Montana Wild (11 page)

Reluctantly she slowed Jack down, not wanting to overwork him. They walked a short distance to a stream where she dismounted and let him drink. Stroking his side she spoke to him.

“Jack, you seem to always be there when I need you. What would I do without you? You’re the only friend I can talk to right now.” He looked at her and she reached high to hug his neck. Starting to walk, she pulled on his reins.

“I guess we should head back. Hector’s probably going to be pissed. I’m not supposed to be riding you. Why do they think you’re so unpredictable? You seem so level headed to me. I think you’re probably a very good judge of character; you just call ‘em like you see ‘em, which is not a bad way to be. I wish more people were like that. Then you’d know where they’re coming from. Less unpleasant surprises.” Walking Jack all the way back to the ranch, she led him into the corral and went to face the music with Hector in the barn. He had to have heard her approach, but did not look up.

“I’m sorry, Hector. I’ve no excuse for what I did, but I am sorry if I angered you.” She looked at him.

“I’m not mad at you, Jamie,” he said with his heavy accent, “but if
Señor
Kevin finds out about it, he’ll be angry.”

“Well, he won’t find out but if he does, I don’t care. I don’t know what all the fuss is about Jack anyways. He seems to be pretty even-tempered to me. Maybe he’s scary because of his size.”

“I don’t think he is a bad horse, but I’ve seen him rear at people. Most of the time I think they deserved it for one reason or another, but I understand
Señor
Kevin wanting to be very careful so that no one ever gets hurt.” Hector kept brushing his horse. “Did you brush Jack down?”

“No, but I will.” She never considered anything that had to do with Jack as a chore.
“Gracias.”

Hector smiled as she took her leave, shaking his head. Jamie groomed Jack, and then completed her last few tasks of the day. Running had always been therapeutic for her, so she changed clothes and went for a long run. Using this time to rethink her situation, she was angry. Angry at herself for straying from her own hiatus.
Serves me right. Maybe now I’ll listen to myself.
Returning to her cabin, she showered and thought of going to bed but she was too hungry. Instead she donned clean clothes and headed for the mess hall.

In awe, Jamie wondered how every night Consuelo managed to put out such a delicious spread. The fact that Jamie put in a day of hard physical labor coupled with being outside surely enhanced her appetite, but man, the woman could cook. Jamie filled her plate and as she walked toward the table, Ben motioned her to the empty seat beside him.

He looked at her with questioning eyes. “You doing okay?” and he nudged her shoulder with his.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She nudged him back. “Thanks for asking.” She smiled up at him.

“Hey, do you want to help me out with something, since you seem to know a lot about oldie music?” Ben asked her.

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Well, I don’t know if I told you about this bet I got myself into? Anywho, it’s coming up this week and I haven’t practiced much. Kenny offered to let us practice there for about an hour before the bar starts to pick up for the night so I’m going there shortly. Crystal is supposed to meet me there, but she doesn’t seem to be as excited about this now as when we first agreed. I think we both could use some tutoring, if you’re free. We won’t be gone long.”

Is he kidding?
She barely remembered the details of his predicament but it didn’t matter. This was the answer to her prayers. The last thing she wanted to do was hang around the ranch and chance running into Kevin and his girl.

“Sure, I’d love to.” Jamie could hardly conceal her enthusiasm. They finished eating and Ben got up to go.

“I need to get a few things ready. Meet me at my truck in about 15?”

“Sure.” Relief flooded her.
Thank God
, she thought to herself as she tried to keep her thoughts from drifting back to Kevin.
Don’t think about it, and it won’t hurt. What was I expecting anyways? Did I think a good-looking guy like that didn’t have a woman around?
The thought tugged at her heart again. She needed to keep her mind busy. Jamie got up and walked over to Consuelo, complimenting her again on the wonderful food. As she chatted with Consuelo, she started helping out with some of the cleanup. It was fun talking with a woman for a change. There was so much testosterone around this place. She finished up the few dishes that were left, then went out to meet Ben.

As she approached, Ben loaded a few bags into his truck. Jamie hopped in the front seat and Ben set the truck in motion. As they passed Kevin’s log home, Jamie could see Lola sitting on the side porch with a martini in her hand.
Don’t look. Don’t look.
Ben looked but said nothing.

“So tell me, Ben, exactly what kind of wager did you get yourself into?” Jamie asked, smiling.

