The Cowboy Who Got Away

One element on which Jude wouldn’t budge was the part that obligated Copenhagen to donate 10 percent of net sales to a charity that benefited at-risk teens.

Then again, 10 percent of nothing equaled nothing.

“Would you sign it for me? My name is Shari.” She brandished a black permanent marker. Her blond hair was slicked back into a tight, high ponytail, and she wore hoop earrings the size of doughnuts and a ton of makeup. It looked like she’d used the marker to line her eyes.

“Sure,” Jude said.

“Right here.” Shari touched the top of her left breast and leaned in, giving Jude all access. “S-H-A-R-I,” she spelled as she tapped her breast.

Jude blanched. This girl was much too young to be suggesting what it seemed like she was. He glanced at Juliette, who was busy fishing coins out of a small purse she’d pulled from her handbag.

This was awkward.

Jude would be lying if he didn’t admit that things like this happened frequently when he was on the road. Except usually the women were, well, women. Not teenage girls.

In the context of a rodeo, it seemed like part of the job—part of the show. He’d flirt, they’d flirt back, he’d sign autographs—yes, sometimes bare midriffs and cleavage—and make small talk with various degrees of innuendo. It was all in fun and part of the free-spirited cowboy image he’d cultivated: Jude Campbell, the face—and bare chest—of the Copenhagen On-Off Shirt. Most of the time the women would move along. And sure he had the occasional groupie hang around until everyone had gone. Occasionally things happened. But he was single. Completely unencumbered. The road could be a lonely place. But he always practiced safe sex. Always.

Sitting here with Juliette while this girl thrust her breast in his face was just...straight-up wrong. It felt disrespectful and sleazy.

He leaned back, away from the girl. Then he pointed to the cuff of the long-sleeved T-shirt. “I’ll sign it here.”

“No, really, here is better.” She tapped her breast again.

“No, really. This is better.” He tapped the sleeve with the marker.

Looking a little disappointed, she took a step back and offered him the inside cuff.

He signed and said in his most professional voice, “Thanks for your support, Shari.”

Thank God the girl simply turned and went back to her table. After she was gone, Jude said, “Sorry about that.”

“Hazard of the job, huh?”

“Something like that.” His voice was an apology.

While he was signing the shirt, Juliette had dumped some coins on the table, separating three nickels from the rest of the money. Jude reached into his pocket and pulled out the little bit of change he had. It wasn’t much, but he added five more nickels to the pile. Juliette fed them into the machine and punched in some numbers. The first tune that played was Luke Bryan’s “To The Moon And Back.” He had the CD in his truck.

“If you’re serious about selling, couldn’t you have negotiated the sale through lawyers?” she asked after she’d finished choosing the music.

He blinked at the change of subject, but was relieved that she seemed unfazed by Shari—or at least was willing to move on.

“Yes, but I need to see the property again. My real estate agent said the buyer had some questions. Plus, I need to talk to Ethan face-to-face.”

She nodded. “Probably a good idea. Something tells me he might not take this very well.”

Juliette got it. She still understood his family dynamics. Sometimes she’d gotten it better than he had.

He was just opening his mouth to say as much when the door chime sounded again and his old high school buddy Tony Darcy walked in with two little kids in tow.

“Hey, Tony,” Jude called. “What’s going on, man?”

“Campbell? What the—What are you doing here?”

The two shook hands and exchanged quick man hugs. Tony greeted Juliette.

They made small talk, doing the cursory catch-up. Tony said he’d been following Jude’s journey on the PBR circuit.

“I’m living vicariously through you, bro,” he said.

Tony said he was teaching math at Celebration High School. He’d married his high school sweetheart, Janet Hayes, five years ago. They had two kids and Janet was ready to give birth to their third any day now.

“I’m glad I got to see you because with the baby on the way, Janet and I probably won’t make it to the reunion. That’s why you’re back in town, right? How long are you in town?”

Jude shrugged. “That’s up in the air right now. It just depends on some things that I have brewing.”

“If you do end up staying for a while, would you be willing to come and talk to the high school’s rodeo club? I’m the sponsor and I know they’d all love to hear from a champion. You’re kind of a big deal around here. But don’t get a big head or anything.”

“Sure, I’d love to come and talk to them. Let me see what I have going and I’ll give you a call.”

They exchanged numbers, and by that time Dottie delivered the blueberry pie and coffee and Tony’s to-go order, which he’d phoned in earlier. Tony paid and was out the door, but not before promising that if he didn’t hear from Jude he’d come looking for him.

“Remember that bonfire party we had out by the lake on your property?” Juliette said, her eyes sparkling with humor. “Oh, my gosh, remember when Tony and Isaac Oppenheimer were being jackasses and decided to go skinny-dipping to embarrass all the girls?”

Jude laughed. “And someone went to hide their clothes and ended up dropping them in the fire by mistake.”

Juliette was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. “And we had to make sandwich boards out of the beer boxes and bungee cords so that they didn’t get arrested for indecent exposure. It would’ve served them right if they’d spent the night in jail. That makes me sound old, doesn’t it?” She shook her head. “We had some good times out there, didn’t we?” A faraway smile softened her features as she picked up her coffee cup.

Jude swallowed a bite of pie. “Remember that time my dad was drunk when he was keeping watch out by the barn looking for those coyotes that kept trying to get after the horses? He almost shot me thinking I was an animal when really I was just sneaking in late for curfew.”

“You were an animal.” She laughed again and the sound washed over him like balm. “That’s when I started calling you Wylie,” she said. “Oh, and remember that tree we planted by the cabin? I wonder if it’s still there.”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you come out there with me and we’ll find out?”

Chapter Two (#uede4e931-890c-58d7-bc99-3069ba4d782c)

Juliette should’ve said no when Jude asked her to come with him to the lake cabin. Reminiscing over coffee was one thing, but returning to the scene where they’d made most of their memories was entirely another.

Yet here she sat in his truck, right next to him in the very place that had been her spot. Of course, it was a different truck. It was newer and more expensive than the old beater Ford he’d driven in high school, but if she closed her eyes, she could see the two of them just as they were.

That’s why she needed to keep her eyes wide-open and her head firmly in the here and now.

She knew better than this. If she was tempted to forget why letting down her defenses with Jude was a bad idea, all she had to do was remind herself what happened with Shari at the Redbird Diner. Witnessing that girl fawning all over him had conjured the same feelings someone throwing a bucket of ice water in her face would have. It had been enough to shock some sense into her. Of course, it wasn’t Jude’s fault that women found him irresistible. She had to give him credit for handling Shari as well as he did. The girl seemed to offer herself to him the same way that Dottie had offered free pie—it was his for the taking. That was the life of an unmarried bull riding champion. Jude and his groupies were a package deal. She needed to keep that in mind when she found herself getting swept up in the current of his charisma.

She stole a glance at his profile as he steered his truck off the gravel drive and down the dirt path that led to the lake. The problem was, all she had to do was spend a little time with him and all of yesteryear’s feelings threatened to flood back, making her feel like she was a teenager again and so in love that she couldn’t tell her own wants from his. She couldn’t distinguish the boundaries between his life and hers.

Because back then, there had been no boundaries.

She wasn’t in love with him anymore, but that chemistry, that electricity that had been the hallmark of their relationship, was still there, stronger than ever. She was pretty sure if she reached out and touched him that the air would sizzle.