Chapter Twenty #2
He didn’t even know how to decode himself, let alone make himself more accessible to anyone else.
Except Sheena.
Sort of.
He thought of how he’d been with the necklace.
He had been such a jerk. But he felt torn up in a strange way after he had bought that thing, and something in his chest had
felt uncomfortably large when he’d given it to her. And he didn’t know what else to do but try to play it down.
But when he hurt her like that, he just wanted to fix it. And when she had acted like that meant it was the end of them, he
couldn’t bear it.
He still couldn’t say why.
Because he was the one who had told her they could just do this while it was good. While it wasn’t hard.
They drove over to the event space, and when he got there, the first thing he saw was her.
Standing right outside the door, wearing a tight, purple dress that went just to her knees, a slit up the side revealing a shapely thigh and just a little bit of her tattoo.
Her hair was up, which was unusual for her, and the necklace glinted against her skin.
For a moment he was at a loss for words. For a moment he was at a loss for everything. So he turned his attention resolutely
away from her and focused solely on the party. On getting all the pieces locked together.
He couldn’t afford the distraction of her. Not right this second.
Because he could just keep doing this. If he could get to a certain point. Then maybe eventually . . .
He looked around the room. It was great. It was perfect.
The chandelier at the center glittered, red ribbon cascaded around the room, pine boughs decorated everything. There were
white Christmas lights hung in glorious curtains down the barn walls.
This place had been a ruin a year ago.
And now . . . it was this.
And just in an hour almost everybody at Pyrite Falls would be here.
And it still wasn’t enough. It just wasn’t enough.
He had to keep going. He had to keep moving. Maybe he should consider playing a few more poker games. Earning more money.
Doing something. He just had to keep doing something.
The back of his neck itched, and he turned around. Sheena was staring at him, from across the room.
He gritted his teeth, and made his way over to her. “Don’t you need to go to the bar?”
“I have the staff getting things ready there.”
“And you just trust them?”
“That’s the point of hiring staff, Denver.”
A totally foreign concept to him, because he liked to have his hand in everything. Though he supposed that was why she had said it that way.
“I particularly like the card table over there. I assume poker playing will occur?”
“That was actually the McClouds’ idea. I don’t play casual poker.”
She laughed. “Would you play with me?”
“It’s not fair,” he said. “Because I would win.”
For a moment, everything around them got fuzzy. And the only thing he could really pay attention to was her. And he couldn’t
afford that. Because he needed to pay attention to this. To the party.
“I’m going to be really busy tonight.”
“I know,” she said. “And I am going to go to the bar. But I just want to stay and . . .”
“And what?”
“Watch you. You work so hard for this. I know it matters to you.”
She knew that it mattered to him. “Why do you think it matters to me?”
“You want everybody to see you. How much you care. That you are a good man.”
That he was a good man.
The trouble was, he didn’t especially believe that he was.
But the place began to fill up, and he had to admit there was something a lot like satisfaction sitting in his chest alongside
a burning need that felt a lot like being pushed. Pushed forward. Pushed to do more. To do better.
Some of the ranch hands, who had a band that played at the town hall meetings, had offered to come and play Christmas music, and they had all dressed in their nicest clothes.
Black suit jackets and boleros. Black cowboy hats.
The fiddles almost sounded like violins as the haunting country Christmas arrangements filled the room.
And Sheena made her way over to him. “Dance with me, cowboy.”
He was powerless to resist. Even if he wanted to. Just looking at her changed things. Took that weight off of his chest. Shifted
something in his soul. He took her in his arms and they went out to the dance floor. It was like they were the center. Of
all of it. Everything. Even if he was more outlaw than knight in shining armor, and she was more warrior than princess. Right
then, it felt like maybe they could be something more. Something different.
He hadn’t done much in the way of slow dancing that extended beyond holding a woman against his body just so they could feel
each other, a promise for the evening of debauchery that was to come. But with her, he tried. And what surprised him most
was how it felt like flying. She smiled up at him, the look on her face holding the kind of joy he’d never seen anywhere.
Much less looking right out at him.
