“Here we go,” Uncle Blaze said as he sidled up to Jem.
“Hey, you’re the one who called in a favor to Ralph,” Jem said.
“Because I thought it would be fun,” Uncle Blaze replied.
“Some of you may be wondering what’s over here behind this drape,” Uncle Luke said with plenty of gusto and drama. “Well, you don’t have to wait any longer!” He brandished his arm in that direction, and Liesl and Corinne, who both stood in the middle of the curtain, grabbed one side of it and ran toward the edge, parting the curtain and revealing what sat behind it.
Children started to scream and laugh and jump up anddown, but Joey could only stare at the mechanical bull in the middle of her aunt’s furniture store.
A legitmechanical bull.
“Can I get Uncle Blaze and Uncle Jem over here?” Luke said as he walked toward the bull. “They’re going to be our mentors tonight, and anyone who wants to ride the bull has to talk to them first. Am I clear?”
He stopped in front of his own seven-year-old who said, “Yes, Daddy, I want to ride it,” in the most excited voice Joey had ever heard. Ryder vibrated with energy, and he glued himself to Luke’s side as he moved over to the bull.
She linked her arm through Adam’s as her uncles moved away from them. “Are you going to ride that thing?” she asked.
“Are you kidding?” he hissed back. “I don’t want to break my back.”
Joey giggled, though she didn’t really want to ride the mechanical bull either. “It’s got padding,” she said. “Little kids can do it. Look.” She nodded as Luke helped Ryder up over the padding and toward the bull.
“Little kids can do it?” He turned and looked at her, his expression half challenging and half teasing. “Areyougoing to ride it?”
“I mean, I don’t think there’s time,” she said. “The clock’s going to strike midnight in less than an hour. And look at the line already.”
He’d started smiling about halfway through her rejection speech, and he wrapped her up in his big bear arms, a full belly laugh coming out of his mouth.
“The line is too long,” he said, laughing all over again. “It’s aneight-secondride.”
He backed her out of the lights that had been shining down on the dance floor and those overhead the couches where people had clearly been relaxing. Abandoned paper plates and cups sat there from the pizza that had been brought in.
Not everyone attended every concert anymore, but Joey had been to them all, and she’d waited with Adam until everything was cleaned up at the ranch before they’d driven here for tonight’s party. Joey didn’t normally stay up this late, but she didn’t have to work tomorrow at all.
Lights started to flash over the bull, and cheering began as someone started to ride it—probably Ryder. Joey couldn’t see for sure past Adam, and she decided she didn’t really care, because Adam looked down at her with an expression filled with love and desire. “It’s going to be an amazing year with you.”
Though so much chaos reigned around them, she definitely felt like her words would only enter his ears and that they were the only two people at this party. “You know I feel the same, right?”
He nodded as he lowered his head to kiss her. Joey could definitely lose herself inside the arms of this man, while bull-riding lights flashed somewhere around her and her family cheered like they were at the NPR Finals.
“All right, you two,” Belle said, and Joey ducked her head against Adam’s chest. “The ball doesn’t drop for another forty-fiveminutes.”
She and Harry joined them, and Harry grabbed onto Adam and gave him a hearty hug.
“You bought me that microphone off Kickstarter,” he said, laughing. “You dirty dog.”
Adam laughed too as he pounded Harry on the back. “It’s great though, right?”
“It’s the best thingever,” Harry said. “The live stream tonight was twice as crisp with that microphone clipped to my phone.Un-be-liev-a-ble.” They parted, and Joey really liked their friendship.
“How’s everything going for the wedding?” she asked Belle.
“Almost there,” she said with a sigh. “My parents will be here next week.”
“Only ten more days.” Joey smiled at her. “When are you going to tell everyone where it is?”
Belle glanced over to Harry and Adam, who had moved on to another conversation topic. “Harry’s worried about an online leak, but I don’t get it. Even if people know where we’re getting married, they won’t show up.”
Joey watched her charismatic and super-popular cousin. “I don’t know about that,” she said. “Harry’s been immensely popular since he first started playing the guitar on his stairs as a teenager.”
