Trainer's Treat (Culpepper Cowboys Book 7) Read online

  He blinked a couple of times. “Is that why you were never able to take ballet classes?”

  She nodded. “I wanted to, but my father always refused. He said that girls shouldn’t show their bodies that way.”

  He shook his head. “She’s only six.”

  “I was only six as well.” She shrugged, walking behind the counter to help him buy what he wanted.

  “It sounds like you had an interesting upbringing.”

  “We did. All eight of us Quinlan girls did. Felicity and I had it easier than our cousins, though, because our mother didn’t buy into the religious furor that the others did. Daddy would say one thing, but Mama pretty much let us do whatever we wanted after he left for work. She even homeschooled us, because she didn’t want us to go to a church-run school that would suppress us and try to force us into our father’s belief system.”

  “Wow. I’m glad you had her then.”

  Patience nodded. “Me too. I never understood how she put up with Daddy, but she said she loved him with everything inside her. His crazy religious beliefs had nothing to do with how she felt. She pretended when he was around.”

  “Are we still on for the picnic on Sunday?” He suddenly understood why he’d never seen her at church. She obviously no longer had any desire to go. “We can pick you up after church?”

  She shook her head. “You know, I still have nightmares about stepping foot inside a church, so I’m going to face my fears. If I can do that, I can do anything.”

  “You haven’t been to church since you moved here, have you?”

  “I went to my cousin’s wedding, but I haven’t been to a regular Sunday service, no.”

  “I appreciate you being willing to go with us then. It means a lot to Corinne to be able to show you off to her friends. She’s been telling people about you, and how wonderful and pretty you are, all week.”

  Patience smiled. “Hopefully I can live up to my new reputation then.”

  He laughed. “How could you not?”

  She watched them as they left, smiling after them. She had started to look forward to the ten minutes they had together every morning.

  After they were gone, she turned to see her sister and cousin watching her. “You really like him, don’t you?” Felicity asked.

  Patience shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant about it. “He’s really nice, and he loves his little girl. How could anyone not like him?”

  Grace shook her head. “No, you like him. Like really like him. I have a feeling I know who will be the next Quinlan to marry and stay forever in Culpepper, Wyoming.”

  Patience made a face. “I’ve known him for less than a week. You can’t plan my wedding yet.”

  Felicity looked at Grace. “She’s right. You have to give it a couple more days.”

  *****

  Patience couldn’t believe how sad she was about not seeing Corinne and Ryan on Saturday morning. She wasn’t certain which one she cared about more, but that was probably a good thing. No point in falling for a single father, if you didn’t fall for his child as well.

  She made three of her little individual cheesecakes for their dessert on Sunday, thinking she’d finally perfected them. She wanted to start selling them on Tuesday, if all went well.

  Around lunchtime on Saturday, a couple came into the bakery asking for Grace. “She’s on break. Can I help you with something?”

  The woman shook her head. “No, we really just need to see her for a minute. Tell her Jesse and Valerie are here.” She removed her sunglasses, and Patience recognized her.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Mrs. Savoy. I’ll run and get her. I love your show, but I didn’t recognize you with the sunglasses.”

  Valerie smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Patience hurried to the back and looked at Grace. “Jesse and Valerie Savoy are here!”

  Grace grinned, jumping to her feet. “Thanks!” She hurried to the front with Patience in her wake. She would work on something, but she wanted to at least hear what they had to say to Grace.

  “Hi, Valerie!” Grace hurried around the corner and hugged the other woman. “Are you guys back for good?”

  Valerie nodded. “We’re officially moving into the ranch this weekend.” She looked around the bakery. “I love this little place. I need something with chocolate.”

  Grace thought for a moment. “My cousin, Patience, has been experimenting with a couple of s’mores cheesecake recipes. Does that sound good? She also has a chocolate silk pie that’s to die for.”

  Valerie’s eyes widened, and she looked at Jesse, who had an indulgent grin on his face. “I’ll take one of each.”

