Jesse (8 page)

“So we're good?” Slim asked.

Jesse nodded.

An hour later, he held his winnings in his hand. Four hundred thirty-nine dollars and twelve cents. Driving back home to the Circle G, he marveled that he'd earned so much for doing what he loved. “A.J. Foyt move over, there's a new Texan who's gonna break some speed records out at Devil's Bowl Speedway.”

Thinking of his Houston-born hero, he wondered if he'd be able to earn enough to pay down the feed bill and the mortgage. It felt good to be contributing like his brothers had. They'd done their part working a second job to help keep the ranch going; now it was his turn, and he surely did it his own way… behind the wheel of a race car.

Jesse couldn't get the awesome feeling of being behind the wheel, driving in the dirt out of his mind. But it was different than he'd thought all those years ago. As a kid, he'd wanted this chance so badly that he thought he'd go crazy knowing it wasn't gonna happen. Now that it had, things were different. He wasn't the same kid he'd been. Nothing shook your foundation like losing a favorite family member, but his grandfather had stepped up to the plate when their father had died all those years ago, then again when their mom was killed in that wreck. Old Hank had simply taken the rest of the burden of raising three hoodlums—as he liked to call Jesse and his older brothers—all on his own. When his grandfather died, Jesse felt as if he'd aged twenty years. He and his brothers had lost everyone; now they only had each other.

As he neared the turnoff to the Circle G, he realized that while he'd been working the ranch alongside his grandfather and brothers, something had happened to that childhood dream of racing cars… it had been tempered with a bone-deep commitment and love for the land he drove toward—Garahan land, as far as he could see.

Satisfaction settled inside of him as he pulled up to the gate. He stared at their family's brand, the
G
inside the circle, and knew there was more here than just their land and the herd—it was a way of life that had become ingrained in him over the years. He might like to flirt with the idea of giving up ranch life to pursue driving full time, but it was a pipe dream and not one that really mattered anymore. But the chance to drive out at Devil's Bowl was something he'd take on, just so that years from now he'd have no regrets… no what-ifs.

Shaking his head, he got out and opened the gate. Driving through, he wondered if Danielle was upset that he hadn't been able to pick them up tonight. But he'd done the right thing and left her a note, so she couldn't be too upset, could she? Females were persnickety sometimes. He'd learned that from his grandfather, and there wasn't a hell of a lot that the old man had ever been wrong about.

Feeling pretty good about himself, he let his mind wander as he let himself in the back door. His life had taken a turn for the good yesterday when he'd stopped to help out a stranger. Didn't that beat all that they'd known each other years ago?

Parking by the back of the house, he noticed a light had been left on in the kitchen for him. It was either Emily's or Ronnie's doing; his brothers wouldn't have thought to leave one on for him.

Tossing the money on the table, he started to walk away and decided to leave a note.
For
the
feed
bill.
“Let them wonder where I got it from.” He yawned. “I'm gonna hit the hay.”

He trudged upstairs and thought about sitting down halfway up; he was done, but he dug deep for the strength and got to the top and walked to his bedroom. He took off his shirt and tossed it to the floor. When the buttons clicked on hardwood, he paused, confused.

Half asleep he laughed when he remembered that he'd finally listened to Emily and delivered his laundry. Opening the button and unzipping the fly of his jeans, he let them fall into a heap by the bed. With a sigh of relief, he scrubbed his hands over his face and rolled his shoulders. Sliding between the sheets, the scent of sunshine and clean air surrounded him. “Thanks, Emily,” he sighed and drifted off to sleep.

“Hey, you plannin' on sleepin' in?”

Jesse opened one eye and couldn't focus, so he closed his eye and rolled over.

“We're burnin' daylight, Bro.”

Pulling his pillow over his head, he mumbled, “Fuck off.”

