“Cowboys and burgers.” He tipped his sunglasses down to grin at her. “We sure know how to party, don’t we, Ms. Lucy?”
She laughed.
She had no choice.
He was funny and normal and endearing, and while she knew this wasn’t slated to go anywhere, Trey made it easy to laugh again. At herself, the kids, the times…even at him. To keep a low profile at the fair, he’d replaced his signature cowboy hat with a scuffed-up NYPD baseball cap, and he’d let his beard grow for a few days, just enough to look scruffy. With the whiskers, the cap, and the dark shades, he looked more like the guy next door and less like a superstar. She liked the guy-next-door persona. The superstar status seemed too far removed from anything she’d call normal.
“We’re wild and crazy, all right.” She waved good-bye to Belle and started for the animal exhibition barn. “Let’s see what they’ve got.”
Alpacas, goats, lambs, calves, cows, and horses. They browsed from barn to barn, and when Cade fell in love with an orphaned miniature donkey, Trey scratched the back of his neck, then winced.
“The sunburn.” Lucy cringed. “Don’t touch it. Ouch.”
“It’s better. I was just being dumb.” With his phone, he took a picture of the farm info posted on the rail.
Lucy poked his arm. “I don’t have fencing or money for hay. Don’t do anything rash.”
“Plenty of fencing and hay next door,” he said easily. “And every now and again, being rash is mighty nice. Don’t you think?”
Easy to say when money allowed such things. “When you’re on a budget, rash decisions can make for long regrets,” she continued. “There’s nothing wrong with weighing decisions carefully. Even when longing eyes implore us.” Cade was stroking the little donkey’s head and smiling. When he withdrew his hand, he stood up and squared his little shoulders.
“I know we can’t get one, Mom. It’s just he doesn’t have a mom or a dad, and I thought he needed someone to love him. For just a little while.”
Sweet emotion rose up inside her.
“Trey.” Cade reached out and put his hand into Trey’s. He tipped his head back and gazed up. “Even if I don’t have animals at my house, I can read about them, right? About how to take care of them? And then maybe I can have a job at your house when I’m bigger.”
Trey longed to make lame promises he might not be around to keep, but he didn’t. He squatted to Cade’s level. “I think that’s a great idea, actually. The more we know, the more valuable we are in the workplace.”
“Great.” Cade clung to the big guy’s hand as if they’d just sealed a deal. “I’ll practice when I’m over there and read about stuff when I’m not. Okay?”
“Okay.” Trey stood back up, nice and easy. He nudged those glasses down, smiled at her, and she was a goner. Maybe she was foolish to build walls against all this. Perhaps the thought of Trey Walker falling in love with a struggling single mom wasn’t a stretch. Maybe it was God’s timing being played out before her.
And maybe it’s you being played.
She hushed the internal doubt. Trey wasn’t like that. Sure, she’d seen the tabloids after Cathy died. They’d plastered his picture and suppositions in every grocery aisle checkout lane.
Not locally, of course. Folks around Gray’s Glen and Cle Elum loved Trey.
But other places, yes. Her late husband had scoffed at Trey and his success, then used the tragedy of Cathy’s overdose to make fun of Trey and country music. He’d been jealous of another man’s success and cheered his downfall.
Except Trey hadn’t fallen. He’d kept his silence, ignored the gossip, and moved forward, writing and singing songs filled with heart, soul, and longing for better times. Sweeter times.
“And what have we got here?” Trey asked as they moved into the cattle section. He spotted her expression and offered a friendly frown. “You’re thinking too much for what is supposed to be a fun day.”
She blushed because she’d been doing exactly that.
“There’s no time for thought when you’re eyeing a beauty like this.” Trey paused before an award-winning Angus heifer. “That’s Double S lineage right there. Gorgeous, right?”
“She is!” Cade climbed the rail of the empty stall adjacent to the contented young cow. “Is that why she looks like your cows?”
“Yup. Bred true, and a prize winner.” He nodded toward the blue ribbon fastened to the stall.
