Suddenly Sexy (6 page)
Authors: Linda Francis Lee
Tags: #Women television journalists, #Man-woman relationships, #Single women, #Contemporary, #General, #Romance, #Adult, #Fiction, #Athletes, #Texas, #Love stories
during the cooking segment. "You forget who you're talking to."
He glanced at her in question.
"You know more than you realize," she assured him, placing her hand on
his forearm. "You know all about taking care of little kids, about
making them feel safe."
He studied her, a lock of dark hair falling forward on his brow.
Instantly she felt awkward and surprisingly shy.
"Besides," she quickly added, dropping her hand away, "it's just for a
month."
"A month." He straightened and stared off into space. "A month," he
repeated, the words sounding
more comfortable on his tongue. "Sure, I can do a month. How hard can
it be?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Good news
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Love?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: 0 ye
p.s. He's not a bad kisser either.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Kissing?!!!
little intrigued. But only in the
academic sense.
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Katherine Bloom
Subject: I'm at home
News Anchor, KTEX TV West Texas
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Jesse has a son?!
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Katherine Bloom
Subject: Child
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Questionable motivation
Julia Scarlett Boudreaux
Jesse had made.
"Pop-Tarts," Travis stated in a thoughtful, considering voice as the
morning sun rose in the distance.
Katie had already left for work, leaving the new father and son to make
heads or tails of their first day together.
"There's powdered sugar doughnuts, too," Jesse offered.
"A real health nut."
Jesse would have laughed if he hadn't been disconcerted about the fact
that he had said those exact
words to Katie. Had it really been only twenty-four hours since then?
He had stayed up late last night, sitting at the tiny table in the
guest cottage in shock.
Travis.
His son.
He still couldn't believe it.
He didn't want a son, at least at this point in his life.
And he definitely didn't know what to do with one. He also couldn't
believe he had offered to take
care of him until Belinda got settled.
But it was the strangest feeling seeing this kid. Shock, yes, but
something else, something that made everything else in his life seem
less significant. Which he couldn't believe he would actually think.
He was on the verge of winning the PGA Championship. He had the
opportunity to truly make a name for himself in this gameâas a golfer,
not as some bad boy whom the media loved to talk about. Which meant he
needed to practice. Concentrate. Focus. But all he could do was think
about the fact that he
had a son. And that made him think about his own father. A place he had
no interest in going.
After his mother died, it had been just the three guysâ Dad, Derek, and
Jesseâeach trying to find a
way to deal with Janie Chapman's death. He had been ten, Derek
eighteen, while their father lapsed into shock.
It had been six-year-old Katie who came to Jesse the night of the
funeral, slipping into his house after
all the people finally left and his dad and brother had gone to sleep.
She'd had her stuffed bear crammed under her arm as she climbed up
beside him.
"It's gonna be okay, Jesse," she had whispered, sticking her little arm
underneath his neck as he stared
up at the ceiling. It was the only time he let himself cry.
He had woken up at four in the morning, that damned bear clutched in
his arm, Katie curled against his side, sleeping the sleep of the dead.
As quietly as he could, so he wouldn't wake his father, he had shaken
her awake, taken her hand, and
led her barefoot through the lattice archway to her house. It was 4:15
by then, and when he pushed through the back door to the kitchen, her
mom was sitting at the table, crying. It wasn't a secret that
Mary Beth's newest husband had just moved out.
Even at that age Jesse could tell Katie's mom would be considered a
beautiful woman, fiery and wild.
It was like men were drawn to her in spite of better sense.
"Hi, Jess," Mary Beth had said to him, wiping her eyes, before adding
to Katie, "Hey, sleepyhead."
Just that, nothing elseâno lectures, no outrage that he was bringing
her daughter home at that hour.
She didn't even move to take Katie to her room. Instead, he was the one
who tucked her into bed.
For years, Katie came and went from her house at all hours. More often
than not, Jesse knew, Mary
Beth was too self-absorbed, too caught up in concern over some man to
notice when Katie was gone.