The scraping sound didn't register until Jesse's elbow and hip hit the floor and the mattress landed on top of him. He woke up fast and shot out from under the bedding swinging. His jab connected with Dylan's jaw. The satisfying sound of fist meeting flesh had the blood in his veins singing and his heart pumping. It felt good. Real good.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Tyler's question caught him off guard and Dylan's uppercut connected solidly to Jesse's chin. Momentarily stunned, he swayed on his feet before his brains unscrambled and he could think again. “All I said was fuck off.” He fingered the sore spot on his chin. “Since when is that a crime?”

Tyler shoved at Dylan, shook his head, and said, “Isn't… well, it wasn't before—”

Irritation shot up from Jesse's churning gut. “Don't even go there if you're gonna say it used to be OK before Emily and Ronnie moved in.”

Tyler closed his mouth, looked at Dylan, and shrugged. “Coffee's hot.”

His damned brothers grinned at one another, stepped over the wreckage of Jesse's room, and walked out the door, talking about the herd, fences that were down, and supplies that needed to be picked up in town.

The sun hadn't even started to show on the horizon; it was still dark. A glance at the clock and he could see that it wasn't even half past four. The heat of his temper fizzled out. He needed caffeine if he was going to refuel his mad and get to work. Hefting the mattress back onto the box spring and frame, he cursed his brothers again. “Those sheets were clothesline fresh, damn it.”

With a quick flick, he had the sheets free of any dirt he'd tracked in last night from the speedway. Tossing them on the mattress, he didn't bother to remake the bed; he was already one cup behind his brothers.

Grabbing his jeans off the floor, he pulled them up and reminded himself to thank Emily for the clothes that had been neatly folded on his dresser top. Dressed, he headed downstairs where the sumptuous scent of fresh-brewed coffee and pan-fried steak had his stomach rumbling.

Both brothers were crowding their women close enough to have Jesse wondering if they needed birth control. He almost asked, then remembered the clean clothes, and said, “Thanks for doing my laundry, Em.”

She slipped out of Tyler's arms and smiled at him. “Don't you just love the way they smell when they've been dried on the clothesline?”

“Yeah.” A glance in his brother's direction had him wondering why he was looking all pissed off at him. Still sore that they'd dumped him out of bed, he added, “Thanks, Em. You are the best!”

Just to test his theory that his brother was jealous, Jesse moved toward Emily to hug her. He swallowed a chuckle as the muscle beneath Tyler's left eye began to twitch. If he wasn't so hungry, he might have pushed his brother even further by kissing Emily—he missed their morning rumbles in the kitchen.

His stomach growled again and he focused on the food. “Hey, Ronnie, you save any steak for me?”

His sister-in-law pushed the hair out of her eyes and nodded. He almost laughed because that same hank of hair slid back in her face. He had a feeling Dylan was the one responsible for her delightfully disheveled appearance. She finally got her hair tucked behind her ears and reached for an empty plate. After she filled it with pan-seared steak, eggs, and potatoes, she handed it to him.

“You are an angel, Ronnie.”

“Hey.” Dylan moved closer, staking his claim and outlining his territory. If his brothers had their way, no one would get within three feet of their women. Normally he felt crappy about being envious of them all the time, but today was different—he had two pretty women waiting on him to finish his chores so he could pick them up and bring them out to the Circle G.

If he played his cards right, he'd be kissing Danielle's delectable lips this afternoon. He wondered if they'd be honey sweet or berry tart?

“Are you all right, Jesse?”

Emily's soft voice jolted him to the present and the realization that he hadn't moved. “Uh, yeah.” He walked over to the table and sat down. “Just low on caffeine.”

Magically, a cup appeared at his elbow—milk and two sugars, just the way he liked it. He drank some down before looking up. “Thanks, Emily. I could have gotten it.” The grim look on Tyler's face nearly had him giving in to the laughter building inside of him. It was just too hard to hang on to being mad when there was breakfast a man could count on to carry him through till noon, coffee just this side of perfect, and pretty women smiling and smelling like—he paused and, before his brothers could stop him, leaned toward Ronnie first and then Emily, breathing deeply. The ladies were an intriguing combination of rain-washed lavender and lemons.

