Lassoed Into Marriage

by Christine Wenger

  “Right!”

  Lisa had an interesting conversation with Rose about bugs (some bite, some just crawl), what she’d like for lunch (pancakes and French fries), how her daddy took her to the hardware store (and it stunk like paint) and how her mother always took her to the store over there (where she got her princess dress and sparkly sandals).

  Finally, Sully walked down the sidewalk in their direction. He overexaggerated a swagger, and Lisa laughed so hard she couldn’t catch her breath. Rose jumped up and imitated him.

  Lisa hesitated. She couldn’t, could she?

  She jumped up from the bench, and the three of them did the Sully swagger all the way to the diner.

  * * *

  Sully liked it when Lisa loosened up. He would never have pictured the Ice Queen doing anything silly like she just had. Never.

  He had to stop thinking of her by that nickname. Again, he thought of last night, this morning, whatever time they had made love. He wondered what she’d do if he came into her room tonight. Would she throw him out or welcome him?

  He held the door of the diner open for them. The line of red stools at a low counter, the strong smell of coffee and grease and the booths lining the wall all screamed diner and comfort food.

  As they slipped into a booth, Rose immediately started playing with the buttons on the breadbox-size jukebox hanging from the wall.

  Sully handed her two quarters, and his niece figured out how it worked without much coaching from them.

  After the first few notes, he and Lisa both identified the song as “Blue Moon.” They sang along a bit as Rose stared at them. Then the waitress dropped off menus and rattled off the specials.

  The three of them talked and laughed until she came back to take their order.

  She stared at Sully. “Hey, aren’t you Brett Sullivan, the bull rider?”

  “Guilty as charged,” Sully said.

  “I watch you on TV. Can I have your autograph?”

  “Sure.”

  She pulled up her royal-blue Salmon Falls Diner T-shirt to expose her midriff. Lisa raised an eyebrow. Rose just stared.

  The waitress handed Sully a felt marker. “Write ‘I love you, Shannon,’ then sign it.”

  “I won’t do that. I don’t sign body parts, and I don’t say I love you to very many women. As a matter of fact, I’ve never said it.”

  He took the placemat full of colorful advertising, turned it over and signed his name, along with “Bull Riders Rule!” Then he dated it and put “Salmon Falls, NY,” under that.

  “Well, that’s cool, too.” She took the placemat. “I’ll be back for your order.”

  After she’d left, Sully rolled his eyes.

  “Have you signed a lot of body parts, Sully?” Lisa whispered as Rose returned to punching buttons on the jukebox.

  “You can’t believe what women want signed and what they want me to say. I’m up for fun like the next guy, but I have to draw the line somewhere.”

  “That was pretty classy of you not signing her...um...stomach,” Lisa said.

  Her approval meant a lot to him.

  She leaned over the table and said softly, “Did you mean the part about how you’ve never said ‘I love you’ to a woman?”

  He looked deep into her emerald eyes. She wasn’t mocking him—she was serious. “I’ve never said it to anyone I’ve been with. Not yet, anyway.”

  Lisa looked thoughtful. “I’ve never said it to any man I’ve dated, either. None of them has ever mattered that much to me.”

  “Maybe someday...” Sully said.

  “Yes. Maybe someday.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lisa helped Sully buckle Rose and Princess Mary Ann into one of the eight bucket seats of the Citation X. She’d told Luann that she wanted the Citation X for the large fuel tank, and it had been available.

  Sully buckled himself into the divan across from Rose. A table was between them for playing games or snacking. Both seats were right behind the cockpit.

  Lisa didn’t know what she could do if Sully had a meltdown other than to make him put on an oxygen mask and breathe.

  She had a portable one ready.

  “Rose, you and Uncle Sully can play games, and he can put together a puzzle with you. I can even put on a movie if you’d like.”

  “Um...” She looked up at Lisa. “Do you have the fairy movie?”

  “Oops. Sorry,” Lisa said. “I should have brought yours from home, but I forgot.”

  “That’s okay.”

  Disappointment showed on her cute little face, and Lisa felt terrible. How could she have forgotten Rose’s favorite movie?

  “I’ll play with Uncle Sully,” Rose said, brightening.

  Sully was staring down at his seat belt. “I’m not feeling that great.”

  “Breathe,” Lisa said. “This cabin is about as big as the inside of your motor home. Pretend you’re there.”

  “My motor home doesn’t fly,” Sully mumbled.

  Rose tilted her head. “Are you sick, Uncle Sully?”

  “Rosie, sweetie, I’ve never been in an airplane before.”

  “Me, either,” she said. “Do you want me to hold your hand?”

  Lisa bit her lip so as not to laugh. Here was a three-year-old trying to help a big, tough bull rider.

  The irony wasn’t lost on Sully. “I’d love for you to hold my hand.”

  “We’ll be traveling at about six hundred miles an hour, so we’ll be in Anaheim in a little more than four hours,” she said. “You can hang in there for four hours, Sully.”

  “Six hundred...what? Why did you have to tell me that?” he said, gripping the arms of the beige leather divan.

  “I thought you knew how jets work, cowboy. They go fast,” Lisa said, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.

