Cowgirl Strong

by Jenny Hammerle

  “Get control of yourself. That was an owl. Not Freddie. Travis has got to get you into the woods at night a little more often.”

  The two kept walking until a light came into view in the distance. It was a bright light hooked up to a power pole. Rachael recognized the doublewide as Tristan’s house from her previous meeting here after her trouble with the law last year. His porch light was on, and Rachael figured Maysie must be inside.

  Rachael squared her shoulders, as did Shannah. Both looked like warriors preparing for battle. They held their heads high and marched up onto his porch. It was at his door that Rachael lost her nerve.

  “What are we doing?” She whispered.

  “We’re dragging her hussy little butt back down the road. That’s what we’re doing.” Shannah paused, poised- ready to knock. “Come on! You’re the one who drug me out in the middle of the night.”

  “I know.” Rachael looked around. “Okay. Knock.”

  Shannah pounded on the door, rather loudly, and stepped back.

  They immediately heard footsteps and jumped away from the door. Tristan opened the door wearing nothing more than camo pants.

  “Okay, bucko. We know she’s in there, so send her out, and there won’t be any trouble.” Shannah threatened.

  Tristan shook his head and laughed. “I don’t know who you’re looking for, but if it’s Maysie she’s not here.” He swung the door wide when it looked like Shannah might charge the family room. “Be my guest.”

  Shannah went in and took a look around.

  “She’s not here.” She announced. “Place is clear.”

  Rachael stood dumbfounded. “She wasn’t at the house and she disappeared in the middle of the night. We kind of figured…she must be here.”

  He grinned. “Let me grab a shirt and shoes. I’ll bet I know where she is.”

  He invited them in to have a seat and they gladly accepted. While mosquitos didn’t bite as badly this far into the night, they still had more than ten bites each and were trying to avoid any others.

  “I feel like a jerk.” Shannah admitted.

  “Tell me about it. What is she doing gallivanting around in the middle of the night?”

  “Who knows?”

  Tristan came back down the hall and handed them each a flashlight. They walked out onto the porch, following Tristan across his front horse pasture. The grass was still dry, the morning dew still a few hours away.

  “What are you doing up this late?”

  “I have a house full of teenaged girls on the river. Couldn’t sleep.” He wiggled a brow in their direction. “Who knows what y’all could get into?”

  A large barn rose up out of the darkness. It was pitch black with the exception of a small light on in one window at the far end. Tristan opened the door and a large yellow lab raised its head to greet them, before laying back down to fall instantly back to sleep.

  “That’s Jed. Watch him, he’ll take your hand off if you’re not careful.” He teased.

  He held his hand to his lips and walked up to a large stall at the back of the barn. There, curled up on the hay in the corner of the stall was Maysie. Nearby, a mare lay on her side.

  “That’s Belle. She’s due to foal any day. Maysie refuses to miss it. She’s been over here after school for the past two days.” He smiled at her warmly.

  Rachael couldn’t decide which he liked better, Maysie or the horse.

  Belle lifted her head and stood up sniffing his hand.

  “She’s my mare, but she loves Maysie better. I think I like her better, too.” He unlatched the stall and walked over to pick Maysie up. She wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling in.

  He carried her back up to the house and out to his truck. The other girls slid in the backseat while he buckled the still sleeping Maysie in shotgun. When he started the engine and drove back down toward the cabin, she smiled over at him.

  “You’re going to get us into trouble coming over here to see these horses in the middle of the night.”

  “Only ten months to go.” She fell back to sleep.

  Tristan pulled into the driveway of the cabin and walked around to carry her inside. He set her on the porch and kissed her nose. He walked back past her friends and nodded his head.

  “Ladies.” He paused after stepping past them. “I appreciate your concern where Maysie is concerned, but mark my words. I plan on marrying that girl. Like she said. Only ten months to go. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get home. Goodnight.”

  He climbed in behind the steering wheel of his truck and drove off.

