“Why not?”
“My wife passed away a couple of years ago. I wasn’t good company.”
“And this year?”
“Something told me I should stay home this year, too.”
“You don’t have to, I mean, if you’re doing it for me. I could go back to Colorado.”
Red reached over and patted her mittened hand. “Let’s take it one day at a time.”
She nodded, and lost herself again.
“I don’t understand why you need me in this meeting, I’m out of this after the first of the year.”
“Ben and his brothers are meeting with the Wrangler people. I can’t very well send Bullet into a sponsorship meeting.”
“You can handle it on your own.”
Billy glared at Jace. “You got somethin’ more important to do this mornin’? ’Cause the way I see it, Flying R Rough Stock has been payin’ for your entertainment the last few days. You can step up and go to this meeting with me. Plus, we might get a free breakfast out of it.”
Jace followed him into the elevator and down to the restaurant in the lobby.
“Tristan?” Billy asked the woman standing near the entrance, looking at her cell phone.
“Yes.” She shook Billy’s hand. “Billy Patterson, right? And this is?” she looked in Jace’s direction.
“This here is Jace Rice, the other founding partner in Flying R Rough Stock.”
Jace shook her hand and wondered what Billy was up to with an introduction like that.
“I’m Tristan McCullough, with Lost Cowboy,” she said.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tristan. I like what you’ve done with your brand, admirable marketing strategy.”
Tristan bowed her head, just slightly, and he saw her cheeks pinken. “It’s more than a strategy,” she told him. “It’s my father’s way of life. My grandfather’s, too.”
Billy deferred to Jace throughout the meeting, and he had to admit, he enjoyed it. Sponsorship was something Jace understood from his days as a competitive skier.
Flying R Rough Stock planned to contract stock to rodeos, but also to sponsor rookie cowboys and cowgirls. They had to be careful with bull and bronc riders, but sponsoring participants in the timed events, along with barrel racers, wouldn’t be a conflict of interest. Partnering with Lost Cowboy allowed them to help promote the riders they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.
“Pretty girl,” Billy said when Tristan excused herself to take a phone call.
“Yes, she is.” Billy’s motivation in getting him to the meeting became obvious.
Jace wasn’t blind. Tristan was more than pretty; she was stunning. She was tall and thin, with long, dark, brown hair, and big brown eyes. She had been a competitive barrel racer, but once her family started their clothing business, she said it became her true passion.
As beautiful and interesting as Tristan was, she wasn’t Bree. There had been plenty of buckle bunnies who tried to catch Jace’s attention the last few days, but they weren’t Bree either. She was all he could think about, all he wanted.
“Hey, fellas,” Bullet sat down at the table, uninvited.
Lyric stood behind him, taking it all in.
“Who y’all meetin’ with?” she asked.
“Tristan McCullough—”
“Lost Cowboy,” she interrupted. “I’d like to get a Twitterview with that girl. Think y’all can put that together for me?”