Second Chance Ranch Chapter 26

Chapter TWENTY-SIX:

As Kelly settled girlfriend-style next to Squire in his truck, her hopes soared high in the atmosphere. She wanted this man beside her through everything, the hard times and the good, when things were chaotic and when they sat in stillness. The way Finn looked at him made her insides a quivering mess, because they boy clearly adored Squire.

Just as quickly, though, reality came roaring back. Her divorce had only been final for a few months now. She’d been back in Three Rivers for less than that, and the day she found out about Taylor had only happened last summer.

Was she ready to risk her heart again? So soon? And what about Finn?

The way he babbled on about roping and calves and horses, she thought he’d be just fine with Squire in their lives permanently.

“You okay?” Squire asked as he pulled into the parking lot. Kelly realized that the conversation around her had been easy, casual. And that she hadn’t participated once.

She gave him a quick nod, determined not to spend this date inside the worried recesses of her mind. Pete helped Finn out of the truck, then reached for Tammy. Kelly slid out after Squire on his side, pleased when his hands found her waist and squeezed.

“You don’t seem okay,” he said as he brought her to his side.

“I am,” she insisted. “A little distracted, but not anymore.” She smiled at him, feeling some of her cares fly away. “Come on, I don’t want to miss the ropes either.”

Finn came bounding around the front of the truck, and Squire released her to pick him up. They both laughed before Squire settled Finn on his shoulders and reached for Kelly’s hand. She gave it to him willingly and stepped with him.

Peace filled her as they joined the crowd entering the arena. She’d taken the first step. She was with Squire—and everyone in Three Rivers could see it.

It felt very much like she was part of a complete family again, what with how easily she, Squire, and Finn fit in with everyone else streaming into the arena.

“Hey, have you heard anything from Texas A&M?” she asked as they moved through the turnstile and into the bleachers.

Squire stiffened but didn’t look at her. She followed his gaze to see Susie Randall blocking their way, her arms folded tightly across her chest. “Evenin’, Squire,” she said, her voice sweet and tart, like a poisoned apple. She cast a withering glance at Kelly. “Miss Kelly.”

“Hey, Susie,” Kelly said, inching up the ramp so Pete and Tammy could join them. “Have you met Squire’s Army buddy, Peter Marshall? And you know Tammy, of course.”

“Of course,” Susie said, turning her attention back to Squire. “You said you were too busy to come to rodeos.”

Kelly couldn’t see his face, but tension poured from his boxy shoulders.

“Things have really settled down,” Pete said, a huge smile on his face. “The Major here was in real trouble until I showed up on the ranch.” He clapped one big hand on Squire’s forearm before brushing past Susie. “Nice to have met you, Miss Susie.” He tipped his cowboy hat at her, but the genuine warmth he normally possessed was nowhere to be found.

Squire followed him, his fingers tightening around Kelly’s as he pulled her past the other woman. Kelly felt every second of Susie’s glare, and the weight of the townspeople as they took in the sight of her hand in Squire’s and the way he carried her son on his shoulders.

She didn’t take a full breath until they’d settled in their seats and the barrel racing began. Then she realized Squire had never answered her question.

“Snacks?” he asked. “Lieutenant, come with me, and we’ll bring back one of everything.” His boyish charm had returned, and he met Kelly’s eyes. “Anything special you want?”

A certain magic hung in the air, and Kelly decided to bask in it instead of push it away. “You know what? Yeah, I want one of those three-foot-long red licorice ropes.”

Squire chuckled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You got it, darlin’. Finny? What do you want?”

“I’ll go with,” he said, but Kelly grabbed his arm.

“Baby, just tell Squire what you want, okay? There’s so many people out there.”

Finn did not like that idea, but thankfully, an announcer came over the public address system and said, “All right, kiddos! Who out there has their boots on and their hands ready?”

A dull roar rose through the crowd, but Kelly wasn’t sure what it meant. 

“They’re doing the cash grab,” Tammy said, grinning. “Finn can go down and try to grab some cash off the sheep.” 

Kelly’s eyebrows rose. She didn’t think putting her five-year-old in a dirt arena with farm animals was a good idea, but from the row in front of her, a tiny girl got lifted into her father’s arms. He took her down to the fence separating the stands from where the cowboys and cowgirls would compete, and lifted her over that too.

Kelly blinked, wondering how in the world she’d get her son back if she did that. 

“I can take him,” Tammy said, standing as Squire and Pete left too. “Do you want to go, Finn?”

He looked at Kelly, and she looked at him. “Go on. Pay attention to where you are, and come right back to Miss Tammy.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Finn put his hand in Tammy’s, and Kelly smiled as they left. It took several minutes to get all the kids corralled where they needed to be, and then the announcer came back on. 

