Because this was Sundance, she recognized a lot of people. Not only schoolmates, but teachers and ranchers and people she’d known from church and those who knew her father and mother.
During a lull, a young blond boy raced up to the booth and bragged he spoke Portuguese. He rattled off numbers and phrases, only to be contradicted in Portuguese by a dark-haired girl who appeared to be his little sister.
“You don’t know everything, Sophia,” he scoffed.
“Yes I do,” she retorted.
A devious smile settled on his lip and he asked Georgia, “How do you say big mouth in Russian?”
The girl growled and pushed him, sounding like she was cursing at him in Portuguese.
A shrill whistle had them breaking apart.
Georgia looked at the trio moving toward the kids. Two good-looking men—one fair and blond, the other man dark-haired with golden skin—and a petite woman. With a hint of Native American heritage and the gait that said real cowgirl, Georgia recognized her immediately. “Chassie West?”
The woman stopped and handed the dark-haired toddler sleeping on her shoulder to the blond man. She cocked her head. “As I live and breathe, Georgia Hotchkiss, what the devil are you doin’ back in town?”
Georgia headed straight for Chassie and gave her a big hug. “You look great! I wondered if you were still around here.”
“We took over my dad’s ranch a few years back.” She patted her kids on their heads. “I see you’ve met our oldest kids, Westin and Sophia.”
“They were explaining they speak Portuguese.”
“That’s because he’s from Brazil.” Chassie gestured to the stunning dark-haired man. “That’s Edgard.” Then she pointed to the blond guy grinning at the little girl skipping around them. “This is Trevor. They are the kids’ fathers.”
Edgard offered his hand. “Always enchanted to meet a beautiful friend of our Chassie.”
Trevor rolled his eyes. “Brazil nut there always has to be the charming one. Nice to meet you, Georgia. You must’ve gone to school with our Chass?”
“No, we went to the same church. But I’ll admit the last time I set foot in it was at RJ’s funeral.”
“Same thing happened with me after Dag and my dad died.”
Georgia and Chassie exchanged a long look. Some people mired in grief turned toward the church for solace. It was rare to find another person who’d purposely turned away from the church, when those familiar rituals and tenets seemed like meaningless platitudes. Understanding passed between them as they recognized they’d both lost more than just family members by making that choice.
Chassie reached out and squeezed her hands. “So what are you doin’ back in Wyoming?”
Georgia gave her the condensed version.
“I’d love to get together sometime,” Chassie said.
“Me too. What’s your number?”
“I know it!” Sophia said and rattled it off in English. Which prompted Westin to repeat it in Portuguese. Which prompted another argument that Edgard and Trevor immediately nipped in the bud.
Chassie jotted down her number. “Give me a call.”
“Yes, please call her,” Trevor said, kissing Chassie’s cheek. “She don’t get out as much as she should.”
“Because I’m happy at home with you guys,” Chassie protested.
“And we with you, querida, but sometimes it’s good to mix it up, no?”
Chassie snorted. “You’re both just hopin’ Georgia takes me out drinkin’ so I come home and get wild.”
“We love it when you’re wild, darlin’,” Trevor said. “You turn into something extra special.”
Edgard and Trevor looked at each other and laughed when Chassie hip-checked them both.
“Now that my men have thoroughly embarrassed me, I say we go get a drink right now.”
“But Mama, you promised we’d make cookies tonight,” Sophia complained.
“No worries, Chassie. I’ll take a rain check. And I will call you, I promise.” The family walked away, and Georgia grinned at Westin shouting goodbye to her in multiple languages.
As the two-hour event wound down, she glanced across the aisle to India, who was applying a fake tattoo to a pigtailed blonde girl. The women she’d met who’d married into the McKay family were all so different. Not at all like the traditional ranch wives she’d known growing up. Georgia remembered that Chassie West was related to some of the McKays, and it appeared she wasn’t living the traditional lifestyle either.
Georgia had thirty minutes to wander through the exhibits before the event ended. Most the booths were dedicated to agriculture. A few civic organizations, the western preservationist society, the banks, restaurants, and even a couple of local bands had set up displays. For some reason she wasn’t nervous at all about approaching these people and striking up a conversation. Probably because she wasn’t selling anything.
As she turned the corner, she saw the Sundance High School Rodeo booth. And sitting at the table was Tell McKay.
Her heart stumbled a little. The man was something. Even wearing a scowl as she approached him.
“Hey, Tell. I’m surprised to see you here.”
Tell seemed equally shocked to see her. Not in a good way. “Georgia. Didn’t think community things were your style.”
That was kind of snarky.
“You here beating the bushes for business?”
“No. I was just—”
“Oh right, that’s because you’ve already tackled that problem this week, haven’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
He pushed to his feet and leaned so close, with such hostility, she was tempted to take a step back. “You know exactly what I’m talkin’ about. Don’t play innocent, Georgia, it’ll just piss me off.”
“Are you complaining because I’ve been so busy this week that I haven’t had time to call you?”
“No. The fact I haven’t heard from you ain’t really a surprise because you got what you wanted from me. I thought it’d be different with you this time. But it sure as f**k smacks my pride when your user tactics are pointed out to me by members of my own goddamn family.”
She gritted her teeth and waited for him to get to the point, since it was obvious he’d just gotten started.
“I don’t know how in the hell I didn’t see past the way you’ve showed up in Sundance actin’ like you own the place, leading me around by my nose.”