  “Wow.” Shannah turned and stepped onto the porch.

  “I guess he told us.” Rachael giggled. “I feel badly that we went over there expecting something bad.”

  “Not something bad. Now he knows.” Shannah said cockily.

  “Knows what?”

  “He’s on our radar. That’s all. We’ve got our eyes on him.”

  “And his horse barn.” Rachael teased. “Cause that’s where the bad stuff is going down. The horse barn. Next time Travis comes over we need to call out the posse. Especially if he steps foot into our barn, or there’s a colt being born. That’s enough right there to hang him.” Rachael joked.

  “They shared that one kiss.”

  “She told me. So what? Travis and I’ve shared many kisses. That doesn’t mean anything.”

  Shannah looked at her and frowned. “There are kisses…and then, there are kisses.” She raised a brow. “The kind of kisses that there’s no turning back from. The kind of kisses that lead to the other…STUFF. Theirs was that kind of kiss. Since you’re still holding onto your seven year plan,” Shannah paused, “then, you haven’t shared that kind of kiss. If so…you’d have only one of two options, break up and cool your jets a while. Or move the wedding day up. That’s the kind of kiss we’re talking about here.”

  “She made it sound like just another kiss. Their first kiss.”

  “It was their first kiss and it was their last. It was that kind of kiss. The kiss to end all kisses.”

  “She said they won’t kiss again.”

  “Probably not. She knows it’s dangerous for them.”

  Shannah walked in and snuck back into her sleeping bag. Rachael closed the door softly behind her. She tiptoed across the room toward her sleeping bag, careful not to step on the squad underfoot. She thought about all of her kisses with Travis and how they’d progressed. While he kissed her, and kissed her good, she now realized he was holding back with her. They’d never shared what she now knew was that kind of kiss. A kiss only reserved for−

  Well, Rachael wasn’t sure. What was the word? Married people? Lovers? She had a seven year plan. Where does that kind of kiss fit into my plan?

  Tristan was honorable. He made it clear he planned on marrying Maysie. That until then, there’d be none of that. He was more refined and considerate than Rachael had ever thought possible.

  She saw Maysie laying on the couch. The other side wasn’t occupied and Rachael decided her current position on the floor needed rethinking. She grabbed her blanket and pillow and made her way among the bodies to the couch. She crawled on it and covered herself up to her neck. The cabin was chilly.

  “Thank you.” Maysie whispered. “For worrying after me, but you don’t need to. Tristan and I have an understanding. He has given my dad his word and that’s iron clad. I even threw myself at him and nada. He kissed me the once, a birthday present, and that’s it. Now I have to wait, but some things are worth waiting for. He said I’ll be the death of him yet. By the way,” She propped herself up on her elbows. “This is my house. I already redid the kitchen with the pigs. Mama helped me. Next, I’ll tackle the man cave and bedrooms. He so needs a woman’s touch. I mean look at this place. Antler light fixtures. As if I’d ever allow it.” She plopped back down.

  Rachael smiled sweetly. “I’m happy for you.”

  “Go to bed already.” Shannah protested from the floor where she tossed a couch pillow at
Maysie’s head.

  Rachael stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. She glanced at her watch. Four o’clock in the morning was way too early to call her father. It would scare the daylights out of him. Rachael contemplated the kiss conversation. Why hadn’t Travis kissed her like that? The dangerous kind of kiss Shannah described. The one where you either got married or broke up. Then, there was the other option, but Rachael refused to consider that. It wasn’t an option for them. Maybe her seven year plan had been flawed. What normal couple could make it seven years? At this rate Maysie and Tristan would be fortunate to make it a year. The way they were headed they’d be married by next summer, just after graduation. Was there something wrong with that?

  Rachael tossed and turned.

  *

  Eventually the sun came up and still she’d never slept. She went to the bathroom and dressed for school. She brushed her teeth. Outside she heard a familiar truck and ran out to greet Travis, hauling her bags with her.

