Waited
THREE
Autumn
Apparently it was a big deal when the rodeo came passing through Forest Grove.
Back in Wyoming, I’d never paid much attention to rodeo things.
I hadn’t ever seen one or knew a thing about it.
My ex came from the largest cattle ranching family, very well-to-do people.
But certain things were beneath them, like rodeos.
They’d probably have had a heart attack if they knew Stetson’s first birthday party was a buckaroo barbecue.
I’d been supposed to have the night off, then Smitty heard the rodeo crew would be stopping at the Sapphire that night and it was suddenly necessary to call in every worker he had.
I could use the money. The only hitch was finding a sitter. I’d already had Jake watch Stetson three times this week, and the guilt of eating up another of that man’s evenings sat on me like a weighted blanket.
I’d stopped downstairs at the Copper Cup to peruse the community board and see if there were any teens who offered to babysit, when Harper saw me.
As my landlord and the mother of a six month old, plus the owner of the Copper Cup and wife to the county sheriff, she had a knack for sensing when someone needed something in this town.
That was how her teenage daughter came to sit for me tonight.
I worried about a stranger watching Stetson. But when Avery showed up with a backpack of board books, green eggs and ham and all, and her recent CPR certification, I calmed. She pulled out a stuffed puppet using a silly voice, and Stetson became enamored at once.
So I’d gone to work, and honestly, the night ran too busy to worry more. Boots stomped the packed dance floor. Cowboys tipped me like they were trying to outdo one another. Women were flirty and teasing and even a cat fight broke out in the bathrooms.
Halfway through my shift, I caught a quick break, and texted. Avery confirmed everything was fine. I let it go.
What I hadn’t counted on was Jake McCall waltzing in behind Cash. They cut through the rodeo crowd, taller than most, big walls of steely muscles. The sea of people parted for the men all the way to the two barstools at the end.
Then Jake’s face fell upon seeing me.
“Well, hell. Look who it is, Jake,” Cash shouted over the noise of the bar, elbowing him in the ribs. He read the whole thing between us in one glance. “Two beers please, darlin’.”
Jake had more than beer on his mind. Not a hello, nice to see you tonight for me. Just a gruff voice. “Who’s watching Stetson?”
I pulled their two bottles and returned with the quick version—Smitty short-handed, rodeo, money, Harper’s daughter available on weekends.
“All very last minute, otherwise I would have called you,” I rushed to the end.
“You still should have. I’d have dropped my plans, you know that.” A look crossed his face, there and gone. Not anger, because that wasn’t his way. I knew the difference between my ex and Jake.
This appeared more like how dare somebody else watch over Stetson. He’d taken guarding the two of us to a level even Trig probably never expected. Way above and beyond the duty and any promise made through prison glass.
The opposite end of the bar erupted in laughter, hollering for another round.
“Hold on. I’ll be back.” I went and poured shots, served bottles, and with it a brand new guilt gnawed at me the entire time. Which was silly. Stetson was my child. I knew what was best for him. I did not owe Jake or anyone an explanation for hiring a perfectly qualified sitter.
I came back and gave him an explanation across the top of the bar anyway. “Avery is certified in CPR, Jake. Harper’s a phone call away too, in case of emergency. And heck, her step-father is sheriff of the county. I texted her on my break and she said everything was fine—”
“Autumn, you’re his mother. Of course I trust you.” He grinned at me from under the brim of his cowboy hat. “Just wish you could take the night and be on the other side of the bar with—”
“Another round of shots down here, sweetheart!” The loudest of the rodeo group shouted.
“Sorry, what were you saying?” I turned back to Jake. But whoops and hollers came up as well, drowning Jake out.
“Hold that thought,” I cried. But by the time I served at the other end, and fought my way back, he and Cash were talking to some people they knew. Whatever he wished for got lost, going wherever unfinished sentences go in a bar.
As the night wore on, occasionally I’d sense Jake always watching, one eye on me, the other keeping Cash out of trouble. Jake nursed his one beer like it had to last him all year, while Cash went through whiskeys like nothing, getting more boisterous by the glass.
I never felt uncomfortable though with Jake watching out for me, which after Wyoming was its own small miracle. I’d been stripped of any reason to trust another man again.
But Jake had become something more, my protector, like a patient dog, loyal as ever. Someone I could count on.