  “You’ll be okay, Uncle Sully.”

  “And if you’re not, there’s a full lavatory in the back.” Lisa pointed to the rear of the aircraft, then put her hand on the portable oxygen tank. “And if you’re queasy, put this on.”

  Lisa took one last look at her niece’s little hand slipped into Sully’s big, calloused one.

  How she remembered his hands from the other night!

  Lisa raised her fist in a cheer. “Let’s get going to Anaheim. Right, passengers?”

  “Right!” Rose shouted.

  “And let’s hear from my other passenger. Sully? Hey, Sully? Bueller?” She mimicked the famous movie.

  “Right. Let’s go,” he mumbled, glaring at her.

  Lisa hurried to the cockpit and settled in. She got the okay from the tower to taxi to the runway.

  Her heart started to pound as it always did when she got the go-ahead to move. It wouldn’t calm down until she was at cruising altitude.

  This was the most important flight of her life because of her passengers.

  As she waited on the runway, she said a prayer and ended it by saying, “A safe flight, dear God. A safe flight for the two most important people in my life.”

  Sitting there, waiting, it hit Lisa that they—all three of them—were a family.

  * * *

  Sully couldn’t believe that he was sitting in this flying burrito about to go six hundred miles per hour. The one thing preventing him from telling Lisa to turn around was sitting across from him.

  He didn’t want Rose to think of him as a whimpering, simpering coward, which he totally was right now.

  He knew that the burrito was about to move—and fast. He knew that he might let out a scream that would break the sound barrier before the Citation X would.

  As he hyperventilated, he knew he had done the right thing by taking Rose along for this short weekend. Glen Randolph told him so. Randolph was also impressed th
at he chartered a plane and Lisa would be flying it.

  But Randolph didn’t know that on takeoff, Sully was about to pull the upholstery off the little couch he was sitting on.

  He heard Lisa’s voice over the loudspeaker. He could barely hear her over his heavy breathing.

  “Rose, Sully, sit tight. We are cleared for takeoff. This is going to be fun, Rose. Just like a ride at an amusement park.”

  This is hardly a ride, Sully thought. More like a nightmare.

  He heard the roar of the engines, and he held his breath. He knew he could hold it for eight seconds, but now he was going for the record. He’d hold it until they landed in California.

  Rose rocked in her seat. She thought this was a great adventure.

  She was young, he told himself. She didn’t know about the law of gravity yet.

  Rose reached over the table and offered her hand, and his heart melted. “It’s okay, Uncle Sully,” she said sweetly.

  It was difficult, but he pried his right hand off the seat and held hers.

  They took off from the runway, and he heard a loud “yee-haw” from the cockpit.

  He concentrated on not squeezing Rose’s hand too hard.

  Finally, they leveled off, the loud noise quieted somewhat, and he could breathe if he wanted to. He debated it.

  Rose looked out the window. “Can we see our house?” she asked.

  Sully immediately picked up on the fact that she called the big Victorian “our house.” Maybe Rose was accepting Lisa and him as her parents, or at least as her guardians.

  He turned toward the cockpit. Lisa amazed him in that she knew all about those little dials and levers and whatnot around her and even over her head. She was one smart woman.

  He forced himself to look outside. The sky was blue and there were several fluffy white clouds.

  “The clouds look good enough to eat, don’t they, Rose? They look like cotton candy.”

  Rose picked up Princess Mary Ann and pressed her against the window. “See, Princess?”

  Sully relaxed. Okay, maybe this plane thing wasn’t so bad. Actually, it was like sitting in a chair. He could hardly tell that they were moving unless he looked out the window. Even looking outside wasn’t that bad. It was kind of...nice.

  “Lisa? Can I get up and stretch my legs?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Surprisingly, yes.”

  “Bravo!”

  Sully walked around the cabin, then checked out the bathroom. It was all stainless steel and pretty roomy. He checked out the galley, where there was a fridge stocked with sodas and juices. He took two cans of fruit punch for Rose and himself.

  After a while, he sat back down.

  Rose took a sip of her juice, but it dribbled down her pretty pink dress. Shoot! He should have looked for paper cups.

  He went back to the galley and found some cups and some paper towels. Hurrying back, he pulled out some towels from the roll and dabbed at the front of her dress. The stain was still there.

  Rose looked like she was about to cry. “This is my pretty pink dress that Aunt Lisa bought me.”

  “It’s okay, Rose. Aunt Lisa will get the juice marks out and your dress will be as good as new. You’ll see.”

  Suddenly, with tears dripping and out of the clear blue, Rose asked, “Are you and Aunt Lisa going to get married?”

  “Why do you ask that?”

  “Because I heard Grandma Sullivan say that it’s wrong for you to live together without being married.” She took another sip of juice, this time from the cup.

  Leave it to his mother to say the most inappropriate thing at the most inappropriate time.

  “Can I be a flower girl?”

  Sully was at a loss as to how to answer her questions, but he might as well give it a go because the questions would only get harder as Rose got older.

  He should really think of a good answer to this one that wouldn’t leave Rose screwed up for life.

