“I didn’t know you two had metbefore.”
Tara adjusted the shoulder strap of her purse. “I didn’t realize it either until just now. Smalltown,huh?”
Beau smiled and nodded. “I guessitis.”
“Can we get food now?” Dixie asked, stillimpetuous.
“Did I keep you waiting long?” Tara’s smile fadedabit.
“No, no. We just got here a littleearly.”
Beau escorted the girls to the ticket booth and paid for their admission. Dixie would have taken off like a shot if Beau hadn’t still had his hand propped on her shoulder. She had a bad habit of running off into crowds and she was way too old to wear one of those toddler leash packs he saw somemothersuse.
Tara took the lead and walked them straight towards the concession stand that already had a long line forming. The aroma of deep-fried goodness drifted out from the windows on the food truck and Beau’s stomach rumbled in response. Apparently Dixie wasn’t the only onehungry.
“I can’t see the menu,” Dixie complained as she hopped on her tiptoes to see over the heads of the otheradults.
Without being asked, Beau lifted her up and braced her against his chest so she was a few feet above the crowd. She wasn’t nearly as heavy as a calf, so he could probably hold her like that for a while before his armswouldtire.
“You use her for working out?” Tara joked as she stepped a little closer to them. The faint, flowery scent of her perfume made his head spin in agoodway.
He saw the way she seemed to appraise the strain of his arm muscles against the fabric of his sleeves. His core tightened under her hungry gaze and he hated the way his pants fit a little snug around his crotch all of the sudden. She still had an effect on him after all theseyears.
“No, but working on a ranch can be an advantagesometimes.”
“You work on Daniel’s ranch?” she asked as they took another step forward to keep up with the line. The question shouldn’t have caught him off guard. If she knew Dixie, then she should have known Daniel. It was a small town, after all, and they did all go to high school together. Daniel was the popular one, so it made sense that she would have known who his brother was. It only pained Beau further that she didn’t seem torememberhim.
“I know what I want,” Dixie exclaimed and Beau let her down to stand on her own feetagain.
“For now, I do,” Beau answered. “He’s having to take care of the books now, so I’m taking his place in the field. Before I moved to Brooksdale, I worked on anoilrig.”
Tara nodded, but thankfully didn’t ask why Daniel had to stay cooped up inside now, sitting in front of his laptop to try and juggle the finances and records. Maybe Tara already knew. Not only did Dixie lose her mother, but Daniel lost his business partner. Beau was sure there were days that Daniel wished he could have been out with the guys, taking care of the livestock and getting his hands dirty. He would have preferred it over the perpetual headache he earned after staring at numbers and account figures for half oftheday.
They came to the front of the line and, once again, Beau paid for the threeofthem.
“You don’t have to do that,” Tara remarked with a coy look that thankfully went unnoticed byDixie.
“But I want to.” If he wasn’t careful, he would have returned that look with one of his own. It was proving incredibly difficult not to flirtwithher.
She let the matter go at that and thanked him anyway. All three ordered chilidogs, each customized with different toppings. Dixie had to be the odd one and get relish as well aschili.
“How does that taste?” Tara asked her when they finally sat down with theirmeals.
“Awesome!” the eight-year-old exclaimed with her mouth full and a dribble of chili sauce leaking at the corners ofherlips.
Beau grabbed a napkin and wiped at her mouth, much to Dixie’sdispleasure.
“Can I try?” Taraasked.
Brows shot up in surprise as Tara went to fetch a fork from the food truck. She came back and with Dixie’s permission, scooped some of the weird condiment mix off of her hot dog and plopped it on her own. Beau watched her take a bite and make a face as if to say, “Notsobad.”
“Well?” Dixie said, a grin splittingherface.
Tara nodded. “Pretty good. Thanks for thesuggestion.”
He didn’t even have the courage to try some of Dixie’s odd food combinations sometimes. Pizza and ranch was a stretch for him. If she could tolerate his niece’s quirky interests, she had to be a keeper. It certainly mattered if Daniel liked her, but if Dixie didn’t care for her at all, it was a dealbreaker.
“So, you went to work on an oil rig after high school?” she questioned before taking a bite of herchilidog.
