Her Four Cowboys

She was mesmerizing. If there was any such thing as a goddess of cowboys, I reckon I’d found her, and I was ready to start her devotional practice immediately.

I blinked a couple of times, realizing that I should really probably quit staring. Taking a few steps forward, I decided not to overthink my actions as I reached out to her.

She stepped forward into the hug, wrapping her arms around my waist with a surprising strength. “It’s so good to see you, Adam,” she said, hugging me tightly.

“Back atcha,” I said, breathing deeply as the smell of lavender and fresh, green hay filled my nose. It was the same smell as it always had been, but there was a deeper, richer note to it now than there ever had been, as if she’d grown into the smell. “Jesus. Ten years really went by quick, didn’t they?”

She laughed a little. “What are you talking about? I’ve been back for every Christmas.”

“Yeah, but when was the last conversation that we had?” I asked, pulling out of the hug so that I could look at her again. “I guarantee it wasn’t less than three years ago.”

“Which is still less than ten,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Jesus, I don’t remember your math being that bad.”

I had to laugh at that. “Well, I think you owe me a catch-up,” I said. I tilted my head over to the table that my brothers were occupying and caught a glimpse of Austin’s dirty blonde hair peeking out from around the booth to see what was taking me so long. “Come sit with us. I can bet the others will want to hear about what’s been going on in the last decade as much as I do.”

“Are you sure?” She looked over my shoulder at the little group. “I wouldn’t want to impose on your family time if you guys came out here to hang out.”

“It wouldn’t be an imposition at all,” I said. “We see each other all the freaking time. It would be great to actually get to hang out with someone different for once and hear from someone other than my dumb brothers.”

She laughed again, the sound seeming to echo and clink in the bar like smoky crystal. “Well, if you’re sure about that….”

“I am,” I said. “Come on; we’ll make room for you.”

She didn’t say another word, but the smile that lit up her face was enough to make my heart thud in my chest as she reached for the beer sitting in front of her on the bar and stepped forward.

3

ANDY

I didn’t think that I’d ever been so mesmerized as I watched Adam chatting at the bar with Lucy. I hadn’t recognized right away when I’d walked into the bar. Though, now as I stood there watching her talk to my brother, I felt a little like I’d taken a sip from a bottle containing lightening.

“Damn,” I heard Aaron say from next to me, reaching up to run his fingers through the scruff that he hadn’t gotten up early enough to shave that day. “Lucy Oliver really grew up, didn’t she?”

“Uh huh,” I mumbled, reaching to take a sip from the glass of water that I’d poured myself, courtesy of the pitchers helpfully set out on each table so that the drunk rabble that came into Spurs wouldn’t forget to hydrate when they came out for the very important duty of drinking their troubles away. And right now, I was having real trouble finding words for what I was feeling and seeing… and I was never at a loss for words.

“You know, I’ve heard that she’s been back in town, working at Doc Boyd’s clinic,” I heard Austin say from behind me. “I guess it was only a matter of time before we ran into her.”

I couldn’t help the little snort that escaped from me as I turned back around to raise my eyebrow at Austin, whose tone sounded a little dry. I knew that Austin had never liked being shown up by Lucy, who was three years younger than him and seemed to swallow entire biology textbooks as soon as she read them. There was also the fact that she never felt the need to prove anything; she just knew what she knew, and all she wanted was to ensure that the animals got the best possible care.

For my part, I’d just never had the reason or the inclination to hang around her. I’d been too busy with my own schoolwork and driving myself into the ground to get my own partial scholarship to Colorado University. She’d always been interested in hearing about what I was working on. And she’d wanted to hear about whatever I was writing, but with me being a year ahead of Adam and Lucy in school, I’d been in the midst of my hell year while they’d still been innocent little sophomores, and then I’d had a raging case of senioritis while they’d been burying their heads in their books as juniors.