A Proposal for Her Cowboy, page 12
“That’s kind,” Lacey said. And so very appreciated. His words settled deep inside her, filled her like her daughter’s had. “It’s good to be home.”
Sam gave Lacey another quick hug, then released her and turned to Aspen. “And this must be Aspen, our Junior Royal Rodeo cowgirl.”
Aspen beamed.
Sam extended his arm toward Aspen. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Aspen slipped around his arm and hugged him instead. “Mom said I can be myself. And I usually get to hug Santa. And you look an awful lot like Santa except skinnier.”
“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Sam laughed, embraced Aspen cheerfully, then frowned at Caleb. “Did you see that, Caleb? That’s a proper greeting for an old cowboy like me.”
Lacey swallowed her laughter.
Caleb grinned wide and opened his arms. “Hello, Santa Sam.”
Aspen giggled.
Caleb hugged his grandfather and hung on for an extra-long moment. His grandfather stepped back, and Caleb’s grin stretched even farther.
“We don’t have time for your foolery, Caleb Sloan,” Sam admonished and set his hand on Aspen’s shoulder. “We’ve got to get our young cowgirl ready.”
Caleb nodded, his words dry. “I was trying to greet you properly like you requested.”
“I already got the best hugs of the day from these two cowgirls,” Sam retorted. “Now, I’ve saddled a horse for you, Caleb, in case you want to ride too. And I set everything out for Aspen. She’ll need to do that herself in the contest. It’s best to practice now.”
Caleb scratched his cheek. “Let me guess, you read the rules, didn’t you?”
“This morning in fact.” Sam wrapped his fingers around his large belt buckle and smiled. “Can’t help her win if we don’t know what it takes. Of course, you could’ve told me yesterday about helping Aspen, so I had more time to prepare.” Sam frowned. “Instead, I had to hear it from Maggie at breakfast, which you skipped.”
Lacey peered at Caleb to see how he was taking Sam’s scolding.
“I had gifts to deliver, but I’m glad you missed me, Grandpa.” Caleb chuckled.
“We made some decisions this morning I reckon you’ll be wanting to know about,” Sam said. He spoke with a casual attitude, but his gaze was shrewd.
“What were those?” There was a reserve to Caleb’s words and expression.
“Glad you asked.” Sam’s grin disappeared inside his thick beard. “We’ve booked our private dandelion wine tasting event. It’s on the calendar for next weekend.”
“That sounds fun.” Lacey smiled.
Caleb frowned. “And soon.”
“Your uncle and I told you we weren’t waiting,” Sam warned. Then he adjusted the silver clasp on his bolo tie, cleared his throat, and said, “Lacey, I’ll make sure you receive a formal invite, of course.” His lips twitched, and his eyebrows waggled, returning him to his good-natured ways. “Caleb is organizing our private affair. It’ll be an evening you won’t want to miss. I can promise you that, right, Caleb?”
Caleb looked like he wanted to miss it. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Grandpa, we can talk about this later.”
“The date is set,” Sam insisted. “There’s no bowling league or garden club that night. Everyone has already marked their calendars for the tasting. That means it’s officially booked.” Sam preened at Lacey. “Around here, we prefer full calendars. Being social keeps us young.”
“Or it keeps them merrily mixed up in everyone’s business,” Caleb whispered to Lacey.
Lacey tried not to laugh, but it was hard work.
“What about me?” Aspen thrust both her arms out.
“Don’t you worry, we’ll do something just as fun.” Sam smoothed his fingers through his beard, his words reassuring. “What if we set a date for ice cream?”
“Can we have root beer floats?” Hope seemed to rise behind Aspen’s eyes. “I like those so much.”
“Now you sound like your mom. If she wasn’t riding, I’d catch her down at Frosty Dreamer’s Parlor, sipping on a root beer float.” Sam chuckled, then turned to Caleb, his words firm. “Mark your calendar, Caleb. We need to take Aspen for root beers floats and soon.”
“I’ll get right on that.” Caleb rubbed his hands together. “But right now, we need to get back to the horses.”
