“Kasey’s working at Murdock’s tonight,” I said. “We should head by there first to say hello.”
“Sounds good to me.” He started up the truck. “As long as we’re getting food and few beers, I’m not too concerned with where we go.”
After a quick stop by the hotel, I directed him to the bar. We parked the truck and walked a few blocks to Murdock’s. Pete held the door to let me go in first. It wasn’t too busy yet. I knew from Kasey that things really got going after ten on Saturdays, but I didn’t plan to be here that late. We’d rolled out of the ranch just after seven in the morning, meaning I’d gotten up just after four thirty to help Pete and Lacey prepare the horses for the trip. After the excitement from the rodeo wore all the way off, I expected to be pretty beat.
Kasey was next to the bar, dressed in her little black shorts and red t-shirt, chatting with a customer, her eyes wide and mouth spread into a sunny grin. She made great tips at Murdock’s, partly because of how cute she was, but her real moneymaker was how well she could make a man think he was the funniest, most interesting and attractive person she’d ever met. She just had that open, charming way about her. I’d seen her come home after a late Friday or Saturday shift with her purse stuffed full of ten and twenty dollar bills from her adoring fans.
She saw us and came running over, her short hair bobbing over her shoulders. She’d lightened it since I’d seen her last. Now it was a deep honey color. I’d never try such a thing, but it looked good on her.
“Emma!” she cried, pulling me into a hug. She smelled like candy. It was another thing her male customers liked. She grinned at me. She had on so much makeup, I barely recognized her. She watched tutorials online, learning all kinds of tricks. Today, she’d made her eyes look pointy at the ends with shadow and liner. Her lips were cherry red, and her cheeks looked powdery soft. She’d even added a fake beauty mark just above her mouth.
“This is Pete,” I told her, hooking a thumb at the solid shape of him standing beside me.
She turned the sharp point of her attention to him, looking him up and down in that shameless manner she had, her grin getting even wider to show off the crooked eyeteeth we had in common. “I’ve heard so much about you.” She held out a small hand, and Pete shook it. “I’m Kasey.”
“Howdy, Kasey,” he said. “Nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot, too.”
“All good things, I hope!” I could see by the way she was grinning that she at least approved of Pete’s looks, not that I’d doubted she would.
He laughed that low chuckle he had, the one that drove me a little crazy. When he reached for my hand, I laced my fingers with his, just glad to have that contact.
Kasey’s eyes lit on our interlaced fingers for a few seconds before jumping up to meet my eyes, her smile blazing. I smiled, too. I couldn’t help it. She looked at Pete again.
“You must be something special to have caught my sister’s eye. She doesn’t date just anybody.”
Now all three of us laughed, my cheeks getting a little red.
“Emma Flowers?”
I turned at the sound of my name, gasping at who I saw.
It was Jack Terrance.
I’d recognize him anywhere, even though we hadn’t seen each other since high school and he’d changed plenty.
“Jack!” I let go of Pete’s hand to give my old friend a hug. He squeezed me hard, lifting me off the ground as I giggled into his ear. When he set me down again, I stared up at him, a little dizzy from the ride.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I work in Austin. I’m a firefighter.” His voice hadn’t changed a bit. He was wearing his fluffy blond hair clipped close to his head, and his brown eyes were just as kind and full of gentle humor as I remembered them. He was much bigger, I assumed from lifting weights regularly, the muscles bulging in his arms and neck. Back in school, he’d been tall, but gangly, more basketball star than football player.
“Oh my God, Jack!” Kasey squealed. She moved in for a hug as he laughed at her characteristic overreaction. The girl had been a Hollywood actress since infancy, always going over the top if she got the chance.
“Look at you all grown up, Kase!”
“I haven’t seen you in ages,” she replied, shooting that sunny grin up at him. She’d had the worst crush on him back in the day, but he’d considered her his adopted little sister by virtue of our friendship, so she never got even so much as a peck on the lips from him. “I thought you
’d dropped off the face of the Earth.”
“We all did,” I said. It dawned on me suddenly how rude I was being. I turned to put my hand on Pete’s rock hard shoulder. He’d been watching the show with an amused look on his tanned face. “Jack, this is Pete. He’s my…” I didn’t know what to say. My boss? My boyfriend? The guy I ate dinner with a few times a week and occasionally sleep with after my work on the farm was done?
Pete stepped in, not the least bit bothered by my sudden inability to define whatever was between us. “I’m Emma’s friend.” The men shook hands.
“Nice to meet you, Pete.”
“Likewise,” he said.
Jack turned his warm brown eyes my way again, his grin getting wider. “You still in Round Rock?”