Author’s Note: This story is a complete work of fiction from the get go and is intended solely for the readers to enjoy. My thanks to Easyspeak for the work of editing this story so that it makes sense and makes it easier to read and understand.

Author’s Note: This story was inspired by a song by George Strait “You Look So Good In Love”. The title of this story was taken from a part of the first line of the song. The reader can find George Strait’s song on the internet and the lyrics are also available there, too. The author hopes the readers enjoy his music and the story.

It was in our junior year in high school when I met Anita Fischer. I thought she looked like an angel personified when I met her. She was just so pretty and her beauty immediately appealed to me. Of course, I knew that I wasn’t the only one she appealed to like she did to me. I knew that every other guy in this school would be attracted to her just as much as I was.

I hadn’t seen Anita on our school campus before now but, that was probably because we hadn’t had any classes together before this fall. I know I would have noticed and remembered her if I had seen her previously.

I would have remembered that shining blond hair that came down to just above her shoulders and coupled with her pretty face and her smiling and sparkling blue eyes that were just gorgeous and were so alluring.

There was no missing or mistaking her hour glass figure either. I really don’t know what her personal measurements were but, they really weren’t important to me. Anyone who cared to look could easily see just how shapely she was and she had a beautiful hour glass figure.

They sure didn’t need to know what her exact measurements were, at least not me. I figured that measurements were just numbers about her beautiful personal over all appeal to me and to other horny sex starved guys like me.

Her hour glass shape was one of her best assets along with her shining blond hair, her sparkling blue eyes and her very pretty face. When she looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes it just melted my heart.

And it really tended to freeze another part of me, too. It was not hard to think that she could have the same effect on every other guy in school, too, or elsewhere for that matter.

She came walking into our American History class with all the self-confidence and self-assurance of a cat after her prey or a bull dogger who was about to bulldog the meanest toughest steer in the rodeo.

She sat at the student desk right beside me without any hesitation at all. I couldn’t believe where she chose to sit because; most girls tended to sit with other girls in the class and not next to guys they don’t really know and haven’t seen or met before.

She immediately turned to me and introduced herself telling me her name and said, “You look familiar to me. Are you Karl Wagner?” as she extended her hand to shake mine. She continued, “I’m Anita Fischer.” I had really wondered how she knew my name and how she recognized me.

I turned a little in my student desk chair, to shake her hand and said, “Yes, I am Karl Wagner. I’m happy to meet you Anita. I think this is the first time we have met, so, how do you know me and how do you know my name?”

“I have seen you and your roping partner, Benny Schneider, at the rodeo in the calf roping and team roping events. You two guys are pretty good competitors in those roping events.”

“Thank you for your compliment, Anita. Benny has been trying to tell me that we ought to follow the rodeo circuit when we get out of high school. I’ll have to tell him about your compliment the next time I see him.”

“As good as you and Benny are on horseback I’m surprised that you’re not riding the saddle broncs or even riding the bulls.”

“I have thought about riding the broncs but, my Dad told me to stay off of the bulls. He thought that they would eventually kill me and bulldogging was not that much better. He thinks that riding the broncs was better than bulldogging but it was still pretty dangerous, too. Lots of guys have gotten their hand trapped in the rigging and have been pretty seriously injured.

If it hadn’t been for the rodeo clowns they could have been killed. The rodeo clowns are the real stars of the rodeo. They really have to be fearless and athletic as well as pull off all the funny antics they do to help and still protect the guys performing in the events. That means they really have to know and understand the stock especially the bulls and the broncs and how a guy sets up his rigging on the bulls.

If Benny and I start following the circuit I may start riding the broncs. But, it will be a while before I make that decision. I like the calf roping events. I’ve done plenty of that on our ranch for my Dad. He’s a pretty good cowboy himself. And my Mom really doesn’t want me to be riding bulls or bulldogging steers either.

She always tells me that she didn’t go through nine months of pregnancy to bring me into this world and see me get killed by an 1800 to 2000 pound bull or just as bad to see my head bashed in by a steer’s horns in the bulldogging events.

