“Yes, I do,” he
continued to look into her eyes. It made her breathless and
nervous, so she quickly changed the subject.
“But I need to
give you a piece of information now, right? What would you like to
know?”
Colt thought a
moment. Who knew when he’d get another chance like this one. “Why
did it make you cry when I first called you ‘Mandy’? … Take your
time.”
Amanda looked
at him and realized she trusted Colt. He was honest, forthright and
truthful. He was a good listener and was as patient with her as he
was with his horses.
“Yes, you
should know this.” She sat up straight and her fingers went through
her hair. She licked her suddenly dry lips and then took his hand.
“My father died when I was seven years old. We were living in
Sacramento and my mother just went to pieces. She wasn’t the
greatest mother before, but now she farmed me out to relatives a
lot of the time. It was probably for the best, but it didn’t seem
so at the time.” She took another sip of water and swallowed hard.
He kissed her hand.
“My dear father
had always called me Mandy. I associate the name with everything
good and wonderful, like he was. My mother always called me Amanda.
There was no sweetness to the sound when she said it and still
isn’t. It’s my work name and the one I use to keep people at arm’s
length.” She looked at him tenderly. “But I don’t want you at arm’s
length. You surprised me and blew a few of my defenses down calling
me by that special name. Immediately. You still do… It’s
interesting.”
“What is?”
“I’m beginning
to feel more like a Mandy every day, especially being with you. I
can feel you softening my edges and making me smoother. Does that
make any sense?” He smiled at her.
“As long as I’m
not a ‘Daddy figure’ or something. That’s not how I see myself in
your life.”
“How do you see
yourself, Colt?”
“I’d like to
show you and not tell you. Would that be all right?”
What did he
have in mind? Charades?? And then…
Colt ran his
fingers along her face and stopped at her chin. She gasped at his
touch, then watched him lean in to kiss her.
Oh, boy… it’s the
kissing part of my romance novel.
Am I ready for this?
Oh,
yes. I think so…
Colt had only
been imagining this moment for several weeks now. He was definitely
ready for the next step – Was she? It was time to take a leap of
faith. In the quiet mountains, under the fragrant pine trees, her
breath came out like a sigh. That was a good sign and she didn’t
push him away. His mind was muddled as he pulled her to his chest
and kissed her. Hesitant at first – he wasn’t sure of her response.
Then some kind of dam burst and a rush of emotion tumbled down on
them. She was in his arms and kissing him back with heart-stomping
kisses. He forgot his hesitancy and kissed her like he was ready to
drag her off somewhere and have his way with her. Then they came up
for air…
Who knew
this cowboy could kiss like that?
Damn, she had never been
kissed like that. Ever… So that’s what they mean in the romance
novels when the mushy parts start. Mmm -- It all made sense
now.
She felt warm,
tingling to the touch. Colt wanted more, much more, but knew he’d
have to be patient… and he was a patient man. He smiled at her with
their lips still touching.
He felt good….
Incredibly good… Had she ever felt this way in a man’s arms? Don’t
think so. He was toasty warm and the passion he felt washed over
her like a waterfall. Feeling open and relaxed against him… she
was…And now he was smiling. Smiling?
“What?” she
murmured against his lips.
“I think we are
deep into Act One. Jeanne would be so pleased.” She started to move
away from his lips – he pulled her back.
“Please don’t
go yet.” Colt kissed her again…Sweet, sweet kisses that suddenly
became more urgent. His ragged breath matched hers kiss for kiss.
She lost a few fears that afternoon -- Fear of men, fear of getting
lost in him. Getting lost in Colt was all she wanted to do now.
What a wonderful man and fabulous kisser. She laughed against his
chest.
“Were those
kisses funny?” He held her lovely face in his hands.
“I think we
could do this all day.”
“How about all
night?” Colt smiled and then laughed at the look on her face. She
didn’t quite run for the hills, but it might have been a fleeting
thought. He sighed.
“Um…ah…”
Amanda’s face turned crimson. “Ah…”
“This was
pretty good for today. You know what we do when we get stuck?” He
pulled her to her feet and started picking up the picnic items.
