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As a kid with a weak heart, relegated to a life of sitting on a couch, or in bed between hospital visits and surgeries, she’d become a dreamer out of necessity. She’d lived because of her dreams, because of her optimistic outlook. God had given her life, but he’d sustained her with her dreams. Standing inside the door of Ross Denton’s old barn, she knew this was where those dreams were at long last going to flourish.
If there was such a thing as love at first sight, Sugar had found it. There was a huge space inside. Stalls off to one side stood below a loft that ran across the first third of the building, leaving the rest of the barn open all the way to the rafters. Morning sunlight filtered through windows, letting in a soft glow and making Sugar feel as if she was actually walking into her dream.
Heart pounding, she moved to the center of the barn floor, turning an old five-gallon bucket upside down to sit on. Totally in awe, she placed her elbow on her knee and her chin on her fist as her mind flew free, filling with ideas. This was it. This was the place. No longer was this just a dream.
Oh no, this was a full-fledged done deal. She could picture it all. People laughing, kids clapping.
Reviewers raving…Oh yeah, this was perfect. And Ross Denton was the key to it all. He was the guy that was going to help her make her dream come true.
The last thing Ross expected to see as he drove out from the back pasture was Sugar Rae disappearing inside his barn. For a minute he thought he’d imagined her, but the sight of her unmistakable vehicle by the road proved that his imagination wasn’t playing tricks on him.
Shutting off his truck, he crossed the pasture, more than a little curious to find out what Mule Hollow’s newest resident was up to. Maybe her car had broken down? But why would she be driving around out here at nine o’clock, when her apartment was right above her office, and she’d come to Mule Hollow to work?
At the doors, he peeked inside. She was sitting on a bucket in the center of the barn, obviously lost in thought.
Today, she was dressed in a gauzy yellow dress that draped over her like a tent, with a pink shirt underneath that matched her pink canvas shoes. The outfit was a far cry from the heels and zebra pants of the day before, but still just as interesting. She wasn’t boring, that was for sure.
Wondering what she was thinking, he stepped inside. “Please tell me you missed me already and you came out here looking for me,” he teased.
She shot to her feet with a shriek. “Where did you come from?”
Not the reaction he’d hoped for. “Whoa there, take it easy. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was coming out of the pasture through the woods and saw you entering the barn.”
She blew out a gusty breath. “You wouldn’t have surprised me if I hadn’t been so lost in my thoughts. I love your barn. Do you have any idea how wonderful it is? I mean, can you imagine all the history that happened in here? The square dances and maybe church socials…”
“I like it. There is a lot of history to this place,” he agreed. She was a bundle of surprises. “I didn’t take you as a history buff, though.”
“Actually, I’m not. I just felt this overwhelming connection when I walked in. It makes what I have to propose to you all the more important.”
He smiled at her dramatics and was all ears. “Propose away. You have my full attention.”
Her eyes widened more, if that were possible. “You see, I haven’t come to Mule Hollow just to help Haley. What I really want to do is start up a summer theater. I’m an actress, and I’m looking to find a way to stand out. I need some good reviews to help me land some better parts. And…” she twirled around, arms out “…this is where I think I can do it. Right here in your barn, Ross Denton. And to make it even more perfect, I hear you have some experience in that department. I just couldn’t believe my good fortune when the ladies told me your family has a show out in Branson.”
He groaned inwardly as his heart sank. An actress. Of all the rotten luck. “I don’t entertain anymore.” He sang to his cows sometimes but he wasn’t going to tell her that.
She frowned at him, but didn’t let it stop her. Her forehead crinkled. “Okay, but I need a theater. And, well, I have a limited budget, so I was hoping, since your barn would absolutely be the perfect place, that I could talk you into letting me work out a deal with you. I want to do something on Friday nights and maybe twice on Saturday, and the ladies said that would take too much time from the community center for me to run the show there. It would knock out too many other things, since I would practically be taking over the place. I completely understand. And it’s just fine, since I love your barn. This is the place I’m supposed to be. I can feel it. Have you ever just…” she paused, with the most hopeful expression on her face “…you know, just known when something was right?”
She blinked her big eyes expectantly, and his heart sank lower still. Feeling his frown all the way to his toes, he scooped his hat off his head and tried to gather his thoughts. This was not good.
When he didn’t say anything, she plunged back in. “I was already thinking of trying something similar to the way they run shows in Branson, so just imagine my excitement when I learned you had experience. But don’t worry, I’m thinking smaller.” As she rattled on, her voice filled with renewed excitement.
