Chapter 80 Reunited

Chapter 80 Reunited
When their eyes met, Alexandra felt her heart leap up into her throat. He hadn’t noticed her there until the very end of the seminar. She saw him looking at her. She felt his eyes penetrate through her. She noticed that he had frozen in place and seemed to have lost control of his faculties. He dismissed the question and answer session and started to back out of the round pen toward the gate, his eyes never leaving her. She felt and saw all of the pairs of eyes from the crowd turning toward her to see what had caused him to stare in her direction. She smiled graciously as knowing grins spread across some of their faces, but she continued to look back up at him and then worked her way off the bleachers and around the pen toward the gate.

When she arrived at the gate, people were trying to get his attention, but he was ignoring them and focused on her. “I’ll be damned,” he said when she was only a few steps away.

“Hi,” she said softly. Inside, her heart pounded out a steady beat.

“Hi,” he answered. He looked deep into her eyes. There was a question there, and she could feel it, but it quickly passed away as he worked to get control of himself. 

“Alex,” he breathed, pausing after saying her name. “Damn, I’m glad to see you.”

“I’m happy to see you too,” she replied. There was a momentary pause, and then he swept her into his arms.

It was a long, heartfelt embrace. She suddenly realized that she was where she belonged. She wasn’t sure how to approach being there and what things would be like once she was there. In many ways, it scared her, but in other ways, she felt like she had finally arrived back home. Their brace was interrupted as she felt two muzzles pushing at her legs. “Sam! Lucy!” she cried out and immediately sank toward them. Sam rolled over on his back and presented his belly to her, and Lucy quickly took advantage as she bent down to scratch him. Her kisses were more eager and sweeter than Alexandra had ever remembered.

She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. They loved her, all three of them. Why had she doubted it? “I missed you guys,” she said, standing up. “I missed all of you guys.” She looked deep into his eyes as she added the last part. He embraced her again and then pulled back to look at her face.

Others were pressing in around them. Each of them wanted their moment with him. He ignored all of them and stayed focused on Alexandra. He took her hand, and they escaped the crowd into an area where they could be left alone. Sam and Lucy followed them. When they were finally alone, he took her in his arms again. “I never stopped thinking about you,” he said. He looked into her eyes again and then pressed his lips against hers. Their kiss lingered softly and then became more passionate as each of them let go of the longing that they had carried for nearly a year. Their kiss finally broke, and he looked at her again.

“How did you get here?” he asked. He grinned suddenly. “Did you make another wrong turn?”

“Not this time,” she giggled. “I’m working for someone who happens to be competing in the rodeo here. I saw the poster for your seminar yesterday. I decided to surprise you.”

“Well, you damned sure surprised me,” he said. His soft chuckle was music to her; the sound of his voice was such a sweet tone. She was in heaven once again. “Who are you working for?”

“Evelyn McKenzie,” Alexandra replied.

“You surround yourself with good company,” he said. “Last I checked, she was leading the world standings.”

“She claims that I’m her good luck charm,” she grinned.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” he replied. “God, it is great to see you. I have half a notion to cancel all of my seminars and just spend the day with you. There are so many things that I want to tell you and ask... There’s a lot of catching up to do.”

“You can’t do that,” she said. Her face suddenly turned serious.

“It’s no big deal,” he answered. “You are more important.”

“Evan,” she protested. “You can’t do that. Hundreds of people are counting on seeing you. Some of them may have even made a special trip. Besides, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll just hang out with Sam and Lucy while you do your thing.”

“Seriously?” he asked. “Evelyn doesn’t need you for anything?”

“Evelyn knows where I am, and she told me to take the day off,” Alexandra said. “She doesn’t ride tonight.”

“Maybe I’ll put you to work then,” he grinned. “I need an assistant.”

“What about your other assistant?” she protested.

“He’ll show you what to do,” Evan said.

“What do I need to do?” she asked.

“For the moment, just sit tight with Sam and Lucy,” he said. He looked at his watch. “The next one starts in about 5 minutes. I'd better get out there.” He turned away, paused, turned back, and kissed her long, dee,p and passionately. She was whirling with the intensity of his lips on hers. He pulled away as he heard the host announcing him. “Damn, I’m glad to see you.”

They spent the day together, talking between seminars. She enjoyed listening to him. He did his other seminars differently. They were the same in many respects, but he sounded happier and added more of his sense of humor to them. He engaged more with the latter audiences than he did with the first. They embraced, kissed, and talked a little bit between each of the seminars.

When lunch came, she surprised him by having Evelyn bring them something from a restaurant instead of dining on fairgrounds food. Thus, he was introduced to Evelyn. She stayed while the three of them ate and chatted, and then she dismissed herself. She was overjoyed with the way that the two of them accepted and respected each other. It was a rare feeling to have your best friend and the man of your dreams like each other. When the seminars were over for the day, they dropped the “kids”, Sam and Lucy, off with Evelyn, because the thought of them being shut up in the motel room while they went to dinner didn’t sit right with Alexandra. Evelyn’s parting words indicated that she wouldn’t be waiting up for her and to take her time getting back to work in the morning.