“All right, ladies and gents!” He didn’t need to yell, as he had a mic, but he hadn’t seemed to have gotten that message. “We’ll release the sheep, and then the kids, and whatever they can grab, they can keep.”

Squire returned in that moment, her licorice rope in one hand and a huge box of assorted snacks, candy, and drinks in another. Pete carried a similar box, and Kelly wondered how sick both she and Finn would be that evening.

“We’re doing sundaes later, right?” she asked him.

“Sure are.” He sat down just as the sheep darted out of a pen at the end of the arena.

In the next moment, the fence keeping the kids back got rolled up by two running cowboys, and they spilled out after the sheep. The crowd went wild, each person yelling at the kids below to get one of the bills that had somehow been attached to the wool.

Squire started to laugh. “Look at him. He’s so stinking cute.” 

Kelly found Finn and watched as he launched himself at a nearby sheep. It didn’t like that and blitzed out of the way, leaving Finn to face-plant in the dirt. The matronly side of her was instantly concerned, but the spectator side of her burst out laughing.

Finn got up and dusted himself off, already running off after another sheep. He managed to get one bill, and when he did, he faced where she sat with Squire and Pete and lifted it up in the air in triumph.

Kelly jumped to her feet, her hands clapping wildly for her precious son. She laughed with Pete and Squire, who also cheered on her son, and once the cash grab ended, Kelly opened her licorice.

“I got hamburgers all around,” he said. “Except for Finn. He ate a hot dog at his birthday party, so I figured that would be safe for him.”

Kelly nodded, somewhat surprised that Squire remembered what Finn had eaten at his party. 

“Dr. Pepper.” He passed the drink to her and kept one for himself. “I didn’t know about Finn, so I got him a chocolate milk.”

“You’ll be his new best friend, then.” Kelly looped her arm through his and leaned into him. “As if you’re not his favorite already.”

Squire gave her a gorgeous smile. “Am I your favorite, Miss Kelly?”

“Yes, sir,” she whispered, quite certain that in the noisy crowd, no one would overhear them. “But if you don’t want to go out with me, Major, just say so, okay?”

A frown pulled down his eyebrows. “What does that mean?”

“Poor Susie Randall,” Kelly said, shaking her head in mock sadness. “If you’re too busy to do something with me, I’ll know you’re lying.”

A smile touched his lips, and Kelly wanted to do the same with hers. “Not true,” he murmured. “I am busy sometimes, Miss Kelly.”

“And you don’t like rodeos.”

“I like the rodeo a whole lot,” he saids. “It’s the fireworks I don’t like.” He looked up into the summer sky like explosions would begin any moment. They didn’t, and Kelly didn’t want to belittle his military service. She would never, ever do that.

“We can leave any time,” she said. “You boys just tell us when, okay?”

“Mom!” Finn returned, a ball of energy with a five-dollar bill clutched in his fist. He sat on her lap, dirty from head to toe and not caring, and told her about the rules and how he’d grabbed the bill, seemingly from his extreme physical skill. 

Kelly finally got him to settle at her side and she gave him the hot dog Squire had bought for him. If he’d eat four bites of it, she’d be satisfied, and she achieved that by withholding any other treat or snack until he had.

The rodeo started with the National Anthem and all of that night’s contestants then rode around the arena, their horses trained to perfection to ride within feet of one another and the railing.

“Team roping,” Squire said, pulling Finn onto his lap. “Look, buddy. Down at the end of the arena there.” He pointed at the opposite end from where the kids had been contained. “The cow will come out. Then the first cowboy, whose job it is to rope the horns. Then the second cowboy will nab the hooves. They have to get it down without breaking any rules, just as quick as they can.”

The announcer went on and on about the brothers roping first that night, and then the whole thing happened in less than eight seconds. 

“Wow,” Finn said with plenty of wonder in his voice. “Does it hurt the cows, Squire?” He peered up at Squire with such little-boy-innocence that Kelly’s heart squeezed.

“Nah, bud,” he says. “See how they have those facemasks on? It protects their eyes and keeps their horns strong.”

Finn seemed satisfied with this answer, and Kelly let him eat popcorn and sour candy while the team roping continued. 

Kelly laughed at the clowns, took Finn to the bathroom while they smoothed the dirt after the bronc riding and before the barrel racing, and cuddled as close to Squire as she dared at every opportunity.

Seeing him off the ranch made her get to know him more as a man. Not as a boss. Not as a frustrated son. Not as the future owner of the ranch.

But just a man she was steadily falling in love with. With only the bull riding left, Pete looked over at Squire. “We should go, Major.”

“Yep.” Squire started cleaning up the trash, and Kelly bent to get the shoe Finn had just dropped. 

“Come on, Finny,” she said. “We have to go.”

“But it’s not over,” he complained.

“We’re going to make ice cream sundaes back at Grandma’s.” She gave him a big smile and helped him get his footwear back on. Everything took entirely too long with a five-year-old, and the event started before they could leave.