His heart hit rock bottom. “I’m sorry, Sugar, but the answer is no,” he said, and before he did something stupid and said yes, he spun on his heel and stalked out of the building.
Chapter Four
“Wait!” Sugar called after Ross, but he just kept on walking. She couldn’t believe this. What had happened to the nice Mr. Flirtatious from yesterday? She hurried out of the barn.
“Stop,” she demanded as she chased after him. “I don’t understand your attitude.”
“Look, Sugar,” he said, stopping so quickly she almost ran into him. “I never participate in any of the shows they put on here in Mule Hollow because I don’t do that anymore. And I don’t want it happening on my property. I’m sorry, but the answer is no. And it won’t change.”
Sugar waved a hand toward the barn. “But it’s just sitting there. It doesn’t even look like you use it.”
“That doesn’t matter. You’ll have to find another barn. The answer is no.”
Watching him walk away, Sugar was almost at a loss for words. Almost. “C’mon, Ross. Give me a break here. I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m sure we can work it out. I’m starting auditions pretty soon. I need a place. Work with me here.”
He spun, as quick as a gunslinger. She immediately got a visual of him on stage.
His brows creased and she felt a bit of hope, so she smiled encouragingly at him.
“When exactly are you planning on working for Haley?”
“From ten till five, Monday through Friday. The rest of the time is mine to do with what I want. And what I want is to set up an old-fashioned strawhat production.”
“Well, good luck finding another place. Really. I mean that. You want a ride to your car?”
“What?” The man couldn’t be serious. “No! I don’t want a ride. I want your barn.”
His jaw tensed as their locked gazes held. The air crackled with challenge. And attraction—though Sugar doused that quickly enough. The man could help her if he wanted, and instead he was being a pigheaded oaf! What a disappointment he was. She glared at him.
“Look, don’t be stubborn. Hop in and I’ll drive you. I wouldn’t feel right leaving you standing there. I don’t want you getting hurt out here on my property.”
Now he was back to being Mr. Chivalrous! Sugar took a deep breath and prayed for patience. “I wouldn’t want to put you out, cowboy,” she snapped, and walked away from him down the rutted path, her dress mushrooming with each stomp of her feet. At the sound of his truck starting, she walked faster, regaining her composure as she went. If he thought she’d given up, he was mistaken. She just had to figure out the right way to make a comeback…and she would. After all, she was Sugar Rae Lenox. The comeback kid.
He drove up behind her in the big truck, but made no attempt to go around her, and she made no move to get out of his path. He followed her until she walked across the cattle guard, and then paused behind her once she reached her station wagon. Gritting her teeth, she smiled sweetly at him, waved, then climbed behind the wheel and slammed the door.
She noted with satisfaction that Ross wasn’t smiling as he drove off.
Good. Maybe his conscience was starting to work on him.
Before she drove back to town, she glanced back at her barn. God was surely smiling on her to have provided such a perfect place for her strawhat production. On that note, she would keep thinking positively. Ross would come around.
He just didn’t realize it yet.
“Why didn’t you fellas tell me she was an actress?” Ross asked the next morning. He was in a foul mood as he sat at the counter at Sam’s, nursing a cup of coffee. The disappointment in Sugar’s eyes the day before hadn’t set well with him. Turning her down—well, really, telling her flat-out no—had been his automatic reaction. A gut reaction. And though it was the only answer he wanted to give, he wished he’d said it a better way.
But no was still no, any way you said it.
Especially when it came to him and entertainment. Still, the look on her face had driven him from his bed this morning and to Sam’s so early that he’d beaten the old-timers.
“We thought you knew,” Applegate said. “Ain’t you heard my Haley Bell talk about her friend the actress?”
“No, App, I haven’t. I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the community like you do,” he snapped.
“I didn’t think ta tell you,” Stanley said as he sat down. He plopped a handful of sunflower seeds in his mouth and started placing his red checkers on the board, ignoring Ross’s glare. “Does it bother ya that she’s an actress?”
Sam came out of the back and set a plate of pancakes in front of Ross before he had a chance to answer. He liked to eat sweets when he was stressed.
“So does it?” Sam asked.
Ross looked from him back to the checkers players, glad they were the only ones in the diner. “Yes. It does. Frankly, I liked this girl.”
“So, what’s her bein’ an actress got to do with that?” Applegate asked.
“I’m not looking to date a woman just to be dating her. I’m looking for a wife. She’s an actress. She’s got one thing on her mind and that’s getting her name up in lights.”
“So yer holdin’ that aginst her? It ain’t like she ain’t got a good reason,” Applegate grunted.
“That’s right,” Stanley huffed. “Tell him, App.”