“How come you don’t bring cows here to win prizes?” Cody wondered, eyeing the ribbon. “Because that’s cool.”
“I would if I had some young 4-H folks around,” Trey told him. “If we had some kids interested in raising and training and keeping animals for a 4-H project, I’d be all over that, Cody.”
“What’s 4-H?”
“It’s like a special club of kids and leaders who want everyone to know about the best way to do things for animals on the farm. It’s very cool.”
“Like kids our age?”
“You’re getting to just the right age,” Trey told him.
“Wow.”
“Except let me go back to the lack of funds for the necessities.” Lucy tugged Trey’s arm and when he bent her way, she whispered a warning into his ear and tried to ignore that he smelled amazing, even over the surroundings of penned animals. “Let’s not make promises we can’t keep, okay?”
He didn’t move his glasses this time. He didn’t have to. She felt his gaze, without seeing it. “I never do, Lucy.”
Her heart, a ridiculous organ, began skipping beats and behaving in a most undignified manner.
He smiled.
So did she, even if she shouldn’t, because she wanted to smile with him. At him. And when he shrugged his arm around her shoulders and drew her alongside, Lucy Carlton was pretty sure she could just stay there forever and be perfectly, wonderfully happy.
“Trey? Trey Walker?” A high-pitched voice screeched his name.
He turned, and half-a-dozen girls mobbed them. “It is you!”
“I saw you outside, but I wasn’t sure!”
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I might faint! I cannot possibly even believe this! Can I have a picture with you?” A pushy teen budged into Trey’s side and extended her arm and a smartphone as far as she could. “I can’t even! A selfie with Trey Walker! And I love your music, your newest hit, and everything about you! I don’t believe this!”
Her voice carried beyond the end of the stock tent. People moved their way, surrounding Trey.
Another teen girl pushed in, nearly knocking Cade to the ground. Lucy corralled Cody to the outside of the group, then sought Cade’s hand.
Trey looked her way. “Have you got him?”
“Yes.”
“Give me ten minutes to do pictures. Then we’ll find our seats.”
“Okay.” What choice did she have? None really.
She herded the kids out of the stock barn and sought shade beneath a broad, wide-leafed maple. “Who needs to use the bathroom before the rodeo? This would be the perfect time.”
Cade tugged her hand. “Why are all those people pestering Trey? And taking his picture?”
She steered them toward the restrooms as she answered. “Trey’s a singer. Lots of people buy his music and go to his concerts. And he’s on TV.”
“He is?” The boys both stopped, surprised.
“I’ve never seen him on TV.” Cade shoved his hands in his pockets, disgruntled.
“His show is on too late for you guys.”
“So he’s like those famous people? Like in movies?” Cody looked impressed and surprised. But then his little face darkened as he realized what just happened in the cattle barn. “They didn’t want a picture of us,” he muttered. “They just wanted us out of the picture.” He scuffed his toe along, chin down.
“Nobody wants your dumb picture anyway,” Cade scolded. “You do that dorky smile thing, and it looks weird.”
“Cade, stop that. Your brother is adorable. You’re mad because we had to m
ove on before you wanted to.” Lucy stooped to their level. “I’m sorry about that, but I want you to be grateful for all the time you did have, looking at the animals. Not to focus on the last couple of minutes that didn’t go like you wanted. Be positive, little man. It will get you further.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Cade refused to buy into her logic. Stubborn anger toughened his chin. “I was done with stupid old animals anyway. No sense in reading about ’em if we can’t ever have anything at our dumb, dumb house.” He started to trudge off to the men’s room.
“Cade, you can’t go in there alone.”
He spun around when he caught her drift. “You want me to go into the girl side?” His eyes shot wide. “When I’m a boy?”
A woman shot her a sympathetic look. So did a middle-aged man, but what could she do? “No one will know.”
“Except all the people here.” He stared around at the two bathroom lines, and if embarrassment had a color, it was Cade’s face right now. “I’ll hold it.”
“Cade.”
