Part 6 (1/2)
Mandy's eyes got big as she looked from Tracy to Zack and back again. ”You saw Daddy ride broncs?”
”Yeah. Many times.”
Zack couldn't look away from Tracy's gray eyes. He knew she'd seen him ride locally, but had she seen him ride professionally? ”Miz Tracy and I went to high school together.”
”Wow. That was a really long time ago.”
”Oh, ages ago, for sure.” Tracy chuckled and broke the sudden spell Zack was under by looking at Mandy. ”I saw him on TV a few times, too.”
Mandy twisted around, incredulity beaming from her in glowing energy as volatile as a grenade. Tracy had pulled the pin with her words, and he could almost see the energy expanding within Mandy as she bounced up and down until she exploded. ”You were on TV!”
Several amused, and not so amused, folks turned and peered at the trio. Tracy laughed, and Zack scowled at her, muttering, ”Thank you, oh, so very much.”
But inside he couldn't contain the flutter of excitement that Tracy had watched him.
”She didn't know?”
”No.” He'd never told Amanda much about his rodeoing days. He had DVDs of the broadcasts he'd been in, but he'd never shown them to her. It was bad enough she'd conned him into teaching her how to race around barrels. Showing her the DVDs of him riding broncos and winning big silver belt buckles might put it in her little head that she should try it.
”Daddy! You never told me you were on TV!” The aftershock of Mandy the Grenade had him wincing. Several of the onlookers laughed and there were even a few comments that Zack chose to ignore.
”Sorry,” Tracy mouthed and then turned to Mandy. ”Well, it's not like he was on a TV show, Mandy.”
Amanda looked crestfallen and confused all at once. ”He wasn't on a TV show? But you said he was on TV.”
Tracy shook her head. ”Have you ever seen rodeo on TV?”
Mandy nodded, her attention rapt.
Zack stared at his daughter. ”Where did you see rodeo?”
”Uncle Logan and Uncle Lance were watching it one day when I was over at Uncle Lance and Aunt Audrey's when you were working,” she said. A local TV station often played broadcasts of some of the Central Texas events, but Zack never let Mandy watch them.
”When was this?”
Mandy shrugged and fidgeted again. ”A while ago. I wanted to watch the barrel racers.” She puckered her brow. ”I didn't see much of the riders, though. They're too fast.”
”That's how your daddy was on TV. When he competed in the National Finals Rodeo, they showed the events on ESPN. But he wasn't on very long. Only a blip, really.” Tracy added a snap of her fingers to ill.u.s.trate her meaning. Tracy smiled at Zack. ”It could have been anybody being thrown off the bucking horse.”
Several onlookers snickered. Tracy was lying through her teeth and she knew it. Winning any of the NFR events was a huge deal. The two times he'd won the saddle bronc t.i.tle, he'd become an instant celebrityinterviewed by EPSN sportscasters, plus many of the Las Vegas and dozens of Texas news programs.
Mandy's whole body deflated. ”Oh,” she muttered. ”That's all?”
As she nodded, Tracy's smile was the sorriest he'd ever seen. ”That's all.”
Zack wasn't sure if he wanted to wring Tracy's neck or kiss her silly.
Kissing her silly had a definite appeal, but not because she made his winning the NFR bronco t.i.tle seemingly no more significant than being caught on camera crossing the street during a news report of a ma.s.s murder.
Before Zack could respond to Tracy's smirk, Mandy's friend Kayla and her older sister Malinda ran up to their blanket.
Malinda smiled tentatively. ”Hi, Sheriff Cartwright. Kayla and me were wondering if Mandy could come with us.”
”We're getting corndogs,” Kayla chirped and pointed in the direction of the concession stand. ”Our mommy runs the Chow Wagon. There's cotton candy, too.”
Mandy bounced and turned to him. ”Daddy, I'm still hungry. Can I go with them?”
”May I go with them?” Zack corrected automatically, and Mandy rolled her eyes. ”Please.”
With another of her increasingly irritating huffsG.o.d help him when she was a teenagershe repeated resignedly, ”May I pretty please go with Kayla and Malinda?”
”I guess no harm can come of it. Here, get me a corndog, too. And a bottle of water. But stay away from the cotton candy. You don't need any sugar.”
She rolled her eyes again in response.
Zack s.h.i.+fted onto one hip and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. ”People are going to start thinking I never feed you, girl.” He glanced at Tracy. Her c.o.c.ky grin had melted away and her eyes seemed wistful. ”Would you like a corndog?”
”No thanks, I'm fine.”
Mandy jumped to her feet, defusing the sudden awkwardness. She plucked the ten-dollar bill from Zack's outstretched hand and rushed off with her friends. ”I'll be back!”
”You'd better bring back the change!” he called after her.
Tracy's soft laugh had him focusing on her. ”I'd be more worried about her bringing back the corndog and water.”
”Oh, I'm sure I'll never see either of those. She'll forget about even wanting a corndog. Instead, she'll end up eating cotton candy and will be bouncing off the walls half the night.” Zack returned her chuckle and relaxed. ”Heck, she had two bowls of chili before we left the house. She can't be hungry.”
”You know she's bound to figure out just how famous you were at one time.”
”Yeah, I know.”
Tracy snorted and covered her mouth.
”What's so funny?”
Her laugh turned into a mischievous grin. ”What will even be funnier is when she finds out about that calendar spread you did.”
”s.h.i.+t,” he breathed and dropped his chin to his chest. ”I forgot all about that.”
Tracy laughed again, the sound settling somewhere better left forgotten. ”Oh, Zachery James, you should be happy I'm not out to blackmail you. Amanda will be quite surprised at how naughty her daddy was in his younger days.”
He slid a glance at her from under his hat brim. ”Have you seen that spread?”
She looked down at her crossed legs and fidgeted slightly. ”Who hasn't seen it? Ride in the Millennium was a big deal when it came out in 2000. At least, around here it was.”
Zack couldn't hold in the groan. ”Can you imagine the ribbing I got at basic training over that calendar?”
She laughed so hard she bent over. ”Oh, yes, I can! How many times was your underwear stolen?”