TRAVIS
SATURDAY
After lunch yesterday, Viola and I came back to the B&B and lied around naked. We napped, we fucked, we ate, then we slept just to do it all over again.
I wake up and see Viola sleeping peacefully next to me. Though years have passed, there’s nothing like waking up next to my beautiful wife. I quietly slip out of bed and walk downstairs, grab food and coffee for us both from the buffet, then head back to the room. As the door clicks closed, Viola stirs. I set the tray down on the desk in the corner and grab the cup of coffee, and take a sip.
“Travis?” Viola asks in a sleepy tone.
At the sound of her voice, I still light up. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Princess. I got us breakfast.”
She sits up and smiles, her hair a rustled mess, as I hand her the cup of coffee I made for her: extra cream and sugar, just the way she likes it.
“Mmm,” she says, and I bend over and kiss her on the forehead. “Happy Valentine’s Day to you too.”
“We’ve got a huge day today. I can’t wait for you to see what I have a planned.” I snag a piece of bacon.
She stands and grins, and I’m two seconds away from kissing that smirk off her pretty face as she heads to the bathroom. “Should I be worried?”
“Absolutely,” I tell her from the other side of the door.
A moment later, she comes out and sits, eating some of the bacon and eggs I brought up as I get dressed.
After we both eat, she gets dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and we head downstairs. John greets us with a smirk and hands me an envelope. I look inside and see the tickets I requested.
“What’s that?” Viola asks.
“Don’t worry your pretty little face about it,” I tell her. Sometimes she’s so hard to surprise, but thanks to Courtney, it’s gone off without a hitch so far.
John chuckles. “Y’all have fun.”
“Oh we will,” I say smugly before Viola and I walk through the B&B and go to the car. There’s something about the ranch that’s so damn magical. While I love California because it’s home, Texas is one of those places I’d consider retiring to one day. Courtney’s already told everyone when we’re fifty we’re all moving to the ranch with the kids and starting our own compound. Each time she brings it up, I laugh, but I have a feeling she’s not kidding, especially considering her entire family lives here, along with all her nieces and nephews.
Viola and I get into the car and drive down the rocky road toward the country road that leads to San Angelo. On the drive over, Viola stares out the window and looks at the rolling hills and tall burnt grasses. Considering it’s February, almost all the grass is brown, much different from when we visited in the late spring for Courtney and Drew’s wedding.
I see her from the corner of my eye fidgeting, and eventually, we pull into a large parking lot, and her eyes light up when she sees the large sign hanging over the entrance. We get out of the car, and she’s completely elated.
“We’re going to a rodeo? Like arealrodeo?”
“Yes ma’am,” I say in my best Texan accent but fail ridiculously.
She bursts out into laughter, and I pull her into my arms as we walk toward the entrance. I take the tickets out of the envelope and hand her one.
“John was in on it, wasn’t he?” She looks down at it then back at me.
“Of course. You know how those damn Bishops are.”
Her laughter is completely contagious. “Oh, how I do. I know exactly where Courtney gets her personality from.”
“Yeah, totally. Especially with Jackson, John, Evan, and Alex as her brothers. I’m surprised she’s not worse.”
The thought makes me chuckle because she grew up on a ranch and was the only girl out of five kids.
The attendant at the front takes our tickets, and as soon as we walk inside, Viola is all smiles. People dress in cowboy gear all around us, and it’s somewhat of a culture shock. The two of us stick out like a West coast sore thumb. Viola studies the flier we got as we entered the gate. “Ooh, there’s a kid cattle roping contest in about thirty minutes. Can we watch it?”
“Of course,” I tell her, grabbing her hand. “Your sweet ass is leading the way,” I lean over and whisper in her ear.
We pass tons of food trucks, an art gallery, and even a beer garden on the way over to the arena. Before we walk in, I stop at a tent that’s selling Cowboy hats. Viola glances at me with a smirk. “Dare you.”