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“Looks like life’s been treating you fair enough,” he said, deliberately covering his intense reaction to her. “You look as frisky as one of those fillies out there.” He motioned to one of the enclosed pastures with a nod of his head.
She chuckled nervously, and used the back of her wrist to shove wisps of curls off her forehead. “I look like a saddle tramp, and I know it. As you can see, I wasn’t expecting company.” She looked around as though unsure of what to do next. “I, uh, didn’t expect to see you for another couple of days. I suppose Bobby told you the wedding rehearsal and dinner are scheduled for Friday.” She turned away and began to straighten various items hanging on the side of the stall.
“Yeah, he told me.” He glanced around the barn. “Looks like you’ve got enough to keep you busy these days.”
She picked up a saddle blanket and motioned him to follow her back to the tack room. “Well, I needed to do something. Once Bobby decided to follow in Travis’s footsteps and take up the rodeo circuit, Travis offered to give me a job as one of the trainers.”
“He’s doing well, isn’t he?”
“Travis? You bet. Things couldn’t be better.”
“I was thinking about Bobby.”
She continued to be too busy to look at him. “Yes. He’s making a real name for himself.”
Maribeth put the currycomb and saddle blanket away before leading the way to the entrance of the barn. Pausing in the wide doorway, she looked out at the view.
“You know, Chris, sometimes it’s hard for me to realize that the three of us are twenty-six years old. You and Bobby left and started working on your careers, while I seem to have gotten caught up in some kind of time warp.” She turned and faced him, wrapping her arms around her waist. “All I’ve done is stay here on the ranch. I’ve spent most of my life here.” She gave her head a tiny shake. “Not that I’m complaining. Bobby and I always planned to live on his family’s place after we got married. It’s the only life I know, after all. It just seems a little strange to realize that four years have gone by and I’ve done nothing more with my life.”
“When was the last time you talked to Bobby?”
She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. “Let me think. He called last week. He was in Nashville at the time. He’d done well and was high on his success. However, he made a cross-his-heart-and-hope-to-die promise that he would be here no later than noon on Friday.” She looked at him as though daring him to doubt Bobby’s word.
Chris nodded, unwilling to comment on that particular subject at the moment. “He’s still winning a goodly share of the bull-riding events, I suppose.”
“Yep, trying his best to win world champion. You know that’s been his dream for years.” She grinned at Chris. “I doubt that he’ll ever beat Travis’s record, but he sure wants to try. He deserves that chance.”
Chris had his own opinion of what Bobby deserved, but once again, he refrained from sharing it with her. Instead he motioned to the new pastures and their occupants with a sweeping arm gesture. “Speaking of Travis, this is quite an operation he’s got going here. I’m impressed.”
“Isn’t it amazing? He’s really done well. Of course he’d built a name for himself in the business while he was following the circuit, which didn’t hurt when he decided to stay home. Every time I ask Bobby when he’s going to head back home, he reminds me of the legend of Travis Kane and how much effort he needs to work in order to make as big a splash.”
“I guess I’ve lost touch with what’s been happening in Agua Verde county these past few years. I thought Bobby was already working with his dad until he called to ask me to be his best man at the wedding. I guess I’d sort of figured you’d gone ahead and gotten married without inviting me.”
“You should know better than that, Chris. Bobby would never get married without you by his side. Y’all used to talk about that. You’d each be there for the other.”
“I remember. I’ll admit I was surprised to find out he’d been traveling for most of these years. It must have been hard on you.”
Maribeth heard the sympathy in his voice. Darn it. Seeing Chris again so unexpectedly was bringing up all kinds of emotions that she wasn’t ready to deal with. But wasn’t that normal for a bride-to-be? She wasn’t having any doubts. Of course not. Why, she’d loved Bobby forever and then some. In three days she would be married, after years of making plans.
“I’ll admit that I’ve missed him during some of his longer road trips. At first, he’d come home every week or two. Then later, it was mostly a month at a time before he’d make it home.” She could no longer hold Chris’s steady gaze and looked away. “It will be different once we’re married.”
“Will it?”
She glanced back at him. “Well, of course it will. We’ll be living together, then. He’ll be home more.”
“Has he told you that? Or is that what you’re hoping?”
“Well, if he’s still traveling, then I’ll go with him.” She tilted her chin slightly. “There won’t be anything wrong with his wife traveling with him. He just needs a little time to settle down, that’s all. He’s still young.”
Chris raised one of his eyebrows quizzically. “We’re all the same age, remember?”
Maribeth smiled. “Maybe so, but you were born old, Chris. I swear. When I look back at some of the things the three of us did together when we were kids, I figure the only way we managed to scrape by as well as we did was because you always saved our butts.”
“Well, you have to admit that you and Bobby are a bit impulsive.”
She shook her head emphatically. “Not me. Not anymore. I’m grown up now.” She waved to the row of stalls behind them. “I’m steadily employed, thanks to Travis. I have a fulfilling job, a great family and a whole passel of nieces and nephews. Why, my life couldn’t be better!”