  “Thought you might need a ride.”

  “Sure do.” She jumped in.

  “You look like you slept well.”

  “Not a wink. Let’s go.” She griped.

  “Okay.” He backed up and turned around. He kept looking at her and grinning widely. “Something wrong?”

  “Nope.”

  “I know you well enough to know when something’s wrong.”

  “Nope. There’s nothing.”

  He put his hand on her knee and drove to school.

  “Are you holding back on me?” She blurted out.

  “Holding back, how? Like not telling you something?”

  “No. Like not being fully complete with me.”

  “Complete? What do you mean?”

  “Shannah was talking about the kiss. This dangerous kiss. The kiss that ends all kisses- that kind of kiss.”

  “Are we talking a goodnight kiss? Is it that kind of kiss? I wouldn’t ask you for what other guys are calling a ‘goodnight kiss’. Definitely not. That’s something entirely different.”

  Rachael heard a couple of dancers last year talking about the goodnight kiss in the locker room and she knew she wasn’t interested in that. It had nothing to do with kissing and in her mind was disgusting.

  “Forget it.”

  “No. We won’t forget it.” He pulled over, getting frustrated. “Am I holding back on you? Yes. Everyday. Do I want to? Definitely not. Do I have a choice? No, I don’t. But if you want me to kiss you like that, I will.”

  Travis reached across the seat and pulled her to him. He kissed her gently on her mouth nudging her lips apart, he teased her tongue more urgently, and dove in deeper…kissing her until she could think of nothing else but him. The smell of him and the feel of him on her skin, soft and hard, gentle and rough, all at once. He lifted his head and looked into her eyes tracing his way to her ear with tender kisses.

  “Does that answer your questions?”

  “Yes.” She whispered.

  “If I kissed you like that for a while, every time we were alone, do you see how that would be dangerous?”

  “I do.”

  “So yes, I’m holding back on you. And yes…it’s nearly killing me, but for now I don’t have a choice.”

  “It gives me something to look forward to.”

  “That’s the cowboy way.” He threw the truck in drive and sped down the road toward school.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Romero and Shannah walked down the sidewalk toward the practice field. The percussion section could be heard warming up while the saxes riffed their way through some scales. Rachael and Maysie walked behind them, observing.

  “You think he’s the one?” Maysie asked.

  “I don’t know. They’re worlds apart.” Rachael answered her.

  “Literally. Like Spain and the United States apart. There’s no bridge wide enough to span that gap.”

  “I was talking more about her redneck, country girl ways and his wild, free spirited soccer slash European lifestyle.”

  “I know. I picked up on that, too. He’s studied all over the world.”

  “He’s worse than a sailor or a pilot. He’s what I’d call well-traveled.” Rachael commented.

  “You’re not talking about trips or general vacationing here, are you?”

  “I just think that a guy like that is really looking for more of a good time, kind of like Ty. I learned my lesson there. I hope Shannah’s careful.”

  “We’ll make sure of it.” Maysie promised.

  Mr. Greene stood at the podium speaking into the microphone. It’d been several weeks since the auditions. Rachael had made the right decision. Having to learn everybody’s part was difficult, but was working wonders for Rachael’s thighs.

  If only I’d develop Shannah style abs too. Maybe shed a pound of boob.

  Rachael blinked up into the bright sunlight. It was blinding at this time of day, the rays coming across the field at an angle. The band director was a little edgy. They only had the field for half an hour due to football practice sharing the same space. The football players lined up in the area beyond the end zone and went through a series of stretches.

  Rachael watched Travis. He was surprisingly flexible. She couldn’t believe he could actually reach his toes. Rachael scanned the bleachers and saw Romero sitting in them watching Shannah lead practice.

  Everyone took their positions for the opening number. All of the dancers were in attendance. She already learned the routines, as in plural, and was relieved to be able to stand out for the next thirty minutes.

  “This alternate gig really has its advantages.” Shannah winked.

  “I know. Who’d have thought?”

