Page 42 of Cowboy Don't Go

“Do you think it was just a coincidence that you happened to find those puppies up there today? Or . . .” He left the question hanging.

“I don’t believe in coincidence, Ry. I think we were supposed to find them, same way you were meant to find Kholá at that auction. Same way me working here is where I’m supposed to be right now.” He walked the bay toward the gate leading to the next pen where a feeder full of alfalfa was waiting for him.

“Yeah,” Ryan said, “I think that, too. Which is why we should keep those dogs. Because they were meant to be ours. Our ranch dogs.”

“You have a good point, kid. You’d better take that up with your mom. But I don’t think it will take too much persuasion.”

Sarah’s truck pulled up in front of the house. She and Ray climbed out of the cab.

Cooper told Ryan, “Why don’t you work a little bit more with Kholá and see where it gets you? I’m going to go talk to my father. See what kind of bonding up is going on with him and your grandma.” He winked at the boy who grinned knowingly back.

Ray was slow-walking toward him with Sarah by his side. The two of them were talking softly. His father was smiling. Relief flooded Cooper at the sight of that smile, one of the few anyone had wrangled out of him since he’d gotten out of prison.

“I’m so sorry we couldn’t make it down the mountain in time to take you to your appointment, Dad. We got caught in that rainstorm and—”

Ray held up a hand. “That’s okay, son. We managed. Sarah, here, was kind enough to drive me. She came in with me to see the doctor.”

Cooper turned to Sarah. “She did?”

“I did,” she said. “You’ll be happy to hear that the oncologist at Marietta Hospital was hopeful about your dad.”

“They ran a bunch of tests and just from the early results,” Ray said, “they proposed some new-fangled chemotherapy that involves the immune system.”

“Not exactly chemotherapy,” Sarah clarified. “It’s immunotherapy. And infusions.”

“Right. I have to go back, talk to them in a few days when the results are all in.”

For the first time since he’d picked his father up that day at the prison gates, he looked hopeful, alive again. Ready to fight. Nor did Cooper miss the irony of how his father’s joining up with Sarah had changed his entire attitude.

Humans, in the end, were not so different from horses.

“That’s incredible, Dad. Thank God you went in. Sarah, thank you so much for going with him. For taking care of him there.”

She patted Ray on the arm. “It was one hundred percent my pleasure. He’s very capable of standing on his own. But a little moral support is always in order, don’t you think?”

Ray blushed at her words. “Thanks again, Sarah. I’m grateful.”

“Well, you can thank me by coming to dinner. Cooper, you’re both invited up to the house tonight. I’m making a slow-cooker lasagna that will knock your socks off!”

He glanced at his father who didn’t look like he was about to refuse the invite.

“Far be it from me to turn down home cooking,” Cooper said, clapping his father on the shoulder. “We’ll be there.”

She leaned in toward Cooper. “And thank you for spending so much time working with Ryan and his filly. It means the world to him. To us as well. The clock is ticking on his Youth Encounter competition. He’s been so nervous about even making it in time.”

Behind them, Ryan was with Kholá, doing a good imitation of what Cooper had just managed to do with the bay. The filly was already standing still beside him. “He’s doing great. That filly will be ready in time. You wait and see.”

“I hope you’re right. Shay called to say she’ll be back from our veterinarian, Dr. Anders, by dinnertime. Apparently, we’re now the proud owners of two little lost puppies.”

“Ryan will be so happy to hear that,” Cooper said, feeling relieved that those two little pups wouldn’t be moving anywhere but here. Maybe he’d even put his dad in charge of them. Give him something to focus on besides his own troubles.

Sarah headed to the house and Cooper walked his dad back toward the apartment. On the way, Cami walked by with an armload of tangled string lights heading to the big barn that was being decorated for a wedding this upcoming weekend.

“You need a hand with that?” Cooper asked her.

“A hand? An arm? A leg?” she replied, laughing. “But no, seriously, you’ve got enough on your plate already. I’m going to recruit Liam once he gets in from mending fences in the north pasture.”

Ray shook his head. “You’ll never get this mess untangled alone. Why don’t you leave it to Cooper and me? You can work on the important stuff?”

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