Page 9 of Any Cowboy of Mine
“Ha, from what you can see. Let’s just all take a moment and thank God dogs and walls can’t talk. Okay, so it looks like we have a plan.”
“We do. But as good as I look in pink, I’m not wearing a dress for you.”
“Lucky for you, that’s not the image I want to portray. Thanks, though, Steve. Seriously. This really means a lot. So, now that my problem is solved, tell me about your date tonight. How’d you possibly run in the same circle as a twenty-one-year-old?”
Brad listened as Steve told him about Krissy, a young woman who’d come into his shop looking to get her brakes fixed after running them through the pads and most of the rotors. She was naive as heck about her car but knew enough about the world to flirt with Steve until he made her a deal just over cost for the parts. Steve lamented that he knew he’d been played but reasoned that any man with eyes and testicles would have done the same thing in his position. She’d agreed to go out with him, which didn’t shock Brad at all.
He and Steve had met five years earlier in a similar scenario, except that Brad actually knew a whole heckuva lot about cars and wasn’t the least bit interested in the shop owner. He’d explained to Steve what he wanted done and why he couldn’t do it himself. Somehow the conversation had shifted to old cars they’d fixed up in high school with their dads, and before Brad knew it, he was at a bar that night with Steve, and they’d been fast friends since.
In that time, Brad had seen Steve go from a dedicated family man, to a guy crushed when his wife left him and the repair business they’d built together, to a man who pulled himself back into his prime and could now get dates with women ten years his junior. He was a self-professed ladies’ man, but Brad didn’t begrudge him that. He was always respectful of the women he took home, and Brad knew it was part of Steve’s healing.
He just wished he had the same ability to date around. If nothing else, it would give him something to look forward to on Friday nights when he often felt the breakup the most. For some reason, though, Brad had never wanted to “sow his oats” as his father suggested he do a couple months ago, to a stern look from his mother. He’d tried it a couple times, and just ended up feeling awkward at the end of the night when he could tell the women wanted much more than he could give them. He felt like he’d used them.
All Brad really wanted was to settle down, have a family and a career and time to read and write. He also wouldn’t mind spending more time working his parents’ farm as he’d done as a teen. Simple tastes.
Still, he loved Steve’s dating stories. Some of them were more entertaining than daytime television. It was around the description of where Steve was taking Krissy that Brad tuned back in. Steve mentioned something about a fun bar that was near the shop with live music and country line dancing after nine. Brad chuckled.
“I don’t know how you have the energy, Steve. That sounds exhausting,” he quipped.
“You have no idea. I think the person who invented drinks with Red Bull was in the dating scene in his thirties. It’s the only thing that gets me through. I used to work out to stay fit, now I have to work out just to keep up with the kids at the bar.”
“You could always try dating someone your age.”
“Nah, where’s the fun in that? You want to join? Krissy has a roommate who’s cute and single and is rumored to be a runner-up for the Cowboys cheer program. It’s gonna be a big night, bud.”
“I’m sure it is. Thanks for the offer, but big nights aren’t really what I’m looking for. If you couldn’t tell by the way I was hunched down in front of a fantasy series about to dive in an hour ago. Plus, I gotta save my energy for Christmas Eve.”
“Christmas Eve, huh? That the wedding date?”
“Oh yeah, is that a problem? With your family I mean?”
“Nope. They’re not doing anything special this year since Missy’s in Minnesota with her husband’s family. Plus, my mom can barely stand to be in the same room with my dad. We’re good. But, isn’t that your anniversary with Julia?”
Brad nodded.
“And she didn’t see a problem with that?” Steve asked, starting to clean up the sandwich papers, stuffing them into the paper bag.
“Not only that, but she said she thought it would ‘honor’ what we had.”
Steve chuckled sarcastically. “Ooh, hoo. She’s really committed to this, hasn’t she?”
Brad nodded again, unsure what he could say that wouldn’t be catty and mean.
“You hear anything from Chris?” Steve asked.
Brad, Steve, and Chris had spent some time together the past few years when Chris would come into town, before the Julia incident of course. Though Chris and Steve got along okay, there was no love lost between them when Brad told Steve what had happened.
“Not a word. That’s the worst part. He’s made her the emissary knowing full well I won’t be rude to her. I haven’t heard from him since that night at Charlie’s when I decked him.”
“He’s probably just scared. Listen, I think you have me convinced that going is gonna be a good thing, and we’ll talk details this week, but I’ve got to head to the shop and make sure the kids haven’t burnt it to the ground.”
“Of course. Thanks for coming by and talking. I feel like I can go back and not punt that envelope into the stratosphere now.”
“Last chance to change your mind about tonight. Could be huge.”
Steve winked at Brad, who laughed, and ran his hands through his hair before grabbing the bag from Steve and throwing it in the trash.
“That’s what I’m afraid of, Steve. Rain check for later in the week?”
