The Cowboy Next Door & Jenna's Cowboy Hero: The Cowboy Next Door / Jenna's Cowboy Hero

Jay’s arm tightened around her waist and he pulled her against his side. “Lacey, I haven’t smiled…”

And then he was quiet and Lacey didn’t know why he didn’t smile. But she was glad it was time to go home.

* * *

Lacey’s phone rang late the next afternoon. She was stiff from the fall and from working all day. As she reached for the phone she grimaced a little. Bailey was sitting at the dining room table and she laughed. But she had promised not to mention the fall again.

“Lacey, they’ve got Corry in custody.”

Lacey closed her eyes. “Okay. What now?”

“I’ll pick you up and take you to Springfield. Family Services has Rachel.”

“Will they let me have her?”

“We’re making phone calls.” Jay paused. “It’ll work out. I’ll be down there in a few minutes.”

Lacey hung up and then turned to Bailey. “They have her in custody.”

“Jay’s taking you to Springfield?”

“He is.” Lacey tossed her cell phone in her purse. “I’m scared to death.”

“Don’t be. This is going to work out. Call me when you get home, so I know you’re okay.”

Lacey nodded. “I’ll call.”

Five minutes later Jay’s black truck pulled up in front of the house. Lacey had popped a few ibuprofen and she met him at the front door. He stepped out of the truck, leaving his hat behind.

He was the one there for her.

No, not for her. She pushed that thought away, because it was dangerous to her heart. That thought didn’t even belong. It was like a kid’s activity book, one of these things doesn’t belong. The thing that didn’t belong was Jay Blackhorse in her life.

This was about Corry in trouble, the baby and the police. Jay wasn’t in her life. He was…

She wasn’t sure and now wasn’t the time to deal with suspicion, worrying that he had other motives for helping. She didn’t want to get caught up in questions, prodding her to ask why he was involved in her life and what he wanted.

“Call me.” Bailey stood behind her. “And stop looking like the sky is falling. That isn’t you, Lacey. You’re my sunshine friend, not a dark cloud.”

Lacey turned and smiled at Bailey, remembering a time when they were on opposite sides of this fence and Lacey had been the optimist. “You’re right.”

“Ready to go?” Jay stood in her yard, Wrangler jeans, a button-down shirt and his puka-shell necklace. She smiled, because she couldn’t help herself. She liked that he had these two sides of his personality.

“I’m ready to go.” She smiled when Bailey kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Bay. You mean the world to me.”

“Ditto, chick.”

Bailey walked down the steps, punching Jay a little on the arm. “Take care of her. She’s my best friend.”

“Will do.” He shifted a little and looked down, his cheeks red.

Lacey pulled her door closed and twisted the knob to make sure it was locked. And then she walked across the lawn with Jay.

It felt worse than a first date.

It was anything but.

“Climb in.” Jay opened the passenger-side door and she obeyed, really not seeing the running board, and then falling over it. A strong hand caught her arm from behind and held her steady.

“Very graceful.” He said it with a smile that she could hear. “You’re two for nothing on the accident scale.”

Lacey turned, frowning, and he was still smiling, a smile that showed dazzling teeth and the tiniest dimple in his chin.

“Thanks.” She smiled back.

“You’re welcome. Do you need help?”

He was teasing and that helped, for a second she forgot the case of nerves that was twisting her insides.

“I’m fine, and you can let go now.” She slid into the seat, aware of the place his hand had rested on her arm.

The truck was still running and Casting Crowns played on the CD player, songs of worship, loud and vibrant. She fastened her seatbelt and leaned back, waiting for him to get in. He did, bringing with him that freshly showered and spicy-cologne scent of his.

“Lacey, you have to stop thinking I’m the enemy.” He reached to turn the music down. “I’m sorry for knowing about you, about…”

“My record.” She looked out the window, watching farm-land slip past them. Gentle hills, green fields, a few houses and barns. Not St. Louis, city streets and crowded neighborhoods of people getting by the best way they knew how. Some did better than others.

Lacey’s family had been one of the families not making it at all. Never any security or hope, just scraping and trying to survive.

“We’ve all done things.” Jay tried, she knew he really tried. He didn’t get it. He couldn’t.

“What have you done?” She turned away from the window to look at him. “Well?”

He didn’t answer, but he smiled a little smile, keeping his eyes on the road ahead of them. Both hands on the wheel in driver’s-ed position. He did everything by the book.

“Did you maybe sneak behind the barn and smoke once, years ago? It made you choke, might have made you sick, and you never tried it again?”

He laughed. “Were you watching?”

“No, but I can picture your skinny little self out there with a friend, sneaking around with your contraband, your little hearts racing, hoping you didn’t get caught.”

He laughed, and Lacey laughed, too. And it felt good. It felt like a moment of normal in a crazy, mixed-up world. A world that for a time had been on its axis, turning smoothly.

“You picture me as a skinny little kid, huh?”

“You weren’t?”

“I was.”