“I will,” he insisted, stubbornly.
She was not going to have a bathroom fight with him in public. “That’s fine, then, but you still have to walk inside with me and your brother. You can’t stand out here alone.”
“Whatever.” He stared down for slow ticks of the clock as the line moved forward, then raised angry eyes to her. “If I ever, ever, ever get a dad again, he will always take me to the boy bathroom. Like every single time. Okay?” The last word wasn’t asking permission; it was demanding understanding, and Lucy understood, all right.
Life minimized a lot of her choices, but she wasn’t about to send an eight-year-old into a public restroom alone, and no amount of histrionics would change her mind.
Nearly twenty minutes had passed by the time they met Trey. She spotted him near the rodeo entrance. He was scanning the crowd, looking for her, and when he spotted her—
He smiled.
Oh, that smile.
Easy and calm and happy to see her. To see them. He ruffled Cody’s hair, then spotted Cade’s face. “Hey, partner. What’s up?”
Cade said nothing.
Trey looked to her for direction, but Cody beat her to it. “He didn’t want to use the potty in the girl’s room, and he made mom sad.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He didn’t console Cade. He didn’t side with him. But he reached out and took the little guy’s hand in his. “Lucy, I’m sorry you were sad. Are you all right now?”
He was modeling the sweet nurturing she’d love to have had as reality at pretty much any point in her life. She nodded. “I’m fine now. I’m going to let it go so it doesn’t spoil our wonderful day.”
“Great idea. And if you don’t mind, we’ve got just enough time for me and this little cowpoke to hit the men’s room before the action starts. Is that all right with you?”
She flashed him a quick look of gratitude. “That’s a great idea. Thank you. We’ll meet you guys inside the arena.”
His phone rang as he handed her the tickets. He scanned the display, tapped the screen, and slid the phone back into his pocket. “I’ll call him back. Let’s go, partner.”
She led Cody through the ticket gate, then scanned the rapidly filling seats for Ashley. She didn’t spot her, so she let Cody pick their seats. They settled mid-high and toward the bull-riding chutes, a typical boy choice. Ashley found them a few minutes later, then Trey. He took Ashley and Cade out to the food vendors, and they brought back lunch on thick paper plates. Burgers, nachos, and fries. He saw her raised brow and he grinned. “Rodeo food, ma’am. Delicious and fun. And your friends said they’d deliver fried dough a little later if everyone eats their lunch.”
“I love their fried dough like crazy,” Cade exclaimed. “It’s the best.”
Nothing like food to quiet kids down, and when Trey took the seat just below her, she leaned down. “The phone call went okay?”
She couldn’t see his face, and he didn’t look back. “Fine.”
His voice didn’t seem fine or as lighthearted as it had been a quarter hour before. He stayed facing forward, but when the opening show chronicling the Indian traditions began, he withdrew his phone and drew Ashley’s attention.
“I’ll record it too. That way one of us should have a solid shot.”
“Thanks, Trey.”
He dipped his head in that classic cowboy style, even without the hat, and smiled at Ashley, but the smile wasn’t as easy as it had been an hour before.
Ashley wouldn’t notice. She was quite caught up in having Trey help her, be nice to her, encourage her.
But Lucy noticed. And she noted his silence too. He was entitled to his privacy. She understood that. But she’d been schooled by men who said one thing and meant another all her life. She’d learned the hard way that secrets were rarely good, and that was a red flag of the highest order.
She knew little of Trey’s professional life, and a mega-star’s schedule held numerous factions and temptations. Some good, some not so good, and some downright immoral.
She couldn’t imagine Trey that way, but she’d only glimpsed one small corner of his existence, leaving a large margin of error.
She didn’t like movies where the heroine made foolish choices and ended up making the same mistakes repeatedly. Their weakness annoyed her, even while she was tempted to trust Trey’s sweetness. His kindness. His warmth.
But red flags flashed warnings for a reason, and a mother of three couldn’t afford to ignore them. Not for herself, and certainly not for her precious children.
A long, wonderful day.