“Sam, I see the stunning Arabian I rode the other day at the lake.” Lacey pointed toward the far end of the barn. The sleek Arabian had his head extended over the stall as if he wanted to be included.
“You won’t be riding Denny today.” Sam shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “What with your head all banged up like that.”
Not Sam too. Lacey adjusted the brim of her hat to hide the bandage. “It’s just a slow ride around the arena with Aspen.”
“Sure it is,” Caleb mumbled, then coughed, covering the rest of his words.
Lacey began to confront Caleb and defend herself, but Sam stopped her.
“Don’t think I’m gonna fall for that one, my dear.” Sam tapped his forehead and rattled on, “Age has only made me wiser. I haven’t forgotten what you used to tell me way back when.” Sam’s eyebrows hitched up underneath his cowboy hat. “You’d look me right in the eye and say: we’re just going to take it easy today, Mr. Sloan. Enjoy the grounds with the horses.”
Lacey tried not to wince. Those had been her exact words to Sam every time she and Caleb had been caught leading horses from the Sloan stables. Lacey glanced at Caleb.
He smoothed his hand over his mouth, but his smile remained. He shrugged. “He’s not wrong. We used to say that all the time.”
Aspen flicked her attention from one to the other as if not wanting to miss a word.
“Now don’t go denying it. It’s much too late for that.” Sam swished his finger between Lacey and Caleb. “In truth, it was too late when you two were kids. Don’t think we didn’t know what you were up to.”
Lacey clasped her hands behind her back as if she’d been caught sneaking in after curfew.
“We?” Caleb pressed.
His grandfather chuckled. “We as in me and your gran Claire. Lacey’s darling mama.” Sam ticked the names off on his fingers. “Wells too.”
Sam made it sound like Lacey and Caleb were up to more than riding. Back then they’d been friends only. But now. Now, she wanted...
One side of Caleb’s mouth lifted. That private grin hooked her, hinted at shared secrets and heated her cheeks. Lacey slapped her palms over her face and willed her sudden blush to subside.
“What did they do?” Aspen asked.
“Jumping,” Sam replied. “The kind on horseback.”
“No way.” Aspen rounded on Lacey. “You actually did jumps and stuff?”
“Oh, yeah. Couldn’t hardly get your mom out of the saddle once your grandpa Wells plopped her in it,” Sam explained all too cheerfully. “She was jumping everything from hay bales to fences to streams on her horse.”
“Whoa.” Aspen looked Lacey up and down like she was trying to imagine it but couldn’t.
“Your mom was a highflier.” Sam raised his arm. “Graceful like an angel as she and her horse soared over whatever was in her path. A real natural.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Lacey said, although Sam’s praise wasn’t entirely unwelcome. Her two passions had been singing and horseback riding. Her horses had been her most loyal listeners.
“You were that good, Lacey,” Sam countered. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let you go and ride on our property. Especially after your gentle-hearted mama would call and blister my ears something good.” Sam touched his ear. “My ears are still ringing from her phone calls.”
Aspen giggled softly, her shoulders shaking.
Her mom had known what Lacey had been up to? Here Lacey had thought they’d been so clever all those times. She looked at Caleb. He seemed as surprised by Sam’s admission as Lacey.
“It’s true,” Sam insisted and eyed Aspen. “Your late grandma was a force to be reckoned with. She’d call and tell me: Sam Sloan, those kids are at it again. You’d best make sure my girl gets nothing more than a scratch. You hear me?”
Aspen pressed her hands against her mouth. “What did you do?”
“Listened, of course,” Sam said, wisdom crinkling the skin around his clever eyes. “You don’t interrupt moms when they are giving you a piece of their mind. Remember that.”
Aspen nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“No sooner had Dana blistered my ears than my own sweet Claire would come out to tell me those two were are it again. And I’d best watch over ’em,” Sam lamented, then pointed his finger at Caleb and Lacey again. “If one was jumping, the other was jumping higher.”
Aspen spun toward them. Hands on her hips, eyebrows arched. Accusation was written all over her face. “You both jumped.”
