Cowboy Canter by Sandra Kyle

Author:Sandra Kyle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cowboy Romance, Western Romance, Contemporary Western Romance
Publisher: Sandra Kyle
Published: 2022-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Bell pulled from Jesse’s grip as soon as they’d passed through the festival entrance.

“Bell!” he called out, loud enough to be heard over the Muzak and the collective conversations surrounding them. Bell froze, yards ahead, limbs locked tight and straight. Irritation was laced with a twinge of fear when he asked, “What’d we talk about?” He caught up, bent down, and balanced on the soles of his boots to meet her eye level.

“Stay close,” she mumbled with downcast eyes, twisting a heel of her sneaker into trampled hay sprinkling the busy walkway.

He flipped her French braid off her shoulder. “I know you’re excited. I am, too.” He tipped her chin upward and booped the button nose. “But, we gotta be safe. ’K?”

Her long lashes batted over wide green-apple eyes. “Okay. Sorry.”

“Come on. We’ll head to the pony pen first. See what Diana’s been up to and what all the fuss is about. Then, cotton candy and some rides?”

Bell licked her lips. “Mmm-hmm.”

Generators whirred. Game bells clanged. The sun hung bright and inviting in the cloudless sky on an October Sunday. The smells of grease and much-doused vinegar tickled its way up Jesse’s nose. He doubted he’d be able to resist a return to the French fry stand they passed.

The jitters in his stomach weren’t easily ignored. He hadn’t actually talked to Diana since Wednesday, back at Bobby’s. Only one text last night alerted him that all was set and ready to go.

“Tuesday’s Gone” blared out of a nearby speaker. A little morose, but not mad at it. Jesse led Bell, hearing her marvel about her surroundings and trying her best to tug him toward one stand after another. “Daddy, look!”

He acknowledged each outcry with a little hum, not swayed in the least. “Yep.”

The landmark he’d been keeping an eye out for, the basketball toss game, was in sight about five stands away. The path and hard right he’d have to take past that to get to the pony pen had a stationary crowd in the way. He sighed, holding a bit tighter to Bell’s hand and shimmying around the mob. It wasn’t until he cleared the bottleneck that he realized the crowd was actually the end of a rather long line.

For the pony pen.

“Daddy, look!” Bell pointed above them into the air.

A banner, strung from two large looming candy-cane pillars proudly displayed:

Campbell Farms welcomes

Poppy the Pony author Scott Putnam

Posters atop staked easels touted Poppy the Pony books available for sale, which Putnam would autograph for fans. Further reading indicated all the proceeds from the book sales and pony rides were to go to the children’s library fund. Another poster near the fence was all about Campbell Farms. It included a comic book bubble exploding with the news “Stable Expansion Coming Soon.”

Throngs of people in the serpentine line obscured a portion of the pen from view. Jesse huffed a little laugh at what he could see: his prized ponies, Bonnie and Clyde. Their manes and tails had been threaded with colorful braiding, reminiscent of the fictional Poppy.

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