Single-Dad Cowboy by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Chapter Fifteen

When Claire informed Zeke that Nell and Valerie were going to fetch water bottles for themselves and the girls, he ducked his head to hide a smile. Most likely they needed time to recover from their laughing fit. If he had to guess, he’d say the hilarity had to do with him.

If any of the Brotherhood were around, they’d probably be laughing, too. His preoccupation with Nell had to be blindingly obvious.

He glanced at Piper and Tatum. “While they’re fetching the water bottles, we can go over the basics of neck reining. It’s the same idea as when you nudge a friend to get her to go in the direction you want. Only instead you lay the reins against the horse’s neck—on the left side to nudge them right and on the right side to nudge them left.”

Riley nodded. “I do that with Mister Rogers.”

“Your riding coach?”

“My horse. The person who named him loved that show. She was hoping he would be gentle like the guy on the show, and he is.”

“Sounds like you got a great horse, Riley.”

Her face lit up. “I sure did.” She twirled around. “Wish you could see him.”

“I’ve seen him,” Tatum said. “He’s a nice brown color like Lucky. You should just ride him over here.”

“I’m not allowed to go on the road, but we have a horse trailer. Maybe…” She stood still, head cocked, expression intent. Then she gave a quick nod. “I’m gonna ask. They wouldn’t bring him every time, but maybe just once, as a special treat. Then me and Mister Rogers could ride with you guys.”

“Dad! I just had the best idea. At the last riding lesson in August, we should put on a demonstration for the parents and… anybody who wants to come. Riley can bring Mister Rogers and we can all be on horseback, even you. Wouldn’t that be cool?”

“Oh, yeah!” Tatum bounced a little in the saddle. “Let’s do that, Mr. Lassiter!”

“We’ll see.” He glanced at the shyest one of the bunch. “Do you want to do something like that, Piper?”

“Yes, sir. As long as I can ride Lucky.”

“He’s all yours,” Tatum said. “I’ve decided I like buckskins the best. I’m going to get one someday.”

“Then I’ll ask Mrs. Fox. She has the final word.”

“Gramma Henri will love the idea. She’ll invite the Babes. It should be on a Saturday, so everybody’s free. We can—”

“They’re coming back,” Riley announced. “Can we tell them? I know it’s not for sure, but—”

“You can tell them.” As if he could keep something like this quiet. “Just be sure to add that I haven’t asked my boss yet.” Henri would green light this in a heartbeat, too. He’d quickly learned that she loved nothing better than a celebration.

Nell and Valerie were met with a barrage of excited chatter as the girls talked over each other in their excitement.

“Okay, okay.” Nell held up both hands, palms out. “It’s a fabulous idea and if Mrs. Fox is on board, then so am I. But if we don’t stop gabbing and get busy, we won’t have much to show the audience at the end of the summer, will we?”

The girls all nodded and order was restored.

Nell handed aluminum water bottles up to Tatum and Piper, one blue and one green. Then she gave Riley a red one.

“You remembered our favorite colors.” Riley gave her a smile.

“I did. These can last you all summer. Claire, I have a purple one in here for you.”

“Awesome! Thanks.”

“Miss Jenson?” Nell held out the bag. “You get to pick from what’s left.”

“Oh, the orange one, for sure.”

“Then I’ll take yellow.” She pulled it out. “Mr. Lassiter? I have one more.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

She gave him the last one, a bright pink. The girls started to giggle.

He met her amused gaze. “Much obliged.” He took it, popped open the cap and took a long swallow.

“I’ll be in charge of them for the duration.” Her eyes sparkled. “After the lesson, I’ll take them home, wash them and bring them back full. Just remember your color.”

He lifted his in a toast. “Yes, ma’am. I’m not likely to forget mine.”

After the water break, he explained neck reining to Nell and Valerie while Claire collected the bottles and carried the tote into the barn for safekeeping.

“Got it.” Valerie walked over to Sundance and stroked his muzzle. “I’m ready to climb on my trusty steed, Mr. Lassiter. Did you say we get on from the left?”

“Yes, ma’am. Need help?”

“I watched the girls. I’d like to try it on my own.”

“Then have at it.” He turned to Nell, who was about four or five inches shorter than Valerie and might have trouble getting her foot in the stirrup. “Would you like me to help you up like I did the girls?”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” She flashed him a grin. “If Val can do it, I can do it.”

“Then by all means, go right ahead.” She sounded like her eight-year-old charges just then. Cute.

She had to lift her foot high to reach the stirrup, but she managed it. With a little hop and a firm grip on the saddle horn, she hoisted herself aboard and grinned in triumph. “Knew I could.”

“Well done.”

Claire emerged from the barn. “Hey, Dad, can Riley and me lead Prince and Lucky into the corral?”

“You can, but then I want you to wait there until I bring the ladies in.”