I know of one champion rodeo cowboy who was nearly killed when the bull’s head hit his head and he was out cold for several hours before he finally came to. I know he quit the rodeo not long after that and he moved to Montana with his wife and he became a mountain man.

Besides all of that, Mom and Dad have told me that they want me to go on to college after high school. They have both told me, ‘If you don’t go to college we’ll both disown you, since you have always made good grades in school. And we want you in college and not in a grave with the epitaph of ‘Champion Bull Rider” or ‘Champion Saddle Bronc Rider’ written on your grave stone.

They have both told me, ‘The days are long gone of just any old cowpuncher running a ranch that can make a go of it without a good education.’ I think they’re right so I think I’m going to have to go to college after high school or my parents will skin me and then they will disown me.” I know that Anita got a good giggle out of what I had just said.

About that time the History Teacher called the class to order and that was the end of our conversation until the next day. We both sat through the class and listened to the teacher lecture on the history of the U. S. When the class was dismissed we got up and Anita said to me, “I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Karl.”

I responded, “Ok, Anita, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I figured that would be the last time she sat beside me and she would be sitting with the other girls from then on. The next day I got to the class and was looking over the assignment when I saw out of the corner of my eye a girl sit down at the student desk next to me.

I turned and saw Anita sitting beside me with a bright smile on her pretty face and a sparkle in those beautiful blue eyes of hers. I said, “Hi, Anita. How are you doing today? I figured you’d be sitting with the other girls today rather than this ‘Old Cow Puncher and Calf Roper.’”

“Hello, Karl, I’m fine.” she said with her blue eyes sparkling at me and a bright smile on her pretty face. Those girls have their own little group and I don’t think they are very interested in getting to know other people outside their group.

At least you have talked to me very nicely and I really appreciate that, coming from an ‘Old Cow Puncher’ like you, Karl.” She had just picked up on my silly comment of being an old cow puncher.

“Since I hadn’t seen you here before did you just move to this area and start school here this fall?”

“No, I have always lived in this general area but, where I lived was in a different school district until this fall. It was consolidated with this school district and the school I was going to was closed because the enrolment had gotten so small.”

It turned out she lived on a ranch with her parents a few miles on past where our ranch and Benny’s parents’ ranch was located. It immediately struck me, ‘How convenient was that?’

Her parent’s ranch was probably closer to our ranch than our ranch was to school. Anita began to sit at the student desk next to me each day. Sitting beside one another, little by little, we got to know each other pretty well over time.

Of course, I really liked her sitting beside me and getting to know more about her. I found out that she was mighty damn smart as well as how pretty she was – beauty and brains all rolled into one very pretty and shapely girl.

I asked her, “If you live on a ranch have you learned to ride horseback, Anita?”

“Yeah, my Daddy taught me how to ride and rope when I was in grade school and I help him on the ranch roping calves for him. That is why I have watched you and Benny in the calf roping events. Just before I graduated from grade school Mom and Dad bought me a horse of my own.

I think they paid an arm and a leg for him but, I sure love him and I rope from him all of the time now. He’s a gelding and he’s as gentle as a house cat. When I go out to the pasture he will follow me around like a big old overgrown puppy dog.

He’s always nuzzling me wanting me to give him a carrot or an apple. I have even thought about barrel racing in the rodeo with him. Have you and Benny known each other very long, Karl?”

“Oh, yeah we have, Benny’s parents’ ranch is not far from our ranch and I think our parents knew each other before either one of us were born. We grew up together and have gone to school together all of our lives. Not to mention that we have been good friends all along, too. He comes over to our ranch and helps me and my Dad out and I do the same thing for him and his Dad, also.

Benny’s a really good guy and he’ll do anything for you if you just ask him, but, you can’t try to buffalo him. He’s not what some people call a dumb cowpoke. He’s as smart as a whip and he makes as good or better grades than I do. And he sure likes the calf roping events, too.”

“Yeah, I can see how much he likes the calf roping events when I watch you and him in those events at the rodeo.”