When he returned to the kitchen that early morning he shrugged, feeling
awkward. "See ya."
"Jess?"
He stopped with his hand on the knob.
"I'm sorry about your mom. She loved you a lot."
His throat started to work again and his eyes burned. But he swallowed
it back. No more crying.
"Thanks."
He raced out the door, across the yard, slipping back into his own bed
just before his dad got up to fix breakfast. Carlen Chapman didn't say
much to his boys for months, a strange spiraling distance widening
between them until Jesse felt like he was losing his father, too. But
Carlen had kept his sons fed and clothed.
Food and clothes. Two things a parent had to provide for a child.
Jesse glanced at the plate of Pop-Tarts. "You need more to eat than
that."
Travis stared at his new dad. Not exactly a new dad like the new
stepdads some of the kids at school got. This guy had been his dad from
the beginning, though no one had known it except his mom. So really,
Travis reasoned, he was a new-to-him dad.
Jesse Chapman was really tallâ
please,
please, please, let me get tall like him
âand handsome in a movie
star kind of way, not really a dad kind of way. In fact, his dad really
didn't seem much like a
dad at all.
Without so much as a
What do you
want to eat?
, Jesse looked in the refrigerator, and Travis could
tell
he was surprised by what he saw. "Eggs," Jesse said.
"Yeah, Kate said we couldn't live on Pop-Tarts alone."
"You talked to her?"
"This morning before she left for work. She got up early and went to
the grocery store."
"She must have gotten up real early."
"Yep, said she didn't want to leave us here without any food." He
laughed. "She's really nice."
His dad looked out the window, and the guy kind of laughed, thinking of
something that made him smile and shake his head at the same time.
"Yeah," Jesse said, "she's nice." Then he got back to work on all that
food.
Travis sat at the table, trying to decide if he should mention the fact
that Kate had stopped at McDonald's and gotten him a Big Breakfast
after she went to the store. She hadn't gotten anything for herself,
only had some cereal and coffee, saying, "
No more fat thighs for me
." Which,
Travis reasoned, must be why she left the house wearing ankle weights.
Travis decided not to tell Jesse about the Big Breakfast or the ankle
weights.
"I saw you swimming this morning," Travis offered instead, dubiously
eyeing the eggs going into a skillet. "You remind me of that swimmer
lady on those old movies my mom likes to watch. Esther Williams."
All that got was one dark eyebrow raised kind of funny, like he wasn't
all that happy about being compared to Esther.
"Not that you look like a girl," Travis added hastily. "I just mean
you're a good swimmer. Like Tarzan. Yeah, Tarzan in the really old
movies. Though you swim way better than him. You put your head in the
water. Tarzan does that weird above the water thing, like he doesn't
want to get his hair wet. Though
why Tarzan would care about wet hair, I don't know. He's hanging out
with Cheetah. Do you really
think a monkey cares?"
Jesse looked at him like he was trying to figure out if he was supposed
to answer that. It was the same kind of look that tons of people gave
him when he talked.
"Do you watch a lot of old movies?" Jesse asked.
Talking! With his dad! "They're my mom's favorite. Did you know that?"
That got more silence, and it belatedly occurred to Travis that his dad
probably didn't know a whole lot about his mom, because he almost
hadn't recognized her. Which couldn't be great, since Travis knew all
about how kids were made.
Jesse set a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of him.
"Yum." He tried to sound enthusiastic about the mounds of food.
They ate in silence, until Jesse went all still and his head jerked up
and he asked, "What do you usually
do during the summer?"
"Me? I hang out."
"Doing what?"
He shrugged. "Watching TV and stuff."
"While your mother's at work?"
"Sure."
"Who stays with you?"
Travis sat up straight. "I'm twelve. Old enough to take care of myself."
Jesse tapped his fork against the rim of his plate and considered. "You
can't just hang out."
"Why not?"
Jesse ignored that. "How about some kind of summer program? Something
that interests you."