  “The cheesecakes are tiny. Enough for one person.”

  “Oh, I’ll need two of those then.” Valerie looked at Patience. “Are you Patience?”

  Patience nodded. “I am.”

  “It’s really good to meet you. I have a feeling we’ll be coming here quite a bit.” Valerie frowned. “You really need tables and chairs though. People should be able to eat in if they want to.”

  “We’ve been talking about that,” Grace said.

  After they were gone, the three of them stood for a moment, before they all squealed. “Our first celebrities in the bakery!” Patience said. “I didn’t recognize them until Valerie took off her sunglasses.”

  “Aren’t they sweet?” Grace asked. “I love them both so much!”

  “You can’t even tell she’s pregnant yet.” Felicity smiled. “Their wedding was so sweet on the season finale this week!”

  Grace sighed happily. “It was. And aren’t they just as amazing in person as they are on the show?”

  They stood there with goofy grins on their faces for another minute or two before they all got back to work. “Fangirling over Lazy Love doesn’t pay the bills, unfortunately,” Patience said. “If only it did.”

  A few minutes later, when they were all deeply engrossed in their work again, Patience’s phone rang. She hurried to pick it up. “Hello?”

  “Patience, it’s Linda.”

  “Oh, hey, Linda. Is everything all right?” Linda had never called her at the bakery before.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just wanted to let you girls know I won’t be home for supper tonight, so you’re on your own.”

  “You won’t?”

  “No, Roy and I are driving into the city for supper. He wants to take me somewhere nicer than what we have available in Culpepper. We’ll be home late.”

  “Have a good time!” After she’d ended the call, Patience looked at Grace and Felicity. “Roy and Linda are going into the city for supper, and they’ll be home late. The implication was that we shouldn’t wait up.”

  Felicity grinned. “Sounds good to me.”

  Patience looked at her sister. “How would you feel about me inviting Ryan and Corinne over for supper? Would you mind?”

  Felicity shrugged. “I’ll feel like a fifth wheel, but other than that, I won’t mind at all.”

  Before she lost her nerve, Patience tapped Ryan’s number on her phone. She knew he worked on Saturdays, so she wanted to keep the call brief. “Linda’s going to be out tonight, so I thought I could cook dinner for you and Corinne? Would you like to come?”

  There was a brief pause, before Ryan responded. “I have a better idea. Could your sister watch Corinne, and the two of us could go to the diner in town?”

  “I don’t mind cooking for you,” Patience told him.

  “I know you don’t, but I’d like to take you out. There’s a small bar in town with dancing as well. I won’t drink, but they usually have a good band.”

  “Sounds good. I don’t know how to dance, but maybe you could teach me. Let me ask Felicity if she’s willing.” She muted the phone. “Felicity, he wants to take me to supper and dancing in town tonight. Will you watch Corinne?”

  “My future niece? I can’t think of anything I’d rather do. Of course, I’ll watch her!”

  Patience smiled as she unmuted the phone.
“Felicity said she’d be happy to watch her.”

  “I’ll pick you up at seven then.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Chapter Three

  Patience showered as soon as she walked in the door from the bakery, wanting to get every stray bit of flour off of her body before Ryan picked her up for the evening. It felt strange leaving Corinne with her sister, because she cared so much for the little girl already, but she loved the idea of being alone with Ryan as well. At least they’d all be going on a picnic together the next day.

  If she and Ryan were going to start dating, she wanted to make sure the little girl was included as often as possible. Corinne didn’t need to feel like she was unwanted.

  She stood in her room, wearing just a bathrobe, digging through her closet, frowning. Finally, she called out at the top of her lungs, “Felicity! I need you!”

  Felicity came running into the room, opening the door. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know what to wear!” Patience knew she sounded like a ninny, but she didn’t care.

  Felicity laughed at her. “Well, let’s see. You’re going out dancing. Country music, I’m guessing?”

