The Rodeo #3
Before she could think deeper about that, the carousel went into motion.
Maria hadn’t been on a carousel since she was too little to remember.
She wouldn’t have expected it to be interesting as an adult, but something about tonight made it special.
Whirling around through the lights of the carnival—organ music playing—Tim next to her, victorious and happy after his successful rodeo performance—Maria breathed deeply and let the moment sink in.
When the carousel slowed to a stop, Tim gave Maria his hand to dismount. “Where to now?” he asked. “Ferris wheel? Shooting range? You ever go shooting?”
“Actually, I’ve done quite a bit of shooting,” Maria said. “It’s not too dark?”
“It’s lit up,” Tim said. “I bet I can beat you.”
“I bet you haven’t competed against a police officer’s daughter,” Maria retorted. “I may not be a Westerner, but I do know how to aim and fire.”
“Let me guess, you’re concealed carrying right now,” Tim said.
“Actually, yes.” Maria grinned. “Who knew if there would be outlaws at the rodeo?”
“Oof! Remind me to be careful with you,” Tim said. “In case you get any funny ideas, I’m unarmed.” He smiled. “That’s good though. It’s important to be able to protect yourself. Especially around the Rocker A with all the sabotage and everything. Who knows, those guys could be here tonight.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Maria said. “I hope not.”
“Me too, but I’m keeping an eye out,” Tim said. “If they’re here, at least they’re not on the ranch busting things up. We only left a few guys there to keep an eye on things.”
“Do you think there will be trouble there?”
“I’m praying there won’t be.” A wry smile crossed Tim’s face. “I’m not gonna spend the rodeo worrying about it, though. Come on, there’s the shooting range!”
He caught her hand, loping along with his long stride. Maria laughed, trotting along with her shorter legs, trying to catch up. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
A few people milled around by the shooting range game, watching a guy take out target after target. The guy looked familiar.
“Isn’t that Neil Baldwin?” Maria asked.
“Yep,” Tim’s voice said above Maria’s head. “Those are some of his guys. We’ll have to wait for them.”
They waited. Tim had never let go of Maria’s hand, his hand big and firm around hers. How was it that a short while ago Maria hadn’t wanted to go out with Tim for coffee, and now her hand felt so right in his?
When she first got to Montana, Maria had been too hurt by Seth to want to date.
She’d assumed Tim was a jerk, turning down Annabelle.
Then she’d started crushing on the Montana Rider.
But the Rider clearly hadn’t been interested, and by this point Maria was disenchanted with him.
The only other reason for Maria not to like Tim was for Annabelle’s sake—and Annabelle had been dating Neil for a while now.
Maybe she wouldn’t care so much anymore.
Neil was still at the shooting range.
“Neil, come on, you’ve made your point,” one of the Baldwin ranch hands said. “Let us have a turn and go find your girlfriend. She’s probably looking for you.”
“Nope, she’s with her girl friends,” Neil said, turning away from the shooting range. “Last time I saw her, she was crying her eyes out. She’s bummed about the rodeo.”
“So get her some flowers or something,” the ranch hand said. “Man, you have no idea how to treat a woman.”
“Okay, okay, I’m going!” Neil said. He gave up his place to the next guy and walked away from the shooting range, coming toward Tim and Maria, not really looking their direction.
“Neil,” Tim said, and Neil stopped and looked, the abstracted expression falling from his face. “Oh!” he said. “I know you.”
“Hi,” Maria said.
“Hi,” Neil said, and moved on quickly.
It reminded Maria of the time she’d run into Neil by the bunkhouse. What had he been doing there, anyway?
“Nice friendly guy, am I right?” Tim said. “I don’t like Annabelle going around with him.”
“I get a funny feeling about him,” Maria said. “But maybe that’s unfair. He’s been nice to Annabelle, and she seems to like him. And I know he’s had a tough life.”
“Well, let’s hope she’s careful,” Tim said. “I don’t know much about him, except he’s had a rough time running that little ranch on his own.”
“Could he hire more guys? Or sell the ranch?”
“He could, but it wouldn’t bring in much. The billionaires are buying ranches for resorts and things, but his is too small for that.”
They were getting closer to the shooting range as the Baldwin ranch guys took their turn. A stocky, tattooed ranch hand was shooting now. This shooting range game must be a lucrative business here at the rodeo, with all the ranch hands competing against each other.
The guy currently shooting was good. He hit bullseye after bullseye.
Above Maria’s head, Tim made a strangled sound.
“What?” Maria asked, looking up.
Tim’s eyes were unreadable. “I just recognized somebody, that’s all,” he said. “Come on, we’re up after these guys.”