Ross’s curiosity got the better of him and he set his coffee down. “I’m all ears, App.”
“Me, too,” Sam said.
“Haley Bell told me that Sugar was a real sick little girl. She was one of them thar preemie preemies or something like that. You know, one of them really tiny premature babies. I thank she weighed about two pounds or somethin’. Can you just imagine that? Anyway, she was a fighter, but it took blame near her whole childhood fer her ta get healthy. She had somethin’ wrong with her heart, among other thangs. Had a ton of surgeries and spent a lot of time in front of the television. Said them act’rs helped keep her going.” He looked at Ross from beneath caterpillar brows. “No wonder she’s got her heart set on bein’ one.”
The room was silent. Ross sat for a moment and took it all in. Then pushed the untouched pancakes away and stood up to go. He needed to think. “Thanks for telling me that, Applegate. It doesn’t change my mind…about anything. Trying to date her or letting her have my barn. But at least I understand her a little better.”
As he laid his money on the counter, he could tell by their scowls that they didn’t like his answer, but he couldn’t help it. Really, it would be better for Sugar if he didn’t give in. The woman couldn’t understand what she was trying to accomplish.
Putting on a show was a huge undertaking. His grandfather Dupree, or Grandpop, as Ross had called him, started his show “The Singing Duprees” with little more than a guitar, a need to entertain and a steely commitment to give it his all.
Because of that, Grandpop’s dream came true, and he’d lived to see his grandchildren follow him up on the stage he’d built. It had thrilled his soul. Ross could still remember the look of pride in his eyes whenever they sang a song together in front of a packed house.
As a kid all Ross had known was how proud he was to be singing beside his grandfather. As an adult, he’d grown weary of the behind-the-scenes struggles and the exhaustive amount of determination and commitment it took to keep the show going.
Sugar Rae might be looking at a shorter show schedule, but he didn’t think she knew what would be required of her to get that curtain up each performance. It was a strenuous, locked-down lifestyle. And it was one he never wanted to experience again.
Ranching was hard work, too. It required long days—sometimes seven days a week. But it was a quiet life, and that suited him.
Clearly, it wouldn’t suit Sugar.
He’d talked with her only twice, so realistically, it shouldn’t bother him so much that she’d be leaving.
But it did bother him. And she was leaving; no doubt about it. She had stars in her eyes and leaving on her mind.
The story Applegate had just told him made him even more certain that the passion he’d heard in her voice was real. He’d come across it many times before during his years on the stage. Plenty of actors with Hollywood on their radar came through Branson looking for experience. It didn’t take them long to leave.
He gave Sugar six months, and then she’d be out of here. He’d do well to keep that in mind, because any time he invested in her would just be wasted time. End of story.
Haley glanced over the top of her computer at Sugar. “Those ads you loaded onto the Web site look great. It is so fantastic to have you helping me. I’m a real klutz when it comes to Web pages and that technical stuff.”
“You could learn it. It’s just procedure. Once you learn the ropes, you’re in.”
Haley gave an exaggerated grimace. “Easy for you to say. You know how to do it.”
Sugar rolled her eyes and tried to concentrate on work. “If I can do it, you can, and I’m going to teach you while I’m here.”
Haley laid her pen down. “I know you don’t want me to say this, but I really hope you’ll stay on. It would be good for you and for us. You have so much to offer the community.”
“You know that won’t happen,” Sugar said frankly. She needed to nip that idea in the bud pronto. And truth was, if Ross didn’t come around, there was no reason for her to stick around. She’d made Haley a promise to come help her get things going with the office, but if she couldn’t find a way to help her career, then she was staying in this small town for the absolute shortest time possible.
Haley sighed. “You can’t fault a girl for hoping.”
Sugar couldn’t hold back anymore. “So tell me, what’s the story on this Ross guy? He wouldn’t even listen to what I had to say this morning. He seemed different from the guy I met yesterday—talk about a rude dude. And I know about rude.”
That made Haley laugh, just as Sugar knew it would. Sugar had been notorious for assisting other assistants in the office when it came to people behaving badly. “He didn’t know you were an actress. I’m honestly confused by all of this, too. I really don’t know him all that well, and had completely forgotten about his ties to Branson. No one ever talks about it anymore. I think his family comes to visit him some, but they have a really tight schedule and can’t get away that often.”
“Still, what’s it going to hurt the guy to at least consider it? Mule-headed, that’s what he is. And selfish.”
“Will knows him better than I do. Maybe I need to invite you and him for dinner. We can soften him up. What do you think? It’s worth a try.”
