooks website. Basic stuff. He supposed he ought to roll up his sleeves and do some cooking—he didn’t mind at all—but he didn’t want to seem like a know-it-all. She was doing fine.
Lisa climbed up the steps of the RV. “I think we’re ready to go now. Oh-nine-thirty hours. Just as scheduled.”
He didn’t remember insisting on a time or a schedule.
“Then let’s roll! Everyone buckle up.” He pointed to the table with bench seats. “You can sit there, or someone can sit in the copilot’s seat.”
Lisa slid into the bench seat and Rose slid in opposite her. They both clicked on their seat belts.
He guessed that he’d be traveling without a copilot.
Nice and quiet. That was the way he liked it. Right?
* * *
This isn’t a bad way to travel, Lisa thought as she tucked Rose into bed. She liked how the sides of the bed/kitchen table formed a barrier and secured Rose from rolling off. Traveling with a bathroom was another good perk.
But it still didn’t beat flying.
Her cell phone rang, and she looked at the caller. It was her friend Luann at JFW Aviation. She was in charge of booking charters.
Her heart began to race and the blood started zinging through her veins at the thought of flying again. It had been too long.
“Hi, Luann! Got something for me?”
“Yeah, I do. I have a charter of high rollers going from Albany to Vegas. This would be perfect for you since you’re somewhat near Albany already. It’s just a quickie. You’ll be back in three days.”
Lassoed Into Marriage Page 3
