Her Forever Cowboy

Cole had just crawled out from under the truck when the older man and his buddy, Stanley Orr, pulled up in their trucks, one behind the other. They’d wasted no time trotting down the incline to see what was going on with the lame truck. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to see the two old friends out and about so early, since they always met at Sam’s diner for coffee at sunup then played checkers all morning. Today they’d be late; Susan’s mishap was of more interest to them than today’s checkers game.

The seventysomething older men had been great friends of his grandfather and Cole always enjoyed seeing them on his quick trips through town. Now, he wiped his hands on his work rag and nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said. “I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m glad I was out here when I was or else Susan would still have been sitting here when you fellas drove up this morning.

“What I’m wondering is what in the world everyone is thinking when they call that woman out on the road at all hours of the night? There are other vets to call, you know.” He planned to let everyone know he was unhappy about that situation and there was no better place to start than with these two. Talk about a grapevine. It didn’t get any quicker than them when it came to spreading information.

Instead of answering him they looked at each other and raised their bushy brows. “Am I missing something here?” Cole asked. “You can bet I’m having a talk with my brother when I get back to the house.” Oh, yeah, Seth was about to get a royal chewing out for letting Susan leave the ranch when clearly she was ready to drop. He’d told Cole once that she needed help, so why didn’t she have it?

Stanley, affable, slightly plump and balding looked perplexed. “You ain’t been around Susan much, have ya?”

Applegate, taller and thin as a fence post, wore his signature frown as he grunted. “Obviously.”

Both men wore hearing aids and still their words cracked like thunder, even App’s grunt stirred up the cattle milling in the pastures behind the barbed wire.

“So what does that mean?” Cole asked.

Applegate grunted again. “It means that Susan does what she wants. That gal is all-fired determined to be accepted on a man’s terms. If any of us was ta tell her she ought’n ta be out that late—or worse, if we had livestock that needed tending and we didn’t call her—” He whistled long and slow, while wagging his head.

“That’s right,” Stanley continued. “She’d let us have it with both barrels.”

“After what I saw last night, I can believe that.”

“Yup, I’m shor you did. That little gal kin be real hard-nosed when it comes to her job,” Applegate said. “She don’t take kindly ta bein’ treated like a lady. And she’s real good at what she does.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Stanley said.

She’d made it clear last night that she hadn’t liked him taking charge. “Maybe so,” he said, at last. “But I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel right. And it sure doesn’t feel safe.”

App tugged on his hat brim as the sun shifted a bit higher over the horizon. “It’ll be a little easier when she gets her office relocated here in town.”

That got Cole’s attention. “What do you mean?”

Stanley and Applegate grinned at each other then gave him the we-know-something-you-don’t-know look. Cole knew they were also speculating at his interest in Susan. But he couldn’t help that. He leaned against the truck and crossed his arms waiting for them to elaborate. He was going to have to get on the road in a few minutes but he wanted the lowdown on this.

“So…” Applegate took his time, rubbed his narrow jaw. “She didn’t tell you she’s bought a place on the west side of town about four miles out.”

“It was two in the morning when I came across her. We weren’t engaging in conversation beyond me telling her I was taking her home—” No sense elaborating on the tone of that conversation.

“Guess that went over like a basket of mad cats.” Stanley chuckled. “You don’t ‘tell’ our Susan anythang where her business is concerned. That’s what we been tryin’ ta tell ya.”

He shouldn’t have let it slip that he’d “told” her he was taking her home. No one needed to know he’d had to hijack her keys to get her to cooperate. Hardheaded woman.

“So where is this place?” he asked.

“It’s a small property—little house and a large metal building.” Applegate was more than happy to fill him in. “It used to be that oil supply company. You remember the place? Back b’fore the oil boom busted in the eighties. B’fore ever’body moved off.”

Cole nodded. “I remember.” It was the beginning of the town’s slow death.

“She’s got some contractor comin’ outta Ranger in a couple of days ta start turnin’ it into her new office.”

“You don’t say.” She was moving to Mule Hollow and hadn’t mentioned it. “Is she going to live here?” he asked to clarify his assumption.

“Yup,” Stanley said. “In the house on the property. I even thank she done put some stuff in thar.”

When he’d made that comment about where she lived now, she’d had the opportunity to tell him and hadn’t. She kept her business close to the cuff. Or she knew he’d soon find out and this was her way of telling him to mind his own business. He smiled at that. She had spunk. He pushed away from the truck.

