Page 119 of Risking it for the Cowboy

“Three a.m. and I’m wide awake.” His rich baritone resonated through the speakers.

“Thinkin’ on the blossom that got away.

She knocked me flat in the neon light

Left me flounderin’, stole my fight.”

Silence hushed.

“Ain’t gone to bed in at least a week,

Can’t bear seein’ flowers ’neath my lids when I sleep.

Bright green eyes starin’ back at me

Reminding me of what can’t be.”

Thad leaned into his mic and sang, eyes closed, so full of heart, the wordsmith that he truly was as he sang this love song he’d written about her, and carefully, she began a soft riff, an undercurrent showcasing his guitar.

“Vines that twine me up inside.

Sweet as a bloom, I open wide

Aimed at the stars but fell on my face.

Took my chance, put in my place.”

Battered but still a heart beating, she played, she listened, and she closed her eyes as a harmonious hum rolled gently up her throat, because as Thaddeus had said, it didn’t matter if it was the big leagues or just a few people in a hazy bar. To stop playing was to stop dreaming, which let the bad guys like Jason win, and Jason wasn’t winning anymore.

He was staring at her lips as her eyes fluttered open, the longing that often overtook his demeanor when he was contemplative. His throat sounded thicker than normal as he pushed through the chorus.

“I’m either stupid or a fool to dream of the one

Who don’t want me after she was done.

That laugh on her lips, secret in her eye

Flower Girl stole my heart and I don’t know why…”

Her eyes misted at the vulnerability in his words. This song, on the radio, lauded for most original amateur love song, was about her. A girl could be so lucky in her life to have him.

“Pretty as a lilac, soft as a rose.

But I’m stuck with her thorns as the story goes.

I didn’t want that night to end.

I’m begging my Flower Girl to do it again.”

*

Then Charlie dropped her banjo to hang around her neck, and as T.R. opened his mouth for the final refrain, “Pretty as—”

“Gimme your heart, ’cause I gave you mine,” she sang softly.

His guitar drifting down.

“Gimme a chance, your hand in mine…”