Page 3 of Headstrong Cowboy
Chrissy didn’t like where the conversation was heading, but Mom was talking and she would listen, like the dutiful daughter she was.“What are you trying to say, Mom?”
Eunice Bloom closed the distance between them and reached out to brush her fingers over the books on the desk.
There was Chrissy’s answer.The one she’d been hoping that she could keep from her mother, but as she suspected, was something her mom knew all about.“Your father was never any good with the books, and after he fired Ewan, the accountant, I knew something was up.He was a stubborn man whenever I asked to help.He told me he had it under control, but I knew he didn’t.”
“That’s why he called me,” Chrissy murmured.Once again, the guilt that she hadn’t made time for her family cut deep.She may not have been there for them in the past, but she was here now and she was going to make it right.
“What?”
“It doesn’t matter now.”Letting Mom know that Dad had called her and she hadn’t bothered to speak to him wouldn’t make the situation any better.“I’m sure, even if you pushed Dad, he wouldn’t have been forthcoming.”
“You’re probably right.I could’ve asked a bit more about the business, though.But I knew my place, and as old-fashioned as it sounds to everyone now, I accepted it and was happy being a mom and homemaker.I loved that man with every fiber of my being.And he was a good man.A good husband, who treated me like a queen, and he loved you girls as much as he loved his flowers.”
Tears welled in Chrissy’s eyes.She’d known her parents had a relationship that most of the current generation of women would rail against.Chrissy herself had thought it more than once—that her mother could do more than just cook, clean, and look after her and her sisters.But she’d also seen how much her father loved her mother and vice versa.While how they lived and their relationship may not work for Chrissy, it had worked for them.
“What’s going on, Mom?”Chrissy questioned when her mom hadn’t spoken for a few seconds.
“I think the best thing to do is look at selling the farm.”
Chrissy jumped from her seat, shock rolling through her in waves.“What?No!It doesn’t have to come to that.I can help.I can work out a plan to make us profitable again.I’ve already got ideas on how to do it.I’ve got Beau’s money I can use to help us.You can’t do this, Mom.”
The second she said her mother couldn’t do it, Eunice’s spine straightened.“I can assure you I can.The farm will be lucky to survive to the end of the year.No matter what plans you might have.Nor will Beau’s money help, which I forbid you to use to rescue the farm.He left that for you and your future, and that’s what you’ll use it for.There’s no other choice.”
Chrissy opened her mouth to argue more, especially about Beau’s money.She had no qualms about using it to save the farm and knew deep in her bones that Beau would encourage her to use it to save her family legacy.But the way her mom’s chin had lifted and the fire of determination in her eyes meant that stating her case and arguing wouldn’t be worth it.Mom was convinced this was the only way forward.
Chrissy was going to persuade her there was another way.That selling the farm was a last resort.The flower farm had been her father’s dream and now it was Sunny’s, and she was going to make sure it didn’t leave the Bloom family.
Ever.
Chapter Two
Ryder Chamberlain pulledup in front of the Graff Hotel, his home for the next couple of weeks.
Marietta, Montana, hadn’t been the place he’d thought of as a possible town he’d call home.He thought it would’ve been somewhere in Texas, the state he’d spent most of his life in, but things sometimes changed when least expected.
He wasn’t one to sit back and wait for things to happen.He’d spent the majority of his life making them happen.For the last twenty years, he’d been riding bulls and feeling free, chasing a dream he’d had since he saw his first rodeo.Eight seconds was a damn long time when an ornery bull was bucking with all it had to remove Ryder from his back.But Ryder was just as stubborn and ornery and had conquered many a bull over his years as a competitor.
Now he was about to conquer a past he hadn’t known about.Not because he hadn’t wanted to.He hadn’t been given the opportunity to learn about it.He wasn’t passing through Marietta on his way to somewhere else.He was here to reclaim his family history.
His right side and the top of his thigh ached as he got out of his truck, and Ryder rubbed the scarred flesh, a reminder that while he may have thought he’d bested the bull, the animal had shown him who was really in charge and that any lapse of concentration could be disastrous.
Ryder firmly pushed aside the memories of the career-ending gouging he’d received.It may not have been the way he’d wanted to leave the bull riding arena, but he’d known he would have to hang up his spurs at some point.It just happened a bit sooner than he’d wanted.
Now he was ready to plan the next chapter in his life.A plan he’d been thinking about since he’d left the foster home he’d grown up in.One he’d put on the back burner after he’d been thrown a curve ball and he’d had to pivot.Of course, that delay had been amazing and more than beneficial for him, giving him the ability to do what he was about to do without the worry of how he was going to afford it, like he had when he’d purchased his first lot of land in Texas a decade ago.Only now the plan had more significance than it had when he’d been eleven, lying on his bed in a room with four other boys and dreaming of owning his own property.
That was then, this was now, and he was more than ready to get started on the rest of his life and doing something else he loved almost as much as riding bulls.
Ryder tossed his keys to the valet, who greeted him with a smile, and walked into the hotel.He’d heard how the Graff had been renovated from top to bottom.The décor was welcoming and, as he approached the reception desk, a young woman looked up with a big smile on her face.
“Welcome to the Graff Hotel.How can I help you?”
“I’ve got a reservation.Ryder Chamberlain.”
She tapped away on the keyboard.“Here you are.Your room is on the fourth floor.”She placed a key and packet in front of him.“In this envelope you’ll find everything you need to know about Marietta and you’ve arrived at the right time.The 87th Copper Mountain Rodeo is coming up.There’s a lot of events happening that everyone attends.The whole town loves this event and this time of the year.”
Ryder’s smile froze on his face.
The rodeo.