Great, more school
, Travis
groaned silently. "Like what?"
"I don't know. Archery? Maybe chess?"
"Chess?" He made a face.
"Then what about chemistry?" Jesse picked up his cup. "Mixing
ingredients. Doing experiments. I used
to love chemistry. Or geology. I bet they have a summer program for
kids at the university."
That's when it occurred to him. Travis worried his lip, and it was all
he could do to keep the excitement from spilling over. "What about golf
lessons?"
His dad kind of jerked and coffee sloshed over the rim.
"I bet I'd be really great," Travis enthused. "You're a golfer. And
your dad was one, too."
"How'd you know that?"
Travis blushed. "I read about you and him. There's tons of stuff about
both of you. They say your
dad could play, but you're the one who won all the trophies. Didn't
your dad ever win?"
Jesse got another look on his face, a weird one this time. "My dad won
plenty," he said. "He was a
great golfer in his day."
Waiting expectantly, Travis thought there'd be more to the story. But
more wasn't coming. "I read that you're about to win a really big
tournament. It sounded totally great." He pushed some eggs around.
"I also read that all the girls love you."
Jesse's brow furrowed.
"They say you can get a girl in your bed faster than any other golfer
around. Cool."
"Cool? This conversation doesn't fall underneath the heading of food or
clothes."
"Huh?"
"Nothing. Just don't believe everything you read, kid. And it sounds to
me like you'd make a great reporter. Maybe Katie could get you a summer
internship down at the station."
Light-headed with disappointment, Travis tried to smile. "Yeah, maybe."
When his mom had told him they were going to see his father, he'd been
totally excited. He had assumed Jesse would feel the same way. Didn't
dads have to be excited about that kind of stuff?
Now, sitting here, with Jesse looking at him so strangely, Travis
figured that dads didn't have to be excited, or maybe they just
wouldn't be excited about a kid like him. He knew he sort of blended
in. Though when he didn't blend in, it was worseâway worse. Other kids
said he talked too much.
"Can I turn on the TV?" he asked.
It looked like Jesse debated his answer. But he must not have wanted to
have to talk anymore, either, because he said, "Okay."
This whole father-son thing sure wasn't working out like Travis had
hoped.
With a turn of the switch, the tiny screen came to life. Travis sat
back and was eyeing the bacon and
toast in silent misery when Kate appeared on the screen.
"
Good morning, West Texas!
"
"Hey, look, it's Kate."
They stopped eating, or pretending to eat.
"
Today I'm at Tumbleweed Trails for a
chat with rodeo star Cowboy Bob
."
Jesse and Travis looked at each other. "Cowboy Bob?" they said in
unison.
Kate was dressed in a buckskin vest with fringe running down the sides,
plus matching buckskin pants,
it looked like, though it was hard to be sure since the screen cut off
the bottom half of her. She stood
next to a gigantic redheaded man in the biggest cowboy hat Travis had
ever seen.
"She looks kind of uncomfortable," Travis mused.
"Who wouldn't be, dressed like that? It's got to be ninety out there
already. I wouldn't be surprised if
she faints."
"It looks like Cowboy Bob could handle her if she did."
Jesse scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that he looks strong enough to pick her up and carry her off if
something happens."
Sure enough, Cowboy Bob swept Kate off her feet, though it had nothing
to do with fainting. She gave
a squeal, and the cowboy sort of staggered a little bit. But seconds
later, she was sitting high atop a
horse that looked as surprised as Kate didâand about as happy.
"Wow!" Travis was enthralled, his breakfast forgotten. "Did you see how
he picked her up?"
Jesse wasn't nearly as excited.
Travis peered closer at the screen. "What's she doing? Looks like she's
trying to hide her feet."
"
Well, uh, Cowboy Bob, please tell
our viewers a bit about the flora and fauna
."
"She's wearing workout shoes"âTravis watched as Kate scrambled to tug
down her buckskin pant
legsâ "and, oh man, she's still got on those ankle weights!"