“Yes…” she
shyly smiled. “We ride! And Colt…”
“Yes,
sweetheart.”
She gulped – he
called her ‘sweetheart’. She’d never been called that before and
she loved it… Amanda blushed again and he knew why.
They got on
their horses and started to make their way through the tall trees.
A breeze came up and blew Amanda’s hair in her eyes. Pushing it
back she said in a sexy voice, “I love Act One…”
Yep, patience,
Colt thought. ‘Good things come to those who wait’ and if he was
anything, by God he was a patient man…
Over the next
week, Kim began to pick up a few clues. Amanda was happy these days
– too happy for a woman who refused to go to the bar in Truckee
with her again. When Kim had remarked that she could meet a cute
cowboy there, Amanda had just laughed at her. What?
She would see
her looking for someone around the camp or checking her cell phone
for messages regularly. None of her clients could rile her up and
she had even smiled during one of the incredibly boring staff
meetings yesterday. Something was up… Then it clicked! The horse
trainer…Kim had seen Amanda speaking with him several times.
Yesterday she was leaving for the day and saw them ride out
together with two of the camp mustangs he was training.
Wow.
That was it… She just had to ask her…
Amanda was
working with a new client in her office -- A ten-year-old boy who
had once tried to take a bunch of sleeping pills. He told Amanda he
just wanted to go to sleep for a long time, since he was so
tired.
“Why were you
so tired, Jimmy?”
“I don’t sleep
well because my parents fight a lot. It keeps me awake.”
Jimmy bit his
nails and was jumpy.
“How do you
feel about their fighting?”
“My stomach
hurts and I get headaches sometimes. I miss a lot of school too.”
He looked ready to jump out of his skin.
“Your parents
are getting a divorce, aren’t they?” Amanda knew she’d have to move
with him any minute now.
“Yeah.” Jimmy
stood up.
“Want to go for
a walk?”
“Yeah.”
She and Jimmy
started walking around the camp. The movement helped him to calm a
bit, so Amanda continued her consultation. She felt they were
making some progress, but she had seen all her work fall apart
before. Sometimes the parents would call and undo all the precious
steps that had been made towards their child’s recovery. Often, she
had had to start over from step one. Amanda knew that Jimmy’s
mother was coming to visit tomorrow and was calculating how long it
would be before Jimmy acted out in some way. She decided to talk to
the supervisor about what she feared might happen.
After she took
Jimmy back to his room, Amanda went outside to catch a breath of
air. Looking around at the mountains and blue sky, she stretched
and felt
good.
Taking a deep breath, she felt really
peaceful. Amanda caught that breath before exhaling as she saw Colt
watching her from inside the corrals where he had been working. He
flashed her one his million-watt smiles before turning back to the
horse he was training. She smiled back at him.
What was it about
this guy that set her heart going ninety miles an hour?
And Kim saw it
all. Smiling broadly, she called to Amanda, “Hey, want to get a
coke?”
Amanda
stretched her back and walked over to Kim. “Sounds good.”
“I’ve been
working with Jimmy and took one of your suggestions about behavior
modification. It seems to be helping.” They had walked over to the
soda fountain in the lunchroom and had both gotten cold drinks. She
took a swig of her soda. It tasted great. Everything tasted good
these days. The sky was clear and the moon was yellow and…
“Hello? Amanda?
You space out on me a lot these days.” Kim gave her the once-over
look, smiling like a Cheshire cat. “Okay, give.”
“Give
what?”
“I’ve been
watching you and I think you’ve got something going with Colt, the
horse trainer. What’s up?” Kim’s eyes widened and she leaned
forward.
“Look, Kim….”
Amanda began.
“Yes, I know
it’s no one’s business, but you can’t tell me that he isn’t a part
of why you’re so happy all the time now. Hmmm?”
Well, thought
Amanda, why should it be a deep secret? She was falling for him and
she knew it. Probably a few others had noticed too, if Kim had.
“We are seeing
each other.”
Kim sat up
straight. “I knew it! Can you spare any details for your poor
sex-starved friend?”
“Hold it there.
We’ve been riding together and getting to know one another. Let’s
not jump any guns, okay?”
