Page 105 of Revelry
“Thank you, that’s real nice of you,” he said, taking it from me.
“Enjoy!” I cheered, hoping he loved it as much as his brother did. At least they would have something in common.
He started to walk away but stopped and came back. “Can you tell me something about him?”
My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know much about him. I just want to know something. Dad doesn’t really know him, and he’s already told me everything he did know.” He scuffed his feet in the dirt, his ears turning pink.
“Oh, well. He’s pretty grumpy,” I laughed. “He’s…” How did you boil someone down to just one thing, especially a man as complex as Tate Wilder? I floundered, thinking about all of Tate’s amazing qualities before landing on my favorite.“He’ll support you until the cows come home, if he really believes in you.”
The kid’s eyes widened. “Yeah?”
“Yep. He’s…wonderful.”
He nodded, mulling it over and eating his ice cream. His eyes flared as the tart strawberry flavor hit his tongue. “This is delicious.”
I laughed. “Now you have something in common, you both love my ice cream.”
“Jake?” I heard someone call through the crowd and the kid started and quickly thanked me again before hurrying off.
I watched him go, saddened at the thought of him being so desperate to know Tate and taking scraps of information from strangers. That he’d been trying to meet Tate and get close to him. I wondered if Jake was the reason that they’d ended up on our street trick-or-treating, especially if it was his idea to come here.
I shook it off, not wanting to get involved but maybe I should mention it to Tate and see what he thought. He’d been pretty open to everything else I’d suggested to him over the last couple of months, so maybe I could talk him around on this too.
As I finished packing everything up, people occasionally came over to ask if I had anything left. Even though I had to tell them no, a little thrill shot through me that there was a demand for it. Maybe Tate was right, there really was something here.
Maybe I could really do this.
Buoyed by my success, I went in search of him. It was getting late and most of the families had gone home, leaving behind cowboys and their ladies.
“Flirty!” I turned to see Kat running towards me and she flung her arms around me squealing. “All I’ve heard anyone talk about is your freaking ice cream, you’re such a queen! I’m so proud of you!” she shouted.
I laughed, my cheeks flushing with her praise. “Thank you, Kitty Kat. I couldn’t have done it without your vendor bailing.”
Her joy diminished slightly. “I’m just sorry I didn’t ask you in the first place. I’m a shit friend.”
“No, don’t be silly. I never would have thought I could do this if I hadn’t had to pull it together last minute. Maybe I could… I don’t know, do it again sometime? If you have another event?”
“Oh my God, in a heartbeat!” Kat enthused, brushing a curl off my forehead. “But would you really only wait for the next opportunity? You wouldn’t want to explore it yourself?”
“What about the ranch?”
“The ranch is my dream, not yours. And from what Tate says, you could make this a serious business.”
I scrunched my nose. “Tate said that?”
She nodded. “Oh yeah, the man wouldn’t stop singing your praises!”
My cheeks flushed with joy. He was such a sweetie under all that stern grumpiness. “Have you seen him?”
Kat hesitated. “Um, not recently but the Cowboylesque show is about to start so why don’t you come watch that?”
“I want to find Tate first.”
Kat’s grip on my arm tightened. “Come and watch the show, you won’t regret it.”
She tugged me over to the front of the stage where the lights dimmed slightly and a crowd was gathering. Maddy, August and Tilly sidled up next to us in the front row.