“Oh damn, where do I start? Some of the guys and I were goofing around at the bar with the jukebox, singing old songs. There were a few of the townies, guys and girls, there that we hang with sometimes and they started challenging me on singing some old songs and calling me a hippie. They know I have a collection of old vinyl albums. As we were remembering old songs and old artists, we got on Sonny and Cher songs. They were one of my favorites and I bet them that I knew every song and move that they ever did. They didn’t believe that a cowboy like me could do Sonny.

One thing led to another and I was challenged to perform on stage at the bar. One of the girls was looking for an idea for a fundraiser for the homeless shelter in town and
viola
. Don’t ask me how. Well, yeah, I know how. Too many beers and I agreed. Crystal and I have kind of been dating recently and she egged me on to do it. She’s going to be Cher. The girl that’s in charge of the fundraiser has taken a monetary pledge from people in the area if I complete one Sonny and Cher act. For those that haven’t pledged ahead of time, the bar is going to charge a cover for anyone that wants to come in that night, and the bar has agreed to match a percentage of the pledges. So it looks like I am destined to make a fool of myself in front of most of the town, but at least it is for a good cause. If I don’t do it, there’ll be no money for the shelter, so I’m kind of stuck.”

“Oh, but you’ll be great, Ben. You will! And it’ll be fun too. You like old music. You’ll do great!” Jamie offered her encouragement.

“Well, if I can just encourage Crystal. I think she might be rethinking this, but it’s too late now. She already agreed to it. In fact, a lot of this was her doing that night. No time to be shy now! We’ve practiced a few times at her place but we need to practice at the bar to see how we’ll situate ourselves there. I’m a bit nervous but the show must go on. Right?”

“Absolutely! I love your spirit, Ben. Besides, public humiliation is a small price to pay for charity.” Jamie laughed and gave Ben a playful punch in the arm.

“Yeah right. Keep reminding me of that, okay?”

They arrived at the bar and parked the truck. Ben hopped out, retrieved his bags, and held the door as they both entered the bar.

“Hi, Kenny.” Ben spoke to the owner. “You remember Jamie from the other night?”

“Sure. Hi, Jamie. Good to see you again. Are you here to help this poor schmo? He’s gonna need all the help he can get.” Kenny laughed.

“Yeah, keep laughing, Kenny. Keep laughing. Just you wait, you may end up begging me to book more gigs here after Thursday night. And I may up my price if you don’t shut up.”

“Yeah, right. I’d better be careful.” Kenny was still laughing.

“Where can I set up?”

“Up there on the stage. I have the mics plugged in, just turn them on when you’re ready. We can practice with the sound system and lights when you’re good to go.” Kenny motioned at the stage and then left them alone.

Ben looked at his watch.

“I hope Crystal didn’t forget. She wasn’t too keen about coming when I talked to her a couple of hours ago. We’ve been fighting a bit this week and I know she’s kind of mad at me but we need to rehearse here at the bar.”

Jamie helped Ben set up the stage and mics. He took his costume out of the bag and she couldn’t hide her amusement. He had bell-bottom jeans, a large cream-colored sheep skin vest, platform shoes, and a shaggy wig for himself.

“Those are great!” Jamie squealed with laughter as Ben donned the wig.

“Look what I’ve got for Crystal.” He pulled out skinny jeans with extra-large bell-bottom flared legs, a striped tunic top with a short vest, large hoop earrings, and a long straight black wig.

“But here’s the best!” He held out his hand showing what appeared to be fangs. “Remember how Cher had those fanged canines in the early days? I thought these would be great!” He held one up to his mouth.

“Oh, those are too much!” Jamie laughed again.

“What’s too much?” came an angry voice from the back of the bar. A thin, pretty blonde with an agitated look on her face marched up.

“What did you do, Ben?” She sounded irritated.

“Hey, Crystal. Have you met Jamie?” He nodded to Jamie. Jamie smiled and was about to speak when Crystal cut her off.

“No. Hi.” Barely looking at Jamie, she repeated. “What did you get? What’s that?” She looked at his outstretched hand with the two fangs in disgust.

“These are great. They’ll add a little humor to our act. Look.” And he held them up to his mouth to show her.

“You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna wear those, so put them away. What else do you have for me?” He didn’t seem to know where to put the fangs so Jamie offered her hand and he placed them there with a sorry smile.

