Page 43 of Revelry (Cowgirls Do It Better #2)

Gertie

“I’ll be back,” Tate said, his voice hard.

I looked up and saw his attention fixed over my head. His jaw clenched and I followed his gaze. I spotted the man and two children I’d seen outside Tate’s house at Halloween. The man who had sent him into a mental health spiral. His father.

I nodded. “Sure, you go. Let me know if you need me.”

He looked down at me and stroked over the apple of my cheeks, his eyes flitting back and forth between mine like he wanted to say something. Then he pressed a hard kiss to my forehead and was gone.

A moment later his father was dragged to my stall by his youngest child, desperate for ice cream.

“Hi there,” he said, smiling at me and the deep lines around his eyes crinkled. He had dark eyes, a shade or two darker than Tate’s, though not as bright. But the nose was the same and the smile that Tate was showing more and more was the same as this man’s.

I vaguely recognized him. I must have dim memories from seeing him when I was a child, before he left his whole family and sent them into a tailspin that Tate still hadn’t recovered from.

He cocked his head. “Do I know you?”

“Erm, I live next door to Dr. Wilder,” I replied. I don’t know why I called him Dr. Wilder, only that I couldn’t say Tate. I expected the man to react and shut down at the mention of the son he abandoned but if anything, he lit up.

“Is he here tonight?” he asked, eagerly looking around.

I glanced in the direction Tate had gone. I didn’t want to lie; he could just bump into him in a few minutes’ time and that would be horrible for everyone. The sullen teenager by his father’s side also followed my gaze, his face lifting with hope at the mention of Tate.

“He is,” I began. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea that you approach him.”

His expression faltered slightly. “Oh. Well could you maybe pass on a message for me? My name’s Scott, I’m his father.”

I twisted my hands together, my gut clenching. “Yes, I know who you are. I don’t know, I don’t want to get involved,” I replied, reluctantly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put you in an awkward position,” Scott said gently and then turned to his youngest child who was tugging on his arm. “What do you want, kids?”

“What’s this?” The little boy pointed at the Rainbow Surprise which was down to its last scoop.

“Rainbow Surprise, and it’s been mighty popular, so you’d better get the last bit while it’s going,” I teased. His smile lit up as he glanced at his father who nodded.

“What would you like?” Scott asked the moody teenager whose cool glance flitted up from his phone for a moment before returning. Scott sighed. “Come on, it was your idea to come here tonight.”

The teen assessed the ice cream. “Nothing.”

I tried not to take it personally, especially as the teen’s eyes flicked to me and lingered before losing himself back in his phone.

“Teenagers,” Scott rolled his eyes, smiling. “Can I get a Chocolate Cookie Sandwich?”

“Sure.” I got to work scooping, my wrist starting to hurt from the repetitive strain. I handed the youngest his rainbow cone with sprinkles. He had one lick before his eyes widened and he squealed.

“It tastes like a rainbow!”

I laughed. “That’s what I was aiming for.”

“She’s magic,” he whispered to his father. I laughed again before handing over the chocolate ice cream scoop smushed between two cookies.

“Thank you, uh?”

“Gertie,” I replied.

“Thank you, Gertie. Have a lovely evening,” Scott said then paid and walked away.

He hadn’t pushed me any more to speak to Tate, but it was clear he wanted to connect with him. I had expected him to try and get around me but he didn’t. He accepted what I’d said and that his son didn’t want to speak to him, even though I could tell it broke his heart.

A while later, I was packing up, amazed that I had almost nothing left, just some last few chunks in the bottom of tubs. My pockets were overflowing with cash for charity and I couldn’t wait to bask in the success with Tate and thank him for helping me, for pushing and supporting me.

I was almost finished when the teenager, Tate’s half-brother, came back over.

“Hi,” I said, shocked he was on his own.

His eyes were bright when he asked. “Which flavor does, um, Tate like?”

“Oh, uh, he likes this one.” I pointed to the Strawberry Dream, the last little bit that I was saving for Tate.

“Can I have that?” His hopeful expression softened me towards him. “Please?” he added.

I was saving it as a thank you but I’m sure there were other ways I could thank Tate. Also, I’d left a whole tub in his freezer and I could always make him more. I felt like I would be making Tate this ice cream for the rest of his life at this rate.

“Sure. Sprinkles or sauce?”

He looked over his shoulder and was bouncing on his feet like he was in a hurry.

“Does Tate have either of those?”

“No, that’s far too messy and he likes to taste just the ice cream,” I replied.

“Then just the ice cream, please. Same as him.”

“You want to be like him, huh?” I joked, but the teen’s eyes dipped and his mouth pulled down.

He reluctantly nodded and I paused, realizing how much he looked up to his brother that he didn’t even know.

