Taking the Bull by the Horns, a Cascade Texas novella by MJ Fredrick Page A

away. “Taylor. I’m filthy.”
    Disappointment weighed on him. He wanted to hear her voice, hear her laugh. He wanted to touch her, kiss her.
    “Okay, I’ll tell you what. You go home, get cleaned up. I’ll come get you in an hour.”
    When she still hesitated, a thought struck him.
    “Did you have something else going on tonight?” She hadn’t been expecting him. Did she have a date?
    She smiled, still not his smile, but a softer, more relaxed one. “No. I just imagined this differently. Me not sweaty and dirty, for one.”
    He smiled and curled his fingers around the back of her neck again. “You look gorgeous. And you’ve kissed me when I was sweaty and dirty.”
    She moved toward her car. “An hour and a half, okay?”
    “Lavender. You don’t have to be perfect for me. You know that.”
    “An hour and a half, okay?” she repeated, opening the car door and tossing her bag inside. Then she turned back to him, pulled his head down and kissed him hard before jumping in her car.
    He grinned as she drove away.
     
    ****
     
    An hour and a half was barely enough time to do what he needed to do, and he pulled up in front of her house ten minutes late, wishing he’d had time for a shower himself.
    Lavender didn’t answer his knock. An older woman in a long denim skirt and a Las Vegas T-shirt did.
    “Mrs. Prouty. I’m Taylor Craig.” He offered his hand and resisted the urge to look past her for Lavender. Instead, he met her mother’s inspection, looking for Lavender in her mother’s life-worn features.
    “The rodeo cowboy.” Judgment colored her voice.
    “Yes, ma’am.” She didn’t have Lavender’s pretty brown eyes, or her pretty smile. He saw the shape of Lavender’s face, her nose, but none of her spirit. Would Lavender become this woman if she didn’t find something to keep the joy in her life?
    Could he help her keep it?
    The thought jolted him more than the sight of Lavender coming down the stairs, pretty in a pink scoop-necked blouse and calf length jeans, with pink sandals. He took a step toward her before he remembered her mother was in his way. So he rocked back and stayed on the porch. There was the smile he’d been waiting for, just for him, and something loosened in his chest, a tension he hadn’t realized he felt.
    “Ready to go?” he asked pointlessly.
    She put her hand on her mother’s shoulder, eased her aside. “Don’t wait up.”
    But as Taylor took her hand, he sensed her carefree attitude was all for show. “Everything okay?” he asked.
    Her fingers tightened in his. “Let’s just go, okay?”
    He watched her face, saw the tight lines around her mouth. He knew she had issues with her mother, but not the details.  Instead of questioning her, he took the coward’s way and held his truck door open.
    “Where are we going?” she asked, tilting the vent toward her.
    He watched the air blow her hair back from her face. She closed her eyes in appreciation and his mouth dried at the pleasure in her expression. He shifted to ease the heaviness in his groin and put the truck into drive.
    “A picnic. I found the perfect place.”
    She turned with a smile. “Overlooking the winery?”
    “Uh.” So much for his surprise. “Yeah.”
    “There aren’t that many picnic places around,” she said in response to his reaction.
    “Took me some time to find, once I asked the lady at the bakery for a good spot.”
    She slid him a look. “You went to the bakery?”
    “And the Handy Andy.” He nodded toward the basket in the back of the cab. “I couldn’t find a regular picnic basket but they had some leftover Easter baskets. I might’ve overdone it. I was kinda hungry.”
    She smiled. “What’d you get at the bakery?”
    “The lady there said you liked the brownies.”
    She blushed. “You told her who you were taking?”
    “Should I not have?”
    “Doesn’t matter. You want to turn here.”
    He gave his attention to the road. “Huh. That’s not the way I got here