"Ankle weights? What the hellâheckâis she wearing those for?"
"I don't know, but when she was walking out the door this morning, I
heard her say something about needing to reinvent herself."
"What?" Jesse blurted out, before he shook his head. "Katie, Katie,
Katie. It's always when she tries
too hard to do something crazy that she gets herself in trouble." Then
he whistled. "If she's trying to reinvent herself, let me tell you,
Travis, we're in for big trouble around here."
"Do you think?"
"I know."
"
You want me to tell you about Flora
and Fauna?
" The cowboy laughed. "
I think I mighta dated a
couple of gals named that. Though I
can't imagine you came all the way out here to talk about them.
But I'd be happy to tell the folks at
home what I'm thinking about you.
" He whistled.
She cut him off abruptly, her lips pursing like a mad schoolteacher's. "
Thank you, but that really isn't necessary.
"
The man leaned one strong forearm on the pommel of the saddle, winked
directly into the camera, then looked at her in a way that heated the
already blistering hot day.
"Did you see how he looked at her?" Jesse demanded, setting his coffee
cup down with a thunk.
"
Now sit back, little lady, I'm going
to give you the ride of your life
."
Her eyes went wide. But seconds later they narrowed.
"Uh-oh," father and son said at the same time.
"
Mr. Bob . . . ah . . . Mr. Cowboy.
"
She shook her head. "
Sir!
" she
stated primly.
Then all of a sudden she froze and turned to the camera. Travis would
have sworn she blanched white. With an amazing amount of effort, she
smiled. "
Ha, ha!
" she laughed,
though she didn't look like she thought anything was very funny. "
You're having fun, right, Cowboy Bob
?"
When the cowboy didn't say another word, only glowered, Kate got real
nervousâand kind of panickyâthen started reeling off facts and figures
regarding the desert surroundings with mind-numbing speed. She even
said something about the state capital of Texas.
He glanced at her in question.
"You know more than you realize," she assured him, placing her hand on
his forearm. "You know all about taking care of little kids, about
making them feel safe."
He studied her, a lock of dark hair falling forward on his brow.
Instantly she felt awkward and surprisingly shy.
"Besides," she quickly added, dropping her hand away, "it's just for a
month."
"A month." He straightened and stared off into space. "A month," he
repeated, the words sounding
more comfortable on his tongue. "Sure, I can do a month. How hard can
it be?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Good news
I have
everything arranged for
Kate's next
Getting Real
segment, which is scheduled to air tomorrow morning. I met with the
good people at Tumbleweed regarding the cowboy interview.
I feel confident that our viewers will love the show.
xo, Juliaeverything arranged for
Kate's next
Getting Real
segment, which is scheduled to air tomorrow morning. I met with the
good people at Tumbleweed regarding the cowboy interview.
I feel confident that our viewers will love the show.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Love?
I'm still
not sure what the draw
is of this segment. Kate surrounded by horses and bales of hay, talking
with someone none of us has ever heard of? Sounds unappealing to me.
Chloenot sure what the draw
is of this segment. Kate surrounded by horses and bales of hay, talking
with someone none of us has ever heard of? Sounds unappealing to me.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: 0 ye
... of
little faith. The appeal is
who Kate will be talking to. The cowboy is a hottie. I felt it only
good business to take the man out to dinner to ensure that he was
capable of carrying on a
decent conversation ... with Kate, of course. Though really,
conversation isn't necessary.
He's a true hunk.
xo,jlittle faith. The appeal is
who Kate will be talking to. The cowboy is a hottie. I felt it only
good business to take the man out to dinner to ensure that he was
capable of carrying on a
decent conversation ... with Kate, of course. Though really,
conversation isn't necessary.
He's a true hunk.
p.s. He's not a bad kisser either.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Katherine Bloom
From: Chloe Sinclair
Subject: Kissing?!!!
