Aemilia walks hand-in-hand with Little Joe on her left side and Akari on her right hand side. Sophie had stayed at the ranch helping the cooks there with the barbecue Little Joe was throwing for a friend of his. She had met the person and found him as charming as Little Joe. Since, Sophie, the head/trail cooks and house keeper had everything under control. There was no reason for her or Little Joe to stick around.
Little Joe decided to take Aemilia and her adopted daughter Akari to a rodeo that was nearby. It was only a few hours from the ranch and he thought it would be a good experience for the ladies. He looks at Aemilia and noticed how observant she was with her surroundings.
“Expecting some trouble, Aemilia?” He has only learned a few things about Aemilia since she has been at the ranch.
A smile appears on Aemilia’s face before she answers Joe’s question. She gives his hand a little squeeze “Sorry, I’m just so amazed at how life here is so different than it is in France, or anywhere else I have lived.”
“How many places have you lived?” Joe was curious about Aemilia. He knew very little about her.
“Only few places I have relatives in Ireland, London, and a few other countries. Whenever I visit them, I like to learn about the culture and customs of the area.” Aemilia hopes Little Joe buys that answer, because she was finding it harder and harder to lie to him. She also couldn’t believe she was falling for Little Joe.
“You’ll have to tell me about some of the places you have visited. The only foreign places I have visited, has been Switzerland, England, and France of course.” Little Joe knew he wasn’t much of a world traveler as Aemilia seems to be.
“You’ve been to Switzerland?” Aemilia looks at Little Joe’s face when she asked.
“Yeah, I and some of my school buddies went there one year to see what all the fuss was about skiing there. It was alright, but I prefer here in the states.”
“I didn’t know you skied. Do you like skiing?” Aemilia wonders if Joe would like to come and ski in Europe.
“It’s enjoyable, but I’m not a very good skier.” Little Joe hated to admit that.
“Practice makes perfect.” A smirk appears on Aemilia’s face.
Akari had let go of Aemilia’s hand and was a little ahead of them. She was still getting uses to being around a bunch of people. She spotted a vendor offering a variety of teddy bears. Some were small, going all the way up to some huge teddy bears.
“What to try your luck, young lady?” The vendor manning the booth looks at Akari.
Akari looks towards Joe and Aemilia when they stop near her “can I?”
“Sure.” Aemilia puts a five dollar bill out of her pants pocket and hands it to the vendor.
“How do I play?” Akari has never played this game before.
“Hit as many targets as you can, and win the prize. That’s all there it is to it.” Jake smiles at the young girl as he watches her parents.
Akari picks up the rifle; she aims and pulls the trigger. She misses the target she was aiming at. She tries again and hits the edge of the second target. She keeps on trying, but only manages to hit one target.
“Dang!” Akari hands the rifle back to Jake.
“Sorry, little lady. But since you, hit one target. You can have this.” Jake hands a keychain to Akari with a little teddy bear on it.
Akari looks at the little keychain with the teddy bear on it. She was hoping to get one of the bigger ones, to replace the one she lost at sea.
“Thank you.” Akari turns to leave.
Little Joe saw the disappointing look on Akari’s face. He knew these games were rigged.
“Let me try.” Joe pulls out a five dollar bill and lay it down in front of Jake.
“Okay, here you go, cowboy.” Jake hands Little Joe a different rifle to fire.
Joe accepts the rifle and he could tell from the weight of the rifle that something was off with it. He aims and manages to compensate for the weight and fires. He hits the first, second, and third targets. He nicks the fourth one and the last one he managed to hit.
“He you go sir.” Jake grabs a medium size teddy bear and hands it to Little Joe.
Little Joe accepts it and hands it to Akari “here you go, kiddo.”
Akari accepts the teddy bear from Joe. She looks him “thank you.”
“Any time, kiddo.” A smile appears on Little Joe’s face as they turn to leave.
A smile forms on Aemilia’s face as they leave the stall. They stop at a few more stalls and play some games. A few times, Aemilia tries her hand at some of the games and wins. Other times she loses, but it doesn’t bother her to lose.
When the trio stopped at the dart stall to play. Aemilia notices the darts were weighted, so you would miss. She compensates for the difference in weight and manages to hit the bull eye all three times.
Little Joe looks at Aemilia “Let’s try that again.”
“Okay.” A sly smile appears on Aemilia’s face as she accepts the darts.
She throws each one separately and gets a bull’s eye. When she throws the third one, Little Joe gooses her. She misses the target when he does that.
“Hey! That’s cheating.” Aemilia gives Little Joe a dirty look.
A smirks appears on his face, as he leans towards her and kisses Aemilia. He wraps his arm around her and pull her towards him.
Aemilia just melts in Little Joe’s arms. She couldn’t believe what this man was doing to her. She has never felt like this before, even when she did the same thing another woman. When Joe stops kissing her, a smile appears on her face “You’re forgiven.”
The rest of the afternoon they ride a few rides and catch a show or two, before they head back home for the barbecue party.