Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

Addy nodded. “Very well. He was a year younger than me and Jesse, and he was always sweet to me.”

“Three of us, and we’re all different as night and day,” Jesse said.

“You got that right, brother.” Cody got up and headed toward the taco stand. “I’m getting a few more. Y’all want anything else?”

“How about a plate of nachos to share? We’ve still got thirty minutes to kill before the parade starts.” Jesse reached over and gave Addy’s knee a gentle squeeze. “Another root beer, darlin’?”

“I think I’ll wait for a real beer at the rodeo grounds tonight,” she answered.

“That’s my girl.” Jesse hoped that he was still saying that when he and Addy had been together as long as his mother and father.

That means a lifetime commitment, the voice in his head said.

I’m ready, he thought, but I need to give her time to catch up with me.

* * *



Addy thought that Sonny looked weary by the time the mutton bustin’ started with the little kids aged six and under, but he whooped and hollered for every one of them. Jesse sat on one side of her, the fingers of one hand laced in hers, the other wrapped around a bottle of cold beer that they were sharing.

“One of my first memories was trying to stay on the back of a rangy old ram when I was four years old,” he said with a grin. “Someday, we’ll have kids we can dress up and watch ride in this event.”

“Kids or grandkids?” she asked.

“Both,” Jesse said. “I’m a foster kid who was adopted. We can always get a family that way.”

“I could never be a foster mother.” Addy didn’t want to burst his bubble, but she had to be honest. “I would get too attached, and it would kill me to have to give a child back, and I can’t even begin to imagine giving back a little baby.”

“How about adoption?” Jesse asked. “My folks were almost our age when they took me and my brothers in and then adopted us when they could.”

“That’s a whole different conversation.” She pointed. “That little girl is going to outdo all the boys that have ridden up to now. You see the way she’s easing down off the side of the chute. I’ve seen cowgirls approach a bull or a bronc the same way. Betcha she comes from rodeo folks.”

“And here’s Breanne Wilson, coming out of chute six,” the announcer said into the microphone as he nodded to the two cowboys to open the gate. “She’s six years old, and man alive, look at her ride in those pink cowgirl boots and that shiny shirt. Folks, I believe she’s going to hang on for the full time. Good Lord! The bell has rung and she’s still riding. Look at that ram go!” Two rodeo clowns chased after her and finally lifted her off the ram’s back. She whipped off her helmet to show a full head of blond curls and took a deep bow. “And that’s the way it’s done, folks. Breanne has a score of eighty points, the highest of any tonight. Congratulations, young lady.”

The crowd went wild and the little girl blew them kisses before she went back to her chute, where her mother and daddy waited. “Hey, all you daddies of little girls up there in the stands, I want y’all to remember this next feller’s name. It’s Wayne Crawford, and he’s proven for the last two years that he’s a real muttin’ buster. In a few years, if he comes to date your daughters, you tell him to get lost, because he does not know how to let go.”

Sonny’s laughter could be heard all the way to where Jesse and Addy were sitting.

“Daddies don’t need to worry.” Mia sat down right behind them. “Girls are smart enough to see through those kinds of boys. It might take them a while, like it did me, but…” She gasped. “Good God! That’s Ricky down there in the arena. He’s one of the cowboys opening the chutes.”

“No, it’s not,” Addy said. “That’s Pete.”

“Thank you, Jesus!” Mia whispered.

“Hey, Mia,” Sonny called from two bleacher rows in front of them, “you in the mood for some cotton candy?”

“Always, Poppa.” She stood and started toward the concession stand. “How about you and Nana. Y’all want some, too?”

“Yep,” Sonny said, “and two root beers.”

“What was Mia thanking Jesus for?” Cody sat down beside Addy.

“That one of those cowboys out there isn’t Ricky O’Malley but his brother Pete,” Addy answered.

“Mama told me all about the trouble last time we talked on the phone,” Cody said. “Looks like I’m not the only one who dodged bullets.”

“She might have gotten grazed,” Addy said. “She turned pretty pale when she thought that was Ricky out there.”

“She’s young,” Cody said. “She’ll get over it.”

“Did you ‘get over it’ with Stevie?” Jesse teased.

“That was a long time ago,” Cody said. “Lots of water under the bridge since then.”

Addy’s thoughts went to all the water that had run under the proverbial bridge in the past twenty years since she and Jesse had said their goodbyes. She would never have thought they would be given a second chance to have a relationship again and yet there they were, thinking about babies and grandbabies.