Head Over Heels (The Bridesmaids Club Book 3) (2 page)

***

Todd watched the new foal find its center of gravity as it suckled its mama’s milk. Its legs wobbled like half-set jello, but it stayed upright, too hungry to consider tumbling to the ground again. It had been a hard birth, but Moon Dance had done what she could to deliver a healthy baby.

“What are you going to call her?” Chris closed the lid on his box of medical supplies and looked at the foal.

“Starlight.” Todd’s mouth tilted into a smile when the foal’s long ears pricked to attention. “Thanks for helping.”

Chris shrugged his shoulders. “It’s what I do. Moon Dance was lucky you were here.”

Todd knew he’d spent too much time away from his ranch in the last four years. As hard as it was, he needed to move on with his life and forget about what had brought him to Montana. And that meant staying put and not leaving “I’m not planning on leaving in a hurry.”

“Glad to hear it. If you’re worried about anything, give me a call.” Chris picked up his box and walked outside.

Todd opened the tailgate on Chris’ truck and stared across the yard. Sally was sitting on the front porch of his home, patting the huge Irish wolfhound beside her.

Chris smiled. “Did Sally convince you to look after Max?”

“Not Sally, Dylan. He brought Max out to the ranch a few weeks ago and told me he needed a home. Sally’s supposed to leave him with me today.” Todd wasn’t sure how that would work out. She didn’t look all that impressed with Max’s new home.

“Max had a hard life before he arrived at the shelter.” Chris opened his truck door and waved at Sally. She waved back and leaned over Max, saying something to him as she got to her feet.

Todd didn’t know what to make of Sally Gray. She volunteered at the same animal shelter he had before he’d started working at Chris’ veterinary clinic. He’d worked at the shelter most weekdays. Sally volunteered over the weekends. In the twelve months he’d been there, he’d seen her once or twice, but he’d never spoken to her.

Not that that was unusual. It wasn’t that he didn’t like people, he did. But it hadn’t been easy, moving to a new town, dealing with all of the issues that had brought him here. If he was totally honest with himself, he’d say he was just plain scared. Scared to get close to anyone, scared to make plans, scared to start living again. Volunteering at the shelter had been hard enough. Talking to people would have been impossible.

He frowned at the obvious bond between Sally and Max. From what Dylan had told him, Sally had been taking Max home to socialize him with other people. He’d almost smiled when he’d heard that. It sounded as though he had a lot in common with the big Irish wolfhound.

Chris went back into the barn to get more of his gear, and Todd studied Sally as she walked toward him. She’d jammed her hat low on her head, covering most of her face from the heat of the sun. But nothing could hide the way her long legs swallowed the distance between them. She was pretty, in a country-girl meets small town America kind of way. She had attitude by the bucketload and she wanted the best home she could find for Max. Todd had a feeling his ranch wasn’t living up to her high expectations.

Chris threw a couple of blankets in the back of his truck and followed Todd’s gaze. “She’s single.”

Todd frowned. “So?”

“Just saying. Makes sense that a single guy might be interested in going out with a single woman.”

“I don’t date,” Todd growled.

“I know.” Chris’ dry voice had an edge of humor attached to it.

Todd scowled at Chris, hoping he’d get the message and quit talking about dating anyone. Especially when Sally was only a few feet away.

“Hi, Chris.” Sally held her hand out and shook Chris’ hand. “I thought you were going to Europe?”

“If my truck hadn’t died, Mandy and I would be there now. Paris will have to wait for another year.”

Sally nodded at the red pickup. “At least you’ll be traveling around Montana in style.”

“That’s true. How’s Max?”

Sally glanced across the yard. “He’s ready to find a permanent home.”

Chris snapped the tailgate closed and headed toward the driver’s door. “Max will be happy here. I’m heading out to Trent McKenzie’s ranch. If either of you need anything, give me a call.”

