Chapter 12
“I…uhh…” Lily was speechless. Had he really just called her stupid?
“Sorry to be so blunt, but you could have been killed. And the girl you helped was just as stupid. She should have known better than to run around that neighborhood without being aware of her surroundings. If you hadn’t intervened, she could have suffered even worse than being killed.” Dak’s words were blunt, as well as matter of fact and cold.
Lily couldn’t really argue with what he had said, but it just wasn’t true. Sometimes things happened and she had to help, even if it was stupid. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I don’t agree. That girl was young and na?ve, just an innocent child. There was no question that I had to step in and help her.” She gave him a cold look of her own. “And what about you? You helped us. What does that make you?”
Dakota sighed and downed the rest of his glass in one gulp. “Just as stupid, I guess.” He set his glass down a little more forcefully than necessary. “I think your sisters are waiting for you. They keep looking impatiently over this way.” He took her arm, and it tingled the minute he touched it. “I’d better get you back to Camellia before she finds another reason to hate me.”
Despite the tingle of excitement running through her, Lily started to suspect it wouldn’t be very hard to find lots of reasons to dislike this man. “You can’t exactly blame her for wanting to keep her husband safe, can you?” she ventured, pulling her arm away.
“A man has a right to end his career on a high if he feels the need, and not in defeat,” Dakota answered. “It’s not fair for her to try to keep him from regaining his pride.”
Lily looked up at him, shocked. Regaining his pride? Camellia had said that Ray had almost been killed, for goodness’ sake. Sometimes there were more important things than pride at stake.
“Are you ready to go?” Camellia asked as Lily and Dakota drew near. “I hate to rush you, but I’m bushed, and I can see that Trish still hasn’t left. She’s probably over there plotting her next plan of attack right now.”
Lily glanced toward Trish, and sure enough, she saw Trish set her glass down and start to meander to their side of the room casually.
Suddenly feeling very tired herself, Lily was also in no mood to hear more from that woman, and as she fished out her own car keys, she declared, “I’m more than ready. Let’s go before she makes it over.”
With a quick nod in Dakota’s direction, Lily followed Camellia and Violet out the door.
Once she was seated behind the wheel of her Audi, she let out a long sigh of relief. “That was actually more exhausting than I thought it was going to be,” she admitted.
Violet grinned over at her. “You really haven’t been out much since the divorce, have you? Welcome back to the cutthroat world of hobnobbing with the richies.”
Lily saw Camellia’s car pull out in front of her and fell into line right behind her, shaking her head. “No thanks, Vi. You can have it. I’m done playing games with people I don’t care for. I’ll be happy to just spend the rest of my life seeing my family and being a dull, stay-at-home divorcée.”
Violet looked at her quizzically. “Even if that means you won’t be seeing your handsome hero of a cowboy?”
She huffed and shook her head. “He’s not my hero, Vi. Granted, I owe him a huge debt for jumping in and saving my life, but honestly, if I never see him again, I’ll be just fine with that. He’s not exactly the most pleasant person I’ve ever met.”
“So, the thank you didn’t go that well?” Violet asked.
“You could say that,” Lily agreed. “I might have been better off not saying anything.”
“Hmmm.” Violet looked sideways out of her window. “This is going to be a bit awkward then, but I actually volunteered you to work with him at the charity rodeo.”
Lily’s jaw dropped and she glared at her sister, completely aghast. “You what?”
“Please keep your eyes on the road, Lily,” Violet chided, and then added, “I honestly thought you would appreciate it. You seemed so eager to talk to him that I thought you liked him. Since Camellia’s daughter isn’t able to come this year—she’s the one who normally works with him—I thought you’d be thrilled to take her place. They needed someone to fill her spot.”
“Of course they did,” Lily muttered. “Let me guess, no one else wanted the job?”
She could readily understand why no one would want to spend a lot of time around the surly cowboy. Camellia’s daughter must be a saint to have done it in the past.
Violet grinned. “Nope, there were no other takers. How’d you know? I find that a bit odd, honestly. He’s not really a bad-looking guy, as far as cowboys go.”
Lily once again turned her ire toward her sister. “Then why didn’t you just take the job, Vi?” Lily hissed. “You should have asked me first before signing me up for anything.”
“I couldn’t ask you. You were deep in conversation with said cowboy, and I honestly thought I’d be doing you a favor. Like you said, you do owe him a debt of gratitude, and this could be a way for you to pay it back.”
Lily just stared at Camellia’s taillights ahead of her, navigating the winding road as she followed closely and fumed internally. The thought of having to work with Dakota sent her emotions into a tailspin. The idea of being ordered around by the arrogant man filled her with dread. But at the same time, her stomach alternated between knots and butterflies.