You took a
man out for a business
dinner and let him kiss you? Julia, really. Though if he really is that
good looking and if we run some promos beforehand during the morning
news, we can count on decent ratings. What is it about women that makes
them susceptible to a well-proportioned cowboy?
Chloe, disgusted... okay, and aman out for a business
dinner and let him kiss you? Julia, really. Though if he really is that
good looking and if we run some promos beforehand during the morning
news, we can count on decent ratings. What is it about women that makes
them susceptible to a well-proportioned cowboy?
little intrigued. But only in the
academic sense.
Â
p.s. Kate,
where are you?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------where are you?
Â
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Katherine Bloom
Subject: I'm at home
We've had a
bit of a trauma here.
We need to make the cowboy interview fast so I can get
back to the house since Jesse will no doubt need help with his son.
Katebit of a trauma here.
We need to make the cowboy interview fast so I can get
back to the house since Jesse will no doubt need help with his son.
p.s. I
received the ankle weights
and workout shoes you got for Chloe and me. It's really sweet, Julia,
but
as I said when you mentioned getting them for all of us, I truly can't
imagine wearing them.
Katherine C. Bloomreceived the ankle weights
and workout shoes you got for Chloe and me. It's really sweet, Julia,
but
as I said when you mentioned getting them for all of us, I truly can't
imagine wearing them.
News Anchor, KTEX TV West Texas
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Â
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Jesse has a son?!
Good God,
what are you talking
about?
JJJJJJ!what are you talking
about?
Â
p.s. Your
loss if you don't wear
the ankle weights... the ad guaranteed that they would give
a girl a sexy little butt and great legs in no time if you wear them
regularly. I've got mine on now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------loss if you don't wear
the ankle weights... the ad guaranteed that they would give
a girl a sexy little butt and great legs in no time if you wear them
regularly. I've got mine on now.
Â
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Katherine Bloom
Subject: Child
It turns
out our Jesse experienced
at least one moment of unprotected sex in his lifetime. And
now he has a twelve-year-old boy to prove it. Travis will be staying in
my extra bedroom while
his mother looks for a job.
Kout our Jesse experienced
at least one moment of unprotected sex in his lifetime. And
now he has a twelve-year-old boy to prove it. Travis will be staying in
my extra bedroom while
his mother looks for a job.
p.s. Sexy
butt in no time? Perhaps
will reconsider ankle weights...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------butt in no time? Perhaps
will reconsider ankle weights...
Â
     Chloe Sinclair
From: Julia Boudreaux
Subject: Questionable motivation
Inviting
the child to stay in the
house? And Jesse's child at that. Seems to me there is more to your
motivation than sheer cramped quarters. Careful, sugar. I don't want to
see you get hurt, and while
I was never very good at math, I can add and subtract. If the boy is
twelve, my calculations put his conception
at just about
the same time you were proclaiming your undying love in the tree house.
xo,the child to stay in the
house? And Jesse's child at that. Seems to me there is more to your
motivation than sheer cramped quarters. Careful, sugar. I don't want to
see you get hurt, and while
I was never very good at math, I can add and subtract. If the boy is
twelve, my calculations put his conception
at just about
the same time you were proclaiming your undying love in the tree house.
Julia Scarlett Boudreaux
Five
Jesse and Travis sat at Katie's kitchen table, staring at the breakfastJesse had made.
"Pop-Tarts," Travis stated in a thoughtful, considering voice as the
morning sun rose in the distance.
Katie had already left for work, leaving the new father and son to make
heads or tails of their first day together.
"There's powdered sugar doughnuts, too," Jesse offered.
"A real health nut."
Jesse would have laughed if he hadn't been disconcerted about the fact
that he had said those exact
words to Katie. Had it really been only twenty-four hours since then?
He had stayed up late last night, sitting at the tiny table in the
guest cottage in shock.
Travis.
His son.
He still couldn't believe it.
He didn't want a son, at least at this point in his life.
And he definitely didn't know what to do with one. He also couldn't
believe he had offered to take
care of him until Belinda got settled.
