Just friends, she reminded herself. He had taken her hand while they’d left the dinner with the rest of the crowd. A crowd that had threatened to separate the two of them, and it had made her feel an excitement that she hadn’t felt in years. There had been no one since Kolton whose touch had affected her the way David’s touch did. There had been a few men that had asked her out over the last couple of years, but she’d never been tempted by any of them.
We’re just friends...we can be only friends, she reminded herself again as she fell asleep.
CHAPTER SIX
THEY DECIDED TO hit the stockyards first as they both wanted to eat at a small barbeque shop there that Sarah had looked up online. They ate their sandwiches and toured the museum before heading outside to watch the daily cattle drive of longhorn steers.
“I love the longhorn steers. Aren’t they pretty?” Sarah asked.
“They’re awful big and those horns are massive, but I don’t think pretty is the right thing to call something that could trample you to death in seconds,” David said as he moved closer to hear over the noise of the animals as they were herded in front of them.
“Davey would love it here,” she said, though she could see the doubt in his eyes.
“He’d love it, all right. I’d be chasing after him while he chased those steers down the road. He’s taken a big interest in the rodeo since I started taking lessons.”
“Jack once told me that Kolton was in love with the rodeo by the time he was three, so Davey’s a little bit of a late starter.” They moved off the main road and followed the walkway that let by the specialty shops. “Hey, I want to look in here for a belt buckle for Jack. It’s his birthday next month.”
As she paid for the oversized silver and golden buckle with the Texas flag displayed on it, she saw David pick up a small toy steer.
“Davey will love it,” she said as he showed the toy to her. He quickly paid for it then rejoined her, both of them heading back out onto the walkway.
“He thinks that he’s going to grow up and ride one of those bucking broncos like he sees the cowboys do on TV. I don’t have the heart to tell him that it’s not something that he’ll ever be able to do,” David said as he put the toy back into its bag.
“He’ll change his mind a thousand times before he’s grown,” Sarah said, though she knew that there could be a lot of limitations on what Davey would be able to do when he got older.
“My brother’s little girl wants to ride a bronco too and she’s only four. His wife caught her out in the pasture trying to climb a cow the other day and almost had a heart attack,” Sarah said.
They walked back through the shops then out to where the steer were corralled. She told David about being raised on a cattle ranch and then about her time barrel racing on the rodeo circuit. She found herself mentioning Kolton in a story of the days he was on their high school steer roping team. She had spoken so little of her deceased husband except when she and Jack were alone, but it seemed that the more she talked about him the easier it was becoming. Maybe her mother had been right. Maybe she did need to talk to someone, only for now the only person she wanted to talk to was David.
She felt the pressure of his hand against her lower back as they moved through the crowd and she buzzed with excitement as a shiver raced through her body. It was like it was so in tune with his that just the merest of touches was enough to weaken those walls she had put up against feeling anything more than friendship for him. She felt the temptation to move back into him so that she could feel what it would be like to be held in his arms. It wasn’t until he’d moved his hand from her back that she felt her heart rate return to normal. Did he know he was doing this to her?
“Weren’t your parents a little afraid that you’d get hurt riding that fast,” he asked after Sarah explained how the sport of barrel racing was timed.
“Not really. I mean barrel racing is a lot safer than steer roping or bull riding. It was just part of our life,” she said as they headed back through the cloud of dust that still hung in the air after the steers had gone through.
“Thanks for sharing that with me,” David said as he started the car.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Sarah said as she buckled herself in. She was enjoying her time with David but she couldn’t continue to be a coward. She had to tell him about Cody, about that night. She couldn’t live with this between the two of them any longer.
“No, I mean you sharing your memories with me. I know you don’t talk about Kolton very often. I appreciate that you trust me enough with those memories,” David said, then reversed the car.
She felt the heat of embarrassment as it flushed through her body. If she trusted David like he believed she did she wouldn’t be holding back from telling him about that night. She had to make things right between the two of them.
After the noise of the stockyard, she was relieved to see that the water gardens were as peaceful as she remembered.
It had been Kolton who had first been so amazed by the gardens when they had made the
