Love & Rodeo (2 page)

“
Carla?”

Carla offered a weak smile and then a tear escaped her eye.

“
What’s going on?”

Kallie looked at the patrolman for an answer. When their eyes met, Kallie understood why Carla was crying and why the patrolman was with her.

“
Where’s my Mom and Dad?”

Kallie had looked behind them, but something told her they would never get to see her in the winner circle.

“
Miss Davis, I’m afraid I have some bad news. Is there some place we can go that is a little more private?”

“
I’ll take Blaze,” Carla told her.

She shook her head as a tear escaped. She quickly wiped it away.

“
Tell me,” she insisted.

“
I think we should go some place a little more private,” he said again.

“
Tell Me
!” Kallie had yelled this time, and everyone quieted. She could feel their eyes on her, but she didn’t care. She had to know what he came to tell her.

He exhaled, looked at her and delivered the blow. “Your parents were involved in a head-on collision tonight.”

She watched his Adam’s apple bob. “I’m afraid they didn’t make it.”

A cry bellowed from deep inside her tiny body. As she fell to her knees, her whole world came crashing down around her. The two people who taught her to love barrel racing were no longer in this world. Her heart raced and ached, all at the same time. She clutched her hands to her heart to hold it together as it broke into pieces.

Kallie snapped her eyes open. She had to get out of the trailer and away from her memories.

Chapter Two

Kallie turned on the light and pulled on a pair of her tightest jeans. She found a tank top and slipped on her boots. She grabbed some cash and her ID before she locked up the trailer and started walking. It didn’t matter where she went. All that mattered was she got out of there and away from her thoughts.

After a few minutes of walking, she realized that she was heading toward Tequila Rose. She looked behind her, as if her memories were chasing her, begging her to remember, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to forget about that and try to move on. She was so tired of hurting. She wanted to feel again. She wanted to feel alive, instead of feeling like the zombie she’d become since her parents died.

She was close to the bar now. She started to jog until she reached the front door. The bouncer asked to see her ID. She pulled it from her back pocket and showed it to him. After receiving a wristband, he opened the door allowing loud country music to spill from the bar. She walked inside, leaving her memories at the door.

Kallie looked around at the crowd. There were cowboys and cowgirls line dancing on the dance floor, and all kinds of people sitting around at tables, while a few servers walked to and fro. She turned her attention toward the bar which was lined with patrons. Most were faces she recognized from the circuit. She smiled when Luke’s eyes met hers. Luke was Kallie’s ex-boyfriend, and while the breakup came at the worse time, they remained friends. She watched as he walked up to her.

“
Hey you!” Kallie said as he pulled her in for a hug.

“
Congrats by the way,” Luke said as he backed away.

“
Thanks.”

“
It’s like you haven’t been gone for the last six months.”

She smiled. “No?”

“
I can’t believe you’re actually in a bar.” Luke smiled.

Kallie laughed. “I wasn’t ready for bed yet.”

“
Well, all the guys are at the bar. Come on, I’ll buy you a beer.”

She felt Luke’s hand at the small of her back as he guided her toward the bar. She took a seat and watched as Luke got the bartender’s attention. He ordered and then stood beside her.

“
So how have you been?”

“
Okay, I guess. The ranch is gone. Nora and I have been staying with Grams in Houston. When we’re there, Blaze stays at a boarding facility. It’s pretty nice.”

“
I’m sorry.” Luke frowned.

She winced at those words. “Let’s not talk about that.”

She knew where he was going with the conversation. She came to the bar to get away from those thoughts, not relive them.

The bartender returned with the beer and Kallie started to pull out her money.

“
I got it.” She watched as Luke handed the bartender a ten and told him to keep the change.

“
You didn’t have to do that,” Kallie told him.

“
I know. I wanted to.” Luke smiled at her again.

It was the kind of smile that should have set the butterflies off in her stomach, but it didn’t.

“
Thank you.”

“
So what do you want to talk about?” Luke asked as he took a drink of his beer.

Kallie did the same. “Let’s talk about your ride tonight.”

“
I got the highest score. Hopefully I can keep this up.”

“
Well, you were amazing,” Kallie told him.

She’d always enjoyed watching Luke ride, or any bull rider really. She didn’t understand their fascination with getting atop a bull and riding it for eight seconds, but their fascination alone was enough to pull her in.

“
You watched?” His eyes met hers and it was clear he still wanted her.

“
I’ll always watch you ride. That’s a habit I’ll never be able to break.” Kallie smiled as she took another drink of her beer.

About that time, the guy from the earnings line walked up. “You came!” He called to her over the noise.

Kallie turned toward him. “I did.” She offered him a smile.

“
Well, we’re sitting over here. What are you doing up here?”

“
Just visiting with an old friend.”

Kallie looked at Luke. He was glaring at the guy.

“
Hi. You’re Luke Abbot, right?”

He extended his hand toward Luke.

Luke looked at his hand and eventually took it. “Yeah, and you are?”

“
Levi Cavanaugh. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve been following your riding the last year or so.”

“
Levi? You’re the rookie rider just joining us. Nice ride tonight.”

