Tumbleweed Weddings (57 page)

Great!
How long had they been waiting for them? He had been annoyed when Kandi called this morning at five thirty and asked him to pick her up. Bruce was supposed to drive her over, but Kandi claimed that Bruce’s arthritis was bothering him. So Derek raced over to the MacKinnon ranch, only to discover that Kandi wasn’t ready. He sat in their living room for twenty minutes trying to make small talk with Bruce.

Pulling over to the side of the driveway, Derek killed the engine. “Can you get your own door, Kandi? We need to hurry.”

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed his hat from the middle of the seat and strode toward the van. Kandi ran to his side. He paused to let her get in first. Amid a flurry of greetings, they sat on the empty middle seat. Lane, Callie, and Cheyenne sat in the back.

“Sorry we’re late.” Derek pulled the sliding door shut.

“That’s okay.” Dad threw the gears into D
RIVE
, and they started rolling. “We’ll get some pancakes, no matter how long we have to wait in line.”

Derek adjusted his cowboy hat as he stood in line beside Kandi. He glanced at his watch. Almost seven. They had been standing for a half hour in the middle of the long line. Cheyenne Frontier Days claimed that ten thousand people ate at one of these free breakfasts, and as Derek looked back at the line that stretched four or five blocks, he figured they were right.

Mom and Dad stood beside him, with Kandi sticking to him like a burr under his saddle. She looked pretty today in jean shorts and a white peasant blouse, and her makeup was perfect. Most likely she had been painting her face while he waited for her at Bruce’s house this morning. Derek folded his arms, no longer infatuated with her. If only he hadn’t invited her to attend CFD with their family.

His glance bumped ahead about a half-dozen people to where Callie and Lane stood with Cheyenne. Somehow the three of them had gotten ahead in line. They laughed, and Cheyenne’s musical laughter floated back to him. Derek grimaced, wishing he were standing with them—sans Kandi.

A few minutes after seven, the line began moving. Within fifteen minutes they were at the front, and Derek was handed a plate filled with pancakes and ham. He had to give credit to all those volunteers. They knew how to handle a crowd.

“Oh look at that!” Kandi pointed to the men who cooked the pancakes. They flipped them over their shoulders when they were done, and several boys ran behind the cooks, catching the flapjacks on large platters. She laughed. “I hope those kids don’t miss.”

A smile touched Derek’s lips as he watched the boys. “I’m sure they’ll throw away the ones that land on the ground.”

“I hope so.” Kandi turned to follow Mom and Dad.

Derek followed her, wishing he could somehow signal Mom to keep Kandi company. But she probably thought Kandi was his date. Obviously Callie and Cheyenne were going to hang around together all day, so that left Derek as Kandi’s sole companion. He sighed.

It was going to be a long day.

In the arena, amid hundreds of other spectators, Cheyenne sat next to Callie on a white seat in the grandstand. “Those were good pancakes, and I’m actually full!” She gave a little laugh. “I hope my stomach’s shrinking.”

Callie lowered her voice. “You’re doing great on your diet.”

“Nine pounds so far.” Cheyenne shook her head. “Just doesn’t seem like much.” She glanced down the row to her right. Lane sat on the other side of Callie. He pointed something out to Jake and Derek. All three men wore cowboy hats, and Yvette sported a pretty one made of straw. On the other side of Derek, Kandi listened as Yvette talked to her.

Cheyenne sighed.
What does Derek see in her?
Of course she was pretty and tiny, but Kandi didn’t seem to have much of a personality.

But it doesn’t matter. Today is girl time
. With a smile, she inhaled deeply, smelling all those great smells of a rodeo—horses, leather, and the bodily scents, both good and bad, of the fans. She didn’t need Derek to have a good time.
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

“They’re having barrel racing this morning.” Callie motioned toward the center of the arena, where three fifty-five-gallon barrels formed a large triangle on the mud of the arena floor. “When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a barrel racer. But I didn’t have enough passion to be a good horse rider. I would rather sit in a corner and read a book.”

Cheyenne looked at her. “I’ve only been on a horse one time. Remember?”

Callie laughed then covered her mouth with her fingers. “Sorry.”

“It was your fault!” Cheyenne tried to hide a smile. “Why’d you let me ride bareback? I slid right off that animal, and it was a long way to the ground.”

Callie giggled. “We were only ten years old, Chey. I didn’t know you couldn’t stay on a horse.”

The announcer interrupted their memories, and the arena grew quiet as he announced the competition. A minute later, a brown horse thundered from the arena’s alley. The female rider was dressed in jeans and a Western shirt, complete with cowboy boots and hat. The audience seemed to hold their collective breath as the cowgirl rounded the first barrel, raced over to the second one, rounded it, and galloped up to the third. Rounding that one, she raced back toward the point where she started.

Cheyenne leaned toward Callie. “That girl is skinny.”

“Barrel racers have to be skinny. Think of the poor horse trying to race around the barrels with a big heavy person weighing him down.”

