Reunited With The Bull Rider. Christine Wenger

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СКАЧАТЬ protesting way too much. I can only think that you have feelings for me.”

      “Just wait until I show you how wrong you are, cowboy.”

      * * *

      EARLY IN THE morning on her second day of work, Callie received a call from the brothers’ agent.

      “Reed, I have to talk to you,” she said, waiting for the sound of his crutches. He was in the expansive ranch house somewhere. “Reed?”

      “At your service, ma’am.” He was in the kitchen reading the paper and chugging coffee.

      “Rick would like to know if you could fill in for one of his other clients. They want you to cook with a celebrity chef.”

      He shrugged. “When and where?”

      “This afternoon. They will come here to you. The show is called What’s in Your Refrigerator?”

      “That sounds easy enough. What are we going to cook?”

      “Whatever they find in your fridge. They are going to make a meal out of it.”

      “Interesting concept,” he joked.

      “Can you cook, Reed?”

      He shrugged his shoulders. “No, I can’t. But I’m a master with a microwave.”

      “If they use a microwave, I’d be surprised.”

      “You never know.” He smiled. “Maybe I’ll go shine it up. Then I’m going to see what Inez left in the fridge before she went on vacation.”

      “No. I had to promise that you wouldn’t open it until they tell you to do so on the air.”

      He held up his hands in surrender. “I shall not open it then. I don’t want to be arrested by the fridge police.”

      “Good.”

      “What a bull rider has to do, huh?” he asked.

      “Probably with all the publicity you are getting, you’ll get new fans, and then there’ll be new fans for the PBR. The money doesn’t hurt, either. Your product endorsements are very lucrative, too.”

      “The Three Musketeers are putting most every cent we can into the ranch.”

      Callie nodded. “I can tell you are all pitching in, from some of the bank statements I’ve seen.”

      “You’re going to know all about us, except what size underwear we wear.”

      “Oh, I found a receipt from the Beaumont Emporium. I know that, too.”

      He looked at Callie, eyes as wide as some of the belt buckles he sported.

      She laughed. “Only kidding.”

      He laughed. She enjoyed how he laughed—free and easy—as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

      In fact, that was the essence of his personality. It must be nice to be like that.

      “Reed, can I make a suggestion?”

      “Try and stop you.”

      “I think you should wear your cowboy clothes. Cargo shorts and a T-shirt that says Beach Bum might not be what this show is looking for.”

      “Point taken. I’ll be right back.” He hurried down the hallway.

      Callie wondered if Reed’s room was the same as it was in high school. She remembered it as a cheery room with colorful Navajo blankets and shelves packed with trophies and belt buckles. Each award displayed a picture of the presenter and the name of the event. There were bigger pictures of saddles, rifles and boots that he’d won—more boots than a man could ever wear. No wonder that they always looked like he’d just taken them out of a box. He had.

      Several minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Reed yelled, “Do you mind getting that, Callie?”

      “No problem.” She put down the files she was labeling on a cleared spot on the big desk and headed for the door.

      “Hi,” she said, looking at all the equipment several people were unloading from a van parked out front.

      An older woman with a clipboard waved. “We’re from What’s in Your Refrigerator?”

      “Come in,” Callie said. “I’ll show you where the kitchen is and you can set up.”

      A man with a white chef’s jacket and black-and-white-checked pants whistled. “I am Chef Marty. What a fabulous place! I heard that it was historic, but this is amazing.”

      “Hello, Chef Marty. I’m Callie, assistant for the Beaumont family. The ranch really is a historic place. It was founded at the time of the Oklahoma Land Rush.” Callie grinned. “The founder, Daniel Beaumont, was said to be a Sooner. He was Reed’s great-grandfather, times a few greats.”

      She thought she sounded like a tour guide, but she had grown up in the light of one of the most historical places in Oklahoma. Every man, woman and child in Beaumont knew the story of the old place.

      “It’s totally ancient. It’s totally medieval,” said a kid in sunglasses lugging an aluminum suitcase and with an e-cigarette in his mouth; she thought he was probably an intern.

      “Not quite medieval,” Reed said, entering in the kitchen. “But close.”

      “Excuse me, I have work to do,” Callie said, hurrying back to the study. As much as she would like to ogle Reed, she was better off away from him. Their earlier exchange had been a lot of fun, as was any time they talked together, but she needed to focus on her job.

      She supposed she could stretch her duties to make sure everything was going smoothly in the kitchen, but what could go wrong?

      Thump! Boom!

      Someone swore.

      Then three more people swore.

      “Dude, are you okay?”

      Callie went running. In her gut, she knew what had happened: Reed had lost his balance.

      Oh, no! She hoped that he hadn’t hurt his knee even more.

      But it wasn’t Reed on the ground. It was a crock of chili that Inez had made before she left that had hit the thick tiles and splashed all over Reed, the chef and the lady and her clipboard.

      “Dude, this is epic,” said the kid with the sunglasses.

      “I’ll double down on that,” Reed said.

      Callie sprang into action. She grabbed a roll of paper towels and began scooping the chili into a trash can.

      As best as he could, Reed tried to help her. None of the TV people lifted a finger, and that annoyed her.

      “Reed, you can’t kneel down СКАЧАТЬ