“Anita, there’s a football game this Friday night would you like to go see it with me? We’ll probably sit with Benny and his date at the game.”

“Yeah, I’d love to go with you, Karl. You’ll need to have instructions on how to get to our ranch, though. I’ve told my Mom and Dad I have met you and they both would like to meet you.”

Anita wrote down the instructions on how to get to their ranch and I told her that I’d pick her up Friday evening at six o’clock. That would give us enough time to meet her parents before we had to leave for the football game and get there in time for the kick off.

A couple of days later Benny stopped me and asked, “Hey, man, I hear you’re sitting with a gorgeous looking girl in History class each day. Who’s your new squeeze, man?”

I told him she was Anita Fischer and she was new to our school. Then I told him the rest of the story about her.

Benny said, “Oh, you have met another kraut muncher, then, huh Karl?”

I didn’t pay any attention to his last snide remark. After that remark I asked him, “Are you going to the football game Friday night, Benny?”

“I haven’t asked Rachel if she wants to go yet but, she probably will. She doesn’t often miss a football game with me. If she does it’s probably because it’s her time of the month and she is having the cramps or some other damn reason like that.”

“Well, talk to Rachel and if you two come to the game you can join us and sit with us and you can also meet Anita there. She’s a pretty cool chick, Benny. And to top that off she says she’s a calf roper, too.

I know you and Rachel will like her when you meet her.” Friday night I picked Anita up, met her parents and took her to the football game. Benny and Rachel were already in the bleachers waiting on us saving seats for us.

I introduced Anita to Rachel and Benny and she recognized Rachel from one of their other classes. Once I introduced her they seemed to get along well together and I figured that Anita would begin to be accepted by the other girls at school.

Benny caught my eye while the girls were talking and he gave me a big thumbs up where the girls couldn’t observe. I figured I had struck gold when Anita met with Benny’s approval like that.

Anita and I started dating regularly and spending a lot of time together. Every time I was with her I could feel myself being drawn more and more into her. I got to where I wanted to be with her as much as I could. And I thought she kind of felt the same way about me, too.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone out with me all that much. I just hoped that I wouldn’t screw up and piss her off to the point where she would tell me to take a flying leap off of a tall cliff.

I took Anita by the house one weekend and introduced her to my Mom and Dad and they both just fell in love with her. Mom told me, “Karl, she’s such a lovely young woman. Your Dad and I both really like her. She’s a Sweetheart and a keeper. Make sure you treat her right, Son. If you treat her right, I know she will treat you right, too.”

Anita and I went to all of the football games and to the basketball games and to the school dances after the games. When the football and basketball games were away games, we went to the movies or other school functions, also. I always had fun going out with her and I really wanted it to continue. We often double dated with Benny and Rachel, too.

Just before Christmas I didn’t have the foggiest idea of what Anita wanted for Christmas. Then I thought, ‘Hell, Rachel would know, so, I called and asked her, “Rach, do you happen to know what Anita wants for Christmas? I don’t have the foggiest idea of what she really wants and I want to get her something she would really like. I figured that you would know. You have probably talked about it with her.”

Rachel told me, “Yeah, we have Karl, I don’t really know for sure but, I think she either wants you to take her to Midnight Mass at her own parish church or she wants a gold heart pendant and a gold chain. I guess you can take your pick.”

I told her, “Thank you, Rach. That gives me a really good idea of what I can do now.” After I hung up the phone with Rachel I got to thinking about it. I decided that I’d do both for her.

The next time I went to town I stopped by the jewelry store and told the guy what I was looking for. He reached under the display counter and sat three of them up on top of the glass counter for me to look at and I could make my choice.

The one I really liked most was the one with a very small diamond in the center of the heart and it was about four times what I thought I could pay for. I would have loved to have gotten that for Anita and given it to her for Christmas. It was far out of my price range and I had to pass on it. I told him it was too much for me to pay and he set it back below in the display counter.

He left the other two on the glass counter for me to look at and price. It was hard to make a choice between the other two. They were both a little more than what I felt like I could pay.

