A Cowboy for June, page 2
“Do you think Shayna and Dustin check out my social media pages?” June asked.
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t.”
Emily snorted.
“Okay, so I want them to boil and writhe with jealousy at what a fantastic time I’m having. Especially since the last three months have been such a drudge.”
“I think no news is good news,” Emily said. “Let them wonder what you’re up to.”
“Hmmm,” June said. But her mind was still on revenge. It wasn’t healthy and she should probably talk about it with Linda. “I would also like to get on Sinclair Thompson’s nerves.”
“I don’t think that’ll help get you invited back to the WPRC.”
“He goes out of his way to protect Shayna. I bet she’s his secret love child or something.”
“Maybe she’s sleeping with him?” Emily said.
“Gross.” June shuddered.
“You need to move on.”
“I need to get even with them first. Merry will make sure Shayna is number two. But Dustin and Sinclair need to suffer too. You need to help me with this.”
“As long as we don’t get arrested,” Emily said, sighing in resignation.
“When have we ever gotten caught?”
“We were a lot younger then and there weren’t cell phone and security cameras everywhere.”
That was true.
“But I’ll think about it.” Emily gave her a conspiratorial smirk.
As they rode along the back trails, June really appreciated the fresh air and the sounds of nature. After spending most of February, March and April locked up in a soulless gray facility, it was absolutely liberating to feel the sun on her face while she and Athena moved like one unit. It had been hard not to be on horseback for three months, and while she probably was going to be sore tomorrow morning, June didn’t care.
“Can’t you give me even a little hint about the bachelorette party this weekend?” Emily said.
“Well, doing shots off strippers is now out. Thanks a bunch.”
“You could still do shots off the strippers’ abs. You don’t have a fiancé wondering what the hell you’re doing.”
“Shots of what?” June asked. “No alcohol, remember?”
Emily grimaced. “Yeah, I suck. I totally didn’t think. But hey, it’s a bar. They’ve got mixers. Do a shot of orange juice or shot of club soda or something.”
“Why don’t I just snort some hot tea while I’m at it? I feel like a grandma.”
“Don’t let my mother hear you say that. She can’t wait.” Sarah Sullivan was already a grandmother. Kelly’s daughter Alissa was growing like a weed and Kelly had another bun in the oven and was about to pop. At least June wouldn’t be alone in not drinking.
“Does that mean your mother’s going to do shots off of the stripper’s butt?” June asked, trying to picture it.
“Now it’s off their butt?”
“You’re the one who had a problem with abs.”
“I had a problem with putting my mouth near a naked body that wasn’t my fiancé’s.”
“Or maybe you and your mom are prudes.”
“Let’s face it, if anyone is doing a shot off a stripper’s butt, it’s your mom.”
“That’s pretty much a given.” Merry and June were known as the wild Grayson sisters in the rodeo circuit. But they got that title from the original wild Grayson—their mother, Penny.
Mama was a hairdresser in town at the Clippety-Do-Da salon. And she was thrilled that June was home for good. She offered to share her tips with her if she shampooed and conditioned her clients’ hair and swept up afterward. Mama thought June would be a big draw for the local women.
June thought having to explain the same things over and over again to every customer who came to gawk at her would drive her nuts in no time.
“I hope a lot of people come to my party,” Emily said in a small voice. “I wanted the whole town to celebrate. It’s been a tough couple of years for everyone.”
“Don’t worry,” June replied. “I’ve got a surefire plan for that and you’re going to help me.”
“Great. It’s not like I don’t have a thousand things to do today.”
“I just need you to be my getaway driver.”
“Oh, June.” Emily shook her head.
“That’s not a no.”
Chapter Two
Esteban Lopez wondered what normal people did on their days off. After working long damn hours at the Three Sisters Ranch, the last place he wanted to be was in the bunkhouse or trapped in his room. So he went over to his mother’s house. She always saved up a week’s worth of chores for him to help her with. But he truly didn’t mind. After all, ever since his worthless father had left when he and his twin sister were twelve and the younger set of twins were four, Esteban had been the man of the house. He hadn’t minded that, either. It gave him a chance to boss around his two younger brothers, Sam and Luis.
“Have you got jobs for your brothers yet?” his mom asked him, even before he got through the door.
“Not yet, Mamá. Soon,” he said, taking the list she handed him. “The upstairs faucet is leaking again?”
“Sí.” She looked him up and down. “Have you been eating? You look sick.”
“I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
“You need a wife to take care of you.”
Esteban looked at his watch. That had to have been a record. Less than five minutes. “I’m waiting for the right woman.” He got his toolbox out of the closet and headed upstairs, with his mom following right behind him.
“What about Paloma, from church?”
Esteban bit back a grimace. Paloma had made it very clear that dating a ranch hand wasn’t in line with the style of living she wanted to become accustomed to. “We didn’t hit it off,” he said, squatting down to get a good luck at the pipes under the bathroom sink.
“Carmela?”
Carmela didn’t care that he was a ranch hand. She cared that he swore, drank, and gambled. Not to excess and certainly not in her presence, that he could recall. But it hadn’t mattered. After their first date, she had called him back in tears and said she couldn’t go out with someone like him unless he changed his evil ways.