  Patience shrugged. “Probably?” She had no idea what kind of music he liked.

  “I have some cowboy boots—no, I have the whole outfit. Wait here!” Felicity hurried from the room, seeming more excited than she should be.

  Patience waited impatiently—She’d never been good at embodying the spirt of her name.

  When Felicity came back a minute later, she had pink cowboy boots, a denim skirt, and a button up pink gingham long-sleeved shirt in her hands. “I think this will work perfectly!”

  Patience’s eyes lit up when she saw what her sister had brought. “Yes, that’s just right!”

  She hurried into the bathroom with the skirt and blouse, coming out a minute later. She spun to the side and looked at herself in the full-length mirror on one wall. “What do you think?”

  “I think it fits like it was made for you.” Felicity tilted her head to one side, studying her sister. “Let’s give your hair a little more body. And you need to wear my cowboy boot earrings. Then it’ll be perfect.”

  Patience dug through her things and found a heart-shaped locket. “Yes, get the earrings.”

  As soon as Felicity came back with them, Patience put them into her ears. “Perfect. Now sit down and let me do your hair. I have just how I want you to look.”

  The sisters weren’t twins, but they were close enough in size that they’d always shared clothes. “I’m so nervous!”

  Felicity laughed. “It’s your first date. Of course you feel nervous.” She bit her lip, looking down at her sister. “So who are you going to listen to? Mom or Dad?”

  Patience understood the question perfectly. Their father never would have let her out of the house with a man without a chaperone. Their mother would have said to go and have a wonderful time! “Oh, Mama. Definitely. I’m going to go and have a wonderful time!”

  “And if he tries to kiss you?”

  Patience shrugged, blushing slightly. She’d never been kissed, never danced with a man, and most certainly never been in a car alone with a man. “I don’t know. Depends on what my heart tells me. Maybe I’ll wait, and maybe I won’t.” She frowned as he sister pulled her hair a little harder than she meant to. “What would you do?”

  Felicity sighed. “You know, I don’t buy into all their weirdness, but I think waiting for the first kiss is nice. Maybe not waiting until the altar like the church preaches, but waiting until the engagement. Or he’s bought me dinner and tries to kiss me maybe…”

  Patience giggled. “I’ll definitely wait until after dinner. How’s that for determination?”

  “You have great will-power, my sister!” Felicity made one last minute change. “Do you want me to do your make-up?”

  “Doesn’t it feel like when we were little girls playing dress-up, and Mama would let us try make-up and fun hairstyles as long as Daddy wasn’t around?”

  “It does.” Felicity took that as a yes, and grabbed the make-up bag from her sister’s bathroom counter. “I think he’s a good man. I’ve asked Linda about him when you weren’t around, and she said he’s been lost since his wife died. She had breast cancer.”

  “I knew she had cancer. Corinne told me.” Patience shook her head. “I feel bad for him. It’s got to be tough for him to be raising a little girl alone.”

  “Does that girl ever not wear a tutu? Because if there’s a time that happens, I have yet to see it.”

  “I really don’t know. I haven’t known them any longer than you have.”

  The doorbell rang then, and Patience jumped up. Felicity put her hand on her sister’s shoulder and pushed her back down on the bed. “I’ll get the door. You make an entrance.”

  Patience made a face. She had no desire to make an entrance. She waited a minute, checking to make sure she approved of Felicity’s job doing her hair and make-up. Sometimes she felt her sister’s hand with the make-up brush was a bit too heavy.

  When she walked out to the entryway, she found Felicity talking to Ryan while Corinne danced around them in a blue tutu. She hurried to the little girl. “I thought Corinne was coming tonight. Who are you?”

  The girl giggled. “I’m Corinne, silly.”

  “Well, you kind of look like Corinne. I mean you obviously have the vacuumed hair thing going on, but you’re wearing blue! My Corinne only wears pink, so you must be a stranger in my house!”