But, I thought, ‘Hell this is a Christmas gift for Anita. At least I would have to give up drinking beer for the next year or two if I bought the first one. I’d just have to drink a little less beer for a while for either of the other two.

I made my choice and pointed to the one I wanted. He asked, “Is this a Christmas gift and if so did you want it gift wrapped? I can gift wrap it for you for only a few dollars more.”

I nodded my head and thought, ‘Shit, there goes another couple days’ worth of beer drinking.’ I replied, “Yeah, gift wrap it for me, please.” I guess Mom would have wrapped it for me but, I really didn’t want to have her wrap it even though I knew she would willingly do that for me since it was a Christmas gift for Anita.

Then I thought, “Before you wrap it can you engrave a small ‘A’ on the front face and a small ‘K’ on the back face of the heart?”

He said, “Yeah, I can do that. If you have it engraved that will add another $10.00 to it but, I’ll throw the gift wrapping in with the engraving for no extra charge.”

Just before Christmas break, I took Anita aside and asked her, “My family always goes to Midnight Mass and I wanted to know if you would like to go with me this Christmas?”

“Sure, Karl, I’d love for us to go together. But, my parents want me to go to Mass at our Parish Church. Can we go to Midnight Mass there, please?”

“Sure, Anita, if your parents want you to go to Mass with them we can do that.” On Christmas Eve, I picked her up and took her to her Parish Church. After Midnight Mass, I took her back home.

When I pulled up in her yard, I reached into the glove compartment of my pickup and got her Christmas gift out and handed it to her. I simply said, “This is for you but, you can’t open it until your family opens their gifts in the morning. Merry Christmas to you, Anita, and to your family, too. I hope you like it.”

She squealed like a little girl with her delight and then Anita put her arms around my neck and kissed me. Then she said, “Thank you, Honey, you didn’t have to do this but, I’m so happy that you did.

Taking me to Midnight Mass was enough for me.” as she kissed me very tenderly. She jumped out of the pickup and ran to the front door before I could get out and walk her to the door.

When she got to the door she turned around, blew me a kiss and mouthed the words, “I love you, Sweetheart.” I couldn’t hear what she said but, I sure could read her lips and see what she said. Then she turned and hurriedly disappeared inside the house. On my way back home I got to thinking, ‘I guess I really made a big hit with that sweet little angel tonight.’

When I got home Mom and Dad were already home and were getting ready for bed. I just got out of my clothes and went to bed, too. The next morning we opened our gifts and afterward Mom told me, “Karl, we’re going to have our Christmas dinner here at about 4 o’clock this afternoon. I hope you’re going to be here with us, Honey.”

I knew when my Mom tells me something like that it means you better be there or else. I just nodded and told her, “Ok Mom, I’ll be here.” I knew she didn’t want me running off to Benny’s house, drinking beer or somewhere else before that time.

About 3:30 I looked out the front room window and I saw Anita’s pickup pull up in the yard. I wondered what brings her over here this afternoon, Christmas afternoon. I figured that she would be at home enjoying Christmas day afternoon with her parents.

Without thinking I called out, “That’s Anita’s pickup. What’s she doing here this afternoon on Christmas day?”

Mom interrupted me and said, “Oh, I forgot to mention that to you, Karl, but, earlier in the week I invited Anita to come over here to have Christmas dinner with us.” she said with a mischievous smile on her face.

I just thought, ‘Yeah, right. She forgot to mention it to me.’ At the time I didn’t stop to think that maybe Mom was trying to foster our relationship along by inviting Anita to come over here to have Christmas dinner with us.

I opened the door and stepped out on the porch just as she was coming up the steps. Anita had a similar mischievous smile on her face as I took her into my arms and kissed her. She put her arms around my neck and kissed me back as fervently as I had just kissed her. I just had to think, ‘She and my Mom have been talking about this for some time. Mom thinks of Anita as her Daughter and wants her to be her Daughter in Law’

Looking in her eyes I said, “You are a sly little fox aren’t you, Honey?” She just looked at me with that mischievous smile still on her face. She didn’t reply but, I could tell that she was thinking, ‘How can I be a sly little fox?’”