How he clearly did want to be like Tate, was probably eager to get to know him based on how excited he’d seemed when he thought Tate was close by.

“I keep trying to meet him. Keep trying to get us close but it doesn’t work out,” he blurted. Then shook his head like he shouldn’t have said that. “How much is that?”

I held out the cone. “Four dollars.”

“Oh crap, I only have three. I’m sorry.” He fumbled in his pockets but kept coming up empty.

“Tell you what, I’m done now anyway so you’re doing me a favor by taking this last drop off my hands. Less for me to throw away, so just take it.”

He glanced at me, that teenage skepticism in his eyes. I waved the ice cream at him, trying to entice him.

“Thank you, that’s real nice of you,” he said, taking it from me.

“Enjoy!” I cheered, hoping he loved it as much as his brother did. At least they would have something in common.

He started to walk away but stopped and came back. “Can you tell me something about him?”

My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know much about him. I just want to know something. Dad doesn’t really know him, and he’s already told me everything he did know.” He scuffed his feet in the dirt, his ears turning pink.

“Oh, well. He’s pretty grumpy,” I laughed.

“He’s…” How did you boil someone down to just one thing, especially a man as complex as Tate Wilder?

I floundered, thinking about all of Tate’s amazing qualities before landing on my favorite.

“He’ll support you until the cows come home, if he really believes in you. ”

The kid’s eyes widened. “Yeah?”

“Yep. He’s…wonderful.”

He nodded, mulling it over and eating his ice cream. His eyes flared as the tart strawberry flavor hit his tongue. “This is delicious.”

I laughed. “Now you have something in common, you both love my ice cream.”

“Jake?” I heard someone call through the crowd and the kid started and quickly thanked me again before hurrying off.

I watched him go, saddened at the thought of him being so desperate to know Tate and taking scraps of information from strangers.

That he’d been trying to meet Tate and get close to him.

I wondered if Jake was the reason that they’d ended up on our street trick-or-treating, especially if it was his idea to come here.

I shook it off, not wanting to get involved but maybe I should mention it to Tate and see what he thought. He’d been pretty open to everything else I’d suggested to him over the last couple of months, so maybe I could talk him around on this too.

As I finished packing everything up, people occasionally came over to ask if I had anything left. Even though I had to tell them no, a little thrill shot through me that there was a demand for it. Maybe Tate was right, there really was something here.

Maybe I could really do this.

Buoyed by my success, I went in search of him. It was getting late and most of the families had gone home, leaving behind cowboys and their ladies.

“Flirty!” I turned to see Kat running towards me and she flung her arms around me squealing. “All I’ve heard anyone talk about is your freaking ice cream, you’re such a queen! I’m so proud of you!” she shouted.

I laughed, my cheeks flushing with her praise. “Thank you, Kitty Kat. I couldn’t have done it without your vendor bailing.”

Her joy diminished slightly. “I’m just sorry I didn’t ask you in the first place. I’m a shit friend.”

“No, don’t be silly. I never would have thought I could do this if I hadn’t had to pull it together last minute. Maybe I could… I don’t know, do it again sometime? If you have another event?”

“Oh my God, in a heartbeat!” Kat enthused, brushing a curl off my forehead. “But would you really only wait for the next opportunity? You wouldn’t want to explore it yourself?”

“What about the ranch?”

“The ranch is my dream, not yours. And from what Tate says, you could make this a serious business.”

I scrunched my nose. “Tate said that?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah, the man wouldn’t stop singing your praises!”

My cheeks flushed with joy. He was such a sweetie under all that stern grumpiness. “Have you seen him?”

Kat hesitated. “Um, not recently but the Cowboylesque show is about to start so why don’t you come watch that?”

“I want to find Tate first.”

Kat’s grip on my arm tightened. “Come and watch the show, you won’t regret it.”

She tugged me over to the front of the stage where the lights dimmed slightly and a crowd was gathering. Maddy, August and Tilly sidled up next to us in the front row.

Daisy appeared and introduced the Reverence Cowboylesque troupe.

“Welcome to the stage, The Wranglers! And careful ladies, you don’t want to end up on the end of their lasso…or do you?” she teased with an exaggerated wink.

I snorted as the lights lowered more and Pony by Ginuwine blasted out from the speakers at full volume. Then four men came out from behind the stage, swaggering with their Stetsons pulled low over their eyes, their lumberjack shirts all different shades, and wait, did I recognize all those chaps?

One by one they lifted their Stetsons. First there was Jack and Kat screamed wildly next to me.

Followed by Leo who received the same treatment from Maddy and a few other ladies in the crowd that recognized their local rodeo hero.

Max pulled his Stetson off, giving the crowd a wink and Tilly squeaked next to me, her wide eyes roving all over him.

Then all eyes turned to the final man and when that Stetson lifted and he grinned wide, I nearly fainted.