“Stop fussing,” Anne shouted back. “You need to loosen up. Life’s too short to stay locked up at home all the time.” She flicked her fingers in the direction of a cowboy who grinned at her from a bar stool. “Come on, let’s get a drink.”
Within a half-hour, Anne was dancing with the handsome cowboy while Rainy sat on a stool at the bar nursing a Tom Collins. The music was too loud, the smell of liquor and snacks swam in her head and the long day was quickly catching up with her.
“Can I buy you a drink?” A stocky man slipped into the stool next to her with a smile.
“I’m good.” Rainy lifted her drink in reply.
“Beer,” the man nodded to the bartender. He was a nice enough looking man, but Rainy didn’t feel any attraction for him. “You must be new around here. I’m Joe.”
“Rainy,” she replied politely, as the man was served.
“Would you like to dance?” Joe asked downing half his beer.
“No thanks,” Rainy had no intention of getting out on the floor. Since Nathan had left her alone and scared a few years ago, she hadn’t had any desire to date. She had gone on a couple of blind dates that Anne had set up, but her heart belonged to only one man, her son.
“Rainy, come on!” Anne swarmed the bar, leading her cowboy by the hand. “Come dance with us.”
Rainy downed her drink but said nothing.
“Hey, can you dance?” Anne turned to Joe. “You need to dance,” she turned back to Rainy. “Come on.” Grabbing Rainy’s hand, her oldest friend pulled her out onto the floor Joe on their heels, and soon they were all dancing.
The music wasn’t bad, and Joe was a pretty good dancer, but Rainy’s heart wasn’t in it.
“You visiting at the Broken J?” Joe asked as the music slowed and he twirled her in a slow circle.
“My family is on vacation,” Rainy admitted, surprised when Joe smiled.
“We get a lot of folks here looking for a little nightlife from there. It’s a nice outfit and has been good for the community, but they ain’t big on partying.”
Rainy half-smiled understanding what the man was talking about. The music shifted to a slower song and Joe pulled her into an easy two-step. “I can’t say I’m much into the party scene myself. Anne’s the one who wanted to come out tonight.”
“Aren’t you having a good time?” Joe’s question seemed sincere.
“I guess you could say I’m distracted.”
“Why?”
“My mom and dad are watching my son while I’m out.” Rainy watched as the man’s face fell, and he put a little extra space between them. There it was, the usual response when someone found out she had a kid. It didn’t matter though. She wouldn’t trade those butterfly kisses from Lucas for all the protestations of love from any man.
The song ended and Joe excused himself heading back toward the bar. Rainy, feeling weary, moved to an empty table and ordered a cola. She would give Anne another hour then she was going back to the ranch. Her life was set on a path that had been decided during one night of passion with the only man she had ever loved. It didn’t matter that they had been in high school when they met, she had gone all-in for Nathan, and even now, knowing she would spend the rest of her life raising her son alone, no one held a candle to the feeling she had experienced with the handsome man.
“Didn’t you have any fun at all?” Anne asked as she slipped into the passenger seat of the SUV an hour later. “At least you got to dance a little.”
“I had fun,” Rainy lied. “I’m just tired. Lucas had me up at the break of dawn.”
“Rainy, you have to learn to live again.”
“I live,” Rainy said heading back toward the Broken J. “I just do it differently than you do. I’m not into the dancing and parties. I live to see my son’s smile, to feel him snuggled in my arms when he wakes from his nap. That’s what fills my heart. Now that I’ve finished my degree, I’ll be looking for a better job and maybe a place of my own.”
“You sure grew up fast,” Anne drawled, leaning her head against the headrest. “I’m sorry.”
Rainy was quiet as she turned onto the empty highway leading to the ranch. “I’m not,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t trade Lucas for anything. Maybe I got it all backward, but I’d do it again to have him. I know I made a big mistake falling in love with Nathan in high school. I thought he loved me too, but even with all the pain, heartache, and fear, I wouldn’t trade my son for anything.”
Rainy shot a glance at her oldest friend surprised that she didn’t have a quick retort only to find that Anne was fast asleep. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one not used to late nights and dancing anymore.
Rainy focused on the road as she whizzed through the darkness, focusing on her driving in this unfamiliar place as a drizzle of rain started to fall.
“What!” Anne shouted as Rainy slammed on the breaks, the SUV skidding sideways as she narrowly missed a pronghorn crossing the road.
Rainy had stopped shaking by the time they reached the ranch and parked in the lot nearest the road. Closing her eyes, she lifted her sense of thanks into the universe as she rested her head on the steering wheel.
“Rainy, are you sure you’re okay?” Anne asked. Adrenaline seemed to have wiped out any effects of the alcohol she had at the bar.
“I’m fine,” Rainy lifted her head. “I just want to see Lucas and go to bed.”
“I’m sorry,” Anne said for the tenth time. “I shouldn’t have made you go.”
Rainy reached over taking her friend’s hand. “Anne, you have been the best friend I could ever ask for, but you need to accept that my path is set. I love you,
