“Exactly. And then I’ll be free as a bird,” Winnie says. “But enough on me. Why’d you call, sweet cheeks? That sexy looking cowboy giving you a hard time again?”
She snickers as she says “hard,” and I just roll my eyes. “No, not really. We’re actually working on some things together.” I explain our little deal to Winnie and she loves it, and characteristically says I should ask him for his help with a few other things as well.
“Just think what a man like that can do with his body, Candice,” she says, whistling.
“No thanks, not interested.”
“Well, I would be. Especially in a town like Star Mountain. I mean who else is there to fuck, let alone date, out there?”
“No one. Unless you think the idiots I went to high school with are worthwhile,” I say, hiding a wince. One of those idiotshappens to be the only boyfriend I ever had, when I was nineteen. I’m desperately hoping he isn’t at the Neon Horseshoe tonight.
“Why not Nate, then? At least for some fun,” Winnie says.
“Even if I wanted him Win, which I don’t, he’d never go for me,” I say. “Nathan can have any girl he wants and often does, and I’m not interested in a man like that. We’re going out tonight, though. Everyone from the barn, including Nathan.”
“Ohhh, exciting. So you called for makeup and clothing advice?” On the screen, my friend’s big blue eyes have taken on a gleam and she’s clearly excited. Winnie always wants to give me clothing advice, but I hardly ever let her.
“Yes,” I admit. “Work your magic on me.”
“Alright. Well, first thing’s first, flip the camera around and let me see what’s in your closet.”
I walk Winnie through the options, which are pretty few and far between, and she settles on a pair of bell-bottom jeans that were my mom’s and an oversized white top with pearl buttons
“This thing? Really?” I ask. “I’m going to look like I work on a dude ranch.”
“Not when I’m done with you, you won’t,” Winnie says. “Are you okay wearing your mom’s jeans, though?”
“I am,” I say, fingering the soft, well-worn denim. “I like feeling connected to her like this.”
“Good, because you’re going to look hot as shit in them,” she says.
Winnie talks me through how to style the clothes, telling me how to drape, button, and tie the shirt so that it exposes my shoulders and a bit of midriff.
“Do you have any cowboy boots that aren’t covered in horse shit?” she asks.
I roll my eyes but say, “Well, I have a pair of white ones with some embroidery that I’ve always been too afraid to wear,”I say. Grammy bought them for me for my sixteenth birthday, after seeing me staring at them in a shop. They were expensive and not something we could really afford under normal circumstances, but she waited and waited until they went on sale and then scooped them up. I haven’t worn them out in years.
“Those will be perfect! Show me,” Winnie says.
I dig the boots out of the back of my closet, and choke on a bit of dust as I do. I brush them off and then show them to Winnie on the screen. They’re white and cream leather, with blue and red embroidered paisley designs up the sides.
“Oh my god,” Winnie shrieks. “Candice, those are stunning! You’ve been hiding them from me for all this time! I can’t believe you.”
The only thing Winnie loves more than clothes is singing, so her reaction makes sense. I went to visit her in Alabama one time and her closet was about the size of my bedroom.
“I’m scared to wear them. I’m always so worried about getting dirt on them,” I say.
“Leather conditioner works wonders, dear,” she says. “Now let me see the whole thing.”
I pull on the boots and then back away from the phone and do a twirl for Winnie. My friend rubs her hands together in evil delight and says, “Sexy rodeo man ain’t gonna know what hit him. Just add your belt with the silver buckle and you’ll be perfect.”
I can’t help but smile at her words because frankly, I amexcited to see the look on Nathan’s face when he sees me as something,someoneother than just a lonely girl in a barn. Winnie talks me through how to do my eye makeup and which lipstick color to choose and then we hang up. I grab my jean jacket, pop Gramps’s black Stetson back on my head, and head out, dressed in the pieces of my family and holding them close to my heart.
12
NATHAN
I wishI was wearing a blindfold. Or was so drunk I couldn’t see straight. Because no matter what I do, I can’t seem to keep my eyes off of Candice. I’m sitting at our table at the Neon Horseshoe, watching her dance with Jenny in the middle of the floor. Around them, couples are dancing together, but neither Candice nor Jenny look very interested in dancing with any of the single guys sniffing around the edge of the dance floor. I’ve never seen Candice look so happy, or so beautiful.