Cheyenne laughed. “That’s why I’m not a barrel racer, even if I could stay on a horse.”

Derek sat forward, leaning his arms on his thighs as he watched the barrel racer cross the finish line. Sitting back, he looked at his dad. “She almost nicked that third barrel with her foot.”

“Yep. She needs to tighten her inside leg against the horse’s flank.”

The score flashed on the electronic board at the end of the arena.

“Nineteen point sixty-three seconds.” Dad shook his head. “She’s not going to win.”

Derek glanced at Kandi, who was looking down at her hands. Was she bored?
How can anyone be bored at a rodeo?
Mom talked to her sometimes, but Derek wasn’t being fair to his mom if he let her carry the conversation. Since he had invited Kandi, he was responsible to see that she had a good time.

He sighed. “Ever see barrel racing before?”

“No.” Her eyes met his. “It looks hard. When she rounded those barrels, the horse was almost sideways.”

Derek adjusted his hat. “The faster, the better. It’s actually dangerous, both for the horse and the rider. But those girls know what they’re doing.” He stopped as another cowgirl raced around the barrels.

When she crossed the finish line, Dad leaned toward him. “She was faster than that first gal.”

The score flashed on the board.

“See there.” Dad smiled. “Seventeen point ninety-eight seconds. She just might win.”

Kandi cleared her throat. “How many barrel racers are there?”

Derek shrugged. “They usually have over a hundred.”

“That many?” Her shoulders slumped.

He nodded. “This competition will last all morning.” He pointed toward the arena. “Here comes another one.”

The girl rounded the first barrel but was thrown from her horse as she rounded the second one. In unison, the crowd rose to its feet. Several workers helped the girl up as the horse pranced off to the side.

Derek sat down with a relieved sigh. “She was going way too fast.”

“Yep.” Dad took his seat. “That little gal should have been more careful.”

A half hour later, as another cowgirl successfully finished her race, Kandi leaned toward him. “Is there anything else we can do, Derek?”

He glanced at her. “Are you bored?”

She nodded, her mouth forming a little pout.

Derek glanced at his mom, but she had her eyes glued to the arena as another cowgirl galloped around. Barrel racing was Mom’s favorite sport at the rodeo.

He waited until the score flashed on the board. Then he turned to Kandi. “Do you want to see the Old West Museum? They sell souvenirs there. Or we could wander around Wild Horse Gulch. That’s like an old Western town. They sell merchandise, too, and even have people walking around dressed in nineteenth-century clothes.”

She smiled. “Souvenirs first.”

He stood, holding in a sigh. “Okay. Let’s go.”

She followed him down the grandstand and out into the sunshine. Dozens of people strolled along the sidewalk.

Derek took her to the museum, wishing he were back at the rodeo. He’d attended CFD since he was a boy, and he wasn’t really interested in the museum or the town. But he would try to be interested for Kandi’s sake.

At noon, after Kandi bought salt and pepper shakers shaped like a pair of boots as well as a CFD T-shirt, they met the others at the Oasis for lunch. Derek’s mom, Callie, and Cheyenne placed food and bottles of water on a picnic table that was shaded by a huge red-and-white umbrella.

Mom looked up as they approached. “We bought hamburgers at the concession stand for everyone.” She set a large box in the middle of the table. “Let’s sit down and say grace.”

Derek waited for Kandi to sit on the bench at the table then sat beside her. Dad asked the blessing. The table was quiet as everyone grabbed a hamburger and started eating.

Dad swallowed his first bite. “You two missed some excitement, son. One of the barrel racers really got hurt. I think they took her to the hospital.”

Kandi shivered as she glanced at Derek. “I’m glad we weren’t there.”

Derek wished they
had
been there. “Who won the competition?”

“Some little gal way down the list.” Dad grinned. “Her score was seventeen point four. She was fast! And she sure knew how to handle her horse.”

“Oh man! I wish I could have seen that.” Derek took a few more bites as the conversation drifted around him. He glanced down the table. Lane and Callie sat across on the other side with Cheyenne at the end. Derek nodded at his sister. “Did you stay for the entire competition?”

Callie leaned forward. “Most of it, but Cheyenne and I spent an hour at the Indian village. I bought some turquoise jewelry, and she bought an arrowhead necklace.”

Kandi perked up. “I love Indian stuff! Where is the village?”

Callie pointed off in the distance. “It’s over on the southeast corner of the park. We even saw a little show they put on by their dance group. They were decked out in their Indian garb and feathers, and their costumes were very colorful.”

Kandi looked up at Derek. “Let’s visit the Indian village after lunch.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You can visit it if you want to, but I’ll be in the arena for the rest of the day to watch the cowboy contests.”

“Oh.” Kandi looked down.

Callie reached out to touch her hand. “I can take you over there. They have something special going on every hour. We’ll go to the arena first so we know where the family is sitting.”

Kandi smiled at her. “Thanks.”

With a relieved breath, Derek added his smile of thanks to his sister. Hopefully that would take care of Kandi for the rest of the afternoon.