But it was the strangest feeling seeing this kid. Shock, yes, but
something else, something that made everything else in his life seem
less significant. Which he couldn't believe he would actually think.
He was on the verge of winning the PGA Championship. He had the
opportunity to truly make a name for himself in this gameâas a golfer,
not as some bad boy whom the media loved to talk about. Which meant he
needed to practice. Concentrate. Focus. But all he could do was think
about the fact that he
had a son. And that made him think about his own father. A place he had
no interest in going.
After his mother died, it had been just the three guysâ Dad, Derek, and
Jesseâeach trying to find a
way to deal with Janie Chapman's death. He had been ten, Derek
eighteen, while their father lapsed into shock.
It had been six-year-old Katie who came to Jesse the night of the
funeral, slipping into his house after
all the people finally left and his dad and brother had gone to sleep.
She'd had her stuffed bear crammed under her arm as she climbed up
beside him.
"It's gonna be okay, Jesse," she had whispered, sticking her little arm
underneath his neck as he stared
up at the ceiling. It was the only time he let himself cry.
He had woken up at four in the morning, that damned bear clutched in
his arm, Katie curled against his side, sleeping the sleep of the dead.
As quietly as he could, so he wouldn't wake his father, he had shaken
her awake, taken her hand, and
led her barefoot through the lattice archway to her house. It was 4:15
by then, and when he pushed through the back door to the kitchen, her
mom was sitting at the table, crying. It wasn't a secret that
Mary Beth's newest husband had just moved out.
Even at that age Jesse could tell Katie's mom would be considered a
beautiful woman, fiery and wild.
It was like men were drawn to her in spite of better sense.
"Hi, Jess," Mary Beth had said to him, wiping her eyes, before adding
to Katie, "Hey, sleepyhead."
Just that, nothing elseâno lectures, no outrage that he was bringing
her daughter home at that hour.
She didn't even move to take Katie to her room. Instead, he was the one
who tucked her into bed.
For years, Katie came and went from her house at all hours. More often
than not, Jesse knew, Mary
Beth was too self-absorbed, too caught up in concern over some man to
notice when Katie was gone.
When he returned to the kitchen that early morning he shrugged, feeling
awkward. "See ya."
"Jess?"
He stopped with his hand on the knob.
"I'm sorry about your mom. She loved you a lot."
His throat started to work again and his eyes burned. But he swallowed
it back. No more crying.
"Thanks."
He raced out the door, across the yard, slipping back into his own bed
just before his dad got up to fix breakfast. Carlen Chapman didn't say
much to his boys for months, a strange spiraling distance widening
between them until Jesse felt like he was losing his father, too. But
Carlen had kept his sons fed and clothed.
Food and clothes. Two things a parent had to provide for a child.
Jesse glanced at the plate of Pop-Tarts. "You need more to eat than
that."
Travis stared at his new dad. Not exactly a new dad like the new
stepdads some of the kids at school got. This guy had been his dad from
the beginning, though no one had known it except his mom. So really,
Travis reasoned, he was a new-to-him dad.
Jesse Chapman was really tallâ
please,
please, please, let me get tall like him
âand handsome in a movie
star kind of way, not really a dad kind of way. In fact, his dad really
didn't seem much like a
dad at all.
Without so much as a
What do you
want to eat?
, Jesse looked in the refrigerator, and Travis could
tell
he was surprised by what he saw. "Eggs," Jesse said.
"Yeah, Kate said we couldn't live on Pop-Tarts alone."
"You talked to her?"
"This morning before she left for work. She got up early and went to
the grocery store."
"She must have gotten up real early."
"Yep, said she didn't want to leave us here without any food." He
laughed. "She's really nice."
His dad looked out the window, and the guy kind of laughed, thinking of
something that made him smile and shake his head at the same time.
"Yeah," Jesse said, "she's nice." Then he got back to work on all that
food.
