Part 5 (2/2)
Zack held onto Amanda's hand and looked over the crowd gathered for the first game of the Colton Junior Cowboys and the Hamilton Broncos Wednesday evening. Football always drew a large crowd in this part of Texas. And the Pee Wee Flag Football League wasn't an exception. The limited seating offered by rickety bleachers was filled to capacity and blankets and lawn chairs lined the sidelines. Every available s.p.a.ce seemed to be filled.
If he hadn't promised Mandy they would come to the game, he wouldn't be here. That morning, Zack got the news that another rustling happened in a neighboring county. Herb Milroy was convinced the same thieves. .h.i.tting up ranches in Forest County were involved.
Later in the day, Zack had been stuck at the office longer than his s.h.i.+ft for a meeting with the Texas Rangers and FBI investigators involved in Leon Ferguson's multiple murder case. When he'd gotten back to the ranch, one of the foremen cornered him with information that a strip of fencing between his share of the CW Ranch and a neighbor was down. His neighbor's stud ended up on Zack's side of the fence with his recently purchased thoroughbred mares. Lord only knew what damage to his mares that big paint stallion ended up doing.
As he tried to shake off the bad day, he looked over the spectators. The game had already started and the Junior Cowboys had scored the first touchdown.
Mandy tugged on his hand. ”Hey, there's Miz Tracy. She has plenty of room on her blanket. Let's go sit with her.”
Before he could protest, Mandy let go of his hand and weaved her way around the other cheering spectators. She stopped beside the worn blanket on which Tracy lounged with her arms braced behind her and her long, bare legs crossed at the ankles. She'd kicked off her sandals and they lay beside her slender feet. The early evening sun played in the long hair flowing over her shoulders, picking out golden highlights from the brown. Tracy had no idea just how s.e.xy she was with her lean body dressed in denim shorts and a t-s.h.i.+rt.
When Tracy looked over her shoulder at Amanda, he watched a winning smile light up her sculpted face. She said something to Mandy, but Zack was too far away to hear. However, as Amanda sat next to her, he a.s.sumed it must have been an invitation. A knot formed in his throat as Tracy put her arm around his daughter's shoulders, hugging her close. Mandy smiled at Tracy and said something that made her laugh. Even from the distance, he heard the husky whisper of her laughter.
Tracy looked over the heads of those sitting behind her and greeted him with a tentative smile of invitation. Every brain cell still holding an ounce of reasoning screamed at him to grab his daughter and sit somewhere else. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have enough of those brain cells left.
Zack sat on the blanket beside Mandy and looked out over the field as a kid from the opposing team ran the football until a Cowboy deflagged him, downing the ball.
He looked at Tracy and smiled. ”Hi. Thanks for the seat.”
”You're welcome.” Tracy pulled her legs up to sit in an identical pose to his six-year-old. Something Mandy called crisscross applesauce. He knew it as Indian style, but he supposed these days everything had to be politically correct. ”You making an official appearance? Or are you here to watch someone in particular?”
”I guess it's an official appearance, and I promised to bring Mandy. She wanted to see Bobby play.” Zack suddenly found himself tongue-tied. Looking for something else to say, he asked, ”Your parents aren't here?”
”Nope, they decided to take a drive down to Fort Hood for a few days to visit the general in charge. Dad's friends with him.” She shrugged and a clump of her dark hair fell over her face. She pushed it back and held it there for a few beats as if that would make it stay in place. ”I'll be glad when they get home. Those two furb.a.l.l.s they call dogs are driving me nuts. I'm so not looking forward to watching them when they go back to Was.h.i.+ngton in a couple of weeks.”
Zack laughed and followed the movement of the lock of hair as it fell over the side of her face again. ”Dog sitting?”
She nodded and pulled one of those big fabric ponytail things out of her pocket. As she pulled her hair back and secured it with the thing, she said, ”Now that I have more room, I'd love to get a dog, but I want a real dog, not a yapper.”
