Shoulda Been A Cowboy

“Speaking of good friends—” Merrilee Nathan approached the buffet table “—do you two need any help?”

With her blue eyes and blond hair, Merrilee could have been Caroline’s twin, except where Caroline was tall and willowy, Merrilee was curvaceous and petite.

Jodie shook her head at Merrilee’s offer. “Thanks, but almost everyone’s been served. Why don’t we fill our plates and find a table?”

Brynn left a group she’d been talking to across the deck and joined them. Her simple black dress set off her figure and complemented her deep auburn hair. When Brynn had been a cop and single, men in the valley had been known to break the speed limit, just to be pulled over by the attractive officer.

“Whenever I see you three together,” Brynn said, “I figure some kind of mischief’s being hatched.”

“Nothing yet,” Caroline said with a smile, “but maybe you’ll help us think of something. Where’s Jared?”

After their wedding last fall, Brynn and Rand had adopted his orphaned nephew, now an adorable if somewhat tyrannical three-year-old.

“Lillian’s taking care of Jared along with Merrilee’s daughter in the guest house,” Brynn explained. Lillian was the Benedicts’ housekeeper and nanny. “So that gives the four of us time to catch up.”

Caroline settled at a table in a shady corner of the deck. Brynn, Merrilee and Jodie joined her.

“So,” Brynn said, “what’s happening in town?”

“What,” Merrilee asked, “no new lawyer jokes?”

“The joke’s on her,” Jodie grinned, “marrying an attorney after all those years of lawyer-bashing.”

Caroline glanced at each of her friends. “Marriage seems to agree with all of you.”

“I highly recommend it.” Jodie dug into her potato salad.

Caroline shrugged. “Not that I’m looking, but where would I find a husband in Pleasant Valley if I was?”

“How about right under your nose?” Brynn asked.

“What are you talking about?” Caroline toyed with the food on her plate. As delicious as it was, she’d lost her appetite when Eileen died.

“Don’t you have a current guest?” Brynn said.

Jodie and Merrilee were looking at Caroline with expectation.

“He’s leaving today,” Caroline said. “In fact, he’s probably already gone. Besides, how did you know about him?”

“I was a cop for eight years,” Brynn said, “trained to observe. So when I noticed a handsome stranger wandering around town and later filling the tank of his pickup at Jay-Jay’s, I made a few inquiries.”

“But you’re married,” Caroline said.

“Married,” Merrilee said with a giggle, “but obviously not blind.”

“And still a cop at heart,” Jodie added. “What else did you discover about Caroline’s gorgeous house guest?”

“Maryland plates on his vehicle,” Brynn said. “Pleasant but reserved with everyone he met in town. Didn’t wear a wedding ring. Then I had to pick up Jared at day care, so my investigation was terminated.”

“Well?” Jodie looked at Caroline and raised her eyebrows. “Tell us more.”

“Nothing more to tell. He only stopped in the valley until the van with his furniture caught up with him. He’s moving to Baltimore.”

“Too bad,” Brynn said. “I liked him.”

“How could you?” Caroline asked in surprise. She’d drawn the same conclusion but wasn’t about to admit it. “You didn’t even meet him.”

“Cop’s intuition,” Brynn said. “He was one of the good guys.”

“And now he’s gone,” Caroline said in a tone that she hoped ended the conversation. She rose to her feet. “And I have to go, too.”

“Don’t leave yet,” Merrilee said. “Between families and work, the four of us haven’t had a chance to talk in ages.”

Caroline tossed her a regretful smile. “Wish I could stay, but Eileen has a tenant arriving at Orchard Cottage tomorrow, and I promised Rand I’d check today to make sure everything’s ready.”

AFTER SETTING A DATE for a girls’ night out with her friends, Caroline had climbed into her old Camry for the short ride up Valley Road to the turnoff to Blackberry Farm.

Brambles, thick with almost ripe blackberries, draped the split-rail fence that lined the road to the main farmhouse. Caroline slowed as she passed the old homestead, half expecting Eileen to appear on the wide front porch with a wave of welcome. The road forked just past the house, and Caroline took the left branch, a narrow red dirt road overgrown with weeds, that led to Orchard Cottage.

She parked her car in front of a picket fence in desperate need of paint and eyed the property with dismay. Eileen’s tenant needed to be more than an artist. He needed to be a miracle worker. Or at least a licensed contractor, if he expected to live here. Between the sagging porch floor and missing shingles on the roof, the tiny house appeared dilapidated and sad. Caroline doubted even a good cleaning would make it presentable.

But the property was hers now, and she was embarrassed to have anyone, much less a paying tenant, view it in its present state. With a sigh of resignation, she removed a change of clothes and her bucket of cleaning materials from the car and trudged up the front walk.

THREE HOURS LATER, the cottage was still derelict but clean. She had swept the floors, cleared cobwebs and scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom fixtures. She’d even washed the windows that overlooked the porch. With an ancient scythe from the barn, she’d cleared the foot-high weeds from the front yard. In an effort to make the place more welcoming, she’d filled old mason jars from the kitchen cupboard with Queen Anne’s lace from the roadside and roses from the rambling bushes that grew along the fence. She placed the containers of lacy white flowers and deep red blooms on the kitchen counter and the living room windowsills. But not even the roses’ cheerful color could distract from the cottage’s glaring short-comings. Caroline wondered if the poor condition of the house would be a lease-breaker. If so, the departure of her tenant would take care of one of her obligations to Eileen.

Which would still leave Caroline with the problem of what to do with little Hannah. She’d have to find just the right people to love and nurture a child who’d lost her mother.

Loading her cleaning supplies into the trunk of her car, Caroline heard the rumble of an approaching vehicle. She slammed the trunk lid and turned to see a pickup truck kicking up dust on the red dirt road. Sunlight glinted off the windshield, obscuring the driver from view. She didn’t recognize the truck. It didn’t belong to the Mauneys, who operated the neighboring dairy farm. Uneasiness gripped her, alone with a stranger approaching, and she headed for her car, thinking it better to be locked inside and behind the wheel with the engine running for a quick getaway when confronted by someone she didn’t know.

The truck parked behind her car, and in the rearview mirror, she watched the driver’s door open. First one leg swung out, clad in jeans and a workboot. Then the other leg appeared, and the driver jumped out. She recognized the Western hero of her daydreams, with his tall figure and broad shoulders silhouetted against the setting sun.

No longer afraid, she shut off the motor and climbed from her car to confront him.

“You?” he said in surprise. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Caroline’s astonishment mirrored the newcomer’s. “What are you doing here?”

“I stopped at the house,” Ethan Garrison said, “but Mrs. Bickerstaff isn’t home. I’m her new tenant.”

Chapter Four

“You’re a firefighter.” Caroline’s eyes squinted with suspicion.

“What’s firefighting got to do with anything?” Ethan was trying to figure out why Caroline Tuttle was waiting at his new residence.

“I was expecting an artist.”

Ethan’s confusion grew. “Where’s Eileen?”