That Burke Man

“You know,” he mused aloud, “I think I may have some ideas about that.”

“Really? What are they?”

“Wait and see.” He led her toward their car. “Let’s get something to eat. I don’t know about you, but I’m starved!”

“Me, too. How about Chinese?”

“My favorite.”

He put her into the old Ford he’d borrowed while his Ferrari was being serviced, and drove her back into Jacobsville.

They had lunch at the single Chinese restaurant that was nestled among half a dozen barbecue, steak and fast-food restaurants. When they finished, they went back out to the arena to watch the rest of the afternoon’s competitions. Cherry was only in one other event. She did poorly again, though, trying to go around the barrels. When she rode out of the arena, she was in tears.

“Now, now.” Todd comforted her. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

“They didn’t have barrel racing in Rome!” she wailed.

“Probably not, but the sentiment is the same.” He hugged her gently. “Perk up, now. This is only the first rodeo in a whole string of them. You’ll get better.”

“It’s a waste of time,” she said, wiping her tears. “I might as well quit right now.”

“Nobody ever got anywhere by quitting after one loss,” he chided. “Where would I be if I’d given up when my first computer program didn’t sell?”

“Not where you are today, that’s for sure,” she admitted. “Nobody does software like you do, Dad. That newest word processor is just radical! Everyone at school loves it. It makes term papers so easy!”

“I’m glad to hear that all those late hours we put into developing it were worth the effort,” he said. He grinned at her. “We’re working on a new accounting package right now.”

“Oh, accounting,” she muttered. “Who wants any boring old stuff like that?”

“Plenty of small businesses,” he said on a chuckle. “And thank your lucky stars or we’d be in the hole.”

Cherry was looking around while he spoke. Her face lit up and her eyes began to sparkle. “It’s Miss Parker!” The smile faded. “Oh, my…”

He turned and the somber expression on his daughter’s face was mirrored in his own. Jane was in the wheelchair, wearing jeans and a beige T-shirt and sneakers, looking fragile and depressed as Tim pushed her toward the motor home with the horse trailer hitched behind it.

Unless he missed his guess, they were about to leave. He couldn’t let her get away, not before he had a chance to ask her about working with Cherry. It had occurred to him that they might kill two birds with one stone—give Miss Parker a new interest, and Cherry some badly needed help.

Chapter Two

“Miss Parker!” Todd called.

She glanced in his direction, aware that he and a young girl with fair hair in a pigtail were moving toward her. The wheelchair made her feel vulnerable and she bit down hard on her lip. She was in a bad temper because she didn’t want that rude, unpleasant man to see her this way.

“Yes?” she asked through her teeth.

“This is my daughter, Cherry,” he said, pulling the young girl forward. “She wanted to meet you.”

Regardless, apparently, of whether Jane wanted the meeting or not. “How do you do,” she said through numb lips.

“What happened to you?” Cherry spluttered.

Jane’s face contorted.

“She was in a wreck,” her father said shortly, “and it was rude of you to ask.”

Cherry flushed. “I’m sorry, really I am.” She went to the wheelchair, totally uninhibited, and squatted beside it. “I’ve watched all the videos you were on. You were just the best in the world,” she said enthusiastically. “I couldn’t get to the rodeos, but I had Dad buy me the videos from people who taped the events. I’m having a lot of trouble on the turns. Dad can ride, but he’s just hopeless on rodeo, aren’t you, Dad?” She put a gentle hand over Jane’s arm. “Will you be able to ride again?”

“Cherry!” Todd raged.

“It’s all right,” Jane said quietly. She looked into the girl’s clear, gray eyes, seeing no pity there, only honest concern and curiosity. The rigidity in her began to subside. She smiled. “No,” she said honestly. “I don’t think I’ll be able to ride again. Not in competition, at least.”

“I wish I could help you,” Cherry said. “I’m going to be a surgeon when I grow up. I make straight A’s in science and math, and Dad’s already said I could go to Johns Hopkins when I’m old enough. That’s the best school of medicine anywhere!”

“A surgeon,” Jane echoed, surprised. She smiled. “I’ve never known anyone who wanted to be a surgeon before.”

Cherry beamed. “Now you do. I wish you didn’t have to leave so soon,” she said wistfully. “I was going to pick your brain for ways to get over this fear of turns. Silly, isn’t it, when the sight of blood doesn’t bother me at all.”

Jane was aware of an emptiness in herself as she stared into the young face. It was like seeing herself at that age. She lowered her eyes. “Yes, well, I’m sorry, but it’s been a long day and I’m in a good deal of pain. And we’re interviewing today.”

“Interviewing?” Cherry asked with open curiosity.

“For a business manager,” Jane said sadly, glancing at Tim, who winced. “Tim can’t manage the books. He’s willing to keep on as foreman, but we’re losing money hand over fist since Dad’s death because neither one of us can handle the books.”

“Gosh, my dad would be perfect for that,” Cherry said innocently. “He’s a wizard with money. He keeps the books for his compu—”

“For the small computer company I work for in Victoria,” Todd said quickly, with a speaking glance that his intelligent daughter interpreted immediately. She shut up, grinning.

Tim stepped forward. “Can you balance books?”

“Sure.”

Tim looked at Jane. “There’s the foreman’s cabin empty, since Meg and I are living in the house with you,” he remarked. “They could live there. And you could help the girl with her turns. It would give you something to do besides brooding around the house all day.”

“Tim!” Jane burst out angrily. She glanced apprehensively at Todd Burke, who was watching her with unconcealed amusement. “I’m sure he has a job already.”

“I do. Keeping books for my…the computer company,” he lied. “But it doesn’t take up all my time. In fact, I think I’d enjoy doing something different for a while.” He pursed his lips. “If you’re interested, that is,” he added with practiced indifference.

Jane’s eyes fell to her lap.

“I’d love to learn how to win at barrel racing,” Cherry said with a sigh. “I guess I’ll have to give it up, though. I mean, I’m so bad that it’s a waste of Dad’s money to keep paying my entrance fees and all.”

Jane glowered at her. She glowered at him, too, standing there like a movie cowboy with his firm lips pursed and his steely gray eyes twinkling with amusement. Laughing at her.

“She won’t hire you,” Tim said with a glare at her. “She’s too proud to admit that you’re just what she needs. She’d rather let the ranch go under while she sits on the porch and feels sorry for herself.”

“Damn you!” She spat the words at Tim.

He chuckled. “See them eyes?” he asked Todd. “Like wet sapphires. She may look like a fashion doll, but she’s all fur and claws when things get next to her, and she’s no quitter.”