Page 49 of Worth the Fall
“Allegra,” Jimmy called when there was half a second of silence.
I looked up from my potatoes.
“Colt says you’re from Amarillo. You still got family down there, or did the big city swallow you whole?”
There it was. The question I had so easily avoided in the truck. I swallowed and clutched my spoon like a life raft. “Um,yeah. My mom is still there.”
Jo gasped. “Oh, I can’t wait to meet her! Will she be coming to the rodeo down there?”
I swallowed hard. “I’m not sure! She…she works a lot, so we’ll have to see.” Okay, Allegra, time to take control of the situation before they ask about Dad. “So, is it nice to be home?”
Alan nudged his wife. “You tell me, sweets.”
His supermodel-looking wife, Erin, rolled her eyes. Her stiff hair barely moved as she poked him back with a fork. “It would be if he would change any diapers,” she said to me with a wink. “No, it’s incredible to have them home in the middle of the rodeo season. We kindamentally prepare it just to be the girls until the season is over, but this is a very nice surprise.” She laughed, a cute, tinkling, perfect laugh. “Allegra, are you enjoying the nomadic lifestyle?”
I looked down, uncomfortable at how well the Nashswere turning the subject backto me. “Um, I’m still adjusting. I went home this past week to do some laundry and repack, and I’ll admit it was hard to get back on the road.” My eyes flashed to Miley, Dean’s fiancée. “How has it been for you?”
Miley looked like the epitome of innocence. She had short brown hair with hundreds of freckles that speckled her baby doll face. She smiled at Erin as if they were sharing their own inside joke. “I actually just took this season off from the rodeo.”
“Oh?”
Dean wrapped his arm around his girl casually. “Miley is one of the best barrel racers in the country.”
She blushed, her humility palpable. “I’m not, but I really enjoy it.”
I was finally back in control, not the subject of the table,and getting to know the interests of those around me. I tucked my hands in my lap. “What made you take the season off?”
“I had a bad crash one day, during practice,” she admitted, a twinge of regret in her voice. “It was a silly accident, but I tore my ACL, andfigured if I wanted to keep riding as much as I was used to, I’d better heal right.”
In the back of my mind, I heard the loud whinnying of a horse and a hundred people gasping all at once. I shook away the memory and forced myself to come back to reality. “I’m really sorry, that’s too bad.”
She smiled and looked back down at her food. “More time for wedding planning!”
I spent the remainder of the meal using my usual tactics to deflect their questions, finding safety in hearing about Miley’s wedding plans and Alan’s goat stories. When Colton’s leg knocked against mine, the ‘sorry’ I started to whisper was met with a soft smile. He didn’t shift back to his side of the chair. He stayed right there, his denim-clad knee resting firmly against mine, as if he was making sure I knew I wasn’t sitting at that table alone.
When the most amazing food I had ever eaten was gone, and the cobbler was nothing but crumbs on a plate, everyone began taking their plates to the kitchen.
“Dean, it’s your dish night,” Jo ordered.
Dean groaned like a child. “No way, Mamma. I did it last night. It’s Colton’s turn.”
Miley smacked his chest and gestured toward me.
I busied myself, wiping off the dining table with a soapy rag I found in the sink, and pretending I didn’t see that. While my back was turned to the scene in the kitchen, I heard lots ofwhispering.
The Nasheswere incredible people, but they were the farthest thing from subtle. I smiledtomyself.
“Um, Colton?” Jo said after the whispering subsided.
Colton was busy fulfilling his promise to play with the kids. He was letting them jump off the coffee table, catching them, and throwing them down onto the couch. They were having so much fun that they were practically squealing.
Colton, his messy hair everywhere, was laughing with them and making loud monster noises. I felt something wet drop on my bare foot before I realized I was squeezing the rag tightly.
“Colton?” Jo called again.
He threw another kid before looking up at his mom. “Yes, Mamma?”
“Why don’t you show Allegra her room so she can get her bag settled?”