Every time I glanced over, his hazel eyes were already there, warm and waiting.
If I hadn’t been working, I could’ve been out there beside him.
A Friday night, boots and music and nowhere to be but living in the moment—I used to love that, before someone in Wyoming taught me to love a locked door instead.
There was one time I looked up, though, and Jake’s eyes weren’t on me, but on a woman who had seated herself next to him.
A woman who seemed very familiar to him given the way she leaned into his space, holding onto his arm, whispering in his ear.
Jake sat rigid, though, or polite, because that was him, and he didn’t know how to be any other way.
When she clearly moved her arm as if her hand travelled up and down his thigh, I dropped the glass of beer I’d been pouring onto the counter. It didn’t break but made an awful thud, on top of my gasp and light slip of profanity as beer spilled everywhere. “Shit!”
And it happened in front of the rodeo crew, too. They all got a kick out of it, laughing and yelling with rude comments.
“Careful there,” Smitty said, gliding past with a rack of pints, but not stopping to help.
I grabbed a towel and soaked it all up, daring another glance at Jake and the woman. An odd feeling tore through my heart that had no business there. We were just friends.
I had wanted him to have a life, well, here it was. Right in front of me. In the form of a woman wearing a tight tee that barely covered her breasts and with the words on it boasting “Riding cowboys is a sport, Karen.”
I tried so hard not to look again for my sanity’s sake. But eventually, I did, and the woman was nowhere in sight. Jake’s eyes were there, though, waiting once again for mine, a huge apology in them.
I shrugged, and focused on the rodeo cowboys instead. Smitty shouted “Last call” and the tip jar wasn’t nearly as full as it could have been. I licked my lips and got to work, flirting a little more at my end of the bar and ignoring Jake’s end.
The main guy who had seemed like the instigator of the rodeo group, flirted back over one last shot of tequila. Then he planted both elbows on the bar and grinned like he’d won the night.
“C’mon now, Montana girl. Give me your phone number. We come through twice a season, and I tip like I ride, long and hard,” he drawled, and pestered me a few more minutes for my digits.
I finally set water in front of him, with a flutter of my lashes. “You can tip all you want, I’d be grateful. But my number isn’t on the menu.”
“See, why’d you have to go and say that? Playing hard to get? Come ‘ere.” He reached for my wrist, but it never landed.
Jake was off his stool, standing beside him, peering down his nose so fast. The suddenness of it produced a wind that almost blew my hair back. The cowboy didn’t see him coming.
Cash joined him, warning the guy away with a grin and a twitch of his head, almost a dare.
The pressure in the room changed. Anyone left for the last call watched the entire scene, waiting with held breath what might happen next.
I’d never been the subject of a bar fight, but I had nothing to worry about. Rodeo man’s eyes played ping-pong from one SEAL to the other and back, the two of them like a thick brick wall.
He correctly assessed he was out numbered—by at least six inches. He was maybe five-nine on a good day.
“Ma’am. Fellas. Thanks for your service.” The guy pulled out his wallet, left a wad of cash on the bar, and he and his crew disappeared out the door.
I exhaled, glad it hadn’t come to a fight over me. And what the hell was Jake thinking, anyway? I could have handled that guy, and if not, surely Smitty would have stepped in. With my hands on my hips, I glared at Jake and Cash when they walked out of the bar.
“See you, darlin’.” Cash waved. A few women followed out after them.
By the time all of us on staff cleaned up and headed out the door, my feet dragged, and I still had a block to walk to get home. I’d pay for the extra unexpected shift tomorrow.
Outside, I stopped short, finding Jake leaning against his truck, thumbs in his belt loops. So tired, lacking any kind of willpower whatsoever, my eyes toured down his tight Wrangler jeans to his shiny black boots and back up.
Yes, Jake was a fine-ass looking man.
“What are you doing? You didn’t have to stay and wait for me,” I complained, passing him by.
“We have one rule at the ranch. We take care of our own. It’s bad enough you walk home from work every night while I watch Stetson and worry if you’ll be safe.”
“You worry about me?” I stopped and squared off with him.
“What do you think? You and Stetson both.”
“Well don’t.”
“Hard not to when I promised your—”
“I know, I know. You made a vow to Trig.”
His phone chirped. This late at night?
