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Teddie was waiting at the stable Saturday morning when Parker drove up. Katy, standing at the front porch door, hesitated to go out. She was wearing jeans and a frilly blouse, her long blond hair neatly combed and loose around her shoulders. And she’d found a variety of lipstick that would stick only to her lips and not to everything else. But she was suddenly shy of Parker. She noticed that he looked curiously toward the house before he went into the barn with Teddie to saddle Bartholomew and run Teddie through the basics once more.
They came back out of the stable, with Parker holding the bridle and Teddie sitting high in the saddle, back straight, arms in, eyes looking straight ahead instead of down.
Katy was proud of her daughter’s seat when she rode. The child was a natural. She didn’t tense up or watch the ground or even jerk on the bridle. She sat the horse like a real cowgirl, when she’d never done any riding in her little life.
Parker walked alongside, holding the reins. He had Snow with him this morning, and she was saddled. He spoke to Teddie and handed her the reins, instructing her how to hold them so that she didn’t put too much pressure on the bit in Bartholomew’s mouth.
When he was satisfied that she was sitting straight, arms in, he nodded and swung up into the saddle and turned Snow so that she and Bartholomew were parallel to each other.
Katy waved. Parker smiled. Even at that distance, it made her heart race. “I’ll have lunch ready when you get back,” she promised.
“What are we having?” he asked.
“Tuna fish sandwiches.”
He made an awful face.
“You don’t like fish,” she began.
“I like tuna fish,” he returned. “I just don’t like most tuna salads.”
She pursed her lips. “You need to taste mine,” she said. “I put in a secret ingredient.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
He chuckled. “Okay. I’ll try it.”
“That’s the sign of a man with guts,” she teased.
He laughed. “And other organs,” he mused. “See you.”
He turned to Teddie and gave another instruction. Then he went alongside her down the path that led to the road. Apparently, Katy thought, it was going to be a longer ride today. She went back inside to fix lunch. She could put the tuna salad in the fridge when she made it. It would keep nicely until they came back.
She put pickled peach juice in the tuna, along with mayonnaise and sweet pickles. It was an odd way to prepare it, but she’d learned it from her grandfather, who made the best tuna salad she’d ever put in her mouth. The taste was unique.
She finished her task and went to watch the latest news |on TV.
* * *
Parker was riding beside Teddie as they wound around the ranch property. Both were wearing jackets, because there were actual snowflakes.
“Snow!” Teddie sighed. She laughed as she lifted her face to let the flakes melt on her soft skin. “I love it!”
“You wouldn’t if you were a poor cowboy who had to nursemaid pregnant heifers,” he teased. “It’s a twenty-four-hour a day job. Even in the snow.”
“Gosh, ranching is complicated.”
“That’s why I love it,” he confessed.
She glanced at him and away. “My mom really likes you.”
His heart jumped. “I really like your mom.”
She grinned. “I noticed.”
“We’re going slowly,” he said. “Nothing intense. We’re taking you to a movie tonight, if you want to go.”
“Oh, boy!” she exclaimed. “What are we going to see?”
“That new cartoon movie.” He named it.
