The Bull Rider's Plan

“Nothing. I helped Howie get through all his math classes from kindergarten on. He’s kind of indebted to me.”

“His folks know?”

“I think they think we should get married—Howie and I, I mean.” She let her head fall back, closing her eyes. “I need to escape.”

“Running doesn’t work.”

She opened her eyes. “How do you know? Have you ever run from anything?”

“Is this working for you?”

“I haven’t run far enough. I can’t afford to run far enough.”

“Is there such a thing as far enough when Selma is involved?”

“Maybe not.” She let out a breath and then took a small nibble on the edge of the toast. Her stomach told her to stop, and she did, setting the toast back on the plate. As to the coffee...she swallowed hard. She truly was a drinking lightweight. “Do you have orange juice?”

“No. I’m taking off later today, so I emptied the fridge. That’s why there’s no butter on your toast.” One corner of his mouth tightened. “You know...if you needed a place to stay, you could stay here.”

Emma stared at him. Selma would find her...but maybe not for a couple of days.

And surely she’d give up when Emma started paying her back for the wedding dress she hadn’t wanted, which had been a special order and couldn’t be returned.

“You know...I think Selma was trying to make sure I didn’t back out of the ceremony by buying me that dress.”

“What?”

Jess never had been that good at following her thought processes...but neither had anyone else. Her mind did tend to jump around. Even Len had problems and he was the person closest to her. She smiled at Jess—maybe her first smile in days. “I appreciate the offer.”

“I’ll be gone for the better part of the summer.”

“Hitting the circuit?” She remembered the rodeo purse.

“Hitting it hard. I have to decide whether to go pro this January. Time is running out for me.”

“I see.” She studied the table in front of her, wondering what her next move would be now that Selma had ferreted her out at the Starlight and had brought Wylie along for backup. She’d eventually find her here. Her life would be hell for the next few weeks. Darion would be no help, because Selma thought he also had cold feet and would be as hard on him as she was on Emma if he was foolish enough to come back to Gavin.

Neither of them had the jitters—they had each chosen the wrong person and were doing something about it before it was too late. Selma didn’t see it that way, which made Emma wonder about her marriage to her father.

Had they settled? If so, they seemed happy, which only gave Selma ammunition.

If only Darion had cheated on her...or done something outrageous. Then maybe Selma would back off.

“Em...?”

She raised her gaze, met the eyes of the man that she trusted most in this world—even if he did piss her off most of the time. He was the closest thing she had to her brother and right now she needed her brother.

“Take me with you.” The words came out before the thought was formed.

The look on his face was priceless. It also ticked her off. “I’m not kidding.”

“You can’t come with me.”

“Why?”

“For all the reasons I’ve given over the years when you wanted to come along with me and Len.”

“I’m not underage anymore.” She was twenty-five, but he probably didn’t realize that. He started to speak, but she interrupted. “I can drive part-time, which will come in handy if you get yourself all beat up, which is a very real possibility.” He opened his mouth again, and again she jumped in. “I have a little money socked away. Not enough to start a new life, as I’d hoped, but enough to buy food for myself for four weeks.”

Jess eyed her, obviously waiting for her to run out of steam before telling her no way.

“You can buy the gas, because you’d be doing that no matter what.”

Jess waited a few more seconds, then said, “Are you done.” It was a statement rather than a question.

“Waiting to hear all the reasons that this is a no-go,” she said mildly. “Although, you know that Len would have taken me.”

“How do I know that?”

Her tone became low and serious. “Because this isn’t a matter of me being capricious. This is something I need to do. Selma is breaking me, Jess. I don’t want to run forever...just until I can get my equilibrium back.”

He was wavering. He, who took the hard line whenever she’d come up with some scheme to include herself in his and Len’s adventures.

“I lost my brother a little over a year ago, Jess.” Nineteen months, actually. “I’m not one hundred percent. And I think Len’s death is affecting Selma, too. I just...want to get away.”

He lowered his eyes. Tapped his fingers on the table a couple of times. Em held her breath. Waited. “What about your job?”

“There’s a stack of applications in the office. Skye will understand.” Jess’s sister-in-law was now managing the café where she worked. She was a friend. “Don’t make me beg.”

He met her gaze with a frown. “You are begging.”

“Don’t make me beg super hard, then.”

Jess scrubbed his hands over his face, and Emma let out a silent sigh of relief. She’d won. She was going to get her reprieve. “Only if Skye will hold your job for you.”

“What?”

“You have to make a living when you come back.”

“That’s not your concern.”

“But it’s my condition...that and a rodeo-by-rodeo assessment. If this isn’t working, then the deal is done.”

Emma wished her head wasn’t hurting so much. Yes, that seemed fair enough...except for the rodeo-by-rodeo thing. She did have a way of triggering Jess.

Well, she’d just have to figure out a way not to do that.

* * *