People were enjoying the food. Enjoying the music. Enjoying the games.
“Go to the bar,” he whispered into her ear.
“We can’t do that,” she said. “You have to stay here, don’t you?”
“We can dip out for a minute.”
He took her hand and the two of them walked out of the building, down the path, which they had lit up for tonight’s event.
People were meandering between venues, holding hands, laughing.
Right there in the middle of the winter darkness, the gaming hall/axe throwing bar was lit up bright. He could see that there
was a crowd of people inside. That her staff was moving around efficiently, with big smiles on their faces.
It was . . . more. Better than he had imagined.
A rousing success on a level he hadn’t allowed himself to dream of.
They walked inside, and there were games being played, the sounds of axes hitting targets. People were sitting around the
bar eating and drinking, dressed all in their finery. He could see that the Wild West of the place appealed to the crowd that
had come out.
This idea that he and Sheena had collaborated on was . . . better than he could’ve possibly imagined.
People were taking selfies right in front of the shelves that had the taxidermy rodents.
“I love that that’s a hit,” Sheena said, her eyes on exactly the same part of the room that his were. It didn’t even surprise
him at this point.
That she was looking at the same thing he was. Right when he did.
A couple he didn’t recognize, who introduced themselves and said they came from out of town, asked if the bar was theirs.
“It’s hers,” he said.
“Well, that isn’t entirely true,” she said, putting her hand on his forearm. “It was my business proposition, but Denver’s
land. Plus, using this building and making it like a saloon was his idea.”
The woman took notes, and said that she ran a social media account for things to do in the area, and she would be looking
to feature that. Sheena gave details on pricing and on how to call to get a lane reserved.
After that, everybody in the bar realized that Sheena was the owner. And she was fielding enthusiastic comments about how
fun it was.
It was almost impossible to get away.
When they did leave, and they got back to the event space, Arizona was beaming.
“Denver, you won’t believe this. We booked up for the whole rest of the year.
Weddings, mostly. But quinceanera, and an eighteenth-birthday party, a couple of gold and anniversaries.
This space is literally full up. Every weekend. ”
“What?”
“I’m not even kidding. There’s nothing around here for hours that can compete with it. I’ve been sitting here literally putting
things into the calendar and taking deposits.”
“I . . .”
Of all the things he had imagined, he definitely had never thought that tonight they would get so many requests for reservations
that they were completely full.
It was a great idea; he knew that. He’d known that there would be a demand for it, but he had no idea that it would be so
intense, or on that scale.
“You really did it,” she said.
Sheena took his hand and squeezed it. “Look at you,” she said. “You saved King’s Crest.”
Not that there had been any danger of it failing. Not before this, anyway.
“It’s not going to be famous for Dad anymore. It’s going to be famous because of this. This is what people are going to think
of. The beef, the beer, the bar. Look at what you did,” Arizona said.
It was such a strange feeling, the accomplishment that bloomed in his chest. And he couldn’t say that he liked it all that
much. It was uncomfortable. And more than that, it was a temptation. A temptation unlike anything he’d experienced before.
Then Daughtry, straitlaced and absolutely the last person on earth to call attention to himself, went up to the stage and interrupted the band.
Denver stopped. He watched his brother snag a microphone, and looked out at the crowd.
“If anybody has enjoyed themselves tonight, then they owe a big thanks to my brother Denver. Denver made this possible. Not only was it his idea, but he pushed to get this done for the past year. To bring about change to Pyrite Falls, while keeping the integrity of this place intact. This isn’t a development like you would get from some fat cat who came in from the city.
This is the kind of development you get from somebody who feels a real responsibility for the place, and the people who live here.
Not only has he given us all some cool things to do, but he has also figured out ways to get more people visiting town. And that’s better for all of us.”
There was a huge round of applause, and Denver could barely hear it over his heart beating in his head.
They were all acting like he was some kind of hero.
He had never been.
He was . . . he was still the guy that had ridden with his father back in the day. Still the guy who had come to their house
to collect debts. Underneath it all, that’s who he was. And he couldn’t forget that. They shouldn’t either.