“
Yeah. Second’s not bad.”

Kallie looked over Levi. He was tall—very tall. He towered over her, his dark hair tucked under his cowboy hat. He had stubble on his face and his eyes were clear blue, uncharacteristic of his dark complexion. He was handsome, and when he looked at Kallie, something inside stirred a little.

Kallie took a long drink from her bottle. The beer was going down too smooth tonight. She should have been worried about that, but she was too busy watching Levi.

“
Hey, Luke!” she heard one of the guys from down the bar yell to him.

He looked up and mouthed “one minute” before saying, “It was nice catching up with you. I guess I’ll be seeing you around.” Luke leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

She smiled and watched as he walked away before she turned her attention to Levi.

“
Are you ready for another?” Levi asked.

“
Sure, but you don’t have to buy.”

Levi laughed. “I don’t know where you’re from, but in Tulsa, a lady never buys her own drink.”

She smiled and shook her head while he got the bartender’s attention.

“
You drinking Bud?”

“
Yep.”

He smiled at her as the bartender approached them. “Two of these,” he told him.

Levi pulled out his wallet and paid the man. She waited while he tucked it away and turned to her.

“
I don’t know what it is about a girl who drinks beer, but it’s sexy as hell.”

“
Really?” Kallie asked as she drank the rest of her previous beer.

He smiled at her and her stomach danced. The bartender handed them their beers, and when Kallie slid down off of the barstool she inadvertently took a step closer. Her heart raced as his hand went to her hip to steady her, and a flush of heat ran across her face.

“
I’m sorry, I thought there was more room.”

“
It’s fine. Are you okay?”

She nodded as his eyes pierced hers, and for a second it seemed impossible to take her gaze away from his. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

“
All right. This way.”

She followed him through the crowd until they were at a table across from the small bar. He pulled an empty chair beside his and waited for her to sit down before he followed suit.

“
Uh, Kallie, this is my best friend, Travis and his girlfriend, Cassidy Cole.”

“
I remember you from last year,” Kallie said.

“
Yeah, I remember you too. Glad you’re back.” Cassidy smiled.

It was clear, Cassidy was
not
happy she was back, despite the words that came from her mouth. Kallie was her competition, and when she was winning, Cassidy wasn’t. It made a person bitter and hard to befriend. That was really why Kallie stuck to herself. She knew what the girls said behind her back last year when she was on the circuit. They were mean and nasty. Those were the same girls who came to her parents’ funeral, and cried as if they had known them—the same girls who hugged her and apologized. How could a person be so mean and cruel one minute, and hugging you the next? It wasn’t right, and Kallie wanted no part of it.

“
They didn’t think you’d come,” Levi announced.

Kallie looked at the two of them.

“
Well, I mean you never came out to the bar with any of us before.”

Kallie smiled and looked down at her hands. She felt Levi’s hand rest on the back of the chair. She exhaled. “Yeah. I was busy studying between rodeos. That’s why I never came out.”

“
Studying?” Levi asked.

“
Um, I was in a Vet Tech program back in Texas.”

“
Oh, that’s nice. Did you finish?”

It was clear Levi didn’t know what Travis and Cassidy knew. The two of them looked at her with sympathy in their eyes. It was what she came to the bar to avoid, and now it was staring her in the face.

What am I doing here?

“
We’re going to dance,” Travis said as he took Cassidy’s hand and started for the dance floor.

Kallie sighed, a little relieved they had chosen that moment to leave.

Levi pulled his chair closer to hers to hear her response better. “Sorry about them.”

“
No, it’s okay.”

“
So did you finish?”

She paused for a second. “No. My parents died last year. I didn’t finish. I’ve spent the last six months selling off our family’s ranch, and trying to adopt my younger sister.”

“
Oh! Wow.” Levi stared at her.

She winced as she waited for those two little words everyone said to her. “I’m sorry.” That’s what everyone said. As if it was their fault, or if they understood even a little of what she and her sister had gone through. It’s what everyone from the circuit told her at her parents’ funeral. She hated those words. She wished they had never been put together. She sat waiting for them, but they never came. She looked at him and he was looking at her, but it wasn’t sympathy she saw in his eyes. Instead, he squeezed her shoulder and she relaxed. He understood, and for that she was grateful.

She waited for him to give her an excuse to run away, but he didn’t. “So you’re from Texas?”

“
Yeah, and you’re from Tulsa, right?”

“
I am. My family owns a huge horse farm out there. They train and sell barrel horses.”

She looked at him. “You train barrel horses?”

“
No. I was in charge of mucking stalls.”

Kallie laughed.

“
Laugh it up.”

“
I couldn’t help it. You made it sound like it was this huge job title, and then you said mucking stalls. You’re funny.” She laughed a little more.

She smiled at him and he smiled back as he studied her face.

“
Would you like to dance?”

She liked the way his eyes warmed her skin.

“
Sure,” she answered.

He stood, took her hand and pulled her toward the dance floor.

When they got there, Kallie started to sway to the music and Levi did the same. The beer was starting to get to her. She wasn’t a regular drinker, and it worked its power on her. As a result, she started to feel herself loosen up.