The Cowboy's Challenge by Liz Isaacson

Author:Liz Isaacson [Isaacson, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works

The weeks passed in a blur of sun and wind and horses and spending a couple of hours in the evenings with Renee. She never ventured up the canyon, something Justin didn’t notice until she brought it up.

She brought up everything, it seemed. Her brothers and sisters. Her friends. Her jobs over the years. What had happened in town that day, what the pastor had said at church, what the neighbor’s were gossiping about.

Justin pulled up to her house on Friday evening and got out of his truck. She met him on the front porch with her shoulder bag slung across her body. “You ready for this concert?”

“It’s not gonna get wild or anything. It’s bluegrass.” He watched shock travel across her face. “I can see you didn’t know that.”

“You said it was a concert.”

Justin laughed and swept an arm around her waist. “There will be live people playing instruments. It is a concert.”

She glared up at him, straining against his grip. “What kind of instruments?”

“Banjos and guitars. Probably a keyboard.”

“I feel like you should’ve been more clear.” She glanced down at her knee-length skirt. “I’m going to go change.”

“Probably a good idea,” he called after her, though he enjoyed the view with the skirt. “We have to sit on the ground.”

She spun back to him, her eyes practically on fire. “What?”

“It’s a concert in the park. I know I told you that.” He entered her house and let the door settle closed behind him. “It’s like you don’t know where you live. It’s Brush Creek,” he said. “Small town America.”

She lifted her chin and turned the corner to go into her bedroom. “I know,” she called back to him.

Justin chuckled as he sank onto her couch. He leaned back, all the knots in his muscles unwinding. It had been a long week of work, and he didn’t have a day off for nine more days. He’d never minded, but he hadn’t dated anyone since he’d moved to Brush Creek. He was finding it hard to maintain a relationship and keep up with all the work on the ranch.

“Justin?” His name echoed in his mind, and he tried to locate it. Whiteness blanketed everything about him, and his head swam.

Someone touched his arm, and he jerked, his fist colliding with something hard and soft at the same time.

His eyes snapped open at the same time Renee cried out. Justin blinked, realizing in a single moment that he’d fallen asleep—and punched his girlfriend in the eye.

“Renee,” he said, pulling at her hands, which covered her left eye. “Let me see. I’m so sorry.”

Both of her eyes watered, her makeup clearly high quality because it didn’t run. She couldn’t keep her eye open for long, and it fluttered closed again.

Regret lanced through him, and he cursed his exhaustion. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

She tried to laugh, but he could tell it wasn’t genuine. “So you’re a bad waker-upper.” She smiled, but Justin could only see half of it as she kept her eye covered with her hands.

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