Caleb rubbed the back of his neck.
Lacey started to deflect, then glanced at Sam. “Sam helped us. More than once too.”
“That he did.” Caleb chuckled and edged closer to Lacey as if to make a united front. “Grandpa stacked more than a few hay bales for us to jump.”
“I had to look after you somehow, didn’t I?” Sam turned but not fast enough to hide the twinkle in his eyes. For all his bluff, he’d enjoyed himself.
“When do I get to jump?” Aspen hopped up and down and clasped her hands together. “Who’s going to teach me? Mom. Caleb. Santa Sam.”
The stables quieted as if even the horses were anxious to find out.
“Best to leave these sorts of decisions to the grown-ups.” Sam cleared his throat. “Think I’ll just head on over to the arena and get it opened up for you all.” With that, he scooted silently and rather spryly out a side door.
Lacey’s first instinct was to put her foot down and declare no jumping. Not ever. She’d lose a point for sure with that decision. But Aspen was a child. My child. Jumping was dangerous. The idea of Aspen getting injured was like a full-blown nightmare. Lacey managed a calm, “We can talk about jumping when you get older.”
“Now you sound like Dad.” Aspen crossed her arms over her chest.
Lacey understood Jeffrey’s point of view a bit better. Kids didn’t always have to get what they wanted. It was just that looking at her defeated daughter made all the guilt for the years Lacey had missed well up inside her. Disappointing Aspen was the last thing Lacey wanted. Talk about a parenting rock and a hard place. She touched her forehead.
Caleb moved to her side, set his hand on Lacey’s lower back. His words and touch were gentle. “My gran Claire was a real deal cowgirl, and she loved her horses more than anything.”
Lacey managed not to lean into Caleb, yet she stayed still and right beside him, grateful for his steady touch and quick assist.
Aspen’s frown softened. “I bet your gran did lots and lots of jumping.”
“She sure did,” Caleb said, a smile in his words. “But she also did lots and lots of learning first.”
“I already learned lots of stuff in my horse books,” Aspen said, her frown returning. “Every night in my bed I read and read.”
“But I’m talking about a different type of learning,” Caleb continued, unruffled. “This is learning about your horse. What she likes to eat. Her favorite treats. If she likes a blanket at night or not. Where she likes to ride. What scares her.”
That was the type of learning Lacey wanted to do with her cowboy. Or would want to do if she wasn’t finding Caleb his one true cowgirl. Lacey eased away from his side.
“Spiders scare me.” Aspen slipped her hand into Caleb’s and walked with him past the stalls. “And mean snakes. Are your horses afraid of snakes?”
“That depends on the horse.” Caleb slowed by a stall and stroked his hand between the ears of a brown quarter horse. “Denny over there is too curious for his own good. While Winston here is too lazy to be bothered by much of anything. And the farm cats sleep with Catnip down in the first stall, so she hasn’t had to worry about critters of any variety bothering her.”
“Catnip is lucky. I want to sleep with a cat,” Aspen admitted and reached up to touch Winston’s face. “Or a dog. Then I wouldn’t ever get scared at night. Do you get scared, Caleb?”
“Sometimes,” he confessed. “But I think you’re right. I should get a pet too.”
Lacey was scared she was already learning so much about her cowboy the longer she watched him with her daughter. She was even more scared that when he moved on with his cowgirl match, not even a pet of her own would be enough to fill the loneliness. But that was impossible. This was Caleb. And she was Lacey. And they were not... They were just not.
Aspen grinned and swung their joined hands between them. “When I learn about my horse, can I jump then?”
“So you start with having to learn all about your horse,” Caleb explained. “Then you become friends. After that, partners. And that’s when you trust each other.”
“And then we jump,” Aspen announced.
No. Lacey shook her head. There would be no jumping on horses for Aspen. And certainly no other kind for Lacey that included leaping from friends to something more.
“Gran Claire always told me you can’t move straight to jumping. That’s just poor planning. And nothing good ever comes from that,” Caleb said. “And I’m going to add, you can’t jump without trust.”
