Page 17 of His Eighth Ride

But because she sat beside Tag, and Jane was pregnant, and everything seemed right in the world. And when all the hymnals had been put away and Pastor Danielson finally stood, Tag took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers.

And suddenly, Opal had a way better distraction than reading baby books to West: holding Taggart Crow’s hand.

“What do you think of this one?” Opal turned her phone toward Jane while Cord slid their first pizza into the oven.

Jane picked up the phone with one hand and dusted flour off her other one. She studied it for several seconds. “You’re looking at houses in Ivory Peaks?”

“Yes,” Opal said.

Her cousin lifted just one eyebrow. “What about your job in Burbank?”

“I, uh, quit.” Opal took her phone back. “I’m not married to Ivory Peaks. But I think I could guest lecture at the colleges here, or work on something like Uncle Colton did. He did the Human Genome Project and all that. I don’t know.” She pressed the power button on the side of her phone and turned it upside down.

“I’ve never done anything with my money,” she said. “Everyone else has, and I want to be here.”

“I didn’t think you liked small towns.”

“It’s adjacent to a big town,” Opal said as nonchalantly as she could. “Mikey’s here. You’re here. I want to be here. Plus.” She met Cord’s eye as he set a bagged Caesar salad on the counter and looked at her. “There are hospitals here. If I want to be a doctor, I can be a doctor.”

“We’re here,” someone called, and Tucker led the way into the kitchen at the back of the house. “Hey, hey, hey! The pizza party can start now.” He wore a grin from ear to ear, and he’d brought Deacon, Tarr, and Bobbie Jo with him.

The four of them worked at the Hammond Family Farm, and Tuck sat on the barstool next to Opal and put his arm around her. “Hey, you. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Here I am,” Opal said, glancing at Jane. She didn’t need to specifically say not to bring up her moving here or how she’d quit, and Jane gave her a silent confirmation that she’d keep it to herself.

“Howdy, Opal,” Tarr said as he sat on her other side. “You’re lookin’ pretty today.”

Opal grinned at him. “Thank you, Tarr. How’s Millie?”

He looked past her to Tucker. “Uh, she’s not—she?—”

Opal looked at Tuck too, and he wore a sympathetic expression that iced over pretty fast.

“She ghosted him.” Tuck’s jaw jumped. “Imagine that? He’s a National Rodeo Champion, and she stopped texting him.”

Opal frowned. “Is she fifteen?”

“What? No,” Tucker said, glancing over to Bobbie Jo. “She’s….”

“Not impressed by rodeo champions,” Bobbie Jo said. “And she doesn’t like nice, hardworking, good-looking men, obviously.” She threw a look to Tarr, but all conversation had completely stopped.

Everyone stared at Bobbie Jo, and Opal looked over to Tarr, who’d started to blush red, and then Tuck, who had his mouth hanging open.

“I’m just saying,” Bobbie Jo said with a shrug. “He’s more than just a National Rodeo Champion. Millie obviously doesn’t like nice guys.” She picked up a piece of pepperoni and looked at Cord. “Can I make a personal one with this?”

He took an extra moment to blink, and then he flew into action. “Yep,” he said. “Yeah. Everyone gets to make their own. They don’t take long.” He put a tray with pizza dough in front of them and added, “Come on, Tarr. Tuck. Get yours ready, and we’ll put them all in at the same time.”

Tucker got up and joined Bobbie Jo on the other side of the counter. He flirted with her shamelessly, but at least he’d stopped asking her out. Opal thought they were super-cute together, but she looked over to Tarr.

“She’s right, you know.” She bumped him with her shoulder. “You are nice, hardworking, and good-looking. If this Millie girl isn’t interested, that’s on her, not you.”

Tarr ducked his head, his smile practically made for TV. “Thanks, Opal.”

“Tell us about your date, Opal,” Jane said loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to her.

“Oh, you had a date, Opal?” Tuck asked all innocent-like.

“Yes,” she said, grinning despite wanting to throw a pinch of flour in Jane’s smiling face. “Tag and I finally went out last night.”

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