Midnight Wrangler (3 page)

In his office, Rohn took a seat at the desk. The old rolling desk chair creaked under his weight. Hell, it could just as well be his bones creaking, given the way he felt lately.

He was bone-deep weary, but he had to cut the guys' checks. He paid them every two weeks and today was both a payday and a Friday—double cause for celebration for the young and wild cowboys of Oklahoma.

The single guys would likely cash their checks and go out on the town, throwing money around buying ladies drinks and hoping to get lucky. Tyler, now that he'd settled down, might use his money to take Janie out to dinner. Though more than likely, knowing the kid and how he loved to tinker, he'd spend a good chunk of his pay on parts for the old truck he insisted on restoring and driving rather than buying a new one.

The day of the week didn't matter to Rohn. Why should it when one day was just like the next? He'd sit in his house alone and hope there was something on television that didn't make him want to blow his brains out.

Rallying his energy after that depressing thought, Rohn leaned forward and reached for the pen. That's when he spotted the small yellow sticky note stuck to the cover of the checkbook. He slid his reading glasses onto his nose and grabbed the note.

In what had to be Tyler's handwriting was the word
GIRLS
and a phone number. He mumbled a cuss that didn't nearly cover all he was feeling when he realized what it was—the phone number for Tyler's hookers.

The number was the local exchange from the next county, just a short drive away. Scowling that he'd even thought that, he tossed the paper into his drawer and slammed it closed.

Shaking his head at Tyler's attempt to be helpful, Rohn cussed one more time as he realized he should tear the thing up and throw it away, not keep it in his desk where anyone could find it, Or, God forbid, he could be tempted to call it in a moment of weakness and extreme loneliness.

He reached into the drawer, grabbed the little square of paper, and wadded it up into a tiny ball before tossing it into the trash beneath his desk.

That done, he still couldn't wrestle his mind back onto the payroll. Giving up for now, Rohn pushed the button to turn on the computer. Of course he'd never consider Tyler's crazy idea to hire a woman to have sex with him, but damn he needed to do something about his lack of companionship, because one more long, lonely winter on this ranch might drive him insane. Like shoot-the-television-with-a-shotgun kind of insane.

When the old desktop computer finished chugging along and finally showed him the screen he needed, he punched the only name he could think of into the search bar—
Matchmaker—
because he kept seeing their damn commercials every night on television.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. That was probably exactly what he was going to find at this site—desperate women. Christ, he didn't want to do this, but he'd be damned if he went to Tyler and Janie asking if they could set him up on a blind date with one of Janie's single female friends.

Never in a million years when he took those wedding vows with Lila twenty years ago did he imagine he'd be back here now. Alone. Lonely. Thrust into the dating world.

An old framed picture of Lila from when she'd been young sat next to the computer, taken in the days before cell phone cameras and digital photography.

Rohn drew in a deep breath and shook his head. “Ah, Lila. Why'd you leave me so soon?”

Then again, Lila hadn't been the first to leave him. His girlfriend from high school had, too. Bonnie with eyes so blue they put the Oklahoma sky to shame.

College had taken his Bonnie Blue away. Cancer took his wife, Lila. Maybe Rohn was just destined to be alone.

He glanced at the screen, amused that Matchmaker's proven dating system guaranteed a perfect match for him and wanted to prove it with a free thirty-day trial.

Would Lila have approved of this online dating crap? She'd be far less disappointed in him for this, than if he'd taken Tyler's suggestion and called a hooker. Of that, he was sure.

Either way, at this point Lila's blessing was beyond his ability to get. She'd moved on to a better place, and until it was his time to join her, he had to move on with his life.

He swallowed the dryness in his throat and clicked on the field for New Accounts, knowing with every fiber of his being he was going to regret it.

Two questions into filling out his profile, when the philosophical shit they asked began to make his brain hurt, Rohn abandoned the form and turned back to the checkbook on the desk.

It was saying something that the paperwork he usually avoided was preferable to setting up his online dating account. One big old warning sign, that was, and a smart man would heed it.

Rohn would decide if he was a smart man later, after he wrote the checks and got some dinner in his belly.

Maybe he'd throw a nice thick steak on the grill. He couldn't fill the void in his life with a female, but it was simple enough to fill the hole in his gut with some tasty meat. And a beer wouldn't hurt.

Of course, one beer would lead to more, and that might not be a bad thing because the sudden resurgence of memories long buried was just going to depress Rohn more than he already was.

Memories of Bonnie Blue in her pretty yellow prom dress.

Rohn slumped against the wall between his buddies Pete and Brian. Collectively they watched their dates gyrating to the beat of the music.

As the disco ball spun above their heads, showering everything in the gym with shards of light like so many pieces of shattered mirror, he was simply grateful to be standing on the sidelines with his buddies. Lena, his date, was more than happy to dance with her friends rather than him.

