The Cougar and the Cowboy

She was frustrated when she arrived at The Branding Iron. She had to park blocks away and it wasn’t easy walking that far on stilettos. When she finally made her way inside, she scanned the room until she found her target. He was standing at the bar evidently waiting to take several drinks to a table. As Maggie handed them to him, she saw Lorna and nearly dropped the bottles. Lorna made her way through the crowd, quietly came up behind Jace and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I missed you, Jace. It’s good to be back.”

He whirled around at the sound of her voice. His jaw dropped and his mouth opened but no sound came out. Finally, he managed to say, “Lorna…what a surprise. Excuse me, I…I…have customers waiting for their beer.”

There was no mistaking the look of loathing Maggie was sending in Lorna’s direction. ‘If that bitch is back to break his heart again, I will be sorely tempted to quietly dispose of her.’

Maggie wasn’t the only one who witnessed the encounter. It wasn’t like Lorna was hard to miss. She was the only one in the room dressed as though she was a celebrity ready to walk the red carpet. Dani saw her hug Jace and felt the knot in her stomach tighten. Lucy observed the hug, also. She encouraged Dani to move toward the bar and ask Jace to dance. “Tell him he promised you this dance. That will give him an opportunity to get away from her. I don’t know who she is, but he looks like he needs rescuing.” When Dani shook her head, Lucy told her, “You wouldn’t hesitate to rescue a calf, Dani. Now go rescue Jace.” She practically pushed her in their direction.

Reluctantly, she made her way to Jace saying she was reminding him he promised her this dance. He nodded, looking slightly confused. He quickly delivered the drinks and came back to the bar to find Lorna sizing up Dani and Maggie looking as though she was going to take care of Lorna, once and for all.

Camille glanced up and came as close to having a heart attack as she ever wanted to.

‘Damn! I don’t know what Lorna’s doing here but it’s a safe bet that Will isn’t far behind.’

“Collier, I have a massive headache. Could you take me home? You can come back and enjoy the remainder of the evening.”

He drained his beer and stood. Grabbing her jacket, he took her arm and told her, “Come on, Emily. Let’s get you home.”

***

Hubie introduced each member of his band to wild applause from the crowd. The fun continued for the entire four hours with Missy singing many of the crowd’s favorites.

A highlight of the night was when Travis performed his rendition of ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia.’ They played ‘If You’re Gonna Play in Texas, Ya Gotta have a Fiddle in the Band’ just for Cal and Lucy.

“We appreciate everyone coming out tonight and the giant Montana welcome we received. We’ll be back tomorrow evening and next weekend, too, so tell your friends and relatives and bring ‘em back with you.”

The crowd cheered at that statement.

***

As the band members prepared to leave for their hotel, a gentleman approached Hubie.

“Can I talk to you for a minute? Buy you a drink?”

“No to the drink but yes to the talking,” Hubie told him.

“I thoroughly enjoyed listening to you and your band tonight. I have a lot of friends that would’ve loved to be here but they have younger children and as I’m sure you know, it’s not always easy to find a sitter. We have a beautiful park here in Bozeman…Bogert Park…it has a band shell for a stage and a huge covered pavilion.

Do you think there’d be a chance I could talk you into a performance on Sunday afternoon? You know, a family-friendly affair. I realize it’s short notice but I’ve already made a call this evening to the person in charge of the Parks Department and it is available. I have the resources to pay your fee. In fact, I can write you a check right now, if you’d like.”

The other members of the band were gathered around, listening to the exchange. Hubie asked for their input. “We’re already here and we have an entire week to fill, so I vote yes,” Tim said. The others agreed with him so it was unanimous.

Hubie shook the man’s hand. “Looks like you have a deal.”

CHAPTER 33

LORNA REALIZED SHE left without the key card to her room. She stopped at the front desk and asked for a replacement. Handing her the card, the desk clerk also gave her a piece of paper, saying she had a message from another guest.

Lorna, I decided it would be better for both of us if I had my own room. I’m also not going to the conference with you. If you want to come to room 141in the morning, we can talk and I’ll try to explain. Will

She crumpled the note and immediately walked to Will’s new room. Knocking loudly and oblivious to the time, she yelled, “Will! Open this door right now. Do you hear me?!”

The door opened, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. “Do I hear you? I suspect people in the next town could hear you, Lorna. You do realize most of the guests are sleeping, right?”

“What do I care? That’s their problem…not mine. Why did you get another room, Will? Jealous of me going to rekindle an old flame?”

“No, not at all. Why would I be jealous? There was never anything but a flirtatious relationship between us. I’m going to be brutally honest but I highly doubt you will understand what I’m going to say. I came to California because I wanted the job you said you could help me secure…plain and simple. Was that using our friendship? Yes, it was. I’m not proud of that fact but it’s the truth. I’ve been observing you and your callousness toward others, getting ahead at all costs, your mean-spiritedness and many other non-flattering traits. Unfortunately, I also see myself becoming more and more like you and that bothers me…a lot. Tonight was the last straw. You wanted to reacquaint yourself with a man you admittedly don’t care about but you’re interested in his cash flow. Think about it, Lorna. What’s the end result here? Marriage? Because that’s the only way you’d ever get your hands on his money, if he has any. How long do you think that would last with no love involved?”

She’d been pacing but stopped in front of him. “Well, aren’t you just the self-righteous hypocrite all of a sudden? Who lived with Camille because they didn’t have a job? You thought I didn’t know about you losing your job, didn’t you? Who pretended to be interested in her assistant to get her phone number? Who was that, Will? Don’t pull any ‘holier-than-thou’ bullshit with me.”