Page 24 of Cowboy Friend Zone for Christmas

Noelle opted not to give a direct answer. “I’m staying in The Music Box,” she announced brightly.

“There’s always room for you here, too,” her mother reminded, breezing back into the room with a tray of glazed sirloin steaks.

Please don’t start in on that again. Noelle nodded, giving her a tight smile.

After they prayed over the meal, the conversation quickly switched to the Carson brothers’ new rodeo routine that would be starting at Castellano’s in a few days.

Adeline sat forward in her chair, looking fascinated. “I totally get why Ames and Flint would go the comedy route. They’re as hilarious as a draft horse on roller skates. What I don’t understand is how they managed to rope their serious older brother into it!”

Rope him into it? Noelle’s gaze flew to his, knowing the invitation to the Castellano’s rodeo had been personally addressed to him. He’d been giving his input to the idea since the first sketch on a beverage napkin over dinner. Though he wasn’t as loud or as boisterous as his younger brothers on the topic, he possessed a quiet brand of humor that uniquely offset theirs. It was their unique combination of personalities that made the script so perfect.

Nash casually reached over to drape his bionic arm around the back of her chair. “A very good friend reminded me how fortunate I am to have been given a new lease on life. Figured it would be more fun to stick around for the next adventure than risk being tossed by an angry bronc into the next guardrail.”

His gratitude warmed Noelle from the inside out. To have won such high regard from an athlete of his caliber was downright humbling.

Her mother stood and left the room. She returned with a rolling cart bearing plates of peach cobbler and ice cream. As she served Noelle, she murmured in her ear. “Maybe you could try a little harder to keep this one.”

Noelle’s appetite faded. As soon as her mother rolled her cart to the other side of the table, she scooted back her chair. “Thank you for dinner. We’re sorry to have to break away like this, but we need to get going.”

Nash stood and held out a hand to pull her to her feet. “Yeah. We’ve gotta head to a rehearsal.”

Noelle couldn’t tell if he was being honest, or if he’d made up that excuse on the spot. Either way, she was grateful that he had her back.

Her mother followed them to the door and managed to hiss out one last question while air-kissing her goodbye. “Was it something I said?”

You know it was. She met her mother’s gaze sadly. “Thanks again for dinner. Goodnight, Mom.”

CHAPTER 6: THE THING ABOUT SECRETS

The Carson brothers’ cowboy comedy routine was an instant success. Willa and Angel Castellanos had done an incredible job of getting the word out about the new show on such short notice. The dinner theater was packed to capacity every night for two weeks straight. Tickets were quickly selling out for the third and last week of their performance. Particularly heartwarming was the steady number of special needs attendees in the audience — kids on crutches, kids in wheelchairs, kids wearing casts and braces.

The line for autographs after the show took nearly as long for the Carson brothers to work their way through as the show itself. In true Pinetop style, however, the local businessmen and women rose to the occasion.

One of the gift boutiques on Main Street worked straight through the night after the first night of the show, printing out commemorative rodeo t-shirts and ball caps. The next day, they negotiated a deal with the Carson brothers to produce a line of merchandise branded specifically to their Dude Ranch Central show.

“Bro! We have our own merch,” Flint crowed the moment he saw it.

Nash was excited about it, too, but he was even more excited about another project in the works — a custom designed gift for Noelle. The Music Box theme of her Air B&B suite had served as the inspiration behind the idea. Since the Merry Woodmakers were the master designers behind the holiday B&B suites, they were the ones he’d asked to commission the gift.

This morning after breakfast, he was scheduled for his second super secret consultation with them to finalize the sketches for it and make his first down payment. He was hoping the gift would be finished in time to give to Noelle for her birthday in June.

As he, Noelle, and his brothers had fallen into the habit of doing, they met on the sidewalk outside Santa’s Toy Factory to head to breakfast together. Though they kept saying they were open to trying new places, they usually ended up at the Gingerbread House.

To Nash’s dismay, Noelle was dressed in riding clothes, which probably meant she would soon be on her way to Bear Mountain Ranch. Though she made frequent visits to Shelly out there, she usually didn’t do it in riding clothes. Apparently, something was different about today’s visit, something that already had his teeth on edge.

Before he could ask about her plans for the day, Flint announced, “I’m in the mood for chicken and waffles.” He raised his arms over his rangy frame and did a few funky twists this way and that to pop his back.

“Do you mind?” Ames gave him a dirty look as they started walking down the sidewalk. “You sound like a bag of potato chips breaking.”

“I don’t think they serve waffles at the Gingerbread House,” Noelle mused in an airy voice. “Just breakfast danishes, muffins, and croissants,”

Nash knew she was hoping to distract his brothers from yet another bickering session. He wasn’t sure she would succeed, but he had to applaud her for trying. During his brothers’ last disagreement, Flint had nearly ended up with a black eye. He and Ames were growing more edgy and restless by the day, making Nash worry that their indoor rodeo gig in Pinetop wasn’t enough of a challenge for them. As former bronc riding champs themselves, they were accustomed to bigger cities, noisier crowds, and much higher stakes — the life or death kind.

As am I.

Nash was still adjusting to the slower pace of their respective careers, as well. It was a big change for all of them. He thought he was doing a pretty good job of it so far. His patience with his brothers was the only thing running a little thin.

He could only hope they didn’t spend so long debating this morning’s breakfast venue, that they might’ve already been seated and placing their orders. Though it was shaping up to be a warm day, he and his brothers were rarely caught in anything other than their jeans, boots, and Stetsons. Today was no exception. Though they’d never specifically agreed to do so, they were all wearing different Dude Ranch Central t-shirts. Why not? It was free advertisement.

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