“Yes, sir. Come on, Riley.”

“Go slow, sweetie.” He’d spent three months teaching her safe methods for dealing with these large animals. He didn’t need to remind her to take it easy. But he did, anyway. Habit.

She smiled, her expression adorably tolerant. “Yes, sir.”

He turned back to Valerie. “Let’s see if those stirrups are the right length. Put your weight on the balls of your feet and stand up.” When she lifted from the saddle, he nodded. “Looks good.”

He swung around toward Nell. “I need you to do the same.” He gave her a clinical once-over. Yeah, right. Nothing clinical about checking out the fit of her jeans. “Your stirrups are too short. Slip your feet out and I’ll lengthen them.” He leaned in and pretended Nell was a stranger, a ranch guest, anybody other than the woman who’d writhed naked beneath him less than two days ago.

“Sundance and I will wander off a bit to give you two some privacy. I’ll test out this neck-reining thing.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “Hang on, Val. We’ll be done in a sec.” Or they would if he wasn’t fumble-fingers as he adjusted the left stirrup.

“Take your time.” She made a soft clucking sound and moved Sundance a few feet away.

Nell laughed. “Where’d you learn to make that noise, Val?”

“It’s what the cowboys do in the movies. Turns out it works. So does neck-reining. Maybe this is my jam, after all.”

“Could be, girlfriend. Could be.”

Nell sounded relaxed, but he sure as hell wasn’t. Not with her thigh inches from his face. He breathed in, hungry for the sweet scent of her.

Bad move. That delicious aroma delivered a message straight to his privates. He held his breath until he’d adjusted the stirrup. Then he dragged in air as he walked to Butch’s right side.

“This is bothering you.” Her low murmur added fuel to the flames.

“I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not. I can tell.”

“It’s being so close and wanting…” He huffed out a breath. “Never mind. You know.”

“I do. I don’t have an answer. These lessons are important.”

“I won’t have to adjust your stirrups next time.”

“Why not?”

“Once I’ve got it right, I can adjust them to this length before you get here. I won’t need to do it while you’re on the horse.”

“That’ll help.”

“Immensely.” He sighed and stepped back. “Stand up again. I need to check the clearance between your crotch and the saddle.”

“Good grief.”

“Trust me, it’s not supposed to be a sexual reference. Just do it.”

She planted her feet and lifted her delectable tush. “How’s the clearance?”

“Perfect. And so are you. Can’t wait until Friday.”

“Me, either.”

“Thanks for that. It’ll carry me through.”

* * *

After Nell and Valerie left with the girls, Zeke braced himself for a barrage of questions and comments from his daughter. Never came.

Maybe during dinner? Nope. He’d talked to Henri about the riding demonstration in August and she’d okayed it, so Claire was eager to talk about that, plus her first barrel racing lesson with Auntie Ed, scheduled for the following morning. Claire had decided to call the Babes on Buckskins her aunties, to distinguish them from her aunts who lived on the ranch.

After dinner, they cleaned up the kitchen, played a few rounds of checkers and turned in early. She’d asked to shadow him during his work on the ranch, which meant she’d be up at dawn, same as him. They’d handle barn chores prior to heading over to Ed’s at ten. She’d learned the term shadowing from Nell during the last week of school when the class had discussed their summer plans.

Following him around all summer had always been his daughter’s summer plan and now she had a cool name for it. This week he’d teach her how to oil and repair tack. The Brotherhood was all over that idea. Most of them considered it boring.

Not Claire. “Can I start on the tack this afternoon, Dad?” She buckled herself into the passenger seat. She’d worn her Stetson for the trip to Ed’s, but she held her riding helmet in her lap.

“The oiling, yes. I’ll need to give you some instruction on repair techniques.”

“How about tonight?”

“That works.”

“I’m pretty good at sewing. Georgie’s Spiderman costume keeps coming apart and I just sew it back together. The problem is he’s too big for it, but he won’t give it up.”

“Because it makes him feel brave.”

“That’s why we let him keep wearing it. Aunt Anna bought him a new one, but he says it’s not the same so he won’t put it on.”

“I get that. I can’t imagine buying a new straw hat to replace this one.”

She grinned. “Does your hat make you feel brave?”

He laughed. “Oh, definitely.”

“Then it’s lucky your head’s not growing.”

“Feels like it sometimes. Like it’s gonna explode.”

“Like yesterday whenever you looked at Miss O’Connor?”

Ah, there it was. He gave her a quick glance. She looked very pleased with herself. “Maybe.”

“No maybe about it. Did you guys dance on Saturday night?”

“We did.”

“Yes.” She punched a fist in the air. “I told my friends you must have. You were acting all goofy yesterday. I thought maybe you were coming down with something. Have you asked her out?”

“Um, yes, I have.”

