with vinegar, pretending for a few hours that she was an adult, free to do whatever she pleased.
Little had she known that adults had restrictions, too.
Behind her, Jenny followed her into the stands, waving at several people she knew. Celeste smiled at classmates who’d hung around for this event and found a seat near some of them.
Not long after she and Jenny were seated, a lone rider trotted from the gate behind the arena, a flag held high. Everyone stood as the “Star Spangled Banner” played.
A cheer went up from the crowd as the first event commenced and women’s barrel racing captured Celeste’s attention …
Until a deep male voice asked, “Is this seat taken?”
She’d know that voice anywhere. Before she turned to face Clay, she took a deep breath and reminded herself he was Abby’s father, nothing more.
Yet as she turned her face up to him and gazed into his gunmetal-gray eyes, she felt herself falling again into memories of another time when she’d wanted Clay to notice her, not her twin.
“Hey,” she said with a flippancy she wasn’t feeling. “I didn’t know you liked rodeos.”
“I’ve developed a taste for them.”
“You didn’t think much of them when we were in high school.” Zoie and Clay’s dates had never brought them here.
“Not true. My parents are the ones who don’t think much of them, and …”
“And Zoie wasn’t crazy about them, either.”
“No. She preferred driving into Flagstaff or Sedona to window-shop. But you loved the summer rodeo cycle.”
She was surprised he knew that. “I sure did. Still do. But I’m usually too busy to take time to enjoy one in Phoenix.”
“How did we ever become adults who don’t have time for fun?”
His tone shifted, and she could see he was serious.
After Clay settled in beside her, his arm brushing hers, she took another long breath, warning herself to stay calm. But she was nervous about Clay approaching her. What did it mean?
They watched horse and rider expertly circle the barrels, ending the competition with a gallop toward the finish line. A rousing cheer went up around them.
When the audience calmed down and the next rider approached the first barrel, Clay leaned toward her. “Do you want to find a quieter place to talk?”
She glanced at Jenny, who was deep in conversation with someone seated behind her. “Sure.”
“We can get something to drink,” he said as if they needed an excuse for leaving the stands.
She bent to Jenny. “We’re going to get drinks. Would you like me to bring you back anything?”
Jenny just looked at Clay and shook her head. “I’ll go down in a little while. Don’t hurry back on my account.”
Celeste wasn’t sure what to make of Jenny’s remark, but she followed Clay down to the ground and strode behind him until he stopped, waiting for her. “Iced tea or soda?”
“Iced tea. Unsweetened if they have it.”
After he bought them drinks, they wandered along a row of stalls until they reached a clearing behind the corrals. Riders practiced roping there. Colorfully dressed clowns passed them. A man Clay knew waved as he led a horse down the walkway.
“I should have handled last night differently.” Clay pushed up the brim of the crushable fedora that he wore most of the time when he wasn’t inside. In that hat, with its wide brim, pinched sides and dented top, he again reminded her of Indiana Jones.
“Differently how?”
“We were friends once, Celeste. I never intended to treat you like the enemy.”
She released a huge pent-up breath, but then she realized he might be trying to lessen the tension between them so she’d back off. She’d told him she had Abby’s best interests at heart. Maybe he thought if he was friendly enough, he could convince her that staying out of Abby’s life would be the best thing for his daughter. Then he wouldn’t have to deal with her.
She didn’t accept his olive branch so easily. “We don’t know each other anymore.”
“No, we don’t.” As his gaze studied her, a tremor went up and down her spine, not because he could keep her out of Abby’s life, but because she was still attracted to him. Attracted to him in a way she shouldn’t be if she didn’t want to get hurt again. She watched a flicker of … something pass over his face.
Then his jaw tightened, and his spine became more rigid. “What would it take to get you to leave?”
Instead of answering him, she asked, “Don’t you think having a female role model around might be good for Abby?”
“And just how do I explain you, Celeste? Do I tell her you’re her aunt? Or do I tell her you’re sort of her mother but she has another mother who didn’t want to be her mother and ran away from every responsibility she professed she was ready for?”
Celeste had been aware of how unhappy Zoie had been, as well as the reasons why. Did Clay even know what they were? He probably didn’t care. He was still raw from her desertion.
Taking a step away from Clay out of the virile aura he exuded, she said, “Maybe you should stop thinking about all the possible questions you have and just listen to me. I don’t want to hurt Abby. I want to be around for her. I understand you want to protect her, but did you ever think she might need me in her life with Zoie gone?”
With a stoic expression, Clay contemplated the nearby cowboy twirling his rope above his head. Then he refocused all his attention on her. “You never used to be this tenacious.” He sounded as if he might respect and admire that quality now.
“I didn’t have a reason to be tenacious.” After a few moments, she added, “You never looked beyond who I was in high school.”
He shrugged, one hand slipping into the back pocket of his jeans. “You were always quiet and seemed to hold back.”
“I stood in my sister’s shadow?” she prompted, knowing she hadn’t fought then to escape Zoie’s vibrant personality.
“Your words, not mine.”
“That doesn’t mean they’re not true. I found a life after I left Miners Bluff, a life that gave me confidence in my own abilities and in what I could accomplish.” She should have added, “In who I was as a woman,” but she didn’t want to get into that. Her personality had always been swallowed up by Zoie’s.
The late afternoon sun streamed down on them as applause rose once more from the crowd in the stands.
The one thing Celeste had learned to do was to be honest about what she wanted and what she was feeling. She kept her voice low but didn’t hesitate to make