If it was one of the guys at the shooting range that Tim had recognized, he certainly didn’t go over and say hi. Strange that he didn’t explain. His reaction had been odd—maybe it was somebody he didn’t get along with.
§
If Dad had been there that evening, he would have been proud. Tim was a good shot, but Maria was his equal.
“Wow,” Tim said from behind Maria’s shoulder. “You weren’t kidding—you’re fantastic.”
Maria beamed. “I learned from the best,” she said. “Here, you can have another turn.”
“All right,” Tim said. “Best two out of three?”
“Sure.”
Tim concentrated. Maria concentrated. Maria won.
“Wow,” Tim said again. “Annie Oakley. You’d never know you’d grown up in the East.”
“Where I’m from,” Maria said, “we call it the Midwest.”
“That’s eastern time zone,” Tim said. “If that’s not the East, I don’t know what is.”
Maria laughed.
“Anyway,” she said, “do you think we ought to find Annabelle? If she was crying her eyes out when Neil left her, she’s probably really bummed. I’d better check on her.”
“You’re a good cousin,” Tim said. “Yeah, let’s go. The midway’s closing anyway. It’s late.”
A couple texts back and forth helped Maria ascertain Annabelle’s location—she was out in the brushy field that served as a parking lot.
Maria and Tim went out through the booths and lights of the fairground and found Annabelle sitting on the tailgate of her truck, surrounded by three or four girl friends. Most of them were on their phones.
“Hi, Annabelle,” Maria said.
Annabelle looked up from her own phone. Her nose was unusually red, and her eyes were puffy.
“Maria,” she said. “Tim. Hey.” Her voice was tense.
“Hey,” Maria said. “How are you doing?”
“How do you think?” Annabelle said. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She turned back to her phone, lips in a straight line.
“You know what,” Tim said, low, to Maria. “I’ve gotta superintend getting the stock home. Do you wanna ride with Annabelle? She probably doesn’t want to drive by herself, and Elijah’s helping load the stock too.”
He was right. As much as it would have been fun to ride back with Tim, Maria didn’t want to leave Annabelle by herself.
“All right,” she said, quietly. “I can drive, if she wants.”
Tim smiled. “Good,” he said. “See you back at the ranch.”
Maria joined the edge of Annabelle’s group and waited for a chance to talk to her. It wasn’t long. Annabelle’s friends evaporated almost as soon as Tim walked off. Scarlett, who had won most of the women’s rodeo awards, wasn’t with them.
Annabelle sighed loudly, getting down from the tailgate. “I’m going home,” she said. “You coming with me?”
“Yeah,” Maria said. “You want to drive, or want me to?”
“I can drive a car all right, thanks,” Annabelle grumbled. “Apparently it’s the only thing I can drive.”
“That’s not true,” Maria said, getting into her side of the truck. “You ride beautifully. I saw you in the rodeo. I couldn’t do any of those things in a million years. Compared to whoever else was in the rodeo, maybe you weren’t the fastest. But compared to regular riders, you’re fantastic!”
“What good is that?” Annabelle slammed her truck door and started the engine.
“I can’t compete for Miss Rodeo Montana now.
I’d be going up against Scarlett and a bunch of girls who might be even better than her.
It’s not all about dresses and speeches—it’s a sport.
And I stink at it.” She backed up the truck.
“I’m sorry,” Maria said. “I know you really wanted to do the pageant. Isn’t there some other way? Or is there a pageant that doesn’t require rodeo competitions?”
“Not around here, not that I would care about,” Annabelle said. “It’s a bummer. And Neil went off and hung out with his own guys. He didn’t so much as bring me flowers.”
“Gee, that’s not very thoughtful.”
“The girls were nice,” Annabelle said, “but I could tell they didn’t want to be there. I hate losing. I’ve wanted to go home for the last hour.”
“I’m sorry,” Maria said again. “You weren’t waiting for me, were you?”
“No, I thought Neil would come back,” Annabelle said. “I think he was disappointed in me.”
“Well, I never!” Maria said. “Is he going out with you because he likes you, or because you’re a good rider?”
Annabelle sighed. “At this point, I don’t know if I care,” she said.
“What’s the use of anything? I’m gonna be known as the worst rider at the rodeo, and the other girls are going to the pageant without me.
It made me feel sick, seeing Miss Rodeo Montana up in the grandstand and knowing that was never gonna be me. ”
Maria had noticed her too and thought about Annabelle’s dreams. “That must have been rough.”
“And Grandma won’t sell the ranch, no matter what we say,” Annabelle said. “So it’s not like I can do something else with my life. I don’t have the money to do anything.”
“Don’t you like your job?” Maria asked. “I thought you were proud of being the only girl wrangler on the Rocker A.”