The Bull Rider Meets His Match

“I’ve never really spoken to Mrs. Lacombe before,” Annie said after the Yellowstone women went on their way, each carrying a paper shopping bag filled with gifts for children and grandchildren. “Now I know why,” she added with feeling.

Lex fought a smile. She hadn’t expected Annie to be so candid. She liked it.

“Mrs. Lacombe can be trying,” Lex agreed as she opened the small refrigerator and pulled out the salad and sandwiches she’d brought for lunch. Annie had been given strict instructions not to bring lunch the first day. “Danielle doesn’t like it when I help her, because there’s usually smoke rolling off my back by the time she leaves but I haven’t blown yet.”

“Does she ever buy anything?” Annie asked as Danielle came into the workroom.

Lex and Danielle exchanged thoughtful glances. “I think I sold her a set of pot holders once,” Lex said. “Right after we opened.”

“And I sold her a vase,” Danielle said. “The one we’d marked down so many times that if we’d marked it down again, we would have had to pay the person who took it.”

Annie laughed. “So she only comes in to browse.”

“And browbeat,” Lex added with a small grimace. “She’s lonely, so we kind of...endure.” An odd expression crossed Annie’s face, as if she hadn’t expected Lex to say something insightful. Or sensitive. Which made her wonder what Grady had said about her.

It didn’t matter.

The lunch hour was devoid of customers, so the three women were able to eat without interruption. Danielle did point out that normally they considered that a bad thing. “We’ve had a good spring and early summer, though,” she said, “so this is nice.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when the back door opened and Great-granny came in, wearing immaculate jeans and a neatly pressed red gingham Western shirt. She peeked through the workroom door into the shop. “Good. We’re alone.”

“What’s up?” Danielle asked.

“I have a color question.” Great-granny pulled a handful of hardware store paint color cards out of her purse and started arranging them on the table in front of Danielle as if she were dealing out a game of solitaire. “I’ve been looking at bridesmaid dresses. When you say pink, which part of the spectrum are you aiming at?” She laid down the last card and stood back, hands on her narrow hips.

“Well,” Danielle said, briefly meeting Lex’s gaze before lowering it to the sea of pink in front of her, “I’m not certain, so that is a very good question.” She studied the paint chips—Great-granny had the whole range here, from rose to coral, petal to shocking. “Wow. Um...”

There was a knock on the back door then, and Lex tore herself away from the pink debate to answer it, finding herself face-to-face with Grady Owen once she pulled the door open. Her heart shouldn’t have jumped, but it did. She was that used to expecting disaster whenever Grady was around.

“Uh, hi,” he said, having the good grace to look uncomfortable for once in his life. “I didn’t want to call my sister at work, but if she has a moment, we have a slight emergency. I need her advice.”

“Never a problem,” Lex said coolly, tearing her gaze away from his rather mesmerizing one. She and Danielle knew their employees had lives. She only wished that didn’t have to include Grady Owen showing up at her back door. “I’ll get her.”

A few seconds later Annie was at the door talking to her brother. Lex hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but as she cleared plates so that Great-granny could spread out the pink paint chips, she was close enough to hear Annie say, “Tar? No. Prewash will not get tar out of clothing.”

“Then I’m buying them new jeans,” Grady replied. “What size are they?”

“Grady, you don’t need to buy new jeans, and how in the world—”

The bell rang over the customer entrance and Annie started to turn, but Lex put a hand on her arm on her way by. “You deal. I’ll get the customer.” Annie looked torn, so Lex said, “It’s a cute guy. I don’t mind.”

She had no idea whether the customer was a cute guy or not, but Annie bought the line and continued talking to Grady while Lex went into the shop to greet the three teenagers gathered around the jewelry display. She sold two necklaces and a pair of earrings, and before she got the sale rung up, Annie was back in the shop.

“Everything okay?” Lex asked as she wrapped the jewelry in red tissue and slipped it into a brown bag with a photo of Annie Oakley on the front. Annie nodded as the girls took their purchases and left the store, debating between themselves whether to get ice cream or a hamburger next.