Right. Lacey couldn’t trust. Not her cowboy. Not herself. She’d keep her feet planted right where she was, and friends was how they would stay.
Caleb stopped at the stall with a striking tan-and-white Paint inside. “Ready to meet your teammate and get to know her?” He handed an apple to Aspen. “Her name is Biscuit. She’s calm, friendly, and one of my favorite horses.”
Aspen gripped the apple and leaned toward Caleb. Her whisper was heavy with worry. “What if Biscuit doesn’t like me?”
Caleb lowered to a knee in front of Aspen. “Biscuit will like you because you have what my gran Claire would call heart.”
“How do I know if I have heart?” Aspen’s gaze never left Caleb’s.
“You’re here, aren’t you?” Caleb countered. “Can’t get where you want to be without taking that first step, right?”
But if Lacey didn’t let her heart take any step, then she would stay where she wanted to be. Here, with her heart intact and all for her daughter.
Aspen pursed her lips, then finally nodded.
“Come on.” Caleb opened the door to Biscuit’s stall and led Aspen inside. “Biscuit is waiting.”
The pair moved from treats to grooming to finally braiding Biscuit’s mane together. The conversation never paused, switching from horse breed facts to horse care to horse tack and its specific uses as they saddled the patient mare. Aspen listened, followed directions, and kept up her own steady stream of praise for Biscuit.
All the while, Lacey watched the pair and feared her own heart was showing. Yet she couldn’t move away and wanted to be closer. To join in. Fortunately, the closed stall door reminded her to keep to her side.
Finally, Aspen ran her hand down the length of Biscuit’s neck, complimented the mare’s light blue eyes, and declared, “Biscuit likes her mane braided. Now we match.” Aspen leaned in, whispered to the mare, then grinned at Caleb. “We’re ready to ride now.”
Caleb put the brushes away and led Biscuit out of the stall. Outside, he handed the reins to Aspen and let her guide Biscuit into the covered arena. Caleb, Aspen, and Biscuit moved into the soft, sandy arena.
Lacey paced in front of the metal gates, trying to walk off her sudden apprehension. She caught sight of Sam strolling toward her and joined him at the curve of the arena. “I’m a little more anxious than I thought I would be. She’s ridden before but not much. I just want her to...” Love it as much I did. Not fall. Have fun. Not get hurt. Enjoy herself. Not get defeated. Get back up.
Sam set his hand on Lacey’s arm, drawing her gaze to him. “Worry is what comes with loving someone the way you love your daughter. There’s no getting around it.”
Lacey considered Sam. “What do you do about it?”
“You make sure when it can’t be you watching over her that the right people are doing it for you.” Sam tipped his chin, and Lacey followed his gaze toward the center of the arena. Caleb was now seated behind Aspen on the mare.
Their heads were bent together as Caleb talked to her daughter and guided Aspen’s hands around the reins. Lacey’s shoulders loosened. “Wells taught me to ride the same way.”
“Your mom knew Wells was one of the good ones.” Sam propped his arms on the metal gate. “My Claire would’ve called Wells a cowboy worth keeping.”
Wells was certainly that. Her stepdad had always looked out for Lacey and her mom.
Lacey watched Caleb and Aspen circle the arena. Aspen waved as they passed, pure delight on her face. Joy was in her gaze. Lacey had felt all that when she’d first learned to ride all those years ago. And those feelings had only grown the more time she spent with her horses.
Her gaze landed on her cowboy and stuck. She needed to find his cowgirl match soon, before she decided he might be her cowboy worth keeping.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CONGRATULATIONS WERE DEFINITELY in order.
It was after lunch, and Caleb was driving Lacey and Aspen home. That Aspen’s practice had gone better than he’d imagined wasn’t his cause for celebration.
Rather it was the fact that he could finally look at the bandage on Lacey’s forehead and not get irritated all over again. Finally, he was not thinking about what could’ve happened if the nozzle had struck an inch lower or an inch to the right. True, her cowboy hat covered part of the bandage, and she was staring straight ahead, but Caleb meant to take small successes where he could.