If Rohn was going to dance at all, it certainly wasn't going to be to some Milli Vanilli song.

“What the hell is with all these huge bows on the girls' asses?” Pete frowned as he watched the same scene as Rohn.

“I know, right?” Brian let out a snort. “Like Mary Beth's ass isn't big enough already, she feels she has to go and decorate it with that big butt-bow?”

Rohn laughed. It was a sad day when the first string of the football team had to resort to talking about dresses, but Pete's observation was true. There was no getting away from the gigantic bows tonight.

Even Rohn's date, Lena, was sporting the big butt-bow. You couldn't miss the damn thing, it was so big and shiny. Though the whole dress was shiny. When she'd walked beneath one of the spotlights the DJ had set up, Rohn had been nearly blinded by the reflection off the dark blue satin.

He'd told Lena that her dress was nice, even if he really wasn't feeling it. He figured it was his job as her prom date to say shit like that.

If he was nice enough to Lena, who knew what could happen? Maybe he'd even lose his virginity for real tonight. That would be one burden lifted off his shoulders since he'd been lying to the other guys on the team for a couple of years now by saying he'd already done it.

He'd even made up a whole scenario about how he and his father had been away for the weekend at a stock auction and rodeo. About how he'd met a barrel racer a couple of years older than he and how they'd done it in the field where she had her horse tied up when his father was asleep in the trailer.

Rohn had been very proud of himself for crafting that particular lie. It was completely untraceable and pretty damn believable, if you asked him.

He glanced around the space. The school's activity center was barely recognizable with the overhead lights off. The colored spotlights flashing in time with the beat of the music were the only illumination. It made it hard to see, and to walk. Rohn had been bumping into people all night.

Too dark to see or not, he was thirsty, which meant he'd have to take the hike to the snack table and buy something to drink.

“I'm gonna go grab a Coke. Tell Lena where I went if she asks.”

“A'ight.” Pete nodded, his eyes still on the gyrating girls in front of them.

Rohn didn't know what his friend was so busy staring at. It wasn't like he could see their asses wiggling behind the butt-bows, anyway.

His suit had to be the most uncomfortable thing he'd ever worn. It was bad enough he'd had to rent one at all, but then Lena had insisted he buy a blue shirt and tie to match her dress. He looked like an idiot with a navy-blue shirt that matched the color of his tie exactly.

Who did that? Not that he knew about fashion, but wasn't the tie supposed to stand out from the shirt? If not, why bother wearing the dang thing in the first place?

Maybe it was a good thing it was so dark. No one would see his stupid shirt and tie.

Out in the hallway the snack table was manned by students who he guessed must have volunteered to work there for the night. Or at least for a shift.

It was far quieter there and the lights were actually on in the hall where they'd set up the table. Rohn had to think they had the best seat in the house because being inside with the pounding bass and the spastic lighting was beginning to make him twitch.

He walked up to the table and waited his turn. When the kid in front of him had paid, Rohn took a step closer to the table. “Coke, please.”

The girl seated behind the table looked up at him, her eyes, blue like the color of the cornflowers that grew along the highway, widened as if she knew him. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Rohn tried to place where he knew her. It was a fairly big school, and his was the largest year. That meant he hadn't been in classes with everyone in his grade. He asked, “You a senior?”

She nodded. “Yes. We have lunch during the same period.”

Hmm, he would have thought he'd remember this girl from the cafeteria. Her hair was as golden as a sunny field of wheat. She might possibly be the only girl there tonight with hair that wasn't twice the size that nature had intended. Hers was pulled back into an intricate braid. He liked it.

He tried to glance behind her without being too obvious. He suddenly needed to know if she was sporting the butt-bow like the rest of the clones on the dance floor or if, as he suspected, she really was unique. One of a kind.

“I like your dress.” Unlike before when Lena had asked, he actually meant it.

“Thanks, Rohn.” A blush crept across her cheeks, making her even prettier. But he was more intrigued that she knew his name when he had no clue what hers was.

“What's your name?”

“Bonnie.”

Rohn tipped his head to the side. The name fit her perfectly. “Bonnie blue eyes, nice to meet you.”

“Bonnie Martin, actually. And it's nice to meet you, too.”

He was having fun talking to this girl, but he was still thirsty. “So, do you have any Coke left?”

Her eyes flew wide. “Oh. Sorry.”

She got up from her chair and spun around to lift the lid of the cooler behind her. Just as he suspected, she was bow-free, and rather than the slippery fabric of his date's dress, hers was made from a pretty, flowing material that billowed like a cloud when she moved.

Bonnie turned back toward him and put the icy can down on the table. He waited for her to tell him how much it was. When she didn't, he asked, “How much?”