“Are you
inviting him to the dance tomorrow night?”
“I forgot about
that, but yes, I will and you can see the stars in my eyes for
yourself.”
“Any stars in
his eyes?” Kim asked.
“I’ve noticed a
few,” Amanda laughed at the envy written all over Kim’s face.
“You are so
lucky. Does he have a cute brother?”
“You’re in
luck, Kim. He has three cute brothers.” She almost doubled over
laughing when Kim gulped, taking in that information.
“Oh, thank you,
Lord,” said Kim. “I will need an introduction from you, if any of
them show up here.”
“Copy that and
you bet. Gotta go, Kim. It’s quitting time --I have a horse to ride
and a boyfriend to meet.” Amanda got up to leave.
Boyfriend? Did
she just say that? Yes, boyfriend…
Kim sighed
heavily, “You are so lucky…”
In Sonoma,
Jeanne was thinking about her grandson. She and Sam were out back
by the corrals, watching the cowboys work with the new horses Sam
just got. The BLM roundup in Nevada always brought him more work
than he could use. There were so many feral mustangs in the open
ranges of Nevada, that the Bureau of Land Management would round
some up every year and sell them at auction. The ranges could only
sustain a certain number of wild horses, so when there were too
many, the BLM held a roundup.
“Boy, I wish I
had Colt here with me. He’s the best there is at taming these wild,
crazy mustangs. I’m not sure it’s even worth it to bring them over
here from Nevada without him here. Sure could use him.” Sam leaned
in to give one of the cowboys further instructions.
When he was
finished, Jeanne smiled. “I think there’s more than horses keeping
him in Soda Springs.” He looked at her.
“What do you
mean?”
“Sam Cable,
what do you think I mean? Remember when I told you about that girl
he met in Old Town Sacramento and then he met her again in Soda
Springs? And remember, I told you that confidentially. I hope you
didn’t mention anything to Lily when you spoke to her this
morning.”
“Was it top
secret?” Sam started picking up a couple of halters he found on the
ground and hung them where they belonged.
“Well, yeah. He
asked me not to say anything, but I thought I was safe with you.”
She looked at him. “Did you say anything?”
Sam looked
uncomfortable and started scraping his shoe against the corral
post. “Who would I say anything to?”
“You did! You
told Lily! And I told you it was a secret. Colt asked that it not
get around the family – yet.” She glared at him.
“All right, so
I screwed up. Lily just asked if we had seen Colt and I mentioned
we had.”
“And…”
“It just sort
of tumbled out that he had met this girl in Sac and then again at
the camp in Soda where he was training a few horses.”
“And…”
“Well, Lily was
pretty excited and...”
“Sam Cable,
that’s the last time you get any top secret information from me.
Now that I know for a fact that you can’t keep a secret.”
“Okay, so I
can’t keep a secret. Can we get back to Colt?”
“You know he
and this girl are in the throes of Act One, don’t you? A very
touching and romantic time in a movie and not one to be interfered
with… Remember Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in ‘
An Affair to
Remember’
?”
“Yes, Jeanne
honey. We just watched that last night – obviously in preparation
for today’s discussion. Continue.” Sam blew out a breath. He was
used to this.
“Well, they’re
in the courting stage. Cary and Deborah were aboard ship and
ducking around trying to meet without other people knowing.”
“Why would they
do that?”
“Because, dear,
in the early stages, you’re not sure of anything when it comes to
your potential love. Everything is new, possibly confusing,
unknown. Cary practically tiptoes around Deborah trying to please
her. Of course, she’s wily and…”
“Please tell me
what this has to do with Colt. And does ‘this girl’ actually have a
name?” Sam was losing patience with the story.
“Yes, her name
is Amanda Evans and she’s from Sacramento. That’s about all I know
about her, except Colt is in deep.” She gazed out towards the back
meadow with all its colorful wildflowers. “Deep…”
“Jeanne, you
with me?”
“Deep…” She
sighed, turned and went back into the house.
Sam watched her
go and shrugged his shoulders. Then he smiled. “God, I love that
woman…” And he went back to his mustangs.