Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Daisy
“What are you up to, Ivy?” Chastising, I almost sounded like Mom. In so many ways, I’d had to be like a mother for years.
After a long day of work, something felt off the moment my sisters practically hijacked me on some pretense of an errand to the ODRR.
“Just go along with it, Daisy. And try to have fun,” she urged.
“Fun? We just finished harvesting the apples. Now we have to sell them all. Only then can we think about fun.”
“Maybe we could do both?” She pulled into the ODRR driveway, and it wasn’t long before the barn and buildings came into view. Cars and trucks had parked everywhere, and people gathered around the small, oblong horse arena they’d added over the summer.
“Ivy? What is this?” I asked.
My sisters laughed and got out of the car. Curious, I followed. And then I saw the sign. Strung crookedly between two posts, swaying slightly in the breeze, was a banner that read:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAISY
“Surprise!”
The word hit me from every direction at once in a way that rooted me to the spot.
The arena had been transformed. Lanterns hung along the rails, ready to light up at sunset.
People lined the fence—neighbors from town, ranch hands, families I recognized.
Folding lawn chairs dotted the perimeter, coolers tucked beneath them.
Kids climbed up the lower rails of the fence for a better view.
For a second, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.
“I think we got her, girls.” Ivy preened, because clearly she’d planned the entire thing.
“We sure did,” Sage and Poppy cried.
“All of this—for me? You shouldn’t have gone to the trouble,” I scoffed.
“Are you kidding? We just finished harvesting the apples, and now it’s your big day. We have plenty of reasons to celebrate,” Ivy gushed.
All the friendly faces beamed back at me. Emotions caught in my throat before I could get a grip.
She stepped up beside me and looped her arm through mine, squeezing. “We know how hard you work, Daisy. You deserve this.”
Sage took up my other side. “You don’t exactly throw yourself parties. We had to take matters into our own hands.”
Before I could argue or deflect or brush it off the way I usually would, a sharp whistle cut through the air.
“Let’s get it started!” Dusty called out. That’s when I realized this was a homegrown rodeo and barbecue. I moved with my sisters to the fence and climbed up, hanging from the top.
The crowd’s attention turned toward the arena, and a rider burst through the open gate at a full run.
It was Ash and his horse, Tank, and they moved like a single force, muscles coiled and released in perfect sync. A calf bolted across the dirt, hooves kicking up dust. The rope snapped through the air in a clean, practiced arc.
It landed true. The loop tightened, the calf hit the end of the line, and within seconds Ash had dismounted and secured three legs with a speed that drew a wave of cheers from the crowd, Willow and Ro the loudest.
I blinked away tears, my senses catching up all at once with the thud of hooves, the creak of leather, the smell of dust and hay and barbecue roasting faintly in the distance; all fought for attention.
I missed this. Been years since we had homegrown rodeos around here.
Just a day where local cowboys got together to practice their skills, often all in fun.
Other guys followed Ash, showing off, each run building on the last. The energy of the crowd rose with every clean catch and quick time.
“Oh, there goes Colt!” Ivy pointed with one hand and put her fingers in her mouth with the other, producing a shrill whistle.
Colt did well trying to tie up the calf, especially with no prior rodeo experience. Ivy ran up to him and jumped into his arms for a kiss before the dust settled from his ride.
I didn’t realize I’d been scanning the edges of the crowd for Knox until I found him.
He sat tall in the saddle on Silver, one hand steady on the reins, the other loose at his side, joking around with some of the other cowboys like he belonged here in a way that went beyond simple participation. My awareness of him heightened.
“It’s nice to see you unwind as opposed to—” Sage stopped herself, climbing up to the top rail of the fence to sit beside me.
“What? Say it.”
“Your usual overthinking.” She bumped my shoulder with hers.
“Don’t worry, by tomorrow I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled overthinking and stressing.” I laughed despite myself.
“Life is happening right in front of us. If you blink, you’ll miss it. I worry you blink too much.”
It was mildly infuriating how observant Sage was, and also one of my absolute favorite things about her.
“Prime example…” she continued like she wasn’t letting this go until she’d made some kind of point. “Take Knox over there. Look at him. I’ve counted at least a dozen times where I caught him staring at you. He’s such a sweet guy.”
