Page 26 of Cowboy Don't Go

“I know. I admit I was a little nervous about it,” she said, blushing. “But I’ve watched you work hard with Liam. He thinks you’re great. And Ryan can’t stop talking about you. How you are with the horses. So . . . apparently . . . every now and then I’m”—she leaned forward and whispered the next word—“wrong.”

“That was hard, huh?”

“You have no idea.” Shay bit back her grin. “So, it’s settled then. In a couple of days, you’ll bring him out to stay at the ranch. And he’ll eat. I mean, have you seen our vegetable garden? There’s bound to be something he likes there. I’ll tell Liam you’ll be out for a couple of days until then.”

He blinked up at her. “I know you didn’t want me working on the Hard Eight, because of our history.”

“That has nothing to do with you. And a girl can change her mind, can’t she?”

His throat felt like it had closed up on him. “Your family. Will they be okay with this? Having my father at your place?”

“Look at me. Do you think they’ll argue with this face? Now, about tonight. I can stay here with you for a while, or—”

“No. I got this. You go.”

“Are you going to stay here awhile, or do you need a ride home? Can I give you a lift?”

“I’m gonna wait until he gets a room, but I’ve got my truck. Thanks, Shay.”

“Sure.”

“No, I mean thank you. Really.” The smile she sent him seemed to crack some icy, frozen thing inside him.

“Okay, then. See you in a couple of days.”

Cooper watched her stride out the ER doors and disappear into the night, but it felt more like a force of nature had just exited the building. She was something. But then, she always had been. He wasn’t sure how to react to kindness like that anymore. He simply had no choice but to accept it.

He was still trying to get over her touching him the way she had. Taking his hand. Just a kneejerk kindness, he guessed. But he wished that touch had lingered just another minute.

Hell. There were times when even a grown-ass man needed a touch. A hug. Anything to beat off the damned loneliness.

He was reminded of his conversation with Trey Reyes about his wife and how he’d somehow changed his mind about being alone. How and when had he decided that he deserved that in his life?

Standing beside her just now reminded Cooper of how many times, as a teenager, when everything still seemed possible, he’d dreamed about being with her. She’d been so out of his league then, popular and beautiful, and him being the resident scholastic nerd she’d never looked at twice. But that summer after he went away to college, he’d dared to imagine—just for a moment—that she might turn his way. He’d gotten into Harvard; he’d finally grown into his body, and he’d lost the baby fat after spending a year building muscle in the gym.

But that summer, it wouldn’t be him. Instead, it was some rich, summer tourist kid that she’d set her sights on. Cooper remembered hearing that her twin brother Will had been against her seeing that guy. But he’d had to leave early to go to college and maybe that was partly why she got a little wild. All the campfire parties down by the river and rubbing shoulders with that boy’s wealthy family vacationing in town for the summer. And even from a mile away, Cooper could see that guy wasn’t worthy of her.

And then she was pregnant, and that boy was long gone.

From what he could see, Shay had raised Ryan alone. The fact she’d never married made no sense to him. There must have been a dozen guys from their class alone who would have married her. But here she was, still single, living with her mother and her son, worrying about him, sitting alone in a hospital waiting room. Making him feel . . . hopeful.

*

“Cooper Lane’s father? Staying here?” Sarah Hardesty paled and turned quickly away from Shay, staring out her living room window after Shay had explained what had happened the night before at the hospital.

Shay watched her, confused. Her mom was the most generous, inclusive person she knew, and it had been, after all, Sarah who had encouraged Shay to give Cooper Lane a chance in the first place. But this news hit her differently. A stranger—an ill, ex-con stranger at that—staying at your ranch, needing who knew what? Maybe she was thinking about Shay’s father who died suddenly only three years ago in that very barn where they would be staying. Maybe it was all too much? Shay should have considered all that before she offered.

“It will probably only be for a little while, while he recovers. I just felt like Cooper needed a little help and this was the best option, if we want to keep Cooper working with Liam,” Shay said. “Was I . . . was I wrong to offer?”

When Sarah turned back to her, there were tears in her eyes. “No. You weren’t wrong. We’ll do our best to make him feel welcome.”

“Mom. What are you not telling me? Obviously, you have feelings about this.”

She swiped at her cheeks. “No. It’s nothing.”

“Seriously?”

Instead of answering, she reached for a hamper full of towels she had taken from the dryer and began to fold them.

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