The Singing Cowgirl (Bear Creek Rodeo) Read online

  The Singing Cowgirl

  Bear Creek Rodeo

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Unlimited Dreams

  Copyright © 2019 by Kirsten Osbourne

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  What’s Next in Bear Creek

  About the Author

  Also by Kirsten Osbourne

  Prologue

  Emily Kelly hurried into the living room of the three-bedroom apartment she shared with her sisters and business partners. “I think we may have just gotten our big break!”

  Brittany pushed her glasses up on her nose and pulled an ear plug out of her ear. “What do you mean? What happened?”

  Stephanie glanced up from her book. “What’s going on?”

  Emily plopped down on the couch and leaned forward to share her information. “I just got a call from the organizers of the Bear Creek Rodeo!”

  “Wait . . . isn’t that the huge rodeo that takes place just north of Houston every summer?” Brittany suddenly had an interested look on her face.

  “Yes!” Emily said. “They want us to be their opening act at the rodeo this summer. Just two months away.” She jumped to her feet and started pacing. “We’ll have time to do ten songs. We have to decide which ones!”

  Stephanie frowned at the other two. “We need to do at least two original songs. We can’t just keep doing covers if we want to make a name for ourselves.”

  Brittany nodded. “I hate to say it, but Steph is right. We need to do some originals. Maybe ‘Cowgirl’?” She suggested one of the songs Stephanie had written and they’d recorded independently. “I think people will love it, and maybe they’ll download it from Amazon or iTunes and it will gain some traction.” They all understood that the more buys a song had, the more visibility it got, and the more it would sell. It was a vicious circle.

  Emily pursed her lips, thinking about it. “I agree with ‘Cowgirl’ . . . and maybe ‘Lipstick on my Jeans’?”

  “Yes!” Stephanie said animatedly. “‘Lipstick on my Jeans’ is really different than anything out there right now. And they can download that as a single as well.” She shrugged. “Or I could write something new just for the rodeo.”

  The other two exchanged looks.

  “I don’t think you should,” Emily finally said. “Those two are our big sellers and the most requested songs we do in bars. Well, our most requested original songs. Those two are perfect.”

  “Are we actually getting paid for this gig?” Brittany asked, always worried about the bottom line.

  Emily grinned. “We get a portion of the gate. They said last year they had two thousand at the kick-off concert. If we could do that again, it would be amazing.”

  “More than we’ve ever made for one gig, for sure,” Stephanie seemed to think about it for a moment. “Let’s do it.”

  “I already told them we would!” Emily said, clapping her hands excitedly.

  Brittany shook her head. “What if I had plans for that night?”

  They all laughed, knowing any plans would be cancelled for this. They were finally on their way!

  One

  Emily was cat-napping on the couch when Brittany walked into the room, poking her. “We just got another call from Bear Creek.”

  Stephanie turned from her computer, where she’d been typing away. She had an article to write for an online magazine, and she needed to get it done if they were going to have the money to pay their rent. The Bear Creek Rodeo was going to do a lot for their bottom line, but they needed to be working in the meantime. “What’d they say?”

  “They want us around all weekend. There will be a booth set up to sell our CDs, which is awesome, but one of us needs to be at the booth at all times.” Brittany sighed. “Not the call I wanted to get after a long day of piano and guitar lessons.”

  Emily nodded, rubbing her eyes. “At least you’re not spending all day trying to sell cowboy boots.” She shook her head. “I’ll be glad when we make enough from singing that all of us aren’t working other jobs to make ends meet.”

  “I’m writing an article about the benefit of using actual cow manure as fertilizer rather than buying something in a package. If either of you can tell me what you’re doing is worse than that, I’ll be shocked. And then when I’m done, an editor will tear the whole thing up. ‘My blood curdles at the thought of altering one comma.’” Stephanie’s eyes looked tired. She’d obviously been working for a while. “One of my favorite Cyrano de Bergerac quotes.” Her sisters would obviously know what she was quoting from, because Cyrano was her favorite, but she liked to work the name of the play into conversation at least once per day.

  “I concede!” Emily said. “I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”

  Brittany shrugged. “We’ll make it work. I already ordered some CDs. I figured I’d order the whole album, and if they want just the singles, they can buy from online.”

  “Works for me.” Stephanie sighed. “This is going to be a lot of work, and it’s going to be hot. Ugh.”

  “But, if we do as well as I think we will, we’re going to make good money off this, and we’ll be able to grow an audience of brand-new listeners. It’s not a bad thing at all.” Brittany sighed. “It’s just a lot of work in the heat. But if we each take a two-hour shift and we keep an ice chest full of water bottles under the table, I think we’ll do just fine.”

  “All right.” Emily sat back, ready to continue her nap. “Rehearsal later? Like in an hour or two?”

  “As soon as I finish my article,” Stephanie said. “I have to get this done today, or I don’t get paid for it, and after all the stinky research I’ve done . . .”

