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Kyle stood in the parking lot, stunned and still frozen. His mind whirred and his pulse buzzed, and he barely registered the sound of the gravely steps of Elaine Trumaine.
“Who was she?” she asked.
Kyle focused on her. “I’m sorry. We were headed over to the stage.” He indicated the golf cart, and the music executive put her mega-watt smile back on her face. Kyle tossed another glance toward the lodge door, but he knew he couldn’t leave Elaine out here in the heat while he went to talk to Maddy. He could send her a text, and he pulled out his phone to do that.
It was great to see you, he typed out quickly.I’m just showing this woman from Legacy Records the stage for tonight’s concert, and then I’ll be back for a grab-and-go lunch. Maybe we could find somewhere and eat together.
She didn’t answer immediately, and Kyle’s pulse pounded up into his throat. This was bad. Very bad. His stomach clenched, and he hated how he felt like the ground was going to open beneath him.
He got behind the wheel of the golf cart and put on his professional winning smile. Truth be told, it was less flirtatious. He didn’t feel as glowy inside as he had a few minutes ago. The only reason he could hold his head upright was because Elaine had only been at the lodge for thirty minutes, and he hadn’t really had the chance to embarrass himself too badly.
Like asking her out, he thought as he drove the golf cart across the road, and they bounced over the cattle grate. His chest felt like someone had poked a hot branding iron through his ribs, and he gripped the steering wheel like he could get rid of his emotions that way.
“There is it,” he said a moment later. “See it?”
“Wow,” Elaine said. “It’s much bigger than I anticipated.” She threw Kyle a flirty smile, and he prayed for a solution to this situation. He’d met and worked with plenty of country music executives in his life. He couldn’t get past them several years ago, so he’d used his contacts to bring the bigger talent to the ranch for their summer concert series.
In the past several weeks, however, he’d had a few doors open for him, and he’d been meeting with Jolene Gillespie from Black Hill Records. They were interested in his music, and he felt about two breaths away from signing a contract with them. That would take him away from Longhorn Ranch, and he didn’t know what his family would do without him. The work he did couldn’t just be handed off to someone else. Blake would have to hire someone full-time, and Kyle… Well, Kyle would have to leave Texas for a little while.
He thought of Maddy inside the lodge, signing her employment paperwork. Was he willing to leave her behind if he had a shot at a country music career? He’d struggled when she’d first told him about her mama’s injury which would prevent her from coming to the ranch this summer.
He desperately wanted to know what had changed and why she’d decided to come. She was so fond of surprises, and Kyle wished this one time, she’d called or texted him. It would’ve saved both of them a lot of trouble.
After he brought the golf cart to a stop, he twisted the key but left it hanging in the ignition. “We have full facilities here, Miss Trumaine. Walter and Jane won’t want for anything. We’ve got private rooms under the stage, and top-of-the-line lighting. Our ranch is booked solid for the summer, and we open our weekend concerts to the public at-large, for a nominal price too. We get lots of residents from neighboring towns coming out here.”
Elaine stood from the cart. “Great parking too.”
Kyle joined her near the front of the golf cart. He sometimes came to the stage in the middle of the day like this just to imagine himself up on it, a guitar in his hand, charming thousands of people who’d all come to see him.
His imagination ran overtime sometimes, and he tried to pull himself back to earth. As he’d grown up, his mama had often told him he was a dreamer—and he was. He couldn’t help it, and over the years, he’d learned some coping mechanisms to get his feet back on solid ground.
Elaine walked around and took pictures, asked questions which Kyle answered without difficulty, and ended the tour with a beaming smile. He drove them back to the lodge, his pulse picking up speed with every foot they covered.
Back in the white and gold gravel, Elaine gave him a nod. “I’ll be in touch, Kyle. Thank you for the entertaining morning.” She gave him a smile he could only categorize as suggestive, and had he not seen Maddy an hour ago, he might have returned it in kind. He might have asked her for her number. He might have made a complete fool of himself.
Instead, he shook her hand and nodded her toward her company car. He waved like he was thrilled she’d come, and the moment the dust lifted into the air behind her tires, he breathed out a great, heaving exhale.
“Oh, boy,” he said to himself. The door opened behind him, and a loud group spilled outside. They laughed and talked in noisy voices, as if they’d already had too much to drink. Kyle knew they hadn’t, because the lodge didn’t serve alcohol until dinnertime. Guests could bring their own, he supposed, and he stood out of the way as a group of seven or eight met came roaring down the steps.
“Cornhole?” one of them asked, and he pointed across the parking lot to the lanes where cornhole got played. At nearly noon, no one stood out in the sunshine, and Kyle wouldn’t choose this time of day to play. The men didn’t seem to mind at all, and they sloshed through the gravel in their cowboy boots, obviously not used to wearing them.
Kyle went up the steps and inside the lodge, breathed in the blessed air conditioning, and then looked around for Maddy. He hadn’t checked for her car outside, and he moved around the check-in desk to look out the window in the administrative side of the front lodge.
The dark red sedan sat in the same spot it had been in earlier, and his heartbeat skipped dangerously over itself. If he wasn’t careful, he’d have to get it checked just to make sure he didn’t have an arrythmia.
He turned around, scanning for Maddy. She walked over to a table with Adam and Jesse, all three of them seemingly talking at the same time. She looked radiant and alive, and Kyle mentally kicked himself for not staying in touch with her.
She didn’t text or call you either, he thought. That alone buoyed his spirits—and his courage—enough to get him to move toward her. The three of them had grabbed their lunches, and Kyle detoured to pick up one of the boxes for himself too. He usually checked the stickers to get the type of chips and salad he wanted, but today, he simply grabbed the nearest one without taking his eyes from Maddy.
Yes, he’d been flirting with Elaine, but the very idea of going out with her had dried to dust the moment he’d seen Maddy. He swallowed as he approached the table, his ears doing their job as he heard Jesse say, “…need to do it at least once during the week. Not everyone comes on the weekend.”
“Couples more than families, though,” Adam said.
“Right.” Jesse glanced up as Kyle pulled out the chair next to him. He gave him a brief smile. “That’s why I think we need to do it on Tuesday or Wednesday, as well as Friday and Saturday.” He lifted his turkey sandwich to his mouth and took a bite.
Maddy looked at Kyle, and their eyes locked. He swore the world froze except for the two of them. She sat on the other side of Adam, the furthest from him, and he could’ve chosen to sit directly beside her. He’d wanted to give her some breathing room.
Could she feel that spark? Did she want to be alone with him as badly as he wanted to be alone with her? How could he apologize enough and get her back into his life without coming across as desperate?