What could he possibly say to that? He let the silence that fell between them speak for itself. When it stretched into an uncomfortable length, Chris reached over and gently tugged on the thick plait of hair draped over her shoulder. “How about taking a ride with me?” he asked. “I’ll show off my newest toy.”
He could almost see the tension leaving her body. She pushed the wisps of hair off her forehead with a gesture that made him ache with a sense of tenderness.
“Sounds great,” she said. “Let’s go.”
“You won’t get in trouble for sneaking away from work, will you?” His tone was teasing and she responded with a lighthearted chuckle.
“Are you kidding? Travis is always complaining that I spend too many hours out here, and that by comparison I make him look like a lazy bum.”
They strolled toward his car. “I’m amazed at the number of changes that have been made to this place since I was last here.”
She gave his arm a gentle tap with her fist. “All that shows is that you haven’t been visiting often enough. I figured that once you’d moved to Big D, you didn’t have time for us country yokels.”
“That’s not true. I’ve just been really busy.”
“Doing what? You used to talk about working for your father after graduation. Is that what you’re doing?”
“In a sense. I pilot one of the company planes whenever they’re shorthanded. I guess you would call me a troubleshooter. I fill in wherever I’m needed.”
Maribeth stopped in her tracks. “You’re a pilot? I never knew that!”
“Yeah. I started taking lessons as a teenager while I spent my summers in Dallas with my dad.”
“You never said a word about it.”
“It wasn’t something to be tossed into a conversation.”
“But it was something you were interested in, something obviously important to you. I remember you would listen to me when I was going on about all my pet projects whenever we got back together after summer vacations. But you never said a word.”
“It was no big deal, Maribeth. Really.”
She just shook her head. “Sometimes I think you work at being a mystery man.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know. I remember in school how all the girls acted around you. You’d come back each year with this big-city polish, rarely talking to anyone, and never about yourself. It used to drive us crazy.”
He laughed. “Well. Now you know one of my deep, dark secrets. I was spending summer vacations playing up in the clouds. Feel better now?”
They had paused by his tomato red sports car. He leaned past her and opened the passenger door. She got a whiff of after-shave that brought back even stronger memories of the young man she used to know. She’d always liked that particular scent. When she’d asked him about it once, he said it was a gift from his father one year and he’d used it ever since. It smelled expensive, woodsy, and infinitely male.
She searched frantically for something casual to say. “I’m a little surprised that you’re content to stay in a large city after spending so many years living here on a ranch.”
“That was more my mother’s choice. She never liked living in the city.”
She tapped his large, silver belt buckle. “You still dress like a country boy, what with that hat, fancy buckle and boots. What is it they say? ‘You can take the boy out of the country, but…’”
“I suppose I’ll always be a country boy at heart, but I don’t think I could ever make ranching my life. I need a challenge that I can come to grips with… not worrying over the price of beef and the uncertainties of the weather.” He motioned for her to get into the car.
She paused, and waved to the two women who were watching them from comfortably reclined lawn chairs.
“Megan, if Travis comes looking for me, tell him I’ll be back in a little while.” With a wink toward him, she added, “Chris is going to take me for a ride in his fancy little car.”
“Are you going to take that from her?” Megan asked without moving. “She doesn’t deserve such courtesy if she’s going to make fun of your trusty steed.”
Chris walked around the car, saying, “The woman has no taste. We all know that, now, don’t we?”
They pulled away amid the laughter of the three women. Ever curious, Maribeth scrutinized the dash, peeked behind the seats at the area that was little more than a shelf, then settled back into the luxurious leather seats with a sigh.
“I should have been watching you closer. How in the world did you manage to get into this thing? With a shoehorn?”
“It’s not so bad once you get used to it.” He pointed to the floor. “At least there’s plenty of legroom once you’re inside.”
She just shook her head. “It’ll never take the place of a full-size pickup truck.” She glanced around her once again. “Why, you could barely haul anything in this dinky li’l ol’ thing.”
Chris tried to stifle his laugh, then gave up, allowing the laughter to ease the tension he was feeling. “Maribeth, you are definitely one of a kind.”
She looked at him in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that. You’re definitely unique.”
“Is there anything wrong with that?”
“Not at all. There are times when I find myself envying your attitude toward life. You’re content with what you have. I’ve never known you to yearn for something someone else has.”
She grinned. “That’s because I already have everything I want.”
After a pause, he said in a more sober voice. “Everything?”
She glanced at him in surprise. “What more could I possibly want? I have my family, and in three days I’m marrying the man I’ve loved most of my life. As the old saying goes—’who could ask for anything more?’ “
“I know you must have had a tough adjustment, coming back to Agua Verde while Bobby took off to follow his dream. That took a lot of courage for you, not objecting to his plans when you expected to get married as soon as we graduated.”
“I was really naive back then, wasn’t I? Just because I was ready to get married didn’t mean that Bobby felt the same way. I guess that’s the biggest difference between men and women. Men want to take longer to find themselves or whatever.” She looked out the window, then back at Chris. “I probably wouldn’t admit this to another soul, but when Bobby first left, I thought I would die from missing him, missing all the fun times the three of us used to have together.”