Then Finn wanted to watch just one bull. Then another. Tammy’s friend was riding the third one, and by the time the five of them left the arena and made the walk back to Squire’s truck, the tension pouring off of Pete and Squire could fill buckets.

“Get in, Finn,” Kelly urged as the music started blaring from back at the arena. Others had started to pour out of the gates, and if they didn’t leave quick, they’d be stuck in the traffic trying to exit the lot.

With her son in place, Kelly hurried to get in so Squire could. “Sorry,” she murmured as she went past him.

“It’s fine,” he said, but it was not fine. 

He practically vaulted behind the wheel, cranked the ignition, and jolted everyone into the seats behind them he hit the gas so hard. Sitting right next to him, Kelly got blasted by wave after wave of tension. 

“Right, Major,” Pete said. “We can get out right there. They just opened it up.”

Squire pulled the wheel to the right, and the truck fishtailed a little bit. Only one other car went in front of them, and Squire turned to leave the dirt parking lot behind. He had to drive along the length of the arena, and then they’d put it behind them.

His fingers fisted against the steering wheel half a second after the first firework went off. When she dared to look at him, she found his jaw ground tight, his eyes straight ahead.

“Hey, Finn,” she said. “Why don’t you tell Squire about how you trained Buster to speak?”

Her son started to babble, but it did nothing to ease the palpable, pungent odor of fear coming from the man next to her, as well as the man in the backseat.

“Hey, Major. Can you make this truck go any faster?” Pete’s voice sounded rusty and unused.

Squire pressed on the accelerator, but it didn’t do much. Still, with every passing moment, he took them further and further from the sound of popping and bombing and exploding.

The night seemed so dark to Kelly. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what Squire was seeing right now. Remembering.

She placed her hand on his knee, curling her fingers along the inside of his leg. She didn’t want to coddle such a strong, capable man, but her touch worked its magic.

He released his breath and his fingers unwound and the sky seemed to lighten with his mood.

He skidded to a stop in her driveway, his chest heaving, though the rodeo was behind them now, on the other side of town. He spilled from the cab, Pete not far behind him. Together, they limped into the blackness that seemed so absolute outside the halo of the headlights.

“Is he okay?” Tammy asked as she got out of the truck too.

“Which one?” Kelly helped Finn down, her eyes still trying to adjust to the darkness which had swallowed the Army buddies. “Go get your pajamas on, baby.” He raced off toward the front door while Kelly searched the yard for Squire and Pete.

“Pete looked like he was going to be sick.” Tammy pulled her hair out of its ponytail, her concern evident in her tone.

“They served together overseas,” Kelly said by way of explanation. Low voices met her ears, and she followed them to the cluster of trees near the front corner of the house.

Squire stood a couple of inches taller than Pete, making him easy to identify. Kelly moved right into his personal space and linked her fingers with his. They radiated a chill she hadn’t expected for such a hot summer night.

“You boys okay?”

He gripped her hand and put his other arm around her, drawing her close. Kelly lifted her arms and hugged them both, though they were easily twice as big as her. 

Even Pete held her tightly before softening his embrace, and the three of them stood there for several seconds together. 

“I’m sorry we didn’t get out of there in time,” she whispered. “We just won’t go again, okay?”

“It’s okay, Miss Kelly,” Pete whispered. “I guess I better go find Tammy.” He took a deep breath and stepped away, his footsteps getting muffled by the grass as he left.

Squire pulled her into his chest again, singularly this time. They swayed to music only he could hear, his inhalations and exhalations steadying. “Sorry.”

“Don’t you ever be sorry.” She felt like she was navigating uncharted territory, as she had no experience with helping post-traumatic stress disorder victims. But just being nearby seemed to soothe him.

“Mom!” Finn called from the direction of the porch. “Where you at? Gramma says it’s time for ice cream.” The screen door slammed. Squire jumped and Kelly wrapped him in a tight embrace.

“You don’t have to stay.” With her cheek pressed to his pulse, she discovered he wasn’t as calm on the inside as he appeared on the outside.

“I’m not leaving.”

“Well, then, I bought Rocky Road for you.” She tipped her head back and looked up at him, glad her eyes had adjusted now. His strong profile in midnight darkness took her breath away.

His lips skimmed her cheek, her jaw, her lips. “Thank you.”

She knew those words were for more than just ice cream, and a hint of joy tugged through her as they strolled toward the steps, hand-in-hand. 

She never wanted to put Squire in a position like that again, and she vowed she wouldn’t. It felt like the type of thing she’d do for someone she was very, very serious about, and Kelly acknowledged that she had strong feelings for Squire.

Now, she just had to figure out how much longer he’d be in town and if she needed to start packing for a short move across town or a longer one to the campus of Texas A&M.