I opened the front door for her and brought her into the house. I said, “Hey, Mom. Look who I just found out there on our front lawn wandering around like a stray little doggie looking for something to eat.

She says she’s really hungry. Do you have something you can feed this poor famished little calf ropin’ cowgirl?” Mom and Anita certainly knew the meaning of the cattleman’s term “doggie”.

Mom just ignored all of my smart alek remark and greeted her very graciously. She embraced her and said, “Hello, Anita. We’re so glad you could come over to have Christmas dinner with us this afternoon. You look so pretty in your dress.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Wagner. It’s a Christmas gift from my parents. But, let me show you the best Christmas gift I have gotten today.” Anita fumbled at the neck of her dress and pulled out the gold chain and heart pendant I had given her and she said, “I just love this. It’s just precious.” as she turned and looked me in the eyes. Mom just talked about how pretty her dress was and how well the heart pendant went with her dress.

Then Anita asked, “Did you notice my initial engraved on the front face and there is also an initial engraved on the back face, too. I think it is really precious, Mrs. Wagner.”

Mom looked at the front face of the heart and said, “That is very nice, Anita, and I think it is really precious, too.”

Anita’s sparkling blue eyes looked right through me and deep inside me and I thought my knees were going to buckle. That’s when I began to feel the love she so wordlessly expressed to me that Christmas day afternoon.

And I began to think I’d fallen in love with her, too. I thought, ‘Of course, that is what Mom was wanting to foster in me toward the lovely girl she’d love to have as a Daughter in Law.’

Mom just told her, “It is really precious, Honey, did your parents give you that, too?”

“No, Ma’am. Karl gave it to me last night after Midnight Mass.” as she looked more deeply into my eyes this time. Mom looked at me with a knowing look in her eyes and that silly little sly smirk on her face.

Then Mom said, “Anita, I think it is very pretty and your new dress is just gorgeous, too. They really complement each other, Honey.” Mom quickly continued, “I just about have dinner ready, Honey, all I have to do is set the table and take it off of the stove and set it on the table for us.”

“Can I help you, Mrs. Wagner?” Anita asked Mom sweetly.

“Yes, you can if you’ll get my china out of the cabinet and set the table for me while I take it off of the stove and put it into the serving bowls.” Mom said to me, “Karl, get the wine out of the refrigerator, open it and then get the wine glasses out of the cabinet and pour each one of us a glass of wine to have with our dinner.”

We had our dinner and Anita stayed and visited with us until about 8 o’clock that evening. When she got ready to head home she thanked Mom for inviting her to dinner and then I walked her out to her pickup and she went home. After Christmas break we resumed our normal class routine and I took Anita out to various events very often during our second semester.

As pretty as Anita is, I wanted to make sure that she went to the prom with me and not with someone else. So, I asked her to go with me early enough that she wouldn’t have gotten any other invitations yet.

Anita accepted my invitation to go to the prom with me without hesitation. I was extremely happy that she was going to go to the prom with me. Of course, I think that Anita was just as happy as I was about our Prom date, too.

Come prom night I picked Anita up at her home and her blue formal prom gown was the color of her eyes and it was just fantastically pretty. It showed off her fabulous figure extremely well. When she came into the room I just couldn’t get over how gorgeous she was in her formal gown. I walked over to her and handed her the corsage I had brought for her.

Anita immediately looked at her Mom and asked her, “Mom, can you please help me with this corsage? I don’t know how or where to pin it on my dress. I really don’t know where it looks best.”

Her mom said, “Come here, Sweetheart, and I’ll pin it on your dress for you.” Once the corsage was pinned on her gown she went to get her small clutch purse and her Mom turned to me. She softly stated, “She sure doesn’t look like a calf roping girl now does she, Karl?”

“No, she doesn’t, I think she looks more like the princess of the ball tonight, Mrs. Fischer. She is just gorgeous. I think she is going to be the prettiest looking girl at the prom tonight.”

