“You can’t wear jeans to the Four Seasons Dance,” Genevieve said as she dragged me into her room Friday afternoon.
“Are you sure going to a dance is part of cowgirl life?” I asked skeptically.
“It is in Rocky Gulch.” She walked over to her closet and pulled open the door. “I’m thinking something floral in the blue-green range.”
I suppressed a shudder.
As she slid clothes to the side, I glanced over my shoulder at Eddie. From the big grin on his scruffy face, I could only guess he was enjoying my torture.
I didn’t wear dresses. Slacks, pants, khakis, jeans… on the very rare occasion a knee-length skirt with a pair of thick tights and, that one time in junior high, a pair of spandex leggings. But dresses were not in my wardrobe.
“Ah, yes”—Genevieve pulled out a pretty sundress—“this is perfect.”
“It has ruffles.”
Her smile was positively wicked. “It does.”
An hour later, I’d had a makeover, my hair hung in loose finger-combed curls, and I wore the frilly floral dress. Then Genevieve confused me by pulling a pair of cowboy boots out of her closet.
“Really?” I asked. “With a sundress?”
She beamed. “Trust me.”
When we walked downstairs, arm in arm, Ty and Eddie stood at the bottom watching.
I knew Eddie’s camera was on me, but I could feel Ty’s gaze. He skimmed it over the tiny straps at my shoulders, the ruffles and buttons on the bodice, the full skirt and the frilly hem. When he reached my feet, his dimples broke out.
Genevieve had been right about the boots.
“Don’t you ladies clean up well?” Ty teased as we reached the ground floor.
His sister swatted him on the arm.
“Are we ready to go?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Genevieve said. She lifted her brows. “Since we can’t all go in the truck, I thought we could go in two cars.”
“We could all go in your Escape,” Ty argued.
Eddie grunted.
I turned just in time to see him scowling at Genevieve and her scowling right back at him.
“Um, yeah,” Eddie said. “That could be good. I could film the truck on the drive into town.”
What was wrong with him? It was at least twenty minutes to Rock Gulch. Twenty minutes of dust flying up from the truck’s tires? Now that was thrilling television.
“That makes no sense,” I replied. “We’ll all ride together.”
There, that settled it.
Fifteen minutes later, sitting in the truck next to Ty with Eddie and Genevieve following in her car, I had no idea how things had gotten settled this way.
“Your sister is a piece of work,” I said as we turn onto the main road into town.
“That she is,” Ty agreed. “It’s best not to fight her. She always gets her way.”
I smiled and rode along in a peaceful silence for a few minutes.
Finally, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, I blurted, “So, New York, huh? I never would have guessed.”
“Genevieve.” Ty smiled, but it was a smile tinged with sadness. “Yep, I was a bona fide New Yorker. For almost eight years.”
“Where did you live?”
“Hamilton Heights when I was in college, then Hoboken,” he said. “Commuted into the city for graduate school and then work.”
“Hoboken?” I laughed. “I’m not sure I can be seen with a Jersey guy.”
Ty shrugged. “I liked the small town feel.” He glanced over at me. “Reminded me of home.”
I could see that. With it’s boutiques and bars, Hoboken sometimes felt like it was a world away from New York.
“At least Hoboken has the Frank Sinatra affiliation,” I said. “The home of Old Blue Eyes can’t be all bad.”
I tugged at the hem of my dress—partly out of awkward nerves, but partly out of the fact that I was wearing a dress! For some reason, I’d gotten used to being on camera. Having Eddie film every last humiliating moment of my time as a cowgirl didn’t bother me at all.
But put me in alone in a truck with a hot cowboy and I felt more like a high schooler with a crush than a grown woman with a soon-to-be-successful-again career.
“So,” I said to break the silence, “tell me about the Four Seasons Dance.”
“We have one every season,” Ty explained. “It’s a chance for the citizens of Rocky Gulch to socialize and gossip.”
“Sounds look good small town fun.”
In the distance, I could see the buildings of Rocky Gulch outline by the red glow of the setting sun.
“It kicks off a weekend festival,” he continued. “Tomorrow there is a fair and a crafts market to raise money for the Rocky Gulch Scholarship Fund.”
“Scholarship fund?” I echoed.
He nodded. “That’s how I wound up at City College. The town paid part of my tuition.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” I said, half wishing Eddie was here to get that on film.
“Well, that,” he said, “and the fact that my dad practically kicked me out of town, telling me not to come back until I had an education.”
I didn’t ask the followup question; I knew from what Genevieve said that their parents were gone. Prying into more personal affairs of the Haywood family was not on my agenda.
Luckily I was saved from further conversation as the truck rolled into town. Strings of red, white, and blue pennant banners hung across the streets. There were dozens of people walking along the sidewalks, chatting and laughing and enjoying the early evening.
It was exactly the picture perfect vision of small town life.
Ty pulled the truck into a parking spot on a side street. Genevieve’s Escape parked right behind us.
“Are you ready for a real country dance?” Ty asked as he opened his door.
With that smile and those dimples, how could I say no?
Andy's Playlist #10: Where I Come From by Alan Jackson
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