The little birthday celebration that they'd had for her had made her feel a little better. She might have found a family to temporarily replace the one she'd had to leave behind in Texas, she reflected. It was touching, it seemed like they really cared and that was what she needed.
But it had been lacking in one thing: there had been no live music and dancing. She wanted to go to a cantina and dance the night away and forget her troubles for a while. She and her sisters would go out and go dancing. Her marriage was going to put a damper on that, but she and her husband had liked to go out before they got married. She had even met him in one of the cantinas that attracted the young and the young at heart. Mexicans liked to party.
She wondered if she could talk Teeter and Laramie to go out without their partners, just have a girl's night. Now that couldn't hurt, could it? Teeter was in love with Kolby, Laramie was crazy about Walker, and her? She was not in the mood to fall in love. She had been in love and look where it had gotten her! No, she didn't want to have feeling for anyone, she wanted to be on her own for a while and get her head together.
She made venison stew for dinner, along with a salad and an apple pie. Except for Jake, she had taken over cooking for the hands. On a good day she'd make breakfast, then they all grabbed what they could for lunch. Dinner though, was special. She had won her husband's heart with her cooking and had won over the cowboys' too.
The boys rarely helped with the cleanup unless coerced. She would join Teeter and Laramie as they cleaned up and did the dishes after dinner. That was their time for their girls' tete a tete and that made the work as fun as it could be.
"Guys," she said to Teeter and Laramie, "I have an idea. The little party you held for my birthday was fun, but do you know what I really want to do? I want to go dancing, just us, you know, no guys. I want to dance with strange men and flirt like I mean it even though I don't. Wouldn't it be fun to go out and listen to a band and break a lot of guys hearts? Come on, say you're in, let's go out and give the world a treat. You can pretend to be single for one night, right? It couldn't hurt anything!"
Teeter and Laramie looked at each other. Amy had a point, all they ever did was to sit around the bunkhouse and watch TV and play poker. Neither was interested in cheating on their boyfriends, but going out and going dancing with just the girls wasn't cheating.
"Well," said Laramie, "I'm sure Walker would be cool with it. He's not jealous, he knows he has no need to be. Personally, I think that sounds like a good idea, Amy, you always look so sad. If this will put a smile on your face I'm all for it. I think we're going to run into some opposition from the guys."
"Ah, we'll just tell them to go fuck themselves and go anyway," said Teeter in her thick accent, "We deserve to go out and have some fun. All we do all day is work, and then we come home and play poker and drink beer."
"Come on, Laramie," Anicka said, "Are you in?"
"Hmm, yes, I am. If you and Teeter both want to go then I'm all for it. I'll call a friend of mine and find a good bar to go to. You can call this your after-birthday birthday party."
Friday night found them getting ready in front of the mirror. Teeter had put on a little makeup and had brushed her hair out. She looked pretty in her pink blouse, pink suited Teeter.
Laramie had borrowed one of Walker's blue chambray shirts and Anicka loaned her a belt with an oversized silver buckle. Like Teeter she didn't wear much makeup, she didn't need to. Tonight, neither she nor Teeter resembled the girls who worked the cattle during the week.
Anicka wore a red blouse with a ruffled neckline. She tucked into the waistband of her new jeans and buckled it tightly around her waist. With her coloring red suited her, even when her hair wasn't black it was her favorite color to wear.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" asked Ryan who had suddenly taken notice of the girls wearing something other than work clothes.
"We're going out," answered Anicka, "Just us, just the girls. We're having a girls' night out and men are not allowed.
Walker said nothing, he just smiled and began to strum his guitar. He wasn't jealous and he was sure that if a situation came up Laramie could take care of herself, and Amy and Teeter would be there to help her. The girls would be fine as far as he was concerned, they could take care of each other.
"Well," said Ryan, "It's not safe for you to go out on your own. Back me up here, Kolby."
Kolby shrugged.
"We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much," retorted Laramie, "We're a lot less likely to get into a fight than y'all would. Besides, Amy deserves to get out and flirt a little. You never ask us to go dancing with you, you just sit around and drink beer and play hold 'em. We're going to have a little fun for ourselves. Are you ready girls?"
They grabbed their jackets and went out to Anicka's truck. She turned the key in the ignition. "Where are we going anyway, Laramie?"
"It's this little joint called 'Cowboy Bob's.' Mia said it was a nice place, even if it's a little touristy. Good drinks, a nice dancefloor, what more could we ask for?"
"Sounds good to me," Teeter.
"Okay then, Cowboy Bob's it is," answered Anicka, "First thing I'm going to do is have a shot of the best tequila that they have. After that it's going to be margarita night."
"I'll stick with beer," Laramie said, "I'll watch how much I drink just in case I have to drive us home. I want you to have as much as you can. Cut loose a little and have fun, this is for you, Amy."
And for the first hour it was fun. They were pretty girls and soon they found drinks appearing in from of them. Maybe they were attracting attention because they were the new kids in town, but none of them lacked for dance partners.
Until.
Anicka recognized them first, you couldn't miss Ryan and his beard and black hat. Kolby was there, too, which surprised her, but when she saw Jake she surmised that maybe he had come along to keep the other two out of trouble. Walker had stayed home.