With a grin, he plowed through his meal while his mind wandered and he wondered what scent Danielle favored. Damn, he couldn't remember. He'd have to get real close to her again and find out. He'd better get a move on with his chores and volunteer to head on into town to get the supplies. “So, need anything at Harrison's?”

“Nah, Dylan's got it covered. You and me will be riding fences today.”

“Sorry, Bro. I've got plans for this afternoon.”

“Change 'em,” Tyler grumbled.

“Can't,” Jesse answered, surprised that he was in such a good mood. Was it the prospect of seeing Danielle again, or teaching a certain little cowgirl how to ride? Probably both, he reasoned before looking at both brothers.

Dylan asked, “You got a special reason to want to head into town?” His brother's gaze was watchful, interested.

He shrugged, got up, and rinsed his plate and utensils. As he put them in the dishwasher, he looked up and caught Ronnie's nod of approval. He winked at her and hotfooted it out of Dylan's reach. Damn, but his brothers were touchy where their women were concerned.

As the door closed behind him, he realized that he couldn't wait to bring the Brockway ladies to the ranch and see how they fit. He was smiling as he made his way over to the barn.

Dodge whickered a welcome as Jesse made his way toward his horse's stall. His horse nudged him while Jesse placed the bit in his mouth and the bridle into place, keeping Jesse's mind occupied and off of the dangerous subject of women. It wouldn't be smart to be distracted working around large animals.

“Dodge, there's a little lady who would love to meet you.”

His horse nodded and whinnied, and Jesse couldn't help but smile. Humming to himself, he checked the cinch and mounted his horse. Right on cue, Tyler opened the back door and before Jesse could look away, the oldest Garahan gathered his woman into his arms and held her tight, burying his face in her curly red hair.

“Damn,” Jesse rasped. “To be loved like that.”
Hell
, he thought,
to
love
like
that
. It must have been what his parents had shared before his dad had gone on that fateful mission to Beirut.

He wondered if Danielle was the one… he had a feeling she might be and wondered if she would be willing to take a chance on another cowboy. Shaking his head, he wondered what the hell was wrong with him. He was starting to sound like an old woman. With one last look over his shoulder, he rode out, ready to tackle the first of the day's jobs. Tyler would catch up and they'd plow through their never-ending list. One thing was certain—come four o'clock that afternoon, he would be driving into town.

***

“Mommy, when's he coming?”

Danielle sighed and finished combing Lacy's hair. “I'm not sure, sweetie, but you know he's a busy man, with so many longhorns to look after.”

Lacy's mouth was set in a firm line. Recognizing the look, Danielle tried to dig deeper for the patience to deal with the fallout of one more sweet-talking cowboy who hadn't kept his word.

“But he was 'sposed to pick us up yesterday.” Lacy was pouting, and Danielle didn't blame her daughter.

“I know it's hard to understand, Lacy,” she soothed, digging deeply to find the patience to come up with an explanation for why Jesse had stood them up. “But sometimes grown-ups have to do things they don't want to do in order to make the time to do the things they want to do.”

“I 'member. You said that when Daddy left.”

Danielle's heart clenched and a wave of cold swept up from the tips of her toes. “That's right, sweet pea. He left us, but I'm still here.”

Lacy reached out and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. “I love you.”

Tears burned the back of her eyes, but Danielle blinked them away. “I love you back.”

Letting go, Lacy spun around and clomped toward the doorway. “Can we have pie for breakfast?”

This time, Danielle laughed out loud. “Maybe a sliver, you little rascal.”

Lacy danced out the door and down the hallway. Danielle could hear her daughter singing to herself, just slightly off key, and the words hit home—hard. “Save a horse, ride a cowboy.”