“Well, thanks for the info, fellas. Now I better get this to her so she’ll have wheels when she needs them. Wouldn’t want to make her mad.” That got him some slaps on the back and hoots of agreement.

Earlier, after taking her home, he’d driven the hour and a half back to the ranch and hadn’t been able to stop thinking about their encounter.

He didn’t stay at the ranch house when home, but down at the old stagecoach house that was the original homestead on their ranch. He always enjoyed the old house and had felt that same ole tug of nostalgia as he’d driven down the dirt road toward it. The moon had highlighted the rocky road as it wound across the pastures and as it always had, he couldn’t help thinking about the others who’d traveled this same road over a hundred years ago. Men such as Doc Holliday and outlaw Sam Bass had passed by either on horseback or by stage. As a kid he’d thought it was cool and that hadn’t changed as he’d aged. His great-great-great-great-grandpa Oakley had won the place in a poker game more than a century ago.

Now Applegate looked from him to his truck. “We kin follow you ta Susan’s and brang you back if ya need us to.”

Cole shook his head and packed up his last few things. “Thanks, but no need. I’ve got it covered.” He figured if Susan wasn’t making any calls out this direction, he’d have Seth drive to Ranger and pick him up.

After only a bit of cajoling, the tires found grip and he drove out of the ditch. App and Stanley waved him on as he headed toward Ranger—looking in his rearview, he saw them hop in their trucks and head toward town. They were driving at a fast clip; no doubt about it, everyone was about to know about last night….

Susan didn’t like to show weakness, it was obvious. Was that what was driving her crazy attitude last night?

Not that he thought some determination in a woman wasn’t a good thing. Before he could pull back, his thoughts went to Lori. She’d been full of determination, too; if it hadn’t been for that grit she wouldn’t have made it as long as she had…Six years and he still couldn’t think about that sweet girl without his gut twisting up like a bull had stomped him. And just like he always did, he shoved the thoughts of her back into the dark shadows and forced all the trapped emotions down with them.

He focused instead on Susan Worth.

The woman had been careless last night and almost killed herself. It bothered him that she was so obsessed with her job that she’d take her life for granted…when others fought so hard for one more breath.

Stop it. It usually took at least a couple of weeks in one spot before restless memories drove him to move on. He’d been home less than five hours and already he was fighting with the past. Home was always the worst. It was easier to pretend things like home and hearth didn’t matter when you didn’t have them staring you in the face.

Wyatt better show up soon or Cole was out of here. His brothers knew he’d fallen in love with a terminally ill barrel racer.

But they’d never met Lori. She’d been more ill than he’d realized when he first met her and that had prevented any travel. She had tried hard not to fall for him—to prevent the hurt something like that could cause. She’d tried hard to ignore what he’d known from the moment he’d laid eyes on her sweet face…love didn’t have a perfect timetable. It happened even while a person was dying…love was brutal that way. And special.

As long as he was on the road, working to help folks, he did all right and actually enjoyed his life. When the restless memories threatened, he finished up what he was doing and headed out to find a new job—a new project.

And the recent turn of bad luck on the Gulf of Mexico had given him plenty of choices. Helping rebuild something a hurricane or a tornado had taken away from a family gave him a good feeling. It also helped the anger at God that plagued him…he tried not to dwell on it, and he wasn’t going to now. Only, coming back to Mule Hollow was coming home…the place he’d longed to bring Lori. Home reminded him too much of how bad God’s timing was and how He seemed to pick and choose who He deemed good enough to get a miracle. Or who didn’t.

Who got their prayers answered…and who didn’t.

Home was where you brought the one you loved…unless you weren’t one of the special ones who God shined His light on and listened to.

Chapter Three

Susan was standing out front with a tiny, blue-haired woman and a large dog that resembled a chocolate Lab but was shaped more like a big, brown, chocolate kiss…or a gigantic tick.

Susan was far more attention-worthy than the dog, with the morning sun glinting off her corn-silk hair. But even her beautiful hair didn’t compare to the smile on her face—that smile startled him so bad he ran over a curb while pulling into the parking lot.

Yup, he was the one who needed rest now. It would help him get his head back on straight—a few hours of shut-eye had sure helped the prickly vet. No doubt about that…no doubt at all.

It wasn’t just the softening of the dark circles, but she was smiling—he hadn’t even got a hint of one of those last night. Though he didn’t figure that was totally due to lack of sleep.