Sally nodded and watched Chris drive away. “He’s a good vet. How are your mare and foal?” she asked.

“Healthy.”

“You don’t believe in using more words than you need to, do you?”

Her green eyes flashed and Todd felt a smile work its way onto his face. “You can come and see them if you like?”

Sally looked back at Max, then over at the barn. It was almost as though she didn’t want to leave him alone.

“He’ll be all right.” Todd started walking toward the barn. Sally followed behind, still looking unsure about leaving Max on the porch. He held the barn door open and waited for her. “Come and meet Moon Dance and Starlight.”

Sally’s eyes widened. “Nice names.”

Todd frowned. “The foal is named after a horse I owned when I was a kid.”

Sally frowned and stuck her hands in her pockets. “And here I was thinking you were being romantic.”

Todd didn’t have a romantic bone left in his body, but he wasn’t about to tell Sally why. “They’re in the stall at the end.”

Sally walked into the barn, moving swiftly toward the new foal. She stopped at Moon Dance’s stall and leaned against the rail. Starlight nudged her mama’s belly and Sally smiled. “Your foal is beautiful.”

Todd thought so, too. Starlight had a light chestnut coat with a big white circle on her forehead. She was alert and energetic, all of the things that would make her transition into the world so much easier.

Sally looked over her shoulder. “Why do you want Max to live with you?” she asked. The frown on her face told him she was worried. More worried than most people would be.

He thought about the first time he’d seen Max. Dylan had brought him out to the ranch and right away the big dog had started to work his way into Todd’s heart.

Max’s brown eyes had studied him, watched every move he’d made. After half an hour of close inspection, Todd figured he must have passed whatever test Max had devised. For the rest of his visit, Max hadn’t left his side. But he didn’t know how to explain any of that to Sally. So he stuck with a story he could explain, something that didn’t lead to more questions he didn’t want to answer.

“I grew up on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. For half of my life I’ve been surrounded by more animals than people. Dylan told me about Max and it seemed like a perfect fit.” Todd wasn’t sure his words would convince her that Max would be in good hands, but they’d have to do.

“Max is six years old. He doesn’t run around an awful lot, but he likes to explore. How would you keep him safe?”

Todd gripped the top rail of Moon Dance’s stall. Keeping people safe wasn’t something he was good at. “He’ll be as safe as any dog is on a ranch. I can’t promise you that nothing will happen, but I’ll do my best to give Max a good home.”

Sally turned her back on Moon Dance and Starlight. She looked straight at him, weighing what he’d said against what her brain was telling her. “I guess that’s all anyone can ask. Do you have time to show me where Max will be sleeping?”

“Does this mean you’re happy for him to stay with me?”

Sally stuck her hands in her pockets and sighed. “About the only thing I’m sure about is that you’ll look after Max. He’s a special dog.”

“At least that’s something we can agree on,” Todd said half seriously.

Sally’s mouth tilted into a smile. The air around Todd stilled, and he held his breath, waiting for what would happen next.

“I like the way you think, Todd Randall.”

He stared at the dimple on Sally’s check and wondered why he felt so relieved.

***

Sally poured herself a glass of orange juice and helped herself to another chocolate chip cookie. Her friends; Molly, Tess, and Annie, had arrived at her apartment half an hour ago to choose another four letters from people wanting bridesmaids’ dresses.

A few months ago, they’d read a newspaper story about a young couple who’d had everything stolen from their home, including the bridesmaids’ dresses for their wedding. Between Sally and her friends, they’d accumulated more than enough bridesmaids’ dresses to help the bride-to-be. From that first adventure, The Bridesmaids Club had been formed. Since then, they’d had a constant stream of dresses and letters arriving each week.

Molly took a photo of Tess as she opened one of the letters. “Can you try smiling a little?”

Tess plastered a fake smile on her face while Molly snapped another photo. “There has got to be a better way of doing this. I’m worried about all of the letters we’re not answering.”

