Rodeo Blues (19 page)

He hadn't come home for the funeral. At the
time, he'd wondered what was the point? His father hadn't been a
part of his life when he was alive. What was the purpose of coming
home, now that he wasn't?

"Do you want to visit?" Jolie asked. "I still
have time."

He nodded, surprised at his response. They
crossed the street and headed for the gate to the cemetery.
Mesquite trees were part of the landscape, and bluebonnets peeked
out of the whitewashed fence. He let Jolie lead him to the spot,
even though he remembered where his mother was buried. He'd been to
her gravesite when he was a teenager, more out of curiosity than
anything else. When they halted their steps, he was surprised to
see his father had a tombstone. He glanced at Jolie. "He had the
tombstone paid for too?" he asked.

"No. My father and I had one made." She
shrugged. "Just seemed…I just thought he needed to have one."

He pursed his lips. "Thank you." His throat
tightened with emotion, which made swallowing difficult. Why was he
upset? He hated his father, or at the very least hated what he'd
become.

Jolie moved closer to him. "It's all right to
feel sad. No matter what. He was still your father."

He wrapped an arm around her and she leaned
against him. He needed this and he hadn't even known it. "Damn
him." His voice choked. "Damn him for not being there for me when I
was a kid. And damn him for not staying alive long enough so we
could have fixed our relationship." He glanced at her. "I would
have tried, you know. I kept thinking I had time."

"I know."

They stayed for a while longer and he waited
for Jolie as she said a prayer at her mother's gravesite.

When they headed out of the cemetery, they
were holding hands. It felt so right for her to be at his side, and
he hoped she felt the same about him.

* * * * *

Jolie watched Tye as he headed toward the
arena. They were going to go out again later. They'd made plans for
a late supper. He wanted her to give him a chance. If she were
perfectly honest with herself, she wanted it too.

She headed toward her booth. Whisper spotted
her and waved. She wore her purple and pink outfit today that
reminded her of a scarf.

"How has the morning gone?" Jolie asked.

"Good," Whisper said. "I just sent Mary Lou's
girls on a break."

"Thanks. Sorry, I was late getting here."

"No worries. Did Tye have anything to do with
you being late? Saw you two together." She winked.

"Something like that."

"Then you being late was definitely no
problem." Whisper's lips curved. "Oh, I almost forgot. Your daddy
was by earlier looking for you. He said he needed to talk to
you."

She frowned and pulled out her cell phone and
noticed she'd missed three calls from him. She listened to the
message he'd left her.

"Jolie, we need to talk," her father's voice
came in loud and clear. It was his 'all business' voice. Whatever
he needed to talk about, it had to be important. In his next
breath, she knew it was. "It's about Tye Casper and why he truly
came back to Skeeter Blue." She knew why Tye had come back home. He
told her this morning at Trinkets Galore, but still…

"Do you want to go find your father?" Whisper
asked.

"What? Uh… No, it can wait." She slipped the
phone into her back pocket.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The morning proved different than Tye
expected it to be. Jolie and he talked and all was good, but he
hadn't expected the trip down memory lane at the cemetery. If he
wanted to be perfectly honest, that had also been good. He felt a
weight lifted off his shoulders, a weight he hadn't known he was
carrying around, until today. Saying goodbye to his father had been
something he had to do, but forgiving him had been a surprise.
Jolie had encouraged him to let go. She'd been there for him.

You were there for me when
my mother died,
she had told him.

He didn't think he'd done much. He was just
there… He listened when she needed him to. Held her when she wanted
comfort, and he let her use him as a soundboard when she couldn't
keep the anger back.

She'd been so angry when her mother had died.
Death didn't just affect the person who passed on. It had a huge
impact on the living as well. He'd been too young when his own
mother died. He didn't remember her other than what his Aunt
Gertrude had told him about her. His father couldn't be the parent
he needed him to be, but he could now stop beating himself up for
it. He couldn't have changed him or have been a better son. None of
it would have helped. He knew that now. Deep down he'd always
known, but today he faced the truth of it.

Tye's cell phone buzzed and he fished it out
of his pocket. "I have to get this," he told Buddy and strode a few
feet away from the stalls where they were looking over their
equipment for today's event. He was third in line to ride. They
would be calling him soon.

"Hello, Mayor Dirkly," he said as he placed
the cell phone to his ear.

"I've been avoiding your wife as best I can,"
the Mayor said. "I thought you were going to win the gal over. What
in tarnation is taking you so long? You're a good lookin' fella,
you're rich, and you both love each other. So why is Jolie still
hollerin' for an annulment?"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about her
hunting you down," Tye said. This afternoon they had made some
progress in getting to know each other again. They were going out
on a date tonight too. Everything was looking up. "I'm working on
it."

"Work faster. I can only stall for so long. I
know I owe you for helping me make this year's rodeo a success, and
you promised to donate the money to rebuild the arena for next
year's event, but I can't hide from Jolie forever. So get that plan
of yours rolling or Jolie is going to think I've gone and killed
someone and you know where the body is buried."

"Tye," Buddy called to him from the stalls.
"You're up in five."

He waved to Buddy to let him know he'd heard
him.