“We didn’t hit it off,” Esteban said, lying on his back so he could better wedge himself into a position where he could caulk the leaking pipe.
His mother slapped her hands to her sides. “You’re too picky. But I’ve found the perfect woman for you.”
Again. Esteban’s mind filled in.
“She’s a good Catholic girl. She sings in the choir. She’s smart. She’s pretty.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Esteban muttered.
“What? I can’t hear you. Don’t mumble.”
“What’s her name?” he said in a clearer voice.
“Sofia Martinez. She’s perfect for you. She wants to settle down right away and have a family.”
Esteban’s heart thumped. He didn’t mind his mother’s matchmaking so much because he was ready to get married. He wanted kids and someone to come home to, instead of bunking with at least four other men every night. He thought he had found someone, but that was a long time ago. Valerie had wanted out of Last Stand, more than she’d wanted him. Esteban supposed it was for the best, but it still didn’t stop him from wondering what would have happened if he had quit the Three Sisters Ranch and gone with her to Dallas.
“There is one teensy little thing, though.”
Here it comes.
“She just got a job in Galveston, so it would be a long-distance relationship. Unless, of course, you decided to move there with her.”
“That’s rushing things a bit.” Esteban had already patched up the faucet. He stayed where he was so he could think. She sounded like another Valerie. The last thing he wanted was to lose his heart again to someone who would eventually leave for greener pastures.
“I’m just saying. I’ll give you her number. You call her. Take her out on a nice date.”
“I don’t want to get both our hopes up,” he said.
“It’s one date. Do you have anything better planned?”
No, he didn’t. He got up and ran the faucet to check his work. It wouldn’t kill him to be social. “Fine. Give her my number and have her call me.”
“No.” His mother put her hand on her chest and shook her head. “That would be wrong. She’s not like one of your cowgirls. She’s a nice girl.”
“Cowgirls?” he asked, crooking his eyebrow.
“The ones you keep staring at on your phone.”
Busted.
“I’m a fan of women’s rodeo, that’s all.”
He was a fan of pretty cowgirls. June Grayson. Shayna James. Betty Anders.
Shaking her finger at him, his mother said, “This girl is real. Not some fantasy. Sofia has been very sheltered, and it would be too forward of her to call a strange man.”
“But going out on a date with one is okay?” Esteban wiped his hands on a towel. He was getting a bad feeling about this.
“That’s different. You’ll come to church with me on Sunday and I’ll introduce you to her family.”
“I’m working on Sunday.”
His mother made a disgusted sound. “You work too much, especially for an assistant foreman who doesn’t have hiring responsibility. I hear Galveston has a lot of jobs for men with your experience.”
“I like Last Stand. I like the Three Sisters Ranch.” He frowned down at the list. “Where are Sam and Luis? They could be doing most of this for you.”
“Luis is helping your sister out with the baby.”
Esteban looked up in alarm. “Everything okay?”
“Cliff has been drinking again.” His mother grabbed his arm before he could march over to his sister’s place and beat the shit out of his brother-in-law. “They’re back in counseling. That’s where they are now. Luis is taking Dina to the renaissance fair so Cliff and Beatriz can have some time to work through this.”
“Give me twenty minutes alone with Cliff and I’ll settle it.” Esteban’s fists were still clenched with the need to pound some sense into his sister’s selfish husband. Their seven-year-old daughter deserved a better father.
“Things like this happen in marriages. You can’t interfere.”
“Watch me,” Esteban said between his teeth. He had held back the first time Cliff relapsed and spent the weekend in Vegas, losing big and probably cheating on Beatriz. The second time, Beatriz made Esteban promise not to hurt him, so he just yelled and threatened Cliff as the slimy bastard had cowered and begged for forgiveness. Three times was definitely not the charm, but this go-round, Esteban wasn’t going to give his mother or his sister a heads-up of what he was going to do. This time he was going to haul Cliff out behind the barn and kick the ever-loving shit out of him.
“Sam is with Anne. They’re looking at apartments where they can live in sin.”
That broke him out of his vengeful thoughts. Esteban jumped in to defend his brother and his high school sweetheart. “They’re planning on getting married, eventually. It’s just not the right time.”
“Why not?”
“Well to begin with, they both just graduated. They’ve got their whole lives ahead of them.”
“Anne has a good job. And Sam will too, once your ranch hires him. I can’t see why they have to rush into this apartment thing.”
“Let them do what they want.” Esteban had left the day he turned eighteen. He wanted to be on his own rather than sharing a room with his two younger brothers. Instead, he sometimes got to share a house with eleven other men when the Three Sisters Ranch was at full capacity.
“Then it’s time they got married.” His mother stomped back down the stairs.
Esteban let her cool off and he fixed a shelf in his mother’s closet while he was there. His mother was obsessed with marrying them all off. She’d taken it as a personal insult when he didn’t marry Valerie. If he had left to go live in Dallas, he’d have had to find a corporate job like Valerie had, and that just wasn’t him. He would have had to uproot his entire life and move away from his friends and family. Valerie said he didn’t love her enough to do that. Maybe he hadn’t. She had called him selfish. Maybe he was. She complained he was being stubborn. That part was true, but there was nothing he could do about it.