Travis sat at the table, trying to decide if he should mention the fact
that Kate had stopped at McDonald's and gotten him a Big Breakfast
after she went to the store. She hadn't gotten anything for herself,
only had some cereal and coffee, saying, "
No more fat thighs for me
." Which,
Travis reasoned, must be why she left the house wearing ankle weights.
Travis decided not to tell Jesse about the Big Breakfast or the ankle
weights.
"I saw you swimming this morning," Travis offered instead, dubiously
eyeing the eggs going into a skillet. "You remind me of that swimmer
lady on those old movies my mom likes to watch. Esther Williams."
All that got was one dark eyebrow raised kind of funny, like he wasn't
all that happy about being compared to Esther.
"Not that you look like a girl," Travis added hastily. "I just mean
you're a good swimmer. Like Tarzan. Yeah, Tarzan in the really old
movies. Though you swim way better than him. You put your head in the
water. Tarzan does that weird above the water thing, like he doesn't
want to get his hair wet. Though
why Tarzan would care about wet hair, I don't know. He's hanging out
with Cheetah. Do you really
think a monkey cares?"
Jesse looked at him like he was trying to figure out if he was supposed
to answer that. It was the same kind of look that tons of people gave
him when he talked.
"Do you watch a lot of old movies?" Jesse asked.
Talking! With his dad! "They're my mom's favorite. Did you know that?"
That got more silence, and it belatedly occurred to Travis that his dad
probably didn't know a whole lot about his mom, because he almost
hadn't recognized her. Which couldn't be great, since Travis knew all
about how kids were made.
Jesse set a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of him.
"Yum." He tried to sound enthusiastic about the mounds of food.
They ate in silence, until Jesse went all still and his head jerked up
and he asked, "What do you usually
do during the summer?"
"Me? I hang out."
"Doing what?"
He shrugged. "Watching TV and stuff."
"While your mother's at work?"
"Sure."
"Who stays with you?"
Travis sat up straight. "I'm twelve. Old enough to take care of myself."
Jesse tapped his fork against the rim of his plate and considered. "You
can't just hang out."
"Why not?"
Jesse ignored that. "How about some kind of summer program? Something
that interests you."
Great, more school
, Travis
groaned silently. "Like what?"
"I don't know. Archery? Maybe chess?"
"Chess?" He made a face.
"Then what about chemistry?" Jesse picked up his cup. "Mixing
ingredients. Doing experiments. I used
to love chemistry. Or geology. I bet they have a summer program for
kids at the university."
That's when it occurred to him. Travis worried his lip, and it was all
he could do to keep the excitement from spilling over. "What about golf
lessons?"
His dad kind of jerked and coffee sloshed over the rim.
"I bet I'd be really great," Travis enthused. "You're a golfer. And
your dad was one, too."
"How'd you know that?"
Travis blushed. "I read about you and him. There's tons of stuff about
both of you. They say your
dad could play, but you're the one who won all the trophies. Didn't
your dad ever win?"
Jesse got another look on his face, a weird one this time. "My dad won
plenty," he said. "He was a
great golfer in his day."
Waiting expectantly, Travis thought there'd be more to the story. But
more wasn't coming. "I read that you're about to win a really big
tournament. It sounded totally great." He pushed some eggs around.
"I also read that all the girls love you."
Jesse's brow furrowed.
"They say you can get a girl in your bed faster than any other golfer
around. Cool."
"Cool? This conversation doesn't fall underneath the heading of food or
clothes."
"Huh?"
"Nothing. Just don't believe everything you read, kid. And it sounds to
me like you'd make a great reporter. Maybe Katie could get you a summer
internship down at the station."
Light-headed with disappointment, Travis tried to smile. "Yeah, maybe."
When his mom had told him they were going to see his father, he'd been
totally excited. He had assumed Jesse would feel the same way. Didn't
dads have to be excited about that kind of stuff?
Now, sitting here, with Jesse looking at him so strangely, Travis
figured that dads didn't have to be excited, or maybe they just
wouldn't be excited about a kid like him. He knew he sort of blended
in. Though when he didn't blend in, it was worseâway worse. Other kids
said he talked too much.
