Page 13 of Run For Your Honey

“You oughta see Daisy. She’s the spit of Mama.”

“Heard she’s with the Meyer’s oldest.”

“Sure is.”

“And Jo’s with some suit with too much money for his own good.”

I chuckled. “Everything you’ve heard is true, except I’m pretty sure all we’d have to do is put him on a horse and hand him a rope and he’d be better at this than I am.”

“She ain’t lyin’,” Wyatt said. “The man’s an ace. Jo brought him here in the hopes she could make an ass out of him and got the tables turned on her.”

“He good lookin’?” Allen asked Wyatt, not me.

Wyatt looked off into the distance and sucked a breath in through his teeth. “They don’t make ‘em like that around here. Sure wish they did, though.”

“You’d better watch it,” I warned. “Manny’ll get his feelings hurt if he hears you pining.”

Allen gave me a subtle shake of the head.

I frowned. “Did something happen?”

Wyatt was still looking off. “Broke up. He left town.”

“Oh, Wyatt. I’m sorry.”

He took a sip of his drink. “It happens.”

I raised my bottle again. “To the singles table. At least we can dance with each other.”

“Hear, hear,” Allen said, clinking his bottleneck to mine. “You’ll save a song for me at the next town hall dance?”

“Absolutely. Nobody else is brave enough to take me for a turn lest they walk outside to have a piano dropped on them. Except Wyatt, but I don’t have the right equipment to put him at risk.”

Allen drained his beer and checked the cooler. “Only two more left. I’ll leave ‘em for you and head up to the house for another. You tryin’ for live calves tomorrow, Poppy?”

“No.” I said at the same time Wyatt said “Yes.” We gave each other looks.

“You’ll get it. I’ll help too, if you need me. Wyatt isn’t the only rodeo king around here. Back in my day—”

“You oughta quit there, old man,” Wyatt said. “Nothin’ worth sayin’ comes after that phrase.”

“I’m not too old to whoop your ass,” he noted, then tipped his hat at me. “Don’t get yourself hurt, y’hear?”

“Yessir.”

With that, he patted the fence and headed toward the big house.

“Partners, huh?” I asked when he was out of earshot.

Wyatt nodded, squinting toward the tree line. “His ranch has been strugglin’ for a long time. Figured he could cut his losses and come here. I could always use help, plus this farm was his brother’s after all. Who knows if I’ll have kids, and he’s been alone as long as I’ve been alive. We’re the only family we’ve got.”

An unbidden smile stretched across my face. “Wyatt, did you hear him talkin’ about Mama?”

He frowned at me. “Yeah.”

“You don’t think… you don’t think he had a crush on her, do you?”

Wyatt’s face opened up. “Son of a bitch. You know, he might have had. He was married once a long time ago out in Abilene, so I’m pretty sure he’s straight.”

“The way he was rememberin’ Mama, I’d say you’re right. Which means…”

He caught on and put his hands up, beer still in one of them. “Oh, no. You’re not gettin’ me involved in all your matchmaking hoodoo. I saw what you did to Daisy and Keaton. No thank you.”

“It worked.”

“Doesn’t matter. Don’t go gettin’ any big ideas about me either, you hear?” He pointed at me to make sure I knew who he was talking to.

“No promises.” I paused, watching him. “What happened?”

His gaze drifted away as he took a long breath and let it out slow. “Nothin’. Everything. It was good while it lasted though. How about you and Duke? How’s that going?”

I let him change the subject, knowing he wouldn’t willingly give anything up and pressing would only make him uncomfortable.

“Duke.” I let out a sigh of my own. “Mostly I’m just mad. Part of me believes my running for mayor against him is a lost cause, but then I get so fucking pissed that I know I’ll keep fighting out of spite.”

“I gotta admit, he’s Goliath. He’s got big money behind him, and Charlie Williams to boot.”

“Guess I’d better get my slingshot ready.”

“But Pop, I don’t know if the town trusts him. Really trusts him. He only came back because it’s convenient for him, and he sticks out like a sore thumb. The man looks about at home as Grant did when he came rollin’ into town. Except Duke was one of us. It’s one thing for Grant to prove himself starting from scratch. It’s another for Duke to come back after abandoning Lindenbach for as long as he has. I mean, damn. He hasn’t even come home to see his mama. Sumbitch is lucky he even has a mama.” He took a pull of his beer, shaking his head.

“So you think there’s a chance?”

“Hell yeah, I do. And if anybody’s primed to stick it to him, it’s you. So fuck that guy. Let’s take him down. Starting with your ass in that saddle. Won’t matter if you can’t rope.” He hopped off the fence and turned too quick for me to stop him, and before I knew it, his shoulder was in my middle and I was slung over his shoulder, the world upside down. And good thing.

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