”We have an Austrian herder.” Mandy looked up at Tracy. ”Daddy says they are the best dogs alive.”
Tracy smiled and squeezed Mandy's shoulders in another embrace. ”I like them, too. I'd really like to have a Labrador, but convincing my mom might be hard, and she lives at my house, too. She doesn't like bigger dogs.”
”Really? Why not?” Mandy asked.
Shrugging, Tracy let go of Mandy to fold her arms into her lap. ”I'm not really sure. I think she was bitten as a kid and is afraid of them. She wouldn't have Cinnamon and Ginger if my dad hadn't gotten them for her before he went away to the war the last time.”
”We should bring Bailey over for your momma to meet. She's a great dog.”
Tracy glanced at Zack and then returned her attention to Mandy. ”Maybe that would work.”
Zack had sensed the tension between Tracy and her parents at the wedding. ”That's going to be a big change for you. Living with your parents, I mean.”
”Yep.”
”I can't imagine living with mine again either.”
She pulled her knees up and hugged them. When she sucked in her bottom lip between her teeth, he knew she was unsure about something. At last, she said, ”You always had your house to come home to. Even when your grandparents were alive, the old house was always earmarked as yours.”
And it could have been yours, if you hadn't cheated on me.
Mandy's voice broke through the painful thought. ”Which player is Bobby?”
Tracy looked at Mandy, her pride in her son obvious in her smile. ”He's number ten. The quarterback.”
”Wow. He throws the ball, right?” Mandy looked at Zack.
He gently yanked on one of Mandy's pigtails. ”He sure does.”
Just like his father did.
But Tracy's not with Jake anymore.
”Bobby has to be really good, I guess.” Mandy came up on her knees and fidgeted a few moments as she watched the next play on the field. ”He said his daddy is the coach.”
”Yes, he is.” Tracy's voice had an edge to it.
Everyone in the county knew Jake Parker had been a rising high school football star. He'd earned a football scholars.h.i.+p to Texas A & M his junior year of high school by leading the Mavericks for two straight years to the state champions.h.i.+ps. He'd been touted as the best quarterback the school had ever seen before and since. But Jake lost the scholars.h.i.+p and the chance to make something out of himself when a riding accident took it all away.
Many people in the county would have loved having Jake coach the high school team if he'd been qualified, meaning if he had a college education. However, there were just as many who didn't think Jake was fit to coach anyone, especially a group of impressionable young boys who would do anything to please Coach Parker.
Zack looked back at Tracy, but she had her attention on the plays on the field. He wasn't even sure who had the ball. ”I get the impression you aren't thrilled about the choice of coach?”
When Tracy took a deep breath, the blue and white Junior Cowboy Logo of her t-s.h.i.+rt stretched over her chest. Did she ever go without a bra as she had when they'd dated?
Dear G.o.d! He had to get a grip. He forced his eyes to the nine- through twelve-year-olds on the football field and off speculating about Tracy's underwear. h.e.l.l, he was acting like a hormone happy fourteen-year-old!
”Not particularly.” She raised a brow, and he realized she'd probably caught him ogling her chest. ”So, Mandy, do you play any sports?”
”Not really.” Mandy shrugged and shook her head. ”Daddy's teaching me to barrel race my pony. He won't let me try on Holly, my horseyet. He's being a big stick in the mud. Says I'll get hurt.” She punctuated the statement with a dramatically exasperated huff.
A corner of Tracy's lips twitched upward as she looked at Zack. ”Really.”
”I want to ride in the rodeo at the fair next summer.”
”Imagine that. I'm sure you'll do well.”
Zack had to put a stop to where this was going, and fast. ”I told you we'll see about the rodeo.”
Mandy's eyes turned to his, and she lost some of the cheerfulness. ”Just because Momma didn't like you doing rodeo doesn't mean she won't like me to.”
If Tracy noticed his tensing at the mention of his reason for quitting the rodeo, she ignored it. ”Your daddy was a really good rodeo cowboy. I still remember the thrill he'd give when I watched him.”
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