Knox and I exchanged glances as if to prove her point. Fluttering butterflies held my stomach for ransom, as they had done ever since the night he found me in the bathtub.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to.” I played it off.
“Sure you don’t.” She was quiet for a beat. “He’s handsome, too. I’ve known more than one woman in town with their eyes on him, but he doesn’t pay anyone else any attention. Almost as if he keeps waiting for something. Or someone. I wonder who?”
“You read too many romcoms.”
“Maybe. I can only hope that someday a guy will look at me the way he does at you.”
“Sage, the right man will come along for you. And there’s nothing going on between me and Knox.”
“Are you sure about that? Maybe there should be. I hear a lot of gossip in town, and plenty of ladies would give anything for a shot at him. And here you are, keeping him all to yourself.”
“I’m not—” Before I could plan a response to deny everything, the next event began. Dusty called out for steer wrestling.
Knox and Silver situated themselves at the edge of the arena, another rider flanking him to guide the steer.
The horn blared, the gate burst open, and the powerful and unpredictable animal launched out.
Silver matched it stride for stride, and Knox’s body moved into motion as if he were born on horseback.
I gave myself away, holding my breath, leaning in too far, intent on the man in the middle of the action.
One second he was in the saddle. The next he was airborne, launching himself onto the steer with a force that knocked his hat off, his long locks flying free.
I gasped at the sight. His powerful arms wrapped around the animal, his weight shifted, and in one explosive motion, he brought the animal down into the dirt.
The crowd erupted at this display of perfect cowboy showmanship.
I took it all in, while a hot coil spiraled inside of me.
He rose to his feet, dust clinging to his chaps and shirt.
He rolled his shoulders once and picked up his hat, and then—as if he felt the weight of my stare—his gaze lifted and found mine across the arena.
With his hat, he pointed my way with a smoldering smile that could melt panties off any woman.
Mine especially. Heat bloomed under my skin. My cheeks caught fire.
“He’s pointing at you, Daisy!” Poppy whooped.
“Nope. Plenty of other women around me,” I insisted.
Cheers rose again, people chanting his name. My focus stayed locked on him, on the way he moved, the control in his stride, the confidence of his ego.
He made his way over to us, while Dusty called for anyone to do breakaway roping.
“That’s me. Wish me luck,” Sage called and jumped down, giving a high five to Knox on her way. I was still trying to shake the image of him flying mid-air, all power and precision. He climbed up and sat on the top rail next to me.
“That was…” I started, then stopped, because I didn’t have a word for it that didn’t sound like an admission of just how much I’d been affected.
And because the scent of a rugged cowboy hit me, earthy and arousing.
I cleared my throat and tried again. “Your time was good. You ever think about going pro?”
He tipped his hat back, a hint of a grin tugging at his mouth. “Dabbled in amateur rodeos when I was in the military. Nothing serious. You impressed?”
I huffed a quiet laugh. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
“What can I say? I’m multi-talented.” He winked.
I could see it there in the way his eyes dropped briefly to my mouth, like he was cataloging reactions the same way he did everything else about me. Like a traitor, my tongue shot out and licked them before I could stop myself.
“Speaking of talent…” Ivy interrupted from where she had returned on the other side of me. “You should see Daisy barrel race. Almost went pro several years back.”
“That right? Now I’m impressed,” Knox replied.
“You should get out there and show him, Daisy,” Poppy pressed.
I could ignore them because Sage timed her breakaway run perfectly.
We all whooped and hollered for her. She rode fast and clean, lassoed the calf, and the rope snapped tight with a satisfying pop as the string broke free from the saddle horn.
The crowd cheered, and she waved as she rode out, flushed and triumphant.
I thought that would be the end. I was wrong.
Ivy turned toward me with that look. “You’re next.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Oh, yes,” she replied, snapping her fingers toward the group of saddled horses. “Get her a good one, Knox.”
“Hell, yeah,” he hollered and ran off.
“What are you doing, Ivy? I haven’t run barrels in years,” I huffed and climbed down the fence, fully prepared to leave my own party.
“Then you’re overdue.”
“Overdue for hurting myself? I have responsibilities now, and businesses to run. I can’t afford to be laid up if I’m injured.”
“Are you scared?” Poppy quirked a brow. “Because I don’t recall ever seeing my big sister back down from a challenge. You’re the strongest woman I know.”