Thank goodness her little girl had no idea what those words really meant; she just liked the tune and the beat that accompanied it—well, that and it was about Lacy's favorite thing in the whole world… cowboys.

Following along behind, she hoped she'd be able to keep her daughter busy enough over at the diner to have her forgetting about a certain dark-eyed cowboy for the rest of the morning. Danielle had thought Jesse would have kept his word. He seemed so down to earth, so connected, not superficial.
Maybe
something
had
come
up.
But he hadn't called or left her a note.

By the time they were cleaning up from the lunch shift, she knew it was going to be difficult to interest Lacy in anything else. Her daughter talked to everyone who came into the diner, pleased to be Uncle Jimmy's little June bug and setting the napkins rolled around utensils at every table. Her daughter's voice always increased in volume when she was excited, so it was easy to keep track of the conversations her little one was having with the patrons of Sullivan's Diner. Every one started or ended with her tale of being rescued by the biggest cowboy she'd ever seen.

The people in Pleasure were as friendly as she remembered, from her times visiting as a child, and treated Lacy as if she were someone special. There were quite a few long looks in her direction when they thought Danielle was too busy to notice, but she noticed all right. She'd heard from her uncle that the speculation was already running high as far as Jesse Garahan and Danielle were concerned.

A sliver of awareness raced up her spine. He was a man worth getting to know, but if he didn't show up, how could she? Then another worry took hold: when he got here, would he want to stick around?

Once they'd bid the last customer good-bye, they got to work cleaning up and setting up for tomorrow morning. It was hard, honest work—a lot harder than her office job had been. That had only taxed her brain and stressed her out, worrying whether or not she'd get home from work in time to pick Lacy up from day care. Compared to worrying about Lacy, manual labor was a cinch.

“Do you mind if Lacy and I leave the diner before closing tomorrow?”

Her uncle looked up from grill he was scraping. “Sure thing. Have you got a date?”

The look on her face must have been priceless, because he started laughing deep, belly laughs.

“No, but I thought I'd head on over to the Circle G ranch and see if I can't talk a certain cowboy into keeping his promise to my little girl.”

Her uncle looked over his shoulder to where they'd left Lacy and nodded. “Might be a good idea, else little June bug just might start asking one of my regulars to drive her out there.”

Danielle laughed despite her uneasiness discussing Jesse. “She's pretty obvious.”

“Like her momma—with a one-track mind.”

Danielle smiled. “You could always figure out a person's motives five minutes after meeting them.” Trusting her uncle to tell her the truth she asked, “Do you think Jesse is like Buddy?”

Her uncle emptied the griddle's grease trap and wiped his hands on a towel. “In some ways yes, in others, no.”

“Great.” She walked over to where Lacy stood looking out the window. She didn't think her daughter noticed her, so she was surprised when Lacy turned and asked, “Do you think he'll 'member about his promise?”

“It takes a lot of time and hard work to keep a ranch going,” Uncle Jimmy said. “There is the herd to take care of and the horses that they use when working the herd.”

“How come you know so much 'bout ranching, Unca Jimmy?”

He smiled. “I've lived in Pleasure most of my life and have friends that took over the running of their family's ranch.”

Lacy was quiet on the ride home and went to the living room to watch television rather than keep them company in the kitchen. In between rolling out crust and worrying about broken promises, Danielle tiptoed down the hallway. As she'd hoped, Lacy had fallen asleep. Since she looked comfortable, she let her be.

“She all right?”

“Yes. I just wish Jesse had kept his promise and stopped by.”

“Well now, I'd say that maybe you and my favorite grandniece are a mite impatient.”

“Uncle Jimmy—”

“Don't Uncle Jimmy me,” he said, brushing the flour from his hands. “I'm not pleased that he didn't call to explain himself, and will have something to say to him if and when he shows up, but sometimes emergencies happen—especially out on a ranch.”

“Maybe you're right,” she admitted. “There might be a perfectly good reason why he didn't show up.”