Rodeo and Juliet Page #5

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every day, you never know.

It's all right, isn't it?

Sure, as long as you're careful.

Of course.

I'm gonna go brush him.

Hey, what are you gonna do

about your friends?

What do you mean?

You know, your

friends in the city.

You haven't talked to them

since you've been here.

I suppose they'll still be

there when I get back.

Hey!

I'm proud of you.

Thanks, Mom.

There you go, boy.

You're a good boy, aren't you?

He is special, all right.

Mr. Anderson.

Hugh.

We go by first names

around here.

Of course.

Hugh.

How's your mother doing?

She's fine.

With all the unpaid bills

in this place...

Figured she might be

in a... tough spot.

I found him, you know?

I found him

at an auction upstate.

And I... I knew he was special

when I saw him.

You could...

You could see it in his eyes.

- Why did my mom leave here?

- Hm.

- She never told you?

- No.

Hm.

Sometimes...

things just don't work out.

But... I'm sure glad

he likes you, Rodeo.

You both deserve it.

Tell your mother...

Let's get this thing settled

and... done with.

We can both move on again

once we do.

There's parts of this office

I haven't seen in years.

[laughing]

Yeah, well, it helps me take out

my frustrations on the ranch.

- Any luck with the writing?

- No.

Everything is so distracting.

Hmm. Maybe you should've

stayed in New York.

[laughter]

Don't think that hasn't

crossed my mind.

You know, I was... I was

thinking about what you said.

Maybe I've been

too hard on Hugh.

Well, he spent almost twenty

years helping your dad.

He deserves some credit.

Can I confess something?

Yes ma'am.

I'm scared.

I'm scared of losing the ranch. I'm...

I'm scared of losing my daughter.

I don't know the difference

between right and wrong anymore.

The truth is I feel lost.

Karen.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

It's just that I've spent so long

coasting with this false bravado,

pretending that I'm this...

expert on love and romance.

And I'm not.

It sold a lot of books.

I don't think

I can do this anymore.

I mean, c'mon. How can someone write about

love and... and the hope and the joy

and the excitement of it all if they can't

even remember what it was like for themselves

in the first place?

I have no answer for that.

I'm a big fake.

Yeah.

Good morning, Jasmine.

How you doing?

Good morning, I'm good.

How about you?

- Oh, great. Thank you.

- What you got?

- Uh, I need to record that.

- All right. Let's see.

- Everything looks accurate.

- Excellent.

- Ten bucks, right?

- Ten dollars. Let me give you your receipt, here.

Okay.

- Perfect. Hey, Merry Christmas to you.

- Thanks, you too.

[truck pulls up]

Hi there.

Is Pete around?

Uh, no. He's not. I'm his

daughter, Karen Rogers.

Can I help you?

I'm Bill Atterbury. Do you

know when he will be back?

No. No, no, he...

He won't be back.

My father passed away

a month ago.

That's... I'm sorry.

I didn't know.

Your dad and Huey Anderson

trained all my new horses.

I have a big place across town.

[sighs]

- Is the ranch yours now?

- Yes!

Yes it is!

I'm gonna sell it if you know anyone

that might be interested in buying it.

Actually, I'd be interested.

- Really?

- Very interested.

Well, okay, Mr. Atterbury. Why don't you

come on in? I'll make you some lunch.

- All right. Thank you.

- 'Kay, c'mon. Yeah.

It's like a revolving door around here. Used

to be people had to call for an appointment.

Don't take it personal. I did try to call you

but... damn cell phone never works around here.

Yeah, I just had a young girl

complaining about that the other day.

Uh, I wanna drop this off to

you, Judge... warranty deed.

I got it recorded,

and I got it notarized.

Mhm.

Are you sure you wanna do this?

I was hoping you two

would work things out.

Well... it's been twenty years.

I just don't think

the woman's gonna change.

I understand. I understand.

Uh, I'm gonna hold this

until we get it resolved.

Now.

If Pete had a will,

you would tell me, right?

Yes, I would! Honestly, Hugh, I can't

remember ever him saying anything like that.

All right.

- You've been doing some Christmas cleaning here, huh?

- Yeah, I've been cleaning up

pretty good around here lately.

It's... pretty messy.

- I'm taking care of it.

- It's looking good.

Well, I thank you, sir.

Appreciate it kindly.

[sighs]

I have never seen you

like this before.

You are really having trouble

with this book, aren't you?

Oh, my gosh. Yes.

Ugh.

I think it's all this stuff with

Hugh and the ranch and lalalala...

[sighs]

Hugh and I...

used to be together.

We were engaged.

- What?

- Yeah.

For a long time I wanted to be

a rancher's wife and um...

And all of a sudden, I was

introduced to this world of writing.

It was awesome. Growing up here

wasn't always fun and games.

I can imagine that.

'Specially after my mom died.

I was only ten.

And... I was

all my dad had left.

He really latched onto me

really hard and...

And then I met Hugh,

which was great.

But my dad was... pressuring me to

marry him and before I knew it,

he had my whole life planned out

for me and I had no say in it.

And then one day, I sold my very first short

story right here at this kitchen table.

It was so cool.

And suddenly, I had

this opportunity to go

somewhere else,

anywhere but here and...

become a writer.

[laughs] So excited.

My dad, he had a fit.

He did not want me to leave.

- What about Hugh?

- Oh, Hugh.

Hugh wouldn't even consider

going to New York with me.

I mean I guess I don't

blame him but...

Whatever it was we had ended

when we left.

I thought you really loved him.

Oh... I loved that man so much.

But love doesn't conquer all.

I felt like him and my dad were

taking each other's side against me.

And I just wanted

to be supported and...

I got mad, and I left,

and I never looked back.

Do you ever regret

going to New York?

No. Never.

I got you out

of the deal, didn't I?

I never told you this but...

your grandpa paid for all the riding

lessons you took in the city.

He was adamant about the fact

his granddaughter better know

how to ride a horse

if she ever came back here.

That's pretty awesome.

Um, I found this.

My daddy gave this to me the

Christmas after my mom died.

It always reminds me

of Christmas.

I want you to have it, baby.

Thank you.

It's beautiful.

Yeah.

Well, then don't you think

it's time to decorate the tree?

Yeah. I'm sure we can find

a few odds and ends

around here to make that work.

[breathes heavily]

It'll look great.

It's not hard, right?

- No!

- Right?

Then inside out.

You wanna kick him here.

On that side of the barrel.

Woo!

Come on! Come this way!

Uptown. Around town.

Woo!

Nice! Romance.

- Take your time.

- Mean it!

Woo!

Woo!

Take him home! That's it!

[laughter]

You're such a good boy.

Ooh wee, Rodeo

You know, you're getting

better at this every day.

I've never seen anyone learn

to run barrels so fast.

I'm lying to my mom and it's

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