Page 26 of All in with the Maverick Montana

“That’s terrible.”

“I’m sure it was,” Amy said, “losing him so soon, and Hattie spent most of her childbearing years on the road, so she ended up adopting four adolescent girls. My mom, Suzie, and my aunts Josie, Hannah and Lisa. Hattie obviously taught them everything she knew, and they traveled with her on the circuit, performing and making a name for themselves as The Hawkins Sisters.”

“What a legacy for Hattie to start,” Josh said, impressed by the strength Hattie had clearly inspired in all her children and grandchildren.

Amy nodded in agreement. “And not just The Hawkins Sisters legacy, but even the tradition of adoption. My grandmother started that, and it’s been carried on by the whole Hawkins clan. My parents adopted me and Faith, who you obviously know, but also my three other sisters, Tori, Elizabeth and Carly.”

He hadn’t realized she had so many sisters. “Was your dad in the rodeo, too?”

“Yeah,” Amy said. “But he was forced into early retirement by a leg injury.”

“Rodeoing really is in your blood.”

Amy smiled. “Exactly. I spent so long surrounded by it, so long wanting to be a part of it, that by the time I realized it was something I was making a career out of, I already loved it too much to stop.”

“So there was never anything else you wanted to do?”

“I don’t think so. It gave me the best of everything. Time with my family.” She chuckled. “Sometimes too much time. And travel. A job I loved. But in the typical sense of working some regular nine to five, I guess that was never in the cards. Working at the store is the closest I’ve gotten. I like being outside too much. Like being with the horses.”

Josh took that in. “But there must be a bit of the glitz and glamour that you miss.”

Amy shrugged. “There were definitely perks to everyone knowing your name sometimes. But the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized I want other things out of life. In a way I feel like I’ve maybe waited too long.”

“For what?”

“Oh, you know, the typical things. Marriage, kids, white picket fence. And I know I’m not that old yet, and adoption is definitely something I’d consider, it’s just a feeling inside me. Like I want to settle, but I keep ending up with people that don’t want me or don’t want that.”

I want you, he thought, almost shocking himself right out of the saddle.

“And, well, you know. It’s hard some days to know you want this thing so badly, but not know where you’re supposed to look to find it. Or how long you’ll have to wait for the right person to come along. Or if they ever will.” She laughed. “I never used to worry about these things. I think this last relationship crashing and burning just really put things in perspective for me. Or, really, the lack of those things in my life.”

Josh shook his head.

“What is it?”

“I’m still trying to figure out what kind of man let you go.”

Amy scoffed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Well, he made a mistake. A big one. One day he’s gonna wake up and realize that.”

She flushed the same pink as the horizon line. “I don’t think so.”

“I mean it.”

“Thanks,” she said quietly. She kept her gaze on Bitsy. “But frankly I hope I never have to see him again.”

“Is he on the rodeo circuit?”

Amy hummed. “Not quite. He’s sort of in that world, though. Of glitz and glamour as you said.”

A world Josh would never know anything about. He wondered if Amy could ever really be okay with that. If he even stood a chance.

He hoped so.

Chapter Seven

“Morning, cowboy,” Amy said as she met Josh on the street in front of the Silver Spur Café. He leaned casually against the wall of the café, hands tucked into his jean pockets, a jacket over his flannel shirt and his hair swept back beneath a Stetson. She sucked in a sharp breath. He really was the most handsome man she’d ever seen, and not for the first time she wondered what it would be like to walk down the street and hold his hand or to run her fingers along his stubbled jaw. A wave of heat washed over her, and she shoved those thoughts aside before they could gallop into dangerous territory.