Texas Wide Open

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Authors: KC Klein

BOOK: Texas Wide Open
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Texas
WIDE OPEN
KC KLEIN
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
This book is dedicated
to my wonderful daughter,
Kennedy.
Thank you for sharing
your love of horses with me.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks go to my editor, Alicia Condon, for wanting to see a “hot cowboy story”
and more importantly for wanting to see
my
“hot cowboy story.” Also to Jill Marsal, the most diligent of agents. To Chelsea
Scott for teaching me about horses, all mistakes are my own. To the famous Lala’s
for all their loving support and for creating a safe place to whine. To my friend
and critique partner, Erin Kellison, for saying to Alicia, “My crit partner has a
hot cowboy story. . . .” To my children for eating fish sticks on the nights Mommy
stays up in her room and writes. And last but not least, to my wonderful husband who
paints the bathroom, does the laundry, and holds down the fort while I pound away
on my laptop. I love you.
Prologue
Katie slouched on the peeling wood steps that led to the back porch. With elbows firmly
propped up on knees, she dropped her chin into her hands. Everyone else was inside
talking in hushed tones, eating rolled-up meat and dried crackers with white goo on
them.
Her stomach growled. The “finger sandwiches,” which didn’t look like fingers at all,
were real small and not one of them had peanut butter and jelly in them. She could’ve
complained to Pa. He would’ve found her something good to eat, but she was still mad
at him.
Pa had made her wear the yellow dress that had ruffles around the neck, the one that
choked and itched. She
hated
that dress. It made her look like a baby and at eight years old, she was no baby.
How was Cole supposed to know that she was a big girl if Pa dressed her all stupid
like? But Katie had seen the look on her father’s face, and learned there was no arguing
when his mouth got all tight and small like that.
Still, she’d won one battle. She raised one foot to peek at the scuffed leather boot.
Yep, her most favorite shoes in the whole world—her pink boots. She’d waited ’til
the last minute so there’d been no time for Pa to send her back to change or else
they’d miss the you-la-gee, whatever that was. So she wore her pink cowgirl boots,
and had flashed her prettiest smile every time one of the ’dults told her that she
sure did look cute.
In the end, wearing them wasn’t worth the trouble she’d get later, cuz the one person
who shoulda noticed, didn’t. Cole.
Katie hugged herself and rocked slightly, her stomach still fluttery from when Pa
had nudged her to walk to the front of the church where Cole, his sister, Nikki, and
his ma had stood. Katie’s stomach did that a lot when she saw Cole. His dark hair
had grown shaggy, and she loved how it fell to one side. She loved his blue eyes that
always made her think of the Texas sky and how his crooked smile made her smile. He
was eight years older, almost grown, but he’d never treated her like a baby. Which
was cool, because sometimes even Pa did that.
Most of the time when she saw him, she’d throw herself into his arms, and he’d always
give her a hug and twirl her ’round and ’round ’til Pa would tell them to settle down.
But today was different. Today, she felt terrible. Cole, her best friend, her cowboy,
was sad.
Katie had walked up to Cole’s mom after the funeral, not sure what to do. Mrs. Logan
had been a mess. Her hair wasn’t smoothed back into a tight bun like usual, but fuzzy.
She had shivered inside her black sweater, which was odd since Katie’s dumb dress
was already stuck to her. There was one second when Katie didn’t want to hug Mrs.
Logan, afraid she’d knock her over. Then Cole’s mom turned her lips into a half smile
and Katie threw her arms around her, burying her nose in the smell of fabric softener
and maple syrup.
“Ah Katie, my breath of fresh air,” she said, patting Katie’s head. “You need to help
Cole. Be there for him.”
Katie had nodded. But when she’d hugged Cole with all her strength, he just stood
there, not saying one word. Even when she mumbled “sorry” like everyone else had,
he hadn’t looked at her. Nope, just stared straight ahead like he was picturing himself
somewhere else and not at the church at all.
Nikki as usual, had never looked at her. Katie shrugged. Nikki was older, almost ten,
and she didn’t play with babies. At least that was what Nikki had told Katie the last
time she’d gone over looking for Cole. That was fine with Katie. Nikki was boring
anyway. All she cared about was that beat-up, old pool table the Logans had out back.
She didn’t care about horses. Not like Katie did.
Katie heaved her shoulders and slumped even farther. She peeled a blue paint chip
off the worn step and held it up against the bright sky. Nope. Not quite. Her pa always
told her there was nothing quite as blue and quite as wide as the Texas sky. And Pa
was always right. There wasn’t a color blue she’d seen that matched the best sky in
the whole world. Well, except the blue of Cole’s eyes, and she wasn’t going to tell
anyone that.
Katie flicked the paint chip to the ground and looked out past the giant oak tree.
There in the distance was a two-rail wooden fence Cole’s dad had just put up. In the
holding area were the new horses that arrived only a few weeks ago. One of the horses,
Cole told her, was pregnant and soon the first foal would be born to the Logans’ Horse
Ranch.
She’d heard one of the ’dults, Mike Pitt, talking about how the horses had killed
Cole’s dad. He’d been real upset and had gone on about how Cole’s dad shoulda known
better. And about how the horses had cost lots of money and the stress on Cole’s dad’s
heart was too much. Katie didn’t understand and wanted to ask Mr. Mike how the horses
could be to blame when Cole’s dad died in his bed. But Katie couldn’t because for
some reason Pa didn’t like her talking to him.
But Mr. Mike was wrong. It couldn’t have been the horses. Seemed to her it was the
sleepin’ that had killed Cole’s dad. He went to sleep and plumb forgot how to wake
up. That’s why from now on when she went to sleep she’d keep the bathroom light on,
so she’d remember how to get up in the mornings.
One of the ponies neighed in greeting as Cole and her pa went toward the fence. Her
pa had his arm around Cole’s shoulder and was walking real slow. Funny, Cole always
seemed so big to her, but next to Pa he didn’t. Maybe cuz of the way his shoulders
slumped and how his head hung down like he wanted to study the design on his black
boots.
Pa lifted his hat and smoothed his hair. He had a habit of fiddling with his hat when
a horse was having a hard time birthing a foal or when Katie got a note home from
her teacher. So Katie sat real still and quiet so she could figure out what bothered
Pa because next to him, Cole was her favorite person in the world.
Pa focused hard on Cole. His head bent low to Cole’s dark one. Cole nodded, swiped
at his eyes, and nodded again. Then Pa did something she’d never seen him do. Well,
to anyone else except her. He hugged Cole. And not just a one-arm hug, but a real,
both-arms-wrapped-around-and-squeezing, making-you-feel-all-safe-and-better kinda
hug. And for one heartbeat, jealousy rolled through her. But it was gone just as quick
because this was Cole who Pa hugged. And if Pa was going to hug anyone else, then
it might as well be Cole because she knew a secret.
It was so secret she hadn’t even told Pa. So secret she’d only whisper it at night
and then only into her pillow. She was gonna marry Cole one day.

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