Sally looked in the box. There must have been at least fifty letters randomly thrown inside. “What if we’re doing this the wrong way around?”

Tess pulled the letter from the envelope and looked at Sally. “What do you mean?”

“When we started out, we weren’t getting many letters. It didn’t matter how we chose them, because we’d eventually look at each one. Now, there’s just too many to guarantee one won’t get missed.”

Annie frowned. “Do you think we should open them all, then try and work out which ones need our help the most?”

Like all of Sally’s friends, Annie was struggling to juggle her spare time between The Bridesmaids Club and everything else in her life. In a few weeks she’d be starting her own catering business. The commercial kitchen she’d be working from was nearly ready, her marketing plan was going well, and she had a list of clients waiting for the grand opening.

Sally pointed to the box of letters. “What if someone was in charge of answering each of the letters as they arrived? We could sort of triage them from there?”

Tess nodded. “I like that idea. But it still doesn’t reduce the amount of work.”

“I could ask my friend, Rachel, to help us? If we had a standard letter that we sent back to everyone, it would save us time when people called to see if we got their letter. After that, we could work out whether we can fit people in around the time we’ve got.”

Molly left her camera on the coffee table. “Do you think Rachel would be interested?”

“She’s already offered to help,” Sally said. “She can’t work on the weekends, but she could reply to the letters during the week.”

Annie glanced at the box of letters. “I think it could work. At least this way, every person who sends us a letter will get a reply. Do you think Rachel would send letters to the people we’re not able to help?”

“I can’t see why not.” Sally took an envelope out of the box. “Some of the letters we receive haven’t got anything to do with weddings. At least this way we’ll know exactly how many bridesmaids we’re dealing with.”

Molly smiled. “I think it’s a good idea. We definitely need to work out a better way of sorting the letters. Otherwise, we might miss an opportunity to help someone.”

“Talking about helping someone…” Tess held her letter in the air. “This letter is from Janelle Smith. She lives in Three Forks and is getting married in two months’ time. She needs four bridesmaids’ dresses.”

Molly flicked through her diary. “If she can organize her bridal party to meet us next Wednesday or Thursday evening, I could help them. Are you doing anything with Logan on those days?”

Sally smiled when she thought about Tess’ fiancé. Logan had converted the loft above his garage into The Bridesmaids Club headquarters. It was a beautiful space, with lots of windows overlooking his front yard. They’d made the large bedroom their changing room, and stored all of the dresses on long racks in the open-plan living room. With a small kitchenette, ensuite, and its own entrance, it was perfect for what they needed.

Tess tapped the screen on her cell phone. “Both of those evenings work for me. The only appointment I’ve got is with the travel agent on Friday. I’ll contact the bride and find out which day suits her.”

Molly poured herself a cup of coffee. “Where are you going on your honeymoon?”

“I don’t know. Logan wants to go somewhere warm.”

Annie put her hand inside the box of letters and pulled one out. “What about Fiji? Someone I know went there for their last vacation. They loved it.”

“Fiji is amazing.” Molly picked up her camera and took a photo of Annie as she opened her envelope. “I worked there a couple of years ago. If you want lots of beaches, white sand, and coconut trees, it’s the place to go.”

Twelve months ago, Molly had been an international fashion photographer. She’d traveled the world, worked in exotic locations, and lived the kind of life that most people dreamed about. Then her granny had died in Ireland, and she’d moved to Bozeman to be closer to her sister. It hadn’t been easy, but with her sister’s help she’d created a new life, a new business, and a new outlook on life.

“Sounds like the perfect place to me,” Sally said as she shooed Muggles, one of her cats, away from the plate of cookies. She loved her apartment, but it wasn’t big enough for the three cats, two turtles, and six goldfish she looked after. Having Max living with her at the weekends had nearly tipped her neighbors’ kindness into overdrive. Adopting more shelter animals wasn’t an option.