Once Upon A Rodeo

Chapter Twenty - [The Next Day.]

The early morning sun stretched over the horizon.

Nestled in a sleeping bag, tucked in a tent in the heart of the forests of Tennessee, I was draped across the chest of my now boyfriend, Brantley. We were naked, intertwined with each other.

I moved, feeling the delicious soreness in my muscles. After his non-question-question and my subsequent yes, we'd slept together for the first time. It had been a long time since I had sex, and it had only been with one other person.

But my inexperience wasn't something that bothered Brantley. He was patient and very, very giving. We were both satisfied at the end of the night. I was - and had been since I was about sixteen - been on birth control. We always used a condom. You could never bee too safe.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Brantley said, pushing my blonde bangs out of my eyes and kissing my forehead. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good morning. I slept wonderfully, thank you. You?" I replied sleepily, snuggling in closer to him.

The birds were just beginning to chirp, and I heard the rustling around of the squirrels and rabbits nearby. I could easily sleep for a few more hours, but I knew Brantley's early bird personality would make that impossible.

"I slept perfectly. How about we pack up and get some breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me."

We unzipped the sleeping bag, and I got dressed in front of him rather hastily with a blush forming on my face. Him seeing me naked was still pretty new, and I was a little bit shy.

Together, we took down the tent and put it in the back of the truck. We cleaned up the camp site and made sure it looked the same way it did when we got there.

I climbed into the truck, and buckled into my seatbelt as Brantley drove away from the campsite. I looked over at him as his eyes were focused on the road. We'd gone from hating each other, to liking each other half the time and hating each other the other half, to dating.

"What's on your mind?" Brantley asked, giving me the side eye.

"Oh, nothing," I said simply, the corners of my mouth turning up a little bit.

We made small talk the rest of the way into town, and we decided on the restaurant that Callie worked at.

"Hello, you two."

Callie approached a table, a rather sly smile on her face.

"How was your night last night?" She asked, winking at us.

"Don't even start, baby sis," Brantley said, rolling his eyes at her. This seemed to get her off topic because she huffed at him.

"I am not a baby, Brantley."

"You'll always be a baby to me."

"You'll always be a dumb ass to me. Ya'll want some coffee?"

"Yes, please," He answered.

Callie meandered off to the the kitchen, picking up a ticket and grabbing an empty glass as she went.

"You planned a wonderful evening last Brantley, thank you."

He reached across the table, covering my hand with his own.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"You sure know to romance a girl. You must have had a lot of practice," I said, teasing him. He shook his head, laughing a little.

"No, my mama just made sure I knew how to treat a lady. My dad did lots of romantic stuff for my mom growing up, so that's where I get some of my ideas from."

My heart melted a little bit. He was so sweet.

"Here's your food, you big corn ball," Callie said, rolling her eyes as she set her brother's food in front of him. I giggled. That was funny.

We ate and made small talk, and while he was paying the bill he got a phone call and was chatting for a minute.

"That was Brett. One of his cows is givin' birth, and he says she's starting to have a hard time. He think the baby might be breech, and he asked me to head over there. I'm sorry, Kennedy."

Brantley and I had made plans to spend time together, but this was obviously more important than that. I smiled at him.

"It's no big deal, Brantley. I'll probably go home and do some house work, take a nap and relax."

He drove me home, and I kissed him for a long moment.

"Have a good day, sweetheart. I'll text you when I can."

I smiled at him.

"Have fun with your arm up a cow," I teased.

"I'll try," He said as he kissed me one more time. I hopped out of the truck and waved as he drove away.

Before going into the house, I checked on the horses and brought them out to pasture. Callie had texted me early that morning and told me that she'd fed and brushed them, so I didn't have much to do for them.

After changing into some jean short and a tank top, I decided to get some stuff done outside. There were a few window sill's that needed repainting and a latch on one of the fences that was on the verge of needing replacing.

I had planned to plant some flowers in the dirt in front of the porch on either side of the stairs, but it was getting hotter and hotter as the day wore on. I decided to wait until after sundown, when it was much cooler and I could use the lighting from the porch.

At about eight thirty, I went back outside and first began to pull the weeds. After the weeds were gone, I began to plant some daisies, marigolds and oxalis's. I was just about done when a pair of headlights appeared at the end of the driveway.

I sat up straight, eyes squinted.

Who would be visiting at nine thirty at night, with out anybody calling? I could hear that it wasn't Brantley's truck. I checked my phone. No one had texted.

Because the headlights were shining in my face, I couldn't see who's car it was. The car stopped and shut off, and it was then that it became familiar to me.

She got out of the car, her eyes rimmed with red. She had obviously been crying for sometime now.

It was Rose.

Author's Note: I'm sooooo sorry this took so long! My motivation was sort of down so I didn't really feel like writing. I'm sorry, I know that's a shitty reason. :( Please don't hate me. I'm very very sorry and I love you guys. I'll try to update more.