Sugar pulled open her top drawer, plucked a green gumdrop from the bag stored there and bit it in half. She chewed on one half and squished the other between her fingers as she thought over her strange encounter with Ross. “He’s going to soften up. I’m going to hound him until he does. Too much is at stake here. I have to have his building.”
“Are you going to destroy his resistance like you just destroyed that poor piece of candy?” Haley asked, a smile in her voice.
Sugar zoned in on the small blob of green goop. “Ack! Disgusting! What was I thinking?” She shook her hand over the trash can, but it wouldn’t come off. Grabbing a tissue, she wiped it away. “There. Okay, back to the point. The man will come around.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if I have to talk him into it, I will. I’m angry at him right now, but he really does seem like a nice guy. A little moody, but I’m sure that when he sees the show will be good for Mule Hollow, he’ll give in. I’m going to calm down and pray about it.”
“I’ll pray, too. I just can’t help thinking God has a plan here.” Haley studied her. “This could be very interesting,” she said at last. “Ross might not be as wimpy as you think.”
“Don’t you laugh, the man will surrender. I promise you,” Sugar warned, aware of the smile she was trying to control.
Haley held her hand up in surrender. “I believe you. Remember, I’ve seen you in action. So when are you going to start auditions?”
“I’m going to print up a flyer for Sam’s and the feed store, and get things going on Saturday. And since you’ve taken over booking the community center, I was hoping I could use it for rehearsal. Thanks to my sweet grandmother I have money stashed away that will finance this venture, if I’m frugal.”
“You can use the community center for the auditions and for rehearsal. We’ll work something out. I’ll also do a sponsorship to help with the cost. After all, this is going to be a great attraction—I really do believe in you, Sugar.”
Sugar suddenly felt like crying. “Thank you,” she said softly. “That means more to me than you know.”
Haley smiled as if it was no big deal, but it was to Sugar. As she was growing up, her parents had seemed to believe in her dream to be an actress, but when it came time for her to head out to L.A., they’d changed their tune. Only then did she find out that they’d supported her dream as a means to help her make it through her illness. They’d thought she’d grow out of it.
She told herself that it didn’t matter, but it did. Having someone believe in you was important.
But proving wrong those who didn’t believe in you could also be great motivation.
It was almost closing time on Saturday afternoon when Ross parked in front of the feed store. He needed to grab some more wire from Pete’s, but found himself heading toward the real-estate office instead, despite his determination to stay away. No matter how many times he went over it in his head, he still felt like he owed Sugar some sort of explanation for his abrupt behavior on Wednesday morning.
He wasn’t at all sure what kind of welcome to expect as he opened the door and stepped inside.
“Hey, cowboy!”
Her greeting both startled him and made him wary at the same time. “Hey yourself,” he said, moving cautiously into the room.
“You’re just the man I was hoping would walk through those doors today.”
“I am?” He was immediately suspicious.
“Oh yeah. How’s my building doing? You know I’m holding auditions tonight?” Her eyes were sparkling. “I’ve been monitoring the visitors I’ve run into over the last couple of days, and I’m feeling more optimistic by the carload. There’s been a real eclectic mix of folks. College girls looking for cowboys, weekend browsers shopping at Ashby’s dress store, and even older couples just hanging out. I’ve been polling everyone about why they came to town. Most of them say it’s a pleasant day trip. These kinds of people will make a perfect audience when I put my show on in your lovely barn.” She was beaming at him when she finally finished.
He wasn’t sure whether to be irritated that she hadn’t given up on his barn, or amused. “About that—I thought I’d come in here and try to explain myself a little better. There was no excuse for me to turn you down so callously.” It was true, he’d concluded. He could have turned her down without being so abrupt.
She waved off his apology. “I’m sure you had your reasons. As I’m also sure that, now you’ve had time to think it over, you’ve come to your senses and decided to go into partnership with me on my show.” Grinning, she rested her chin on her palm and studied him.
He laughed at her blatant tactics. “You’re persistent, I’ll give you that.”
“Nope. I only want you to give me the use of your barn.” She batted her eyes at him. “Just say yes. It’s easy.”
He was in danger here.
“I promise you,” she continued, “people will come out to see my production. We’ll do a few skits and some singing, and oh yeah, did I tell you I need a hero? You’d make a great hero.”
Man, she really didn’t take no for an answer! He liked that about her and found himself wanting to say yes. But that wouldn’t be fair to either of them. Still, she was persuasive. What red-blooded American man wouldn’t want a woman to think he’d make a great hero? Too bad they were on two different life paths, he reminded himself.
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