Teeter turned around and saw them too. "Ah shit," she said, "what the hell are they up to?"
"Well, we obviously don't need a babysitter," said Laramie, "I have a feeling some of our cowboys are feeling just a little bit jealous. I didn't expect that from Kolby, Teeter, but Ryan being here doesn't surprise me. Have you seen the way he looks at you, Amy?"
"If he is I've made it a point to not notice. Damn, what do they think they're doing, anyway? This was supposed to be a night just for us, now they've gone and spoiled it."
"Well, at least Walker isn't here," Laramie's voice was cheerful, "My cowboy has enough sense to know that there's nobody for me but him. I really didn't think they'd make a fuss over this."
"I think I know whose idea it was," said Anicka, "but since he's here I'll have to make the best of it."
The boys came up to the bar, trying to act nonchalant and not succeeding. Ryan ordered beers for the three of them before he finally worked up the nerve to look the girls in the face.
"So, you just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, Ryan? All we wanted was a girls' night out to celebrate my birthday. You had no right." Anicka stared, trying to read his face.
"We were worried, that's all. We aren't causing you any harm by being here. The bar's open to everyone." Ryan was trying to sound reasonable.
Teeter didn't seem to mind that Kolby had showed up, and neither did she. It was Ryan that she minded. She had to work with him and work with him and since he'd made his feelings for her known, it felt a little awkward. What could he be thinking? She'd told him plainly that she didn't share his feelings and hoped that he could leave it at that. And now he'd shown up where he wasn't wanted and didn't belong.
Someone came up and asked Laramie to dance. There was another one behind him who looked like he was going to ask her, but Ryan took her arm and led her to the dance floor. The started dancing to her favorite Gram Parsons song, then when the band started to play "El Paso" by Marty Robbins Ryan swung her into a waltz.
She knew the words to the song by heart, it was of her father's favorites.
"Out in the West Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl.
Nightime would find me in Rosa's Cantina
The music would play, and Felina would whirl."
She got a little teary, remembering how her father would sing it to her. She wiped her eyes, hoping that he hadn't noticed, but Ryan missed very little.
"What's wrong?" he asked and waited for her answer.
"This was my father's favorite song. He used to sing it all the time, hearing it brings back memories of when things were good. He died last year, and I still miss him. At least he didn't have to witness that disastrous marriage I made. He would have been disappointed with me."
"No, you had the good sense to leave after that bastard hit you. Some women try to stick it out hoping that things will change, you did the smart thing." He smiled as he said this, hoping that she would see that she had grown in wisdom.
"Maybe I wouldn't have married that jerk if he'd been alive. I'm not so good at listening to my mother, but I always listened to him." She tried to make a joke out of it but didn't know if she was succeeding.
The song ended and people stopped dancing as the band announced that they were taking a break. She excused herself and told Ryan that she had to use the ladies' room and slipped away. There was a line outside the door, so she turned away intending to come back when it had thinned out.
She went to the bar and ordered a shot of tequila, and was about to dig in her pockets for money to pay for it when she heard someone say, "I'll get that for you sweetheart."
She looked around and saw a tall cowboy, at least six foot three she thought. He wasn't bad looking, he had dark hair and a beard and like the others wore a black hat. Had she been someone different, or in the mood, she might have accepted. But she wasn't.
"No thanks," she told him, "I can buy my own drinks, thank you." She started to walk away when she heard him say:
"No need to be all stuck up, just because you're good looking and can probably have any man you want." He grinned at her, but it wasn't friendly, "Least you could do is give me one dance."
He grabbed her wrist, but didn't know he was making a mistake. She twisted her wrist out of his grasp then slammed his hand down hard on the bar.
She was about to say something when Ryan appeared. "Are you having trouble, miss?" he asked, pretending not to know her.
"Yes, I am, this cowboy here doesn't want to take 'no' for an answer." She wasn't feeling helpless, in fact she was sure she could handle the situation, but she appreciated Ryan trying to help.
"Well, if the lady says she's not interested you should honor what she tells you," he said to the cowboy, "I've got two friends with me who'd be more than happy to take care of this if you're not willing to let her be."
The cowboy said something unexpected, "I know you, you're from the Yellowstone outfit."
"Yes," Ryan replied, "And I'm also a livestock officer. I'm licensed to carry a gun if I want. Now, how about you leave this lady alone and go on about your business."
"You can have her," he tried to sound disdainful, "She probably won't put out anyway." He turned around and ordered another drink.
"Come on, Amy," Ryan told her, "I think it's time to get out of here. Why don't you let me drive you back to the ranch?"
"I have my truck here," she said, "I don't want to leave it."
"Why don't you give your keys to Laramie or Teeter? Let me get you out of here, we don't know if that asshole will try anything."
"Okay," she said, not really knowing why she was willing to, "Let me find out if either of them feels like driving." She paused for a moment, "He was right, you know, I won't put out, not until I'm ready anyway. It's only been three months, I'm still trying to get past what happened. The doctor said it might take a while before I'm ready and not to rush it."
How can I help her get past this, thought Ryan, she tells me she doesn't love me, but I have enough love for both of us. I'd be willing to help her if she'd let me, but I don't know how to get through to her.