CH 8 - #toogoodtobetrue
#toogoodtobetrue
Madison
Song: “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) by Big & Rich
I was in the kitchen with Bella, giving her a drink of Kool-Aid, when my mom walked up to us.
“Sweet pea, go play with your toys for a little bit. I need to talk to your mommy,” my mom told Bella, smiling.
“Okay.” She skipped off, heading to her playroom.
I looked at my mom, who was no longer smiling. “What is it?”
“Young lady, I could whip your butt for the way you acted toward Luke. What is wrong with you?” she asked, her hands perched on her hips.
“You want to know what’s wrong with me? My husband cheated on me, and now I’m divorced and essentially raising our daughter by myself.
You and Dad moved all the way out here, so I no longer have you around like I used to.
I come here to see you and him and meet a cowboy who is so handsome and wonderful.
Then I unexpectedly ran into him at a dance hall, where we sat at the bar together, talking and drinking his and now my favorite whiskey.
You’ll be extra proud of this: I danced on the bar with the women bartenders and shook my ass in front of that handsome and wonderful cowboy.
Afterward, he asked me to dance with him.
It turned into two and then two kisses, which I don’t remember because I was so drunk.
Another thing I don’t remember is what happened after that cowboy carried me to his truck, but he told me about it this morning when I woke up in his bed. ”
“Did you and Luke have sex last night?”
“No, but close enough. I’m so embarrassed by what I allowed to happen. I lost control, Mom,” I said, breaking down.
“Come here, honey.”
She wrapped her arms around me and let me cry on her shoulder until I’d gotten it all out.
“Bella and I are going back to Dallas in the morning,” I said, wiping my eyes.
“No, you’re not.”
“I can’t hang out on this ranch because I’ll see Luke.”
“So? He obviously wants to see more of you. I can tell how interested he is in you by the way he looked at you when you were at the corral, even though you were being a gripey ass to him, projecting your guilt about last night onto him. He didn’t deserve it.”
“I know, Mom. I know.”
“You might want to think about apologizing to him.”
“I don’t want to talk to him again.”
“Yes, you do. You’d also take another kiss from him.”
“It is pointless for me to get any further involved with him. His life is here, and mine is in Dallas. On top of that, you and Dad employ him.”
“He agreed to help us out for as long as we need him to. Understand, he doesn’t have to be here. Another ranch would snatch him up in a heartbeat for his horse training. Even if they didn’t, Luke and his brother have nest eggs in the bank from what your Dad and I paid for their family’s ranch.”
“Mom, no. I closed the door to anything else happening between Luke and me this morning. He got upset about it, too.”
“Because you’re a catch, and he knows it. He’s also a catch, Madison.”
“I didn’t come to Amarillo for romance.”
“Sometimes, it finds you when you least expect it.”
I sighed, shaking my head. “Not going there with Luke, even as much as I want to. If Bella and I stay here longer, it will be strictly business between Luke and me if and when I see him.”
My mom patted my face. “Oh, you’ll see him. He’ll make sure of it, hoping you’ll give him a real chance.”
* * *
Me: I need some sister time with you ASAP.
Meredith: Are you okay?
Me: Yes and no. Long story short, I went to a dance hall in Amarillo last night.
The eldest son of the ranch’s previous owners was there.
Luke. We sat together at the bar, talking, drinking, and then we danced and kissed twice.
I don’t remember the kisses because I was so drunk, but Luke told me about them this morning after I woke up in his bed.
Meredith: What???
Me: Yeah, and there’s more he told me about that I don’t remember. He got me off beside his truck after we left the dance hall.
Meredith: You mean he put his hand down your pants?
Me: That’s exactly what I mean. He said I asked him to.
Meredith: Do you believe him?
Me: Yes. If you met him and got to know him, you wouldn’t doubt his honesty.
Also, if you did nothing more than see him out somewhere in his cowboy attire, you would want him to kiss you and put his hand down your pants too.
Luke is that good-looking of a man. I don’t mean that badly toward Tanner either.
Meredith: I know you don’t. Tanner is my cutie pie city boy.
Me: And I’m your hooch sister now.
Meredith: You most certainly are not. You were due to pull a REALLY good one this time, which you did. I’m sending you a virtual high-five.
Me: I can’t have anything else to do with Luke.
Meredith: Why not?
Me: Because it’s pointless, although Mom believes it isn’t. She’s his cheerleader and talked to me in the kitchen not even twenty minutes ago about romance finding us when we least expect it.
Meredith: It obviously has you and Luke. Do you have a picture of him that you can text to me?
Me: As a matter of fact, I do. My first morning here was when he and I officially met. Afterward, I Googled the ranch and came across several pictures of Luke and his younger brother, Hayden. Hang on, I’ll send you the picture I saved of Luke.
Seconds passed without my sister replying.
I didn’t have to see her to know she had enlarged the handsome and wonderful cowboy’s picture to get a closer look at him.
He had on a black hat, a long-sleeved, collared, baby-blue western shirt, jeans, a black belt, and black boots.
His hair was a little longer in the back than it was now.
The sexy scruff on his face was the same.
Meredith: JUMP. HIS. DAMN. BONES!
I had to laugh. My sister was the one person who could make me do it when no one else could.
Me: I’ll just admire him from afar and fantasize about him when I’m in bed at night.
Meredith: When you could be in his bed with him on top of you? Or you could be on top of him. You know that song, “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).”
Me: Yep, I do, but I won’t be riding Luke, even as tempting as he is.
Meredith: Yep?
Me: That’s his word. So is nope. He also says yes ma’am, no ma’am, and all of that.
Meredith: A country gentleman.
Me: He definitely is.
Meredith: I’m going to talk to Tanner about me flying to Amarillo to see you, my precious niece, Mom, Dad, and your cowboy, but I won’t mention him.
Me: I would love to see your face and hug your neck. I miss you.
Meredith: I miss you too. Everything is going to be okay.
Me: All of this with Luke has me really messed up inside. I’ve been so cautious with men, only letting Ty get intimately close to me. I’ve taken pride in not being the type of woman who spreads her legs for whoever.
Meredith: I’ve always admired that about you. I’m the hooch between us.
Me: No, you’re not. Even if you were, I’d never cast stones at you.
Meredith: Back to Luke… It really sounds like you stumbled upon something special with him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have let him get close to you WHILE you were sober. You wouldn’t have given him a minute of your time at the dance hall. I know he feels too good to be true to you.
Me: He does. That’s why I won’t allow this situation with him to go any further than it already has. If I did, it would be only a matter of time before things went to shit. My heart can’t take getting broken again.