  Mr. Greene walked off the field, asking Rachael to run to his office across campus for a clipboard with some music sheets on it. She agreed and hurried off. The band room was nowhere near the football fields or dance room. Due to an overall lack of musical talent, Rachael had never really frequented his office. She could hear them rehearsing each morning during homeroom from Mr. Richardson’s classroom down the next hall.

  Today the building was silent, with all of the band students out on the field. Rachael briskly walked to Mr. Greene’s door and opened it. She located the clipboard on his desk at the back of the room in the unlocked office, right where he said it would be. She grabbed the clipboard and the accompanying sheet music off of the desk. She closed the inner door behind her.

  She crossed the music room and walked up the steps to the main door. She’d left it open a crack. She grasped the handle, prepared to pull it open and paused.

  Outside in the hallway she heard a girl walk by, sobbing. She opened the door and looked out. A sophomore she recognized as Samantha walked down the hall, visibly shaken. Rachael knew her but not well. She briefly rode the bus with her prior to having a car of her own or riding with Travis. She always seemed sweet and upbeat before.

  Rachael closed the door and continued up the hall behind her, heading in the opposite direction of where she needed to go. When Samantha sensed her coming behind her she hit a jog and disappeared around a corner. Rachael could’ve sprinted to catch her, but decided she needed to get back to practice. She whirled around and bumped right into Mr. Richardson. He had an apple in his hand and took an oversized bite, chewing it.

  “Rachael, what brings you over here this late in the day?”

  “I had to get Mr. Greene’s clipboard. He needs it on the field.”

  “You’re turned around, aren’t you?” He pointed down the hall in the opposite direction. “The fastest way to the field is that way.”

  “Oops.” Rachael walked around him. “I must’ve gotten turned around.”

  She glanced back over her shoulder. His dark eyes bore into hers. She was lying and he knew it. Rachael hoofed it outside moving as quickly as she could. She cut between a few portables, taking a shortcut that looked similar to what she now knew were called game trails, edged into the grass by students through the years. She emerged nea
r the weight room taking the sidewalk leading out onto the field.

  “What took you so long? I thought I’d graduate before you made it back.” Shannah quizzed.

  “Long story. I’ll tell you in the car.”

  After her run-in with the creep, practice drug on and on. What Rachael thought of as personal break-time, turned into the longest practice in the history of practices. When they were finished, Maysie and Rachael headed out to Maysie’s convertible. Travis would be practicing another hour or more and Rachael needed to get home. She’d thought about driving her own car, but loved riding with Travis in the mornings. The only downside was not having her own car at the end of the day.

  Michael sat on the picnic tables waiting for them under the trees. He put his books inside his backpack and stood to walk over to them.

  “Hey.” Rachael waved.

  He smiled back at them.

  “He seems to be adjusting to high school well.” Maysie whispered.

  “I think so. He’s gotten in a good rhythm. He does his homework everyday while we are at practice. It’ll work well until spring comes- and he’s got baseball every day.”

  “He’ll be fine. He’s a freshman now. Who would’ve thought this day would come?”

  They got Maysie’s car and Michael called shotgun. Rachael merely shrugged her shoulders in response. Seated inside the car, Maysie cranked it up and put down her roof.

  “Let’s blow some of this heat out of here.”

  No one argued with her there. The inside temperature of the car must’ve been over one hundred degrees. Sitting in the Florida sun, in a parking lot, for over eight hours, would be enough to heat up any vehicle.

  A few blocks from school they stopped at a light.

  “So where’d you disappear to during practice?”

  Rachael nodded her head toward Michael in the front passenger seat.

  “I’m not a baby. Whatever it is, I can handle it.” He argued.

  Rachael considered what she’d seen. “I went to the band room to get some music for Mr. G. Then on my way out I saw Samantha, the sophomore with the red hair walking past. She was sobbing. Seriously…crying her eyes out. I followed her to check on her, but she started running, to escape me.”