When he stepped out of the closet, his mother was standing there waiting for him with her arms crossed.
“You need to talk some sense into your brother.”
“Which one?” Esteban asked.
“Samuel,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “You tell him that he can get married at the town hall and have a big wedding later. I don’t want him to live with Anne unless they’re married.”
“Sam and Anne are adults. If they want to get married, they will.”
Personally, Esteban thought eighteen was too young to get married. But he wasn’t the expert on the subject, so he kept that opinion to himself.
“It’s not right.” His mother shook her head and her eyes filled up with tears. “I love Anne like she’s my own daughter. I know she loves him, and he loves her. It doesn’t make any sense. Why can’t they be married before moving in together?”
“Mamá, calm down.”
Yeah, that was the wrong thing to say.
“Calm down?”
Esteban slumped against the door. He needed to learn to think before he opened his mouth. His mother lapsed into Spanish and treated him to a good ten minutes of why she thought he and his brothers were going straight to hell and it was up to her to stop it, any way she could. She ended by taking a deep breath and saying, “Do you understand me?”
“I’ll talk to Sam,” he said wearily.
“What about Luis?”
“What did he do?” Esteban must have missed that during the tirade. He hoped it wouldn’t set her off again.
“I want him to become a priest.”
That was just too much for him. Esteban walked around her and headed down the stairs.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Does Luis want to be a priest?”
“No, he wants to dance all night, every night, at that Hickory Hall place.”
That actually sounded like fun.
“And you know the kind of girls that hang out at places like that.”
“Cowgirls,” he said, forcing himself to keep a straight face. He almost lost it when she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Luis needs to be more responsible,” she said.
“That I can agree with. But if he doesn’t have the calling, he can’t be a priest.”
She seemed to accept that logic.
“He can start by helping out with this chore list. Tell him I said to weed your garden and water the plants.” Esteban looked down at his list. “And why can’t he go shopping with you? Not that I mind taking you on my day off, but there could be better things we could be doing.”
“I save it up because I want to spend some time with you,” his mother said. “Do you think we could go to Valencia’s for lunch while we’re in town?”
And just like that, the storm was over. That was the story of his life: one moment his mother was a raging firebrand, and the next moment a sweet old lady.
“I think we could arrange that,” Esteban said, smiling at her.
After finishing up a few more items on the list that he didn’t trust his brothers not to half-ass, he drove his mother into town so she could do some shopping and socializing. He glanced at his watch. Nate should be at the chow wagon by now and if he was eating, he’d hear his phone and answer it if Esteban called him. His mother wouldn’t give him a moment’s peace if he didn’t keep trying to get his brothers jobs.
Leaning up against the outside wall of the grocery store, Esteban phoned his boss.
“Why are you calling me on your day off?” Nate asked in lieu of the traditional hello.
Esteban was used to Nate Pierson’s gruff attitude. He was the foreman at the Three Sisters Ranch and Esteban was his second-in-command. It used to bother him that Nate wasn’t a talker, but he got over it fast. Nate valued hard work and results. Chitchat seemed to piss him off, so Esteban got right to the point.
“Sam and Luis are looking for work and we’ve got a lot of it.”
“Unless they’re volunteering, we don’t have the money to pay them.”
Esteban tamped down his frustration. All the remaining ranch hands had been working long, hard hours for months now. Things were getting better, but they were still short-staffed. “When do you think we can get some help?”
“I’ll talk to Emily again. Maybe I can squeeze her for one extra person. Which one of your brother’s is your favorite?”
He didn’t play favorites, but this job would keep Luis out of Hickory Hall most nights and maybe get his mother off the priest kick. “They’ve both worked ranches before, part-time here and there. If I can only pick one, I can flip a coin.”
“Do that.”
Esteban knew that tone. There would only be one job opening and even that was probably pushing it. “Luis. He can start immediately.”
“I’ll let you know. Enjoy your day off.” Nate hung up on him.
It was a start.
Peeking into the store, Esteban saw his mother chatting animatedly with Delilah Corbyn, the owner and chef of Dragonfly, a farm-to-table restaurant in town. This was going to take a while. Sitting down on a nearby bench, Esteban scrolled through social media while he waited.
He wasn’t much for the social part of social media. He liked posting pictures he took of the cattle ranch. He wasn’t as good as Kelly Sullivan, who had a portrait studio on the Three Sisters Ranch, but he did all right.
Mostly, he liked looking at pictures of pretty girls on social media. Cowgirls, in particular. He followed the Women’s Pro Rodeo Circuit on all their accounts and checked them daily. Shayna James had some great pictures, but ever since she hooked up with that pendajo Dustin Greaves, her feed was all weddings and flowers and shit. Not his scene at all. The Grayson sisters hadn’t been posting much. They were from Last Stand, Texas, and he and every other hand on the Three Sisters Ranch followed their careers closely.