When they finally turned into a long driveway, Lily exhaled with a sigh of relief. Her head was starting to pound, it had started to rain, and she just wanted to crawl under what she hoped would be some comfortable covers and disappear for a while.
They got out of the car and met Camellia on the porch, neither of the sisters speaking.
“Well, this is it,” said Camellia, opening the door to a large, very well-kept house just on the outskirts of the city.
“Wow, this is really nice,” said Violet, looking around in admiration.
The house was decorated very differently from the one in Tahoe, and Lily guessed it was more to Camellia’s tastes than Ray’s. Everything screamed dark, formal, and highly polished, much like the décor Violet favored. In fact, other than the furnishings and floors being lighter in Violet’s house, the two were very similar.
“Thanks,” Camellia said proudly. “I decorated it myself.”
She led them into the spacious living room—or parlor, as Camellia called it—and snapped on the gas fireplace. Then she made her way to the bar, bent down to what Lily assumed was a concealed wine fridge, and pulled out a bottle of chardonnay.
“I hope you two will join me?” Camellia said, popping the cork expertly and reaching for three wine glasses.
Lily looked desperately at Violet, hoping her sister would get the message and come up with some polite way of excusing them. All Lily really wanted to do was find a cool, dark place to close her eyes and forget about everything for a while.
Unfortunately, Violet was already making her way over to where Camellia was pouring the glasses and missed her pleading look. “Of course, we’ll join you. Lily and I have been looking forward to the chance to talk with you in private.”
Lily sighed. Violet was right. This was a good opportunity to get to know their sister, so she walked over and took the glass that was handed to her.
Camellia kicked off her shoes. “Let’s sit over here by the fire,” Camellia suggested. “My feet are killing me, and I’m freezing. You’d think they could turn the heat up once in a while in those places,” she complained, hauling a comfy-looking blanket over herself. She indicated a dark basket off to the side of the room. “There are more blankets in there. Help yourselves. We may as well be comfortable. Something tells me the conversation we’re about to have will be a little less than comfortable.”
Violet walked over and pulled out a blanket, tossing it to Lily, then pulled out a second one and curled up with it in the easy chair across from Camellia, leaving Lily to perch on the other end of the couch.
“Why do you say that?” Lily asked. “It doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.”
Camellia sighed. “We just found out that the father we all clearly admired and adored had another family that none of us knew about. If you’re anything like me—and I suspect that you are—you both have a million questions mulling around in your heads. It’s not going to be easy to talk about them.”
Violet took a sip of her wine, for once not taking charge of the conversation.
“Why don’t you start, Camellia?” Lily prompted.
“How was he with you?” Camellia looked from one sister to the other. “I mean, did he laugh a lot? Toss you around as children and tell you silly stories?”
Violet looked at Lily. She hated to admit that their childhood had been the same. “Well, yes. I guess he did. When we were younger anyhow. I remember him tossing Lily around more and tickling her, but she was younger than I was. I guess I was getting heavier by then. But he definitely told us stories. Lots and lots of stories.”
“Yeah, he was a great one for telling stories. Mama told me not to believe them all, but I was well into my teenage years before I realized that most of his adventures were probably made up,” Camellia said quietly.
Lily’s heart hurt for Camellia. She knew the pain of grief and never wanted anyone else to experience it. “I’m sorry for the loss of your mother, Camellia. It sounds like you were very close with her and losing her so soon after Dad died must have been devastating for you,” Lily said.
Camellia nodded, swallowing back tears. “It still is, honestly. Mama and I talked every single day. It still feels so strange not to be able to just pick up the phone and hear her voice on the other end.”
“She must have been very special,” said Violet. “We lost our own mother just a few days after Lily turned twenty-three. She had cancer, and thinking back, I think she knew she was dying faster than anyone suspected. She believed she’d make it to be there for Lily’s birthday.”
Lily looked at Violet, biting her tongue. She wanted to remind her sister how she’d begged her to come home, warning her that she was afraid their mother didn’t have much longer.
Camellia softened, sharing in the sympathy. “I’m sorry. That must have been extremely hard on both of you. I don’t know what I would have done if Mama hadn’t been around when Ray got hurt. It happened ten years ago, and I know I should be over it by now, but does one ever really get over almost losing the love of your life?” Camellia asked. “If it weren’t for Mama coming and taking care of Autumn while I sat in the hospital with Ray, making me tea while I cried on her shoulder, I don’t think I would have made it.”
“It sounds like he had a pretty bad accident,” Lily said.
