Page 25 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

Finn didn’t hear that too often, though it was true, and he grinned at the man. “It is beautiful here right now,” he said. “It’s starting to green up a little bit. You’re here at a great time before everything gets a little bit too brown.”

“It’s great,” Libby said.

“It is,” Finn said. “That’s why I bought a place here.”

Rusty looked at Finn, then at Libby, a smile on his face, in his eyes, and emanating from his very soul.

Oh boy, Finn thought.He’s in love with her too.That settled his heartbeat back to its normal rhythm. He hadn’t talked to his parents about Libby at all, and he wondered if Momma or Daddy would say anything. He wondered about their impressions of the man.

Rusty was taller than her by quite a few inches. He had dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, and a cowboy hat on top of all that. He looked like Libby’s cowboy hero, the one that she’d been dreaming about for years, and trying to find, and making witty quips about. Finn really hoped that he was The One.

“Come in, come in,” Edith said. “Why are y’all standing in the doorway?”

“Yeah, come in,” Finn said. “I was just putting Theo down to play.”

“I’ll take him,” Libby said, and she eased the little boy out of Finn’s arms easily.

“We’re having burritos today,” Edith called. “Or you can make a shredded pork salad with chips. We have all the toppings. Come on in.”

She had guacamole out, sour cream on the counter, shredded cheese. She’d chopped up the tomato that Finn had gotten out, and she had a knife slicing through the lettuce as he entered the kitchen to help her.

He got out the bag of tortillas and set them on the counter, got down a stack of plates, and brought the chips over from where they sat waiting next to the fridge. He’d never really envisioned himself as an entertainer, but he hosted his friends for game nights, and he had the ranchers for lunch twice a year. He enjoyed going to the other lunches that were held at Shiloh Ridge Ranch, the Rhinehart Ranch, or over at his brother-in-law’s place, Coyote Pass.

Questions about Alex and Nikki weighed on Finn’s mind. They were supposed to be coming home today, but neither Finn nor Edith had heard anything about their appointments in Amarillo.

They’d met with an adoption counselor on Friday, and Finn knew they’d had an appointment with a fertility doctor at a clinic in Amarillo this morning. His heart worried over them, because Nikki was eight or nine years older than Alex and already in her mid-thirties. She desperately wanted children, and it felt like the clock was really ticking against her.

“I love a good burrito,” Rusty said.

“It’s one of his favorite foods,” Libby said.

Finn looked up, a hint of surprise moving through him. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Did we really nail it?”

Rusty grinned. “You really nailed it. I love burritos.”

“That’s great news,” Edith said. “We’re lucky when we get things just right.”

“Must have been a prompting from God,” Rusty said, and that jerked Finn’s attention to him too. He looked at Libby, and they had a whole conversation without saying anything. She ducked her eyes and looked at Theo as he reached for her hair.

“No, no, no, baby,” she said as she pulled her hair out of his grip.

“He just woke up,” Edith said. “He’s coming into consciousness still.”

Theo made a shrieking noise then, and threw one of his fists into the air. Libby laughed and dodged away from him so she didn’t get punched.

“You can put him in his play seat,” Edith said, and Libby turned to go do that.

“He’s going to be walking soon,” Libby said.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Edith said. “Then we’ll have to put a leash on him to take him out on the farm.”

“I grew up at a place like this,” Rusty said. “My mama and daddy worked it with just two other cowboys. And us kids.”

“Oh yeah?” Finn asked. “How many kids in your family?”

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