“I got a shirt and vest, bell bottom jeans, and look at the wig! It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” he asked, hoping for approval.

“It’s a little extreme, isn’t it? Nobody wears their hair that long unless they are kind of freaky. And what’s with those bangs?”

“It’s not supposed to look like today’s style. We’re talking the 60’s and 70’s here, babe,” Ben informed her.
She just doesn’t get it
, Jamie thought to herself and began to worry about how this was all going to come together.

“You keep that, I’ve got my own.” Crystal looked over the rest of the costume disapprovingly. “I’ve got my own clothes too.”

With his smile fading, Ben handed Cher’s outfit and wig to Jamie. She stuffed the canines into the pockets of the bell-bottoms and folded the clothes up. Crystal really knew how to take the fun out of the moment. The tension between the two was palpable but Jamie kept out of it and backed away as they began to discuss the costume and the act itself. Jamie found a chair toward the back of the bar and made herself comfortable. This could be a long night.

Ben and Crystal made their way onto the stage to plan their entrance, where they would stand, and how they would interact during the song and the finale. It was obvious that Ben knew every word and mannerism of Sonny and Cher and tried to school Crystal on it, but she fought him every step of the way. Finally she gave in and agreed to everything Ben choreographed. Hopefully she’d finally realized that Ben knew what he was doing.

Kenny set up the music from the back of the bar. They worked with Kenny and one of his maintenance guys on the entrance, when to start the music, volume control, lighting, everything. They ran through the music once and it was rough. Crystal’s heart was not in it and she refused to repeat the rehearsal.

“I’ll practice more at home. I’ll have it perfect, don’t worry about it.” Unsure if she convinced Ben but Jamie didn’t believe a word.

Crystal sounded so harsh when she talked to Ben. What was she so angry about? What Ben saw in her, she didn’t know. She did not impress Jamie, and Crystal had made it pretty obvious that she had no desire to befriend her.
Fine with me,
no loss there
. Crystal made her excuses and left. Ben face was lined with concern.

“She’ll have it worked out by Thursday, I know she will. There’s no way Crystal wants to get up in front of a crowd and make a fool of herself. She’ll have it all worked out. I gave her a DVD of Sonny and Cher to watch and learn their moves.” Jamie knew Ben was trying to convince himself, not her. He had more at stake than Crystal as he’d been bragging about his act for the last two weeks. The charity manager had even put up posters around town advertising Sonny and Cher’s debut. Man oh man, he was in it now, and in it over his head.

Jamie tried to offer encouragement but it did little to comfort Ben.

“Hey, how about a beer, Jamie?” There was no way she could refuse, she knew he was worried and she wanted to help any way she could. They stored the costumes in the back room because Ben wanted to make sure everything was already on site and ready to go.

Ben and Jamie sat at the bar and ordered a couple of beers. As they drank and talked, Ben seemed to relax and this made her happy. Guys didn’t come much sweeter than Ben, and Jamie had a soft spot for him. No one, least of all him, deserved to be treated the way Crystal did him.

“How long have you and Crystal been seeing each other?” She wanted more insight into their relationship, hoping they hadn’t gotten too serious.

“Just a couple of months. She wasn’t herself today. She’s usually more fun than that.” Ben looked thoughtful.
I hope he’s rethinking his feelings about her. I think she’s a bitch.
She was pretty enough all right, but her personality left much to be desired. Eventually Jamie wanted to be frank with Ben and tell him that he should not tolerate anyone treating him like that, especially someone that was supposed to care for him.
Been there, done that
. She did not know Ben well enough to be so brutally honest, but given a little time or a couple of beers and she may. A few of the townies joined them at the bar and Ben introduced Jamie; they were friendly and entertaining talk ensued. As the night wore on, the bar livened up. More than a couple of guys walked up to Ben, slapped him on the back, and egged him on about the upcoming event. Ben good-naturedly took it all, seeming to enjoy the attention.

Some of the ranch hands showed up and it was fun seeing more familiar faces. Feeling like one of the gang now, Jamie drank, laughed, and danced. It was a good night, considering the pain that still ached in her heart. Even though she was having a good time, she couldn’t help missing Kevin; it didn’t seem right that he was not here with them. And Jamie didn’t even want to think about what he might be doing right this minute with Lola. Every time her mind wandered to that subject, she would take a drink or get up to dance, anything to keep her mind occupied with something else.