Page 14 of Older Cowboy

He huffed out such a loud breath that Aaron glanced over at him. Cody made sure to hold his phone at an angle that kept his discussion with Erika private.

Cody: How about another dad joke, then?

Erika: Fire away.

Cody: What do you call a cheerful cowboy?

That seemed appropriate considering where he was now employed.

Erika: What?

Cody: A jolly rancher.

Erika: ROFL! LOL!

He felt his grin splitting his face just as Sam remarked, “You’re all too well-rested and chipper for me, especially Cody over there.” It was only the sound of his own name that yanked Cody back into the conversation. “So, I’m gonna go ride fence just to get some fresh air.”

That was how it went over the next few weeks. He’d send various greeting cards, each with a new joke, and he and Erika would text back and forth. Since he and Stacey had dated prior to the point of everyone texting incessantly, this felt different than everything had back then.

Being in contact with a woman like this almost felt like it’d given him a new lease on life, even though they hadn’t even gone out on an actual date. When he’d mentioned going out again, Erika had sidestepped his question, so he kept up the text jokes instead. Although he felt anxious to take this to the next level, he didn’t yearn to rock the boat so much that it sank.

Still, after another week zipped on by without further indications of anything ever changing, Cody knew he needed to take matters into his own hands and give this thing a nudge. That’s why he took the chance of showing up unannounced in the parking lot of the pediatrician’s office. He leaned against his truck, waiting for Erika to appear, his heart racing.

This would either be the best or worst idea he’d ever had, and which way it turned out would be based on her reaction.

Callie exited first, acknowledging him with a smirk the second she saw him. Then, Erika ambled out beside another lady who had been at Callie and Zeke’s wedding.Must be Julie, Cody thought, the other nurse who worked there. Tim appeared and locked up behind them just as Erika peeked up and caught sight of him.

Cody threw on his most confident expression despite this possibly making or breaking everything between them, approaching her and popping out the silly little gift he’d brought her.

“What’s all this?” she asked him, and he fanned out the bouquet of paper flowers. They looked quite realistic all things considered.

“These can’t wilt,” he said, catching a whiff of her jasmine perfume. It made him yearn to lean in and sniff at her like a bloodhound, which, he reminded himself, would not be something she’d probably appreciate.

“I know just where to put these,” she said as she took them, and despite normally feeling confident around women, he hoped she didn’t mean the next available trash can.

Internally, he shook himself. He hadn’t been invested in any woman so much that he felt this nervous about how their relationship—or lack thereof—was proceeding. Yet somehow, everything with Erika felt more important. Like every action he took was weighted more heavily than usual.

“Did you know that Humpty Dumpty had a great fall?” he attempted to lighten the moment with another joke. It was the main component of their communication, after all.

“I did, actually.”

“He said his summer was pretty good, too.”

Erika rolled her eyes at him like a teenager, but then, almost as if in slow motion, she doubled over and snickered. “That one’s solid, gotta say.”

“Justice is a dish best served cold. Otherwise, it’s just water.” She blinked, contemplated this for a few beats, then snorted.

“Oh, dear…”

Encouraged, he kept going. “Why are Christmas trees bad at knitting?”

“I’m afraid to ask,” she said, amusement glowing behind her features.

“They always drop their needles.”

This one had her blasting a single, loud howl that had him grinning from ear to ear.

“These are so bad they’re good,” she declared, her hazel eyes sparkling, and her lips turned upward. He felt so tempted to drop his head down to kiss her that he had to actively restrict the action.

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