Cowboy Dreams

By Terry O'Reilly

Store clerk Chadwick Algood dreams of leaving his small New England town and becoming Chad Armstrong, a cowboy living a life of adventure in the Wild West. However, Chad is the sole support of his widowed mother and younger sister, so knows his cowboy dreams may never be realized.

Chad’s life is turned upside down when Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show comes to town and Chad meets Bo Miller, a roustabout with hopes and dreams of his own. A relationship quickly develops which deepens the young store clerk’s longing for his dream for a new life.

Eventually, news from England sends Chad’s mother and sister across the Atlantic. Chad decides to stay in the US. Traveling from town to town in search of Bo and the Wild West show, Chad meets ranch owner Leon Scruggs in a bathhouse and feels an instant connection with the hot cowboy.

Which cowboy dream will Chad choose? Or will fate choose for him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jun 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781611527841

Terry O'Reilly

TERRY O’REILLY, the winner of hundreds of international advertising awards, is the bestselling author of The Age of Persuasion and This I Know. He is also an in-demand speaker. His highly awarded radio programs O’Reilly on Advertising, The Age of Persuasion and Under the Influence have been broadcast on CBC Radio since 2005, and his podcast has been downloaded over forty million times. Terry O’Reilly lives outside of Huntsville, Ontario.

Book preview

Cowboy Dreams

By Terry O’Reilly

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2015 Terry O’Reilly

ISBN 9781611527841

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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For everyone who ever dreamed of being loved by a cowboy.

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Cowboy Dreams

By Terry O’Reilly

Chadwick? Chadwick! Mr. Elderberry called.

Yes, sir? the young store clerk responded, hastily returning the book he’d been reading—Rex Ryan, King of the West—to the rack of dime novels in Elderberry’s General store.

What are you doing? the elderly storekeeper asked, coming from behind the counter.

Uh, I’m straightening out the new shipment of books, sir, Chad lied.

And was that what I asked you to do?

Well, no. You asked me to sweep the floor and…and… Chad stammered. He’d actually forgotten what tasks the squat, balding, bespectacled man in the white apron had assigned him.

Where is your mind, boy? Now get that floor swept and then unpack that delivery of yard goods.

Yes, sir, Chad said again.

Chad looked at the book once more, sighed, went to the closet in the storeroom, and got the broom.

As he swept, he muttered to himself, Chadwick, sweep the floor, Chadwick, stock the shelves. There’s more to life than yard goods and brooms!

On top of that he hated his name. What self-respecting cowboy would call himself Chadwick? And a cowboy is what he wanted to be. From as early as he could remember, tales of the American West had filled his heart with dreams of the day he would leave this boring New England town and head for the wide open spaces of the western frontier. There, exciting cowboy adventures awaited him. He would be Chad Armstrong, American cowboy, not Chadwick Algood, New England store clerk. One day, as soon as the opportunity arose, he would assume that identity. Then he would ride off into the sunset as many of the cowboy heroes did in the books he read.

However, and here was the rub, he was the only son of his widowed mother. She had lost her husband, Chad’s father, to consumption. Chad was forced to leave school and get work to support her and his little sister, Sally.

Chad opened the box containing bright ginghams, bold plaids, and flowery prints. He took the bolts of material and laid them out side by side on the long table just inside the front door of the store. He was almost done when the bell on the door signaled the arrival of a customer. A woman and a girl came in. Chad knew them well: Mrs. Custer and Sarah Jane, her daughter. He had gone to school with Sarah Jane before he’d quit when his father passed. They came straight to the table where Chad was working.

Hello, Chadwick, Mrs. Custer said.

Hello, Chad replied.

Hi, Chad, Sarah Jane said with a broad smile.

Chad nodded.

My, what a lovely array of goods you have today, Mrs. Custer continued, running a hand fondly over the material.

Yes, ma’am, Chad mumbled.

Just then, Mr. Elderberry came up to them.

Ah, Mrs. Custer. How nice to see you. Chadwick, since you’re no longer needed here, go straighten up the stockroom and take out the trash.

As the old