"How about you just give her that DVD," Mayor
Dirkly said.

"What? No," he said. "You were supposed to
get rid of it."

"I know, but it's your wedding. Don't you
think Jolie would want it?"

"I told you she doesn't remember what she
said and if she does, she's chosen to pretend it didn't happen.
Giving her the DVD would be like a slap in the face and I'll ruin
any chance of winning her back."

Mayor Dirkly chuckled. "Son, so far you've
been doing a poor job of winning the girl back, and technically you
already have her. You're married," he stressed the last words. "The
DVD may actually give you the edge you need. As far as I can see,
it wouldn't hurt things anymore than they are now."

He closed his eyes and counted to ten. He
wanted Jolie to come around on her own, without having to view an
episode of her baring her soul. Because he knew darn well if she'd
been sober, she wouldn't have declared her undying love to him. He
opened his eyes. "She'll think I'm trying to blackmail her. Her
declaration while drunk, doesn't count as the truth. You know that.
Heck, everyone knows it. It's like one of those unwritten rules
like…" He snapped his fingers. "Like what happens in Vegas, stays
in Vegas."

"I haven't heard of any such thing."

"Well, I'm sure there's some kind of
rule."

"Tye!" Buddy called to him again. "You're up.
Now!"

"Listen, Mayor, I've gotta go. Just don't do
anything with the DVD. Let me handle it my way." He didn't wait for
the Mayor to answer him but ended the call.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"I'm sure your husband will love the
T-shirt," Jolie told the older woman, who was slim with styled
short, gray hair.

"I do hope it won't shrink in the wash," she
said. "Do you think I should have gotten a bigger size?" She peeked
inside her bag at the T-shirt she just purchased.

"The shirt is made with a pre-shrunk cotton
blend," Jolie assured her. "You won't have to worry about it
shrinking or stretching in a strange manner. You have my word. Any
problems and I'll replace it for you."

The woman's mouth spread into a wide grin.
"Mighty good of you, Miss Lockhart. I'll be sure to tell the
Heritage Society in Houston about your shop. I'm sure they'll want
to purchase Christmas gifts from you come this holiday. You know we
have our Christmas Bazaar at the beginning of December. Some of
those necklaces and Teddy bears would really be a hit."

"I'd love for you to tell them about my
store. By the way, the necklaces and Teddy bears can be custom
ordered." She handed the woman her card.

"Wonderful," she said, placing the card in
her wallet. "You'll be hearing from us." With her parting words,
the woman hurried off with her purchase as Whisper came into view,
looking a bit frazzled even for her.

"Don't you look a sight," she said with a
grin, but when Whisper didn't return the smile, she became worried.
"What's wrong?"

"Tye's been taken to the hospital," Whisper
blurted.

"What?" Her heart felt like it plummeted to
her toes. "He was supposed to ride at noon," she said more to
herself as she glanced at her wristwatch, a no nonsense timepiece
she had for years. It was only 12:30 now.
It only
took eight seconds or less to be hurt. Eight seconds…

"There was an accident…" Whisper drew her
attention. "I don't know how serious it is. I just heard the news
from one of the onlookers on my way over here. They said he was
hurt pretty bad. I couldn't find Buddy to verify this. I don't
know, maybe he's at the hospital with him."

If they rushed Tye to the hospital, there was
a good chance he'd been too injured for her daddy to patch him up
and send him back into the arena. "Damn his hide. Does he think he
can make me a widow?" She came around on the other side of the
booth. "Are you okay to close things up?"

"Don't you worry about a thing," Whisper
said. "I have it handled."

"Thanks, Whisper." She grabbed her purse and
hurried toward the parking lot. Tears stung her eyes and her throat
suddenly felt like a piece of cement had been lodged there.

Every time Tye rode, he risked being
seriously injured…or worse. "Every time," she murmured, but even
when he fell, he'd always gotten right back up. He made a point to
never let the fans down. He could ghost out to avoid injury… He was
the invisible Ghost Rider. "Don't you go dying on me," she said a
silent prayer.

She must have broken every speed limit to
reach Mercy Hospital, but it felt like she'd taken a horse and
buggy out for a Sunday drive instead of her truck. She parked in
the visitors' parking lot and raced for the ER entrance.

The smell of stale coffee and disinfectant
hit her nostrils as if the scents were entities all their own. Her
gaze took in the men and women seated in the chairs, waiting their
turn to be seen. She hurried past them to the receptionist's desk,
where a woman with gray hair and glasses sat at her computer with a
large cup of coffee sitting on the desk. She didn't recognize her
from her visits to see her father when he made his rounds, but then
she didn't usually hang out in the emergency room.

"A man was brought in…from the rodeo," Jolie
explained to the receptionist. "I need to see him."

Her brows lifted. "Are you a relative?"

"I'm his wife," she didn't hesitate to say.
It was the truth after all.

"Oh, then please come in."

She motioned to the door and Jolie heard a
buzzer and the lock mechanism releasing so she could open the door.
She rushed forward.

"They've been waiting for you," the
receptionist said. "He's in room 4B," she called after her.

Jolie hurried down the hall. They'd been
waiting for her. How did they know to call her? Had Tye put down
her name as an emergency contact?