  “Sometimes I get sick of pink, so I wear blue!”

  “Oh, I see. How many blue tutus do you have?” Patience wondered if she should buy a pair of blue butterfly wings.

  “Only one. I never get sick of pink for long. It just lasts for a day, and then I’m back to wearing the color of fairies!”

  “That’s very wise of you.” Patience looked over at Felicity. “I bet my sister would be happy to fix your hair in a non-vacuum cleaner style.”

  Felicity nodded, hurrying over beside Patience and Corinne. “Oh, I would definitely be happy to do that. I did Patience’s hair tonight. I did good, didn’t I?”

  Corinne studied Patience and nodded. “She looks even prettier than usual, and I didn’t think that was possible!”

  Ryan watched the whole thing with a smile. “She does look prettier than usual. Do you think I look handsome enough to take her to dinner? Maybe I should go home and change clothes?”

  Corinne looked at her daddy, her head tilted to one side. “I think you look good enough, but next time, you should bring her flowers. Pretty girls should get flowers.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” His eyes met Patience’s. “Are you ready?”

  Patience nodded. “We won’t be too late,” she promised her sister with a quick hug, before leaning down to hug Corinne as well. “You keep Felicity out of trouble. Sometimes she has a hard time remembering her manners.”

  Corinne nodded seriously. “I’ll do my very best.”

  Patience walked over to stand beside Ryan, feeling very nervous. She realized she’d never even touched the man before, and now she was going to spend the night dancing in his arms. Hopefully, she wouldn’t spend it tripping in his arms. “Let’s go.”

  Ryan looked down at Corinne. “You be good.”

  Corinne rolled her eyes. “I’m always good, Daddy. You be good too.”

  Ryan opened the door for her and led her out to his truck. He opened the truck door, trying to remember the manners that had been pounded into him by his mother. Once she had settled herself, he closed the door and walked around, sliding in beside her. After they were both buckled, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m really rusty in the dating game, so if I mess up, you’ll have to forgive me.”

  She smiled. “I’ve never dated to even get the chance to get rusty, so I will have no complaints. I promise.”

  “You’ve never dated? At all?”

  She sighed. “Do you remember me saying that my father
was very religious? He doesn’t think women should date. He believes in courting in full view of a chaperone at all times.”

  “I—really? So you’ve never really been out with a man at all?”

  She laughed softly. “You are the first man I have ever been alone in a vehicle with. In my entire life. Even my father wouldn’t ever take one of us out alone, because he didn’t want there to be an appearance of impropriety.”

  “That’s insane.”

  She shrugged. “That’s how my life always was before moving here.”

  “You have been here, what? A few weeks?”

  Patience nodded. “Yup. And my two cousins have married since we got here, but they had been set up to marry the men they married long before we left Kentucky.”

  “Wow. I—I’ve never even heard of that kind of thing. Although where Corinne is concerned, I wouldn’t mind adopting those rules. And fitting her with a chastity belt, right before I send her off to the convent.”

  She shook her head, laughing slightly. “I promise she wouldn’t thank you for it later.”

  “I’m sure she wouldn’t.” He sighed. “Raising a daughter alone is hard.”

  “I can only imagine. I’m sorry for your loss.”

  He nodded, not sure how else to respond. “She was a good woman, and she loved Corinne more than I’ve ever seen any woman love her child.”

  “Corinne misses her still.”

  He stopped at a stop sign and looked over at her in the rapidly fading sunlight. “Has she mentioned her?”

  “Several times. She talks to me a lot while we drive.”

  “I’m sure she does.” He smiled sadly. “She never seems to stop, does she?”

  “No, but that’s something I adore about her. And she’s so driven. She knows what she wants from life, and she plans on getting it, no matter what it takes.”

  “I really appreciate what you’ve done by helping us out. I never could have made it work otherwise.”

  “Corinne said you take mean horses and make them nice for people.”

  Ryan laughed. “I guess I do. I’m a horse trainer.”