“It’s Avery, checking what time you’ll be back.” His thumbs moved across the screen. “I texted Harper earlier, who gave me her daughter’s phone number, and then I called her. And you were right, things seemed fine with her and Stetson tonight.”
“What? I thought you trusted me.” I crossed my arms, glaring.
“Of course, I do. But I couldn’t help myself. I had to check on our little buddy.”
“Our?” I gaped at him and his stupid sheepish face.
“My mistake. Your son.”
“You should worry about your own self, Jake. You and that woman seemed to have a nice time there.” Shit. I wasn’t going to bring it up. My mouth had other plans as if the night was still itching under my skin.
“Her name’s Tess.”
“Whatever. I wish you two all the best.” The words tasted like acid on my tongue and I took off again toward home.
He followed. “Autumn, are you okay? You’re acting kind of—I don’t know—jealous.”
“Jealous?” My voice went an octave higher. “We’re just friends, Jake. No green-eyed monster here.” But I stopped and faced him. “I mean she had her hand on your thigh, and tongue in your ear, but no, I’m not jealous—”
“So you were paying attention?” His smile held all the cockiness in the world.
“I’m a bartender working around drunk people who can often be unpredictable. I have to notice things. And clearly she wanted you.”
“Didn’t mean I wanted her. In fact, do you want to know where Tess is right now?”
“No.” I thought about it. “Fine. Yes.”
He yanked his head toward the truck. I squinted. The windows revealed Tess—and Cash—from what I could tell through all the steam building up there.
Jake chuckled. “Tess means nothing to me. Just a woman who is a big flirt and gets on my nerves every time I’m at the Saloon. I complained to Cash about her, and, well, let’s say he took one for the team.”
After about a second to let it all sink in, I snorted and we both ended up laughing.
“Well. Good for them. I hope they’ll be very happy.” Giggles continued to run through my chest. Why was I so relieved about this?
“I couldn’t care less about the two of them. All I care about is…” His eyes fell to mine in a heavy stare left entirely to interpretation, my heart beating out of sync. But nothing more was said.
“About?” But did I really want to know?
“Come on. I’ll walk you home.”
He held out his elbow and without hesitation, I slipped a hand in, touching his bare forearm.
Warm skin over hard muscle, and my palm settled onto it as if it had been assigned there years ago.
Such a small thing, touching a man’s arm—nobody watching would think twice.
While my whole nervous system lit up like the Sapphire’s neon, and I spent half a block pretending my thumb wasn’t resting directly over his pulse.
We passed by the hardware store, its windows boasting a mid-summer sale of lawn equipment. But all I kept circling around was who Jake cared about.
“So, we have Knox and Daisy’s wedding coming up,” he opened first. “He’d had a thing for her for some time. I’m glad it all worked out for them.”
“I wish them luck. Lord knows I haven’t had any,” I slipped that in under my breath.
“Autumn, one bad man doesn’t mean that’s all there is.”
“Sure. I keep telling myself that, too.” We rounded the alley, my door just ahead.
“I hate who hurt you. I hate him in ways I don’t want to admit out loud.”
“You and me both.”
“He’d better hope I never see him near you.”
“Protective like my brother,” I commented flippantly.
“No. Worse. But I’d never, ever hurt you, Autumn. Not all of us are like your ex, the type of man you need to run from.”
I swallowed back a huge lump in my throat, wanting to believe everything Jake was saying. What woman wouldn’t want a tall, muscled SEAL swearing to protect her? Threatening to hurt the man who hurt you most? But we were just friends.
That was all this could ever be between me and Jake. Not so much because I couldn’t trust him—he’d proven time and again I probably could. But because I didn’t trust myself to believe a good man like him truly existed.
“Here’s my door,” I managed, but silly. He knew that of course.
He took my key out of my hand and reached past me, unlocking it, his cedar scent combined with beer and smoke gave me a heady night on the town high that I missed from the days when I didn’t carry around so much on my shoulders.
“Go on. Be sure to give Stetson a hug and a high five from me.” He didn’t turn away back to the truck, just stood there arms crossed, waiting.
I stared at him, incredulous. What the hell did I do to find a man like him? And how bad was his timing, coming along in my life when I didn’t want to want anyone, when the only thing that mattered to me was taking care of my child.
When I got up to my place and peered out the window, I knew he’d still be there. I waved to him because he waited until I was safely locked inside, watching over me, as always.