Riverbend Reunion(89)

Lily stepped up in front of everyone and spread her hands out wide. “All y’all need to step back. Bodacious is about to be turned loose from this truck. He’s going to come out mean and snortin’ and pawin’ at the ground, but I’m determined to tame the critter.”

Jessica giggled and then laughed out loud at Lily’s antics. Soon the whole bunch of them were guffawing. The guy, whose name tag read Billy, jumped out of the truck and shook his head.

“I’ve seen people happy to get their electronic bulls, but never this happy,” he said.

“Then you never delivered one to a couple of sixteen-year-old girls, did you?” Wade asked.

“That I have not.” He opened the back of the truck, and there was Bodacious lying on his side. “Show me where you want this old boy set up and I’ll get busy.”

Wade slipped his arm around Jessica’s shoulders. “It’s coming together one step at a time,” he said, “but I keep waiting for something to set us back.”



“I know exactly what you’re talking about,” she said with a nod. “I hope when it does, we can work our way through it.”

“We will,” Wade said. “Together we can conquer most anything. What do you think about selling your RV to Zach?”

“I’d sell it to anyone who has the money to buy it, but what if it’s contingent upon us renting him part of your space in the barn?” she asked. “What do you know about him?”

“That he’s a damn good sign painter, and that he was about two years ahead of me in school. He was a loner, too, and he’s never married, is basically shy and a good man. Sometimes he plays dominoes with Oscar and me on Sunday afternoons. He comes along with his Uncle Gary when he isn’t working on a job,” Wade answered.

“Do you like him well enough to share your barn and this place with him?” Jessica asked.

“I guess I do,” he said. “I don’t reckon I’m going to have a lot of time for odd jobs once we open up for business anyway, so I won’t be using my woodworking tools very often. They could be pushed all the way to the back of the place.”

“You decide that part, and we’ll talk among us about letting him park the RV behind the barn if the deal works out,” she said. “Right now, we’d better get in there and see if Lily can stay on old Bodacious for the full eight seconds.”

“And then let Daisy choose the first song on the jukebox after she has a ride,” Wade agreed.

Together, side by side, and in step with one another, they crossed the porch. Leaving the August heat behind and going into the cool foyer made chill bumps pop up on Jessica’s arms and neck. “That’s kind of a shock to the skin,” she muttered.

“Yep, but it sure feels good,” Wade agreed.

Billy had Bodacious up and running in less than two hours, showed them how to work the controls, then got back in his truck and left without even a wave.

“A man of few words,” Mary Nell said when he was gone.

“Yep, but we weren’t paying him to have a conversation with us,” Haley said.

“Daisy, you got your five dollars ready?” Lily picked up an old straw cowboy hat from under the bar and jammed it down on her head.

Her sister held up a bill. “I’ll add five to it if you let me control the switch.”

“Bring it on, Sister,” Lily said. “This is my lucky hat, and I’m saving for a pair of cowboy boots. For now, I’ll be the first girl to show Bodacious who is boss and do it in my bare feet.”

Jessica was so happy that she wanted to hug herself. Then, out of the clear blue summer sky, a feeling of doom settled over her.

A vision of the little girl that she dreamed about so often popped into her head. Was that the other shoe dropping that she had feared and Wade had mentioned? Was the thing that would ruin her and Wade’s relationship the fact that neither of them could get over the past, and move on to the future?

What if Lily got hurt on that thing? Sure, there was padding all around it to soften the fall if she didn’t stay on the mean-looking critter for eight seconds, but time didn’t matter here. She could get thrown off and hurt in two seconds or even six or seven. She could land wrong, break a rib, puncture a lung, and die in seconds. In that moment, Jessica wished that she had never agreed to buy the damned thing.

Risa laid a hand on her arm and whispered, “We can’t protect them from everything, but I’m terrified about letting either of them get on that thing.”

“Me too,” Jessica said in a low voice. “They’ve become like my nieces, or maybe even my daughters.”

Lily climbed on and settled on Bodacious’s back, wrapped the rope around her left hand, and threw her right one up in the air. “Let ’er rip, Daisy,” she yelled.

Lily gave it all she had, but she took a tumble after six seconds and got up giggling. “That’s enough for me. I’d rather play in a band as ride bulls, but it was fun. Your turn, Daisy, and I owe you ten dollars.”

“We’ll see. If I stay on eight seconds, then you owe me.” Daisy jerked the hat off her sister’s head and crammed it down on her light brown hair. Then she climbed up on the bull’s back and got into position. “I had it at medium speed, so you can’t make it go any faster than that.”