“Awesome! When’s your date?”

“I’m taking her to the Moose on Friday night when the rest of the gang is going.”

“Perfect.” She settled into her seat with a smile.

He waited for more questions. None came. They drove in silence because he wasn’t about to continue that thread if he didn’t have to. But Claire’s silence meant she was pondering something. It always did.

Whatever it was, she hadn’t broached it by the time he turned onto the fancy paved drive leading to Ed’s place. Edna Jane Vidal, eighty-five years young, had made good money as a barrel-racer and had invested wisely.

“Miss Jenson doesn’t have a boyfriend.” Claire’s announcement seemed to come out of the blue, but he didn’t believe that for a minute.

“How do you know that?” He drove slowly past the massive stone house and over to the warehouse-sized building that housed Ed’s climate-controlled indoor riding arena.

“Piper asked her.”

He smiled. Leave it to an eight-year-old to cut to the chase. “Maybe that’s the way Miss Jenson likes it. Not everybody—”

“I know. But she wants a boyfriend. She told Piper she just hasn’t found the right person.”

“Then I hope she does. And I also hope you girls—”

“There’s Uncle Teague!”

“Looks like he was waiting for us.” As he parked the truck, Teague Sullivan, Ed’s only wrangler these days, walked toward them.

Teague wasn’t a member of the Brotherhood, and Claire had agonized over calling him Mr. Sullivan, which she said didn’t feel right for someone she liked so much. Eventually, at Zeke’s urging, she’d asked if she could call him Uncle Teague. He’d been delighted.

Claire unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her helmet. “Which horse do you think I’ll get? Do you think Uncle Teague’s set up the barrels already?”

“Let’s go find out.”

An hour later, his fearless daughter was tired and covered in sawdust, but jubilant from the thrill of her first barrel-racing lesson. She sat on the bleachers at the end of the arena between him and Teague, with Ed perched on the seat below, turned around to face them.

“What a great start.” Ed beamed at them. “Claire, you remind me of myself at your age. You have such a bright future in this sport.”

“I love barrel-racing, Auntie Ed! I love it so much I can’t stand it. I’m tired, but I’m not tired, if you know what I mean.”

“I do.”

“My outside is droopy but my inside is jumping around. And Cinnamon is the best horse ever.”

“When I got him last year, I had no idea why I was doing it. I’d already found Toffee and his training was going well. I didn’t need another horse, let alone a trained barrel racer. Turns out I needed him, after all.”

“We appreciate the use of Cinnamon,” Zeke said. “But that on top of free lessons feels like too much. I’d like to pay for—”

“Son, I would pay you for the privilege of teaching this girl. She’s going to be phenomenal.” She glanced at Claire. “But don’t go getting a swelled head because I said that. Competitors who think too much of themselves usually go down in flames.”

“I won’t get a swelled head, Auntie Ed.” She gave her auntie an impish smile. “Then my helmet won’t fit.”

Ed snorted. “All this and a sense of humor. We’re going to have a great time this summer, Claire.”

“We sure are. Oh, you know what? This summer my dad’s teaching my friends to ride, plus Miss O’Connor and Miss Jenson. They’re my teachers at school. And at the end of the lessons, we’ll put on a demonstration. Gramma Henri said we could. You’re definitely invited. You, too, Uncle Teague.”

“Oh, I’ll be there.” Ed looked pleased at the prospect. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Sounds like fun, Zeke.” Teague glanced at him over the top of Claire’s head.

“It is. Those girls are a riot.”

Teague grinned. “The big ones or the little ones?”

“He’s talking about my friends,” Claire said. “But Miss O’Connor and Miss Jenson are pretty funny, too. They kid each other a lot.”

“I had a teacher named Miss Jenson when I was in school.” Teague thumbed back his hat. “Loved her. My mom told me she’s retired, now. I can’t imagine that school without her.”

“Well, this Miss Jenson isn’t even close to retiring. She’s around the same age as you and my dad. You’d like her.”

Uh-oh. As Zeke scrambled for a way to block Claire’s next move, she made an end run around him.

“Hey, I have an idea, Uncle Teague. If you have time, maybe you could come over and help my dad with the lessons.”

“Claire, he’s a busy guy. I doubt he—”

“Not that busy.” He glanced at Ed. “You could spare me for an hour here and there, right?”

“Sure. No problem.”

“And having Uncle Teague there would mean you could do more one-on-one teaching, Dad. And we’d learn faster.”

Right. Claire’s earnest tone might fool someone who didn’t know her. They could miss the gleam of mischief in those innocent-looking blue eyes.

“I wouldn’t want to get underfoot.” But Teague looked eager for the opportunity. Not surprising since he loved any excuse to come over to the Buckskin. “But if I could be of some help...”

What the heck, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. “Glad to have you.”