Camellia scoffed, clearly not happy remembering the situation. “Accident? Can you really call it an accident when a grown man takes his own life so for granted that he’s willing to risk it to get on some stupid animal with sharp horns?” Camellia shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment before reopening them to continue her tale. “I begged him to stop. I knew he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of working at the car dealership his father wanted to give him, but it paid the bills and allowed him to be home every night with me. And it was safe.”
“That’s men for you,” Violet said derisively. “Always looking for the next thrill, never satisfied.”
Lily stared at Violet, her eyes curious. She had to be referring to some previous boyfriend of hers, because the riskiest thing she’d ever seen Lawrence do was drink caffeinated coffee after noon.
“I told him when he proposed to me that I would only agree to marry him if he gave up the rodeo. I told him to think about it carefully and not just tell me what I wanted to hear. I knew how much it meant to him and that it had been a part of his life since he’d left home as a teenager. I asked him to be sure he could live a normal life without the thrill he got from bull riding.” Camellia took the end of her blanket and dabbed at her eyes. “He swore to me he would give it up and that the only thrill he needed was me.”
Violet knew where this story was headed. “But he didn’t give it up?” Violet asked.
She shook her head. “No, he didn’t. Not right away, anyhow. Ray said it was all he knew how to do, and we needed the money. But after Autumn was born, we started to reconnect with his father, and when his father again offered him a stake in the dealership, he didn’t have any more excuses.”
Camellia smoothed down the blanket, taking a moment to collect herself. The sisters waited patiently for her to continue.
“Those first few years after he quit were heaven for me. I could finally sleep at night without worrying, and for the first time in years, I started enjoying going to the rodeo again. I thought he was content to sit on the sidelines with me, cheering on Dak and his other friends. I suspected he was bored and didn’t love working at the dealership, but we were finally starting to save some money. Mama helped us buy a house and send Autumn to any school of my choosing.”
“So, what happened? What changed his mind?” Lily asked. Maybe Ray had grown bored with his life at the dealership just like Scott had grown bored with his life with her.
“Dakota Clifton happened, that’s what,” Camellia said bitterly. “Everything was going along just great. Even Dakota had stopped riding bulls regularly and mostly became a bull wrangler. It’s still risky, but not quite as dangerous. That was when my best friend decided to make her move.”
Violet and Lily both looked at Camellia, totally confused. Camellia threw off her blanket and got up for a refill, frowning at the liquid as it ran smoothly into her glass. She turned and perched on the edge of the barstool.
“Dakota had already been spending a great deal of time with us. He and his brother argued a lot, and his family wanted him to give up the rodeo and help run the ranch. Since Ray was his best friend, he hung out at our house when he was home. After my best friend, Paige, got divorced, she started to spend time here as well.” Camellia sighed, remembering the past. “I saw trouble coming. I tried to warn him, but once Paige turns on the charm, she usually gets what she wants. And she clearly wanted Dakota.”
“Sounds like a match made in heaven. Both of your best friends getting together. What could go wrong?” said Violet, guessing at the outcome.
Camellia’s expression was hard to read, a mixture of sadness and disappointment, maybe. “Dakota asked her to marry him, and after she said yes and the wedding was ready to begin, Paige left him at the altar.”
“That’s harsh.” Lily understood a bit more why Dakota was so bitter. That must have been a hard thing for him to go through in front of all of his friends.
Camellia nodded. “He was devastated, and after that, it was almost like he had a death wish. He took up bull riding full time again, trying to draw the meanest bull he could. He became famous for being one of the oldest bull riders around. Nothing that Ray or I could say could stop him. I honestly thought he was going to die on a bull.”
“Well, clearly he didn’t,” Violet said dryly.
Camellia looked at her. “He almost did. That bull gored him and then trampled him, breaking his legs and several of his ribs. He’s very lucky to be alive.”
“Well, he clearly had to stop bull riding after that,” Lily said.
Camellia shook her head. “You would think that, wouldn’t you?” She said bitterly. “But Dakota just doesn’t know when to call it quits. The committee tried to ban him from riding again. But Dakota wouldn’t give up, telling them that he deserved to ride his one last bull, and the officials finally relented.”
“Did he ride it?” asked Violet.
She took a deep breath. “He did. The bull’s name was Renegade, and he was rumored to be one of the meanest, wiliest bulls around. Dakota not only stayed the required time, but he also stayed on long enough to actually win the prize for the night.”
“So, it sounds like all ended well then,” Lily said, slightly puzzled.
“Sure, for him it did,” said Camellia. “But ever since he watched his best friend take his last ride, Ray has been insisting on having his own swan song!”