“Oh, um, seventy-five cents.”

“Okay.” He threw down a dollar. That sent her scrambling for change in the metal box in front of her. He would have told her to keep the change but she was so intent on taking out the quarter, he would have felt bad, ungrateful even, telling her she didn't have to bother.

The quarter held between her two fingers, she thrust her arm toward him. “Here you go.”

He reached out his hand. As she pressed the coin into his open palm, the warm skin of her hand brushed against his. He stood, fascinated, staring at where her smaller hand touched his.

Rohn raised his gaze and met hers, amazed one more time at the clear blue color of them. Finally he cleared his throat. “Uh, thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

The song had ended and another one had begun. A slow one this time. Lena would most likely be looking for him to dance. Regretfully, he picked up the soda. “I guess I'd better be getting back inside.”

“Oh. Okay. Have fun.”

Something about the sadness in her eyes had him hesitating. “You ever get to leave this table? Or are you stuck here all night?”

She laughed. “No. We get to leave. I only volunteered for an hour shift and that ended a little while ago.”

When she smiled, her whole face changed. It made him regret he couldn't ask her to slow dance.

How messed up would that be? Asking Lena to be his date and then asking the girl at the soda table to dance? Though to be fair, Rohn had only asked Lena because Pete had asked her best friend. He'd kind of been strong-armed into the whole thing.

“Well, you should go and enjoy yourself. That dress is too pretty to hide behind the table all night. You should take it out for a spin on the dance floor.”

“Okay.” She blushed and he smiled, finding he enjoyed getting a reaction out of this girl.

“Promise?” he asked, teasing her some more and loving how she had trouble holding his gaze now because of it.

“Yes. I promise.”

“Good. See you later, Bonnie Blue.” He winked.

After having had a lot better time at the snack table than he had the whole night, he left his new acquaintance with regret and headed back inside.

“What took you so long?” Pete frowned at him.

“It wasn't so long.” Rohn shrugged. Popping the top, he looked around them. “Where are the girls?”

“Bathroom,” Brian answered.

A flash of yellow by the door caught Rohn's attention. “Hey, either of you know anything about that girl standing alone by the door? The one in yellow. Her name's Bonnie Martin.”

The two glanced her way. Brian nodded. “Yeah. She lives out by me.”

“Really? She says she's a senior, but I wonder how come I never noticed her before.”

“Because she's in the advanced classes, not in the dumb jock ones you're in. That's why,” Pete teased. “I heard she got into Arizona State.”

Rohn's brow furrowed. “Hey, I got into college, too.”

“Yeah, NEO.” Pete snorted.

“NEO's a good school.” Rohn was heading to North Eastern Oklahoma A&M in the fall to study agriculture and hopefully play on the football team. It was a good school and he was proud to have gotten in, no matter what his friends said.

“Not as good as ASU where smart girl over there is going.” Pete just liked to argue, about everything and anything. Rohn knew that from experience, but he was happy the conversation had swung back to the topic he was interested in. Bonnie.

He turned to Brian. “So she lives near you? Where?”

“Her dad owns the wheat fields you can see from the highway right before you make the turn for my road. In fact, I gotta stop by there this week. I heard he's looking to hire some help for the summer.”

Wasn't that interesting? Rohn just happened to be looking for a summer job, and he couldn't think of a better place to look for it than at pretty Miss Bonnie's place.

Rohn would stop by the next day. Since tonight was going to be a late night, if he couldn't get there first thing in the morning then he'd go as early in the day as he could manage because he'd be damned if Brian got there first.

“Hold this. I'm gonna go take a piss.” Rohn held the can out to Pete.

“Sure. But I'm warning you. I'm probably gonna drink it.”

“Go ahead. I don't care.” Leaving his friend and his Coke behind, Rohn spun toward the bathrooms.

A few steps into his journey the DJ decided to turn on the strobe light, making it nearly impossible to see, and even harder to walk.

Not getting the fascination with being blinded, Rohn mumbled under his breath. He pushed through the door to the hall and smacked directly into someone.

Someone dressed in yellow.

He reached out to steady the girl, who'd reached for the nearest wall as he knocked her off balance. “Bonnie. Sorry. You okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.”

Rohn's hands were still wrapped around her forearms. More, he realized he didn't want to let go even though she was no longer in danger of falling over. He finally dropped his hold. “Um, so, you probably don't want to go in there right now. The lights are pretty crazy.”

“Oh, okay.”

He nodded, satisfied he'd offered proper warning. “I was just heading to the bathroom.”

“Sorry. You go ahead.” She turned to head down the hallway.

“Bonnie?”

“Yeah?”

“You look really pretty tonight.” It was just a simple compliment, but it had Rohn's heart thundering as he said it.

She smiled at him, and he was lost. “Thanks.”