  “You need to be paid. Fine.” Brittany shrugged. “Hurry and get done. Maybe you can sneak one of your Cyrano de Bergerac quotes into it.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. I will find a way.” Stephanie got back to work as Brittany put her ear plugs in. Soon they’d all be singing together, which would make them happy.

  “So exactly why are we sitting here with CDs before we perform?” Emily asked Brittany. “It would make so much more sense if we waited until after our performance, when they knew what we were all about.”

  Brittany shrugged. “This is what we’ve been told is required of us. Half the gate,” she reminded her sister. “I brought a CD player. Have us going. Our music will draw people to you.”

  “While you do what exactly?” Emily asked, looking back and forth between Brittany and Stephanie.

  “I’m getting some food that’s bad for me and looking at pretty little things people sell at craft fairs,” Stephanie said with a smile. “And being ignored by my sister who will have headphones in the whole time.”

  “You two have fun. I expect to be relieved in exactly two hours!” Emily watched the other two run off, picking up one of their CDs. The cover art was great. It had the three of them all wearing similar outfits and made up the same way. Brittany wasn’t wearing her glasses for a change, so they were identical triplets in all their singing glory. She’d hoped at first that just being identical triplets would be enough of a gimmick to get them seen, but so far, it hadn’t worked.

  A man stepped up to her table, and she smiled at him. “Hi! My sisters and are I singing at the opening ceremony tomorrow night. The music you’re hearing right now is a sample of one of our original songs, ‘Lipstick on my Jeans.’ What do you think?” She hated feeling like a saleswoman and not a singer, but that’s how life went these days. You had to sell yourself for everything.

  The man—handsome in a cowboy hat, jeans, and a button-up shirt—tilted his head to one side to listen carefully. He reached for one of the CDs. “Why are there three pictures of you on the cover of the CD?” he asked. “Sisters weren’t as pretty?”

  Emily laughed. “No, my sisters and I are identical triplets.”

  “I like your sound. This is your debut album?”

  Emily nodded emphatically. “I’m the lead singer. Both of my sisters sing back-up, and one of them plays multiple instruments, often a couple of different ones per song.”

  “Interesting. I can’t wait to hear your concert tomorrow night. How much are the CDs?” he asked.

  When she named the price, he nodded. “Very reasonable. I’ll take five.”

  “Five?” Emily couldn’t hide her surprise. She’d never sold even one CD let alone five at once.

  “Yeah, I have a few friends I’ll share them with. You ladies have a good sound.”

  “Thank you.” She handed him the five CDs and took the cash he handed her. “It was really nice meeting you.”

  “I enjoyed meeting you, too.” He tilted his head to one side for a moment, studying her. “I’m Christopher Jackson. I own a ranch about forty-five minutes from here.”

  That explained his presence. “I see. Do you come to the rodeo every year?”

  He nodded. “I’m a big sponsor of it. I tried my hand at bull riding for a
while, but when I inherited the ranch, it was time to settle down and stop toying around with bulls.”

  She grinned and nodded. “I can understand that. I can’t imagine what it must be like to ride a bull that way. It’s got to be scary.”

  “It’s one of the most frightening things I’ve ever done, but the adrenaline rush is amazing.” He tipped his hat to her. “I didn’t catch your first name.”

  “I’m Emily Kelly. My sisters and I are the Kelly Sisters.”

  “I’ll be watching for you.” With that he gathered his CDs and wandered away. Emily grinned at his back. Not only had he bought five CDs, but he had a nice butt. She could get behind that.

  Chris looked down at the CDs in his hand, thinking about a friend of his who was a music producer in Nashville. He would be thrilled to send the CD away, and maybe his friend could do something with it. If he couldn’t, then no big deal. More than anything, he was hoping to run into pretty Emily Kelly again soon. He’d have to make sure it was her, though, because she really did look just like her two sisters. It must be strange to wander around and see other people wearing your face all the time.

  He saw two pretty girls off in the distance who looked identical to Emily, one of them wearing glasses. He had to wonder if she wore them so she’d look different from her sisters or if she wore them because she really needed them.

  Neither of them held quite the appeal of Emily to him, and he couldn’t help but wonder why. They were identical after all.

  He shrugged, continuing through the rows of craft items. He needed to find something for his mother for her birthday, and he needed to do it soon. She wasn’t going to be pleased if he went back home without something.

  By the time her shift was over, Emily had sold a small stack of the CDs they’d brought. She was glad they had more at home. They’d purchased a thousand, knowing it was probably way too many, but she’d sold a good twenty in two hours before the concert. One hundred was all they’d brought for the day, so she and Stephanie would probably need to drive home for more while Brittany manned the booth.

  She explained her plan when her sisters walked up, and Stephanie nodded eagerly.

  “You’ll have to take a bit longer of a shift,” Stephanie said to Brittany. “The drive is an hour each way, but we have to get the CDs as well.”