  “Aunt Lisa and I have a special relationship. We are both taking care of you, so we have to be with you, together.”

  Sully was proud of himself with that answer.

  “But are you going to get married to Aunt Lisa?” she asked.

  She was too young. She didn’t get it. He was just about to say no when he thought about it.

  Married to Lisa?

  He could imagine being married to her. They laughed together. They had Rose in common, bull riding and the big house on twenty acres.

  He grinned. The sex was great, too.

  They both liked RVing, and chili, and theme parks, and jeans, and cowboy boots, and now—believe it or not—Sully was enjoying flying.

  Some marriages were built on less.

  Lisa had been pretty amazing during this arrangement.

  She wasn’t a cook—that was for sure. She could master flying any size plane, but she couldn’t master the oven. Forget the stove top.

  But she tried. She’d tried baking, too, and that didn’t go very well, but she’d hung in there and, with a little help, made cookies for Rose’s party.

  If he thought of what he liked the most about Lisa, it would have to be her willingness to compromise. Their job situation was an ongoing problem, and Lisa could have really screwed him with his PBR weekends, but she hadn’t.

  And he paid her back by swallowing his fear and chartering this plane so she could fly.

  “You go, Lisa!” he shouted. “Crank this machine up to six hundred and one miles an hour!”

  He grinned and leaned back on the divan, feeling smug.

  “Rose, if your aunt Lisa and I ever get married, you can be the flower girl.”

  * * *

  “Seat belts on. We’re going to land soon,” Lisa said. “Rose, are you ready?”

  “Ready!”

  “Sully, are you ready?”

  “Ready!”

  “Then let’s land this bird!”

  Lisa liked landing almost as much as takeoff. She loved the thump of the tires as she released them. The reversing of the engines, the squeal of the brakes...it was all a thrill.

  She taxied to her assigned gate. “We’re almost here. Stay seated, guys.”

  Sully surprised her. He was a head case before, but he had soon relaxed and enjoyed the flight.

  They arrived at the gate, and the hustle began with the ground crew. She had to do some paperwork, so she asked Sully and Rose to wait for her somewhere. Rose wanted some chocolate milk, so Sully pointed to a restaurant in the terminal called On the Fly.

  “They probably have chocolate milk,” Sully said. “We’ll meet you there.”

  Lisa breezed through the red tape and caught up with them at the restaurant.

  Rose’s face was covered in ketchup. She was dunking her French fries in it and seemed to be missing her face. She had more ketchup on her dress, along with chocolate milk and juice stains.

  Lisa didn’t know if she had the laundry skills to save the dress, but she’d give it a try.

  They didn’t have to stop at the luggage pickup, so Sully hailed a taxi to their hotel.

  After a long, slow ride due to the traffic, they finally arrived at their hotel.

  Sully had reserved a suite with two rooms and a kitchenette. Lisa thought that was a brilliant idea because they would all be able to stay together. The suite was airy and well-lit and had a beautiful view of palm trees and the pool with a lazy river and waterfalls.

  Sully came up behind her and they both looked out the window. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her neck when he spoke.

  “There’s a nice area for kids. Rose will love it.”

  She wanted Sully to slip his hand around her waist and pull her to him, but with Rose nearby, he’d n
ever do that.

  But Sully was always full of surprises. He did slip his hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him. In silence, they watched the action at the pool.

  Sully whispered in her ear, and delicious shivers ran up and down her spine.

  “We can work in a little recreation while we’re here, but let’s each swear that we won’t tell Rose that California has a bunch of theme parks and water parks,” Sully said.

  “I swear,” Lisa said with definite enthusiasm.

  “Shall we hit the pool?” Sully said.

  “I’ll help Rose change into her suit.”

  Fifteen minutes later, they were ready for the pool. Sully found lounge chairs in the kiddie pool area right in front of Rose, who was content chasing squirts of water that popped up randomly around her.

  Sully and Lisa stretched out on the lounge chairs near misters. She liked the fact that if she looked at misters in a certain way, she could see rainbows.

  Lisa looked around at the palm trees and the cascading flowers and ferns. She felt like she was in the middle of a tropical island—a tropical island with a couple hundred adults and four hundred kids, give or take.

  “This is heaven, Sully.”

  “Sure is,” he said. “If I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine being stranded on a tropical island.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing!” Lisa snapped her fingers. “Sully, if you were stranded on a tropical island and could only take three things, what would they be?”

  “My lasso. As you know, I sort things out as I rope.”

  “I know that, but you haven’t roped in a long time, so things must be okay. What’s number two?”

  “Probably a new RV.” He waved to Rose, and she waved back. Then she went back to the squirting water. “I’ve been thinking of getting a new one.”

  “I don’t get it. Aren’t you going to be flying now that you’re cured?” she asked. “Flying commercial, I mean. It’s way cheaper.”

  “I still want to drive whenever I can. I like the parking lots at events, like the potluck meals, and I like to hang out with everyone.”

  “I did, too,” she said, and she meant it. She’d met several people who she’d love to see again. They were probably here, so she’d make a point to look them up. “Okay, Sully, what’s the third thing you’d want on a deserted island?”