"Can I turn on the TV?" he asked.
It looked like Jesse debated his answer. But he must not have wanted to
have to talk anymore, either, because he said, "Okay."
This whole father-son thing sure wasn't working out like Travis had
hoped.
With a turn of the switch, the tiny screen came to life. Travis sat
back and was eyeing the bacon and
toast in silent misery when Kate appeared on the screen.
"
Good morning, West Texas!
"
"Hey, look, it's Kate."
They stopped eating, or pretending to eat.
"
Today I'm at Tumbleweed Trails for a
chat with rodeo star Cowboy Bob
."
Jesse and Travis looked at each other. "Cowboy Bob?" they said in
unison.
Kate was dressed in a buckskin vest with fringe running down the sides,
plus matching buckskin pants,
it looked like, though it was hard to be sure since the screen cut off
the bottom half of her. She stood
next to a gigantic redheaded man in the biggest cowboy hat Travis had
ever seen.
"She looks kind of uncomfortable," Travis mused.
"Who wouldn't be, dressed like that? It's got to be ninety out there
already. I wouldn't be surprised if
she faints."
"It looks like Cowboy Bob could handle her if she did."
Jesse scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that he looks strong enough to pick her up and carry her off if
something happens."
Sure enough, Cowboy Bob swept Kate off her feet, though it had nothing
to do with fainting. She gave
a squeal, and the cowboy sort of staggered a little bit. But seconds
later, she was sitting high atop a
horse that looked as surprised as Kate didâand about as happy.
"Wow!" Travis was enthralled, his breakfast forgotten. "Did you see how
he picked her up?"
Jesse wasn't nearly as excited.
Travis peered closer at the screen. "What's she doing? Looks like she's
trying to hide her feet."
"
Well, uh, Cowboy Bob, please tell
our viewers a bit about the flora and fauna
."
"She's wearing workout shoes"âTravis watched as Kate scrambled to tug
down her buckskin pant
legsâ "and, oh man, she's still got on those ankle weights!"
"Ankle weights? What the hellâheckâis she wearing those for?"
"I don't know, but when she was walking out the door this morning, I
heard her say something about needing to reinvent herself."
"What?" Jesse blurted out, before he shook his head. "Katie, Katie,
Katie. It's always when she tries
too hard to do something crazy that she gets herself in trouble." Then
he whistled. "If she's trying to reinvent herself, let me tell you,
Travis, we're in for big trouble around here."
"Do you think?"
"I know."
"
You want me to tell you about Flora
and Fauna?
" The cowboy laughed. "
I think I mighta dated a
couple of gals named that. Though I
can't imagine you came all the way out here to talk about them.
But I'd be happy to tell the folks at
home what I'm thinking about you.
" He whistled.
She cut him off abruptly, her lips pursing like a mad schoolteacher's. "
Thank you, but that really isn't necessary.
"
The man leaned one strong forearm on the pommel of the saddle, winked
directly into the camera, then looked at her in a way that heated the
already blistering hot day.
"Did you see how he looked at her?" Jesse demanded, setting his coffee
cup down with a thunk.
"
Now sit back, little lady, I'm going
to give you the ride of your life
."
Her eyes went wide. But seconds later they narrowed.
"Uh-oh," father and son said at the same time.
"
Mr. Bob . . . ah . . . Mr. Cowboy.
"
She shook her head. "
Sir!
" she
stated primly.
Then all of a sudden she froze and turned to the camera. Travis would
have sworn she blanched white. With an amazing amount of effort, she
smiled. "
Ha, ha!
" she laughed,
though she didn't look like she thought anything was very funny. "
You're having fun, right, Cowboy Bob
?"
When the cowboy didn't say another word, only glowered, Kate got real
nervousâand kind of panickyâthen started reeling off facts and figures
regarding the desert surroundings with mind-numbing speed. She even
said something about the state capital of Texas.
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