Once they were gone, Annie pushed the hair back from her forehead with one hand. “All I can say is that the house is still standing and no wildlife has been released in the living room today.”

“Sounds like a good day,” Lex said.

“Yes. In my world that’s an excellent day.”

* * *

GRADY LOVED HIS NIECES. They constantly surprised him, made him laugh, caused him to feel all protective. They also wore him out. After only a few days of babysitting, he realized that when he left for Hennessey’s to do his practice ride in the late afternoons, he was more exhausted than he’d been after driving twelve hours and climbing on top of a Brahma, then getting back in the truck and driving again.

Although that wasn’t the best example, because after he started making serious money, he flew to most of his events. During his off time, he lived and worked on his friend Hank Fletcher’s Oklahoma ranch. It was a job that gave him a decent paycheck and offered him the flexibility he needed to follow the circuit. He’d sent money to his sister, and sometimes she’d even accepted it; but now that he was around her and the girls more, he was kicking himself for sending a check instead of coming back. Two years hadn’t seemed like a long time, but it was. He’d missed out on a lot, and Annie, even though she was stubbornly independent—at least until a tornado turned her life around—could have used his help.

He hadn’t been thinking about anyone except for himself, and that wasn’t good. Now that he knew what was going on, had become a larger part of his nieces’ lives, he’d started crafting a plan. He was going back on the circuit, taking part in the traveling Bull Extravaganza in the fall, because that was how he earned his living, but he was no longer stationing himself in Oklahoma during the off-season. He was moving back to Gavin, taking care of his family. So when Hank called to touch base as Grady was driving home from practice, it was the perfect time to break the news to him. Hank had sounded delighted.

“So it worked out with your lady?”

Hank had met Danielle several times, and even though Grady hadn’t said anything to him, he must have deduced that Grady had thought of giving his relationship with Danielle one last shot.

“Nothing to work out. She’s getting married and the guy ain’t me.”

“Hey. Sorry to hear that.” Hank sounded genuinely shocked.

“I’m okay with it.” And he was all for moving on to the next topic. Hank, however, had a few more things to say on the matter.

“You know what this means?”

“Not really.” His tone was not encouraging, but Hank didn’t get the hint. Hank had never been a hint kind of guy.

“You need to get back out there, man. You haven’t seriously dated in how long?”

Long time. Which had been part of why he’d planned to revisit his relationship with Danielle. He’d figured that she had to be a reason he wasn’t that wild about any one particular woman. He’d been wrong.

“A while.”

“I’ll give you this. Danielle is a real looker, but it takes more than good looks to make a relationship, you know. Especially for a guy in your profession.”

“So I’m discovering,” Grady said facetiously, still trying to keep things light.

“And now that you’ve figured that out, you know what you need to do?”

Grady knew.

He needed to get back out there. “I’ll keep you posted,” he said, and even though he spoke wryly, he realized Hank was totally correct. He needed to develop a social life. A local one, since this was where he planned to live from now on.

After hanging up the phone, he dialed Jess Hayward. If anyone was going to get him back into the swing of things locally, it was a Hayward twin. Even if he didn’t find someone to hook up with, he needed to get out of the self-imposed isolation in which he’d existed since Danielle broke up with him. Yeah. He needed to meet some women. Have some fun.

Be the Grady Owen he used to be.

* * *

DANIELLE AND LEX threw a going away party for Kelly at the Shamrock Pub, two doors down from Annie Get Your Gun, after her last day of work. Curtis, Danielle’s fiancé, joined the party after getting off at the bank and soon the four of them were headed to an impromptu dinner. He was the physical opposite of Grady—tall and blond and built like the football player he’d once been. Needless to say, he was also Grady’s emotional opposite, being serious and dependable. In other words, he was better suited to Danielle in all respects, and Lex liked him.

After dinner, Danielle and Curtis made their apologies and went home, leaving Kelly and Lex sharing a bowl of molten chocolate cake as a long evening stretched in front of them.