“Carl, I want you on the mutton busting and greased-pig contests.”
Carl, ever the quiet one, simply nodded and jotted down his task on a notepad he carried everywhere with him.
Vince turned to Abbie. “We’re covering the front page of next week’s paper with an exclusive of Starlight’s own rodeo star.” He ripped a sheet from his notepad and stuck it out for her. The expectations and parameters of her assignment, no doubt. “I’ll talk to the rodeo sponsors. Any questions?” He paused only briefly, to put his glasses back on. “Abbs, your life this week is the rodeo, as lived by Logan Attwood. Where he goes, you go.”
The entire week? Her stomach dropped into her toes. It was bad enough she’d probably be expected to cover Logan’s performance at the two-night event. “All of it?” She barely heard her own voice it was so quiet.
“Riders’ll be arriving within the next couple of days. Some may’ve already slipped into town.” Vince pushed out of his chair, his large frame towering over the small conference table. “The second Logan gets into town, you find him.”
The phone rang, causing Jamie to spring from her chair. “I’ll grab that at my desk.” She darted into the next room. Carl slipped out right behind her, no doubt sensing the tension.
Abbie hoped it would be a few days before Logan showed up. He didn’t have many friends here anymore, and he and his grandfather weren’t on the best of terms. That thought was a bright note in all this. Why would he come to Starlight any sooner than he had to?
“Abbie, you do a good job on this, we’ll start talking additional responsibilities. Really learning the business, but you got to prove you have what it takes. I know you want to run theGazettesomeday. Prove you can put grudges aside for the sake of our readers. This is your ticket, kiddo.”
“The rodeo, huh?”
“With an emphasis on Attwood.” Vince scooped up an overflowing manila folder and tucked it under his arm. “Unless you do want Jamie covering it instead?”
“No!” she replied with a little too much zest and desperation. Jamie was a bright kid, and she’d proven helpful in her short time with them. But there was no way she’d be outshined by an intern.
“So, what’ll it be, then?”
She craved the responsibility of managing theStarlight Gazette. But most of all, she wanted the freedom to write and print the stories that were near and dear to her heart, like her grandma used to. Vince had turned down more than one of her heartfelt articles as of late. Several, in fact.
“I’ll do it. I’ll get the interview with Logan.”
Chapter 2
Logan
It’d been two years since Logan Attwood last stepped foot in his hometown of Starlight, Wyoming. Two years since he’d been healed enough to ride a bull again after one nearly killed him. Two years since the woman he’d planned to spend the rest of his life with slammed the door in his face.
He slowed through town, looking around for changes. Much was the same. The scarcity of stoplights, the house on the outskirts of town with llamas in the yard, the house across the street from that with a meticulously kept lawn in crisscrossed mowing patterns.
The Starlight Grill looked packed to the brim if the overcrowded parking lot was any indication. His stomach rumbled at the thought of a big, juicy steak. He’d have to grab one before the week was over. But stopping in now would announce to everyone he’d snuck into town a few days ahead of the rodeo crowd.
It’d been years since Starlight hosted any kind of rodeo, and never a national event. At a stop sign he waited, engine idling, debating whether to swing by the old grounds. Curious to see how they’d managed to revive the place that’d sat abandoned for so long. His buddy Cliff and his family were expecting him, though. Twenty minutes ago.
Almost on cue, his phone buzzed.
Cliff: You close?
Before he rolled forward through the vacant intersection, he sent a reply.
He didn’t know when he’d see Abbie, but he was willing to bet it wouldn’t take long. She’d always been close with her brother, and she adored her niece. He inhaled a deep breath and slowly let it out.
Unless Cliff had warned his little sister that he was planning to stay with them for a week and gave her the chance to go into hiding until the rodeo left town, she’d be around.
His buddy lived on the outskirts of Starlight, the two-story house with a wraparound porch centered on a private, well-treed lot. He had enough time to wonder if Abbie’d even come watch him ride before Cliff’s house emerged through a clearing in the trees. He wondered how long the privacy would last. How long would it take for the circuit’s paparazzi to find him here?
A little girl stood at the top of the front porch steps, a stuffed horse dangling precariously from the crook of her arm. She studied him with curiosity and caution.
His heart squeezed.Isabella. She’d had a birthday a few days after he turned his back on his hometown almost exactly two years ago. That Cliff forgave him for skipping out on that intimate family party was nothing short of a miracle.
Slinging a duffle bag over his shoulder, he exhaled and slammed the truck door shut. He locked it out of habit, though he couldn’t imagine anyone in Starlight stealing his riding gear.
“Hey there,” he called to the girl. “You must be Isabella.”