“Will you make sure she is back home by midnight please, Karl?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I will.” When Anita returned to the living room she had her clutch purse and a very pretty white crocheted shawl in her hand. She handed me her shawl and I wrapped it over her shoulders and she let it drape over her arms well above her elbows.

Anita told me, “Karl, this shawl is my Mom’s and she had it when she was in high school and she wore it when she went to the prom with Dad. She told me that I’d be happy to have it over my shoulders in the air conditioned hall. I really love this shawl and that my Mom wants me to wear it to the prom tonight.”

The white shawl so beautifully complimented the color of her gown. Obviously, she had coordinated her outfit so the colors complimented each other. Of course, her blue gown matched her sparkling blue eyes and it made her eyes flash at me all the more.

And Anita also had her heart pendant on which was an additional compliment to her and her dress. I knew that I had the most beautiful girl with me at the prom tonight. I thought, ‘Oh, how you sparkle. Oh, how you shine.’

Anita looked up into my eyes and said, “I’m ready to go, if you are, Honey.” It was a chore to help her get into my pickup in her formal gown but, we made it without any damage to her or to her pretty gown and her chastity. We had a similar chore getting her out of my pickup when we got to the prom but, it wasn’t quite as severe and we made it without any damage to her or her dress at all.

When Anita and I walked into the prom Benny and Rachel were already sitting at a table waiting for us. Anita and Rachel fawned all over each other’s gowns while Benny and I stood looking on like two hungry wolves ready to pounce on their prey. I had to tell Benny, “Stop drooling, Man.”

He quickly shot back, “Ok, I’ll stop drooling if you quit foaming at the mouth.” We both had a hell of a good laugh over that one.

We had a marvelous time at the prom and Anita danced with Benny while I danced with Rachel. As I was dancing with Rachel, I told her, “I want to thank you for recommending the Christmas gift I gave Anita, Rachel.

You were right on with what you recommended that I get her for her Christmas gift. Thank you, Rach, you’re a real Sweetheart. It’s easy to see why Benny likes you so much.”

“I know Anita gushed about you taking her to Midnight Mass and she really gushed about the heart pendant you gave her, too. She really likes that you had her initial on the front face and your initial on the back face.” She went on, “Karl, you two have been spending a lot of time together haven’t you?”

“Yeah we have, I feel like I have to be with her all the time or as much as I can anyway, Rach.”

“That tells me you’re falling in love with her, Karl, and I know she is in love with you, too. She seems to only talk about you when she is around me. I think she tells me everything that happens.”

“I pretty much knew what she was feeling for me but, I guess I hadn’t really admitted it to myself that I have fallen in love with her, too. How could I not fall in love with her as smart and pretty as she is, Rach?”

About that time the music ended and we went back to our table. We had a great time at the prom and at the end of the prom we went to an after the prom party. But, In order to take Anita home by midnight we had to leave the party early. Benny and Rach were still there at the prom party when we left and we didn’t know how long they stayed there at the party.

When we got back to her house I helped Anita get out of the pickup and I walked her to the door. I took her in my arms and kissed her very tenderly and said, “I had a wonderful time with you tonight, Anita, and I enjoyed going with you very much, too. I love you very much, Sweetheart.”

“I really enjoyed going with you, too, Karl. And I love the time we had together and I love you, too, Baby.” Anita sweetly replied.

After the school year was out, Benny and I began to re-enter the local rodeos in our hometown and in the surrounding counties. Anita and Rachel attended each of the rodeos that we entered and they were our biggest supporters. Benny and I both wanted to follow the rodeo circuit but neither his parents nor my parents would permit us to do that.

The next school year was pretty much the same as our junior year where Anita and I were nearly inseparable. At the end of the school year we all four graduated from high school and we all received our high school diplomas.

Again, that summer, Benny and I entered the local rodeos and after the rodeo in our hometown we went to a dance hall called “After The Rodeo” where they always had a live band.

Benny and I used to joke with one another that we had bought enough beer there to pay for the band ourselves. Often times, we took Anita and Rachel with us. We could dance to the band music and drink beer and have a really good time. Did I mention drinking beer?