  Brittany shrugged. “If it’s going to help me stop teaching music lessons, I’m all for it. Just hurry.”

  Emily and Stephanie ran toward the car, and Stephanie got behind the wheel. Emily preferred not to drive, and Stephanie liked to be in control. They were a good pair for doing things together.

  “Crank the air up!” Emily said.

  “Oh, don’t worry about that. Whose idea was it to have an outdoor event in July in Texas? Someone has lost their mind.” Stephanie turned the air up full blast, and then turned the music down. Brittany had driven them there, and she had to have music blasting at all times. “Are you at all nervous about the concert tomorrow?”

  Emily sighed. “I think if I wasn’t nervous, I wouldn’t be worried about doing my best, if that makes sense at all. When we become complacent is when we stop surpassing what we thought we could do.”

  “Makes perfect sense,” Stephanie said. “This is going to be the biggest group we’ve ever performed in front of.”

  Emily understood what her sister was thinking perfectly. Stephanie was nervous being in front of one hundred people, let alone a few thousand. She just wasn’t one to put herself in front of people. “You’re going to do great.”

  “I know. And I won’t be the center of attention. You will.”

  “Very true. After I sing ‘Lipstick on my Jeans,’ I’m going to say you were the one who wrote it, though.”

  Stephanie grinned, shaking her head. “Who would have thought that having my lipstick melt onto my jeans at a football game would ever have turned into a good song for us?”

  Emily shook her head. “Never carry your lipstick in your pocket in the summer in Texas. We all learned a lesson from that.”

  “Yes, we did.” Stephanie merged onto I-45 toward Houston. “How did you like sitting at the table? I wish we didn’t have to do it alone.”

  “I don’t think any of us are going to be willing to do double duty so you don’t have to be alone, Steph. I’m sorry, but it’s just too hot.”

  “I know. I just . . . I wish I wasn’t so nervous. So did a lot of people talk to you?”

  “A lot just came by and asked for the price of the CD when they heard it going. One man stopped and talked for a while. He also bought five CDs.” Emily thought about the handsome Chris who had bought the first five CDs of the day. He’d set the tone for others, that was for sure.

  “I’m glad it went so well. I hate trying to sell anything. I’d probably make more doing what you do, but I can’t imagine trying to sell anything. I’m terrible at it.”

  Emily shrugged. “I don’t like it, but it’s part of the music business now. And if we want to be successful, and we all do, we have to do it. I might hate it, but I’ll hide my hatred from the people buying CDs and handing me money.”

  Stephanie nodded. “I just wish I was more outgoing like you are. Someone stops to talk to me, and I freeze up. Or start quoting inappropriate for the conversation parts of Cyrano. I don’t know how that’s going to help at all, but it’s what I do.”

  “Just talk about how ‘Lipstick on my Jeans’ came about and make sure that’s what you’re playing on a loop on the CD player. Then you’ll have something appropriate to say, and you won’t have to be so nervous.”

  Stephanie grinned. “I think that just might work. Thanks, Em. You’re the best big sister in the world.”

  Emily laughed. “I’m only older by fifteen minutes. Brittany’s got us both beat.”

  “Yeah, but you’re better than her. Hands down.”

  “And how often do you tell her she’s the better big sister?”

  “I’m going to plead the fifth on that one.”

  Two

  By the next evening, all three sisters were getting ready to be on the big stage as part of the rodeo. Stephanie sat staring into space, absolutely terrified about what would happen. Brittany was up and dancing around the room where they waited, singing her heart out to the headphones on her ears. And Emily was preparing with a nap.

  When it was fifteen minutes before the performance, the three sisters gathered in front of a mirror, all gazing at themselves. The more they looked alike onstage, the more people liked it. They had no idea why, but they knew it was better for their image.

  Brittany’s glasses were on her dressing table. Stephanie eyed them all critically before turning and adding just a bit more lipstick to Emily then turning back. They were all dressed in mid-thigh-length skirts, blouses, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. While the styles were identical, Emily wore a dark blue blouse, and the other two wore sky blue. Emily would be out front, so she needed to stand out a bit more.

  “Are we ready?” Emily finally asked, feeling her heart jump into her throat. She didn’t normally get nervous before a performance, but this one was on a level unknown to her before. She knew as soon as she got in front of the crowd and the music started, it would be easy to do what came naturally and sing her heart out.

  Brittany nodded, a huge grin on her face. “I’m sure ready.” It was plain to see she was about to jump out of her skin, she was so excited.

  “I think I can do it,” Stephanie said, grasping her sisters’ hands. “Quick chorus of ‘Lipstick on my Jeans’?”

  The other two nodded, and Emily led off with the first words, “You laugh at me with my lipstick on my jeans,” and the other two joined in, harmonizing perfectly. As soon as they were done, even Stephanie looked ready to be onstage.

  Someone came behind the stage and nodded to the three of them. “You have five minutes. Are you ready?”