“I know what you mean. It felt really strange to live in Dallas year-round.”
She looked at him, surprised. “You missed us? I find that hard to imagine. You always seemed to be content with your own company… sort of a loner, you know?”
“Yeah. I know.”
They rode along in silence for a while before Maribeth began to speak, her voice very soft. “For those first few months after he left, I would lie in bed at night, thinking about him being so far away. Wondering if he missed me as much as I missed him. Then I thought about how it would have been if we had gotten married, and he’d gone on the road afterward. Finally I consoled myself with the fact that at least we’d never been—” She paused and cleared her throat. “Uh, we’d never had—been intimate.” Talking faster, she said, “I think that would have made it so much worse, knowing what I was missing while he was away. It was bad enough just imagining what it might have been like to…” After a longer pause, she muttered, “Oh, you know what I’m trying to say.”
Chris turned off the highway they’d been on and followed a little-used road until it ended at the top of bluffs overlooking one of the rivers in the county.
“Why don’t we get out here and enjoy the view while we talk, okay?” He reached behind his seat and grabbed a blanket.
“Sure. Why not?” Maribeth hopped out of the car and looked around. “I haven’t been here in years. We used to come here when we were kids, remember?”
“Oh, yes. I remember everything we ever did together.”
He spread the blanket on the ground and they sat side by side, looking across the Texas hills to the horizon.
Chris waited to see if Maribeth was going to say anything more. When she didn’t, he cleared his throat, then gruffly said, “I know it’s none of my business, but I’d just assumed that you and Bobby had already been intimate. I mean, neither one of you has ever dated anyone else, through high school or college. I just figured that kind of commitment was because—Well, you know what I’m saying. I guess that’s why I’ve been so surprised that he could stay on the road for so long, all the time knowing that you were here, waiting for him.”
He gave her a quick, sideways glance in time to see her face turn as rosy as her hair.
“Um, well, I guess lots of people have assumed that.” She turned so that she was facing him. “I’m not sure that anybody else but you could possibly understand this, Chris—” she began, then stopped.
Chris swallowed. Well, hell. He’d brought up the subject, hadn’t he? And it looked as though she was going to unburden herself. He just wasn’t certain he was ready to hear all that she was going to say.
He was still reeling from the sudden knowledge that she had never made love to his childhood buddy. That news went a long way toward helping him forgive Bobby for his thoughtless behavior.
She leaned back on her elbows, still looking off into the distance. “You remember how it was when we were growing up. Bobby and I never really paired off. We were always with the group, or at least with you.”
Chris thought about that before drawling, “You never seemed to mind.”
Her eyes quickly met his and she shifted, as though slightly restless. “Oh, I wasn’t trying to imply that you were in the way. It was just the way things were for us. You remember.”
He nodded, allowing himself to relax a little.
“It seems strange talking to anyone about it. I mean, really, there’s nobody that I could have talked to about it, even back then. Maybe there was something a little weird about us. I know of other couples in high school who were quite open about their relationships, and there were several. But Bobby and me—I don’t know. We just didn’t fool around. Of course we did our share of parking and necking, but for me at least, I was a little afraid of the whole idea of it. I mean, who could I talk to about it, anyway? Can you imagine what Megan would have said or done if I’d asked her any questions about it? Besides, Travis and Deke would have used Bobby for coyote bait if they’d thought he was fooling around with me when we were in school! Just the thought of accidentally getting pregnant would freeze my blood. There was no way I could have faced Megan with that kind of news.”
She gave him a quick glance from beneath her lashes and chuckled. “I guess I was lucky that Bobby never really pushed the limits I set. I’m not sure why, exactly. We never really talked about it.” She sat cross-legged, her elbows resting on her knees.
“Looking back to that time, what I remember was how much fun we had together, the whole group of us. Remember how it was? We were always going places, doing things, having fun with the gang.” She seemed to be thinking out loud, as she said, “Growing up the way we did on a ranch, it wasn’t as if we didn’t know what’s supposed to happen and all, but still—Knowing about it isn’t the same as actually doing it, is it?”
Her face glowed with embarrassment but she kept her gaze steady as she faced him.
“I think you were very wise, myself,” he said with a great deal of sincerity.
Maribeth felt a wave of an unidentified emotion sweep over her at his words, as though she’d been seeking his approval, which was ridiculous. What was the matter with her today, anyway? Although Chris had been a part of her life for years, she’d never been so open with him before. Hoping to turn the tables, she suddenly demanded, “What about you?”
“Me!” He almost strangled spitting the word out. “What about me?”
Good. She’d managed to get past his guard that time. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. If I’m going to be confessing all about my nonexistent sex life on the eve of my wedding, I figure you owe me a tale or two in return, just so I won’t feel alone.”
He eyed her warily. “Such as?”
“Such as filling me in on some of your activities while we were at A & M. I remember you dated several classmates during that time.”
