Heidi Hormel - The Bull Rider's Redemption

“Inthide, Mama,” he said and opened the door. She scooted past him and sat on the floor, fluffy tail wagging, waiting for her treat and the leash to come off. “Proud of yourthelf?” The dog barked. Wait till she had to eat generic food because he had to spend all of his money on a new tooth.

Maybe Clover would buy some of the expensive brand she’d bought at Lem’s—but, no, he wasn’t asking her for anything. They’d been a summer-lovin’ teen thing. They were adults and she’d already messed with his plans, just like she had that summer. He wasn’t getting stupid over her again. He’d learned a lot since their time together. He wouldn’t be showing her exactly what he’d learned, though. At best they were Angel Crossing–style neighbors. At worst, they were businesspeople on opposite sides of the fence.

He gave Mama a treat, took an aspirin and lay down in his sagging bed that nearly filled the room. He really needed to move. As soon as he got more properties sold and had a little cash, he’d find his own place and redo it the way he wanted. What he had now was good enough. The bed dipped under Mama’s weight and she dug at the covers as he moved his legs to accommodate her. He shouldn’t let her on the bed, but he was too tired to make her get down.

“Don’t have puppyth,” he told her as he settled into his pillow, “pleathe.”

She sighed deeply and scooted to take up more of the bed.

* * *

CLOVER USED HER confident pageant walk to get her across the threshold and into Jim’s Tavern, the only bar in town. She wanted to check it out and determine if it was the kind of kitschy business that would appeal to the Rico Pueblo clientele. Her father had said he’d prefer buying up everything and starting over. Clover, however, had outlined an approach that would purchase properties and work with current business owners so VCW could best leverage its investment—that was what she’d told her father, anyway.

Few patrons glanced Clover’s way. Instead, they were glued to the stage and the two women laughing their way through a country duet. Neither could sing but they didn’t care. The crowd was with them, laughing along and clapping. Actually, most of the crowd was women... Not most. All of the patrons were women and there was a woman behind the bar. Now, this was interesting. Not what Clover had expected. That seemed to be the case again and again in Angel Crossing.

“Whoa! Clover,” said the tall light-haired woman with the karaoke microphone in her hand. “Come up here. You can sing a lot better than us. Sing that song you did when you were named Miss Steer Princess? ‘God Bless the USA.’”

Clover looked harder at the cowgirl who was motioning her forward and the short dark-haired woman beside her. Danny’s sisters. The two women had been on the road with their brother back when Clover had been the princess. She’d had an okay voice because her mother insisted she take lessons.

Lavonda chimed in, “Or you could sing ‘It’s Raining Men.’”

She’d sung that song during a rain delay at a rodeo. Of course Lavonda would remember that. Clover didn’t want to humiliate herself but she could go along with the suggestion to get a few brownie points from the women of Angel Crossing. She’d need allies. Clover walked with purpose and grace to the open area set aside for the singing.

“Whoop, whoop,” Jessie said. “This’ll be a treat.”

“Anything’s better than the two of you,” a woman heckled. Jessie and Lavonda laughed.

Clover smiled at the audience of women. They actually looked friendly.

“We cued up the song,” Lavonda said, her dark eyes and hair so different from her light-haired older sister’s. “Good to see you again.” Then the smaller woman leaned forward and whispered quietly, “Heard you’ve been visiting with Danny. What’s that about, huh?”

Clover just smiled. The speed at which gossip zipped through a small town shouldn’t be a surprise. Who needed newspapers or TV when there was such an efficient way to pass along information?

Jessie and Lavonda went back to their bar stools, and Clover sang. She’d forgotten how much fun it was to perform. She hammed it up for the audience and got talked into singing another two songs before giving up the mic. She was parched. The Leigh sisters motioned for her to join them. She wanted to say no, but there was no polite way to bow out. Plus, the two of them might give her more insight into the town and what the mayor had planned.

“What do you want? We’re buying,” Lavonda said. Jessie stayed silent. She’d always been the quiet one.

“A beer.”

“Anita, a beer for the best performer of the night.”

Jessie took a drink. “You in town to buy it?”

“Something like that,” Clover said. There was no use lying. Everyone had heard about her buying the warehouses at the end of Miner’s Gulch, plus other properties. When Rico Pueblo opened, she would rename the street Torro Boulevard.

“My husband, Jones, and I are curious about your plans,” Lavonda said with a pleasant smile. “We own a guide company and more people visiting here would certainly be great for our finances. But this area is ecologically fragile. There are archaeological sites nearby that need to be protected, too.”

Clover hadn’t known about any sites. There hadn’t been any noted on any of the surveys or maps. “There are?” she asked noncommittally.

“Jones has been exploring. He’s an archaeologist.”

Clover nodded, waiting for more from Lavonda.

“Talk about that another time,” Jessie said. “I want to hear what Clover’s been up to, besides being a business mogul.”

Clover tried to understand what Jessie was really asking and decided to take her at face value. She gave them the short version. “What about you?” she asked Jessie when she’d finished her short bio. “Still riding, even with the baby?”

“Not the trick riding,” Jessie said. “Gave that up, but I have a therapeutic horse-riding program for youngsters. Kids with physical and emotional challenges.”

Lavonda added, “Don’t get her started on Gertie. We’re out so that she can live it up and act like a normal human being.”

Jessie gave her sister a dirty look, the kind of sibling communication Clover always wanted to have with Knox and didn’t.

Lavonda said, “This is the first time Jessie has gone out on her own since Gertie made her grand entrance. That girl already has the flair for the dramatic.”

“She does?”

“Yes,” Lavonda said, shushing her sister. “Jessie’s husband is a pediatric surgeon, operated on thousands of kids, probably. When Gertie made her appearance at their ranch—Jessie kept saying the pain wasn’t bad enough to go to the hospital—he fainted. Smacked down on the floor. The three of them shared an ambulance.”

“Stop telling that story. That’s not the way it happened,” Jessie said. “Payson didn’t faint. He tripped.”

“He tripped because he was faint.”

“Faint because he hadn’t eaten or slept.”

The sisters bantered back and forth for a few minutes before returning to their interrogation.

“Bet you were surprised that Danny is mayor, huh?” Lavonda asked.

“He was a popular rider,” Clover said flatly.

“Popular with you,” Jessie mumbled, sounding suddenly unfriendly.

“We were very young.”

“You’re older by a couple of years, aren’t you?” Jessie asked without a hint of humor.

“I don’t remember,” Clover lied.

“Really?” Jessie’s sage-green gaze locked on to Clover. “Never knew a woman who forgot her first—”

“Danny is our baby brother,” Lavonda broke in. “We might feel a little protective.”

“He’s a grown man,” Clover reminded them. “I don’t think he’d appreciate you discussing his...private life.”