Trey parked his SUV along Center Street and walked to the small inn. He didn’t have to climb the steps. His agent came down them at a quick clip and clapped him on the back. “You look good, Trey.”
“Because I am good, Ed.” Trey jerked his head left. “Let’s walk.” They moved east toward one of the construction zones Trey’s father had commissioned. Josh Washington and Colt had offered the town a new possibility after the fire, an altered layout to rebuild homes and jobs for the people of Gray’s Glen. Beyond the churches and the small-town playground stood the beginnings of four new homes on staked-out lots. Not big or fancy, the bungalow-style rentals fit the low-key Western town. When they got to the construction area, Trey faced Ed. “This should be a good place to not be overheard.”
Ed glanced around. He looked uncertain, but Ed was born suspicious. “You’re being nominated three times on Wednesday.”
Wednesday was the announcement day for several of country music’s biggest awards, awards Trey had won in the past. In country music, winning awards kept you on the fast track.
“Don’t ask how I know, let’s just say I got cut a special deal because of your circumstances.”
“My circumstances?” Trey crossed his arms and glared because Ed knew better. “My circumstances that are supposed to be kept secret, Ed?”
“They’re secret enough, but we need to have you healthy enough to walk onto that stage in November and hit the ground running with a winter tour. Momentum, Trey. It is, was, and will always be about momentum.”
“Momentum equates money. I’ve heard it a million times.”
“Momentum pays the bills, and I’d be a lousy agent if I didn’t look out for you when you refuse to look out for yourself.”
Ed had been good to him, and good for him. He knew the business, and he had connections.
“I can’t push the surgery schedule, Ed. It’s out of my hands. We’ll just take things as they come.”
“That’s a senseless way to do business and you know it.”
“Life intervenes, and doing the right thing isn’t always convenient, but it’s always right.”
“Are you sure you’ve got to do this?”
Ed locked eyes with Trey in the cool dark of the early September evening. “Have you truly explored all of your options? Your father is rich, Trey. You’re rich. There’s got to be a way to turn that into a donat
ed organ.”
“You’re talking about buying an organ that might save someone else’s life?”
“Black market cadaver organs aren’t a rarity.” Ed spoke frankly. “I’ve looked into it. If we go that way, your father gets a full organ and you don’t have to undergo life-threatening surgery. And the donor is deceased, so I don’t see a big hang-up about supporting some hospital’s cause with a hefty donation while saving your father’s life and sparing yours.
“It’s a no-brainer, Trey,” he continued. “And if that doesn’t appeal to you, I’ve got a guy who can hook us up with people willing to take your place for fifteen grand. That’s like a drop in the bucket, and then your future is ensured.” Ed stepped closer. “Your father wants you to think about this, Trey.”
“My father?” Trey reached out and grabbed Ed’s shoulder. “What do you mean my father wants me to think about this? You went to Dad and offered your self-serving ideas to plant doubts in his mind? I might have to punch you for that, Ed.”
Ed shrugged off his hand. “He called me, Trey. He’s worried about you. And he’s scared. So he called me to talk some sense into you.”
Trey should have been surprised, but he wasn’t. He’d watched Sam’s worry grow as the days wore on. More than once, he’d caught him watching Trey out of the corner of his eye, wondering. Worrying.
Was he being foolish and stubborn? Was Ed right? Did Trey’s naïveté help or hinder this decision?
Jesus was led into the wilderness and tempted by the devil. In Christ’s hour of need and hunger, Satan’s offers must have sounded good. But just because something was easier and affordable didn’t make it right.
“Seek the ways of the righteous always because the path to perdition begins easily, with small steps. Once taken, it is readily taken again.”
Religious studies, his sophomore year at Oregon. It made sense then. It made more sense now. “I’m sticking with my plan, Ed.”
Ed blew out a breath, aggravated. “You don’t have to, though. That’s what I’m saying. And if we go the other route, your father worries less, and isn’t that what this is all about? Helping your father?”
Peace in the Valley Page 23
