Page 3 of Older Cowboy

A lot of fun.

He’d been enjoying their repartee as much as he’d been enjoying standing next to a woman this stunningly beautiful. The lighter tendrils of hair that framed her face swung when she shook her head at him, a grin still gracing her lips. He thought he’d been making such great progress in their little discussion, but maybe not.

“No,” she replied breezily, then wandered off.

Ah, she wanted to play hard to get. He could appreciate that. He was actually totally onboard with it. Some women needed to challenge a man to see if he really meant what he said rather than toying with them. He respected women far too much to ever do such a thing, but he understood the sentiment.

If Erika Cantrell needed to be pursued, he felt more than happy to meet that demand. She’d certainly piqued his interest and fascination. Not that he hadn’t seen plenty of attractive women, yet something about this particular one stood out to him like a spotlight.

He moved on to chitchatting with various other people there at the wedding, some he knew and some he didn’t. Cody discovered that the bride’s nieces and nephews—Brian, Sallie, and Kimmie—were pretty well behaved for a nine-, seven-, and five-year-old, respectively. He held mixed feelings watching the newlyweds, though.

Zeke focused on Callie as his new wife nonstop, no matter who he spoke to or how far apart they happened to be at any given moment. It both lightened Cody’s heart to see thisandmade his stomach clinch a bit. Once upon a time, he and his ex, Stacey had been like that. She had been the light of his life.

After their son Gabriel had been born things changed in a very big way. Suddenly, they quit having the ability to be alone because a crying baby had always been there. She prioritized taking care of the baby—and rightly so. He always knew that the baby came first. That was how it had to be in that season. But even once Gabe had gone to daycare, they’d never been able to find what they’d once had.

Cody and Stacey continued to grow further and further apart. They tried to talk about their issues and differences but couldn’t seem to make meaningful progress. Cody couldn’t do anything to make Stacey happy and he still wasn’t sure why he’d fallen so short. He’d tried everything he could think of and nothing worked.

They went to counseling at his request. He could tell she didn’t really want to go, but she did and he still appreciated that she’d at least tried. If he was honest, the attempt at counseling was too little, too late. The only thing they had in common was their child.

And when in the last therapy session they had together she admitted that she was seeing someone else, the gut punch wasn’t as much a surprise as it should have been. He knew it wasn’t just that they’d drifted apart, there was some other wedge between them. He felt monumentally guilty. For a while he believed he’d pushed her out of their marriage and to someone else.

And then they finally had a conversation that changed life for both of them. Stacey told Cody she loved him dearly and always would. But she also told him she’d never forgotten about her first love. That first love had come back into her life and she couldn’t resist the man she thought was her soulmate.

The truth hurt him deeper than anything he could have imagined. But he wanted to keep his family together. He wanted to rebuild his marriage. He loved Stacey and in spite of everything they’d been through he didn’t want to lose her. He asked her to stay with him, but she refused.

So, they separated and as amicably as possible divorced. He didn’t raise a stink and he didn’t argue about property. The only thing he demanded was equal time with his son and Stacey didn’t fight him on that. He was grateful.

Despite their attempt to remain civil and treat each other with kindness, the divorce had upended Cody’s world. He learned how to co-parent with his ex, and they made life for Gaabe work. She remarried almost as soon as the ink was dry on the paperwork, and eventually he began to date a little. He missed Stacey, but if he was honest he also just missed having a companion at his side and someone to share his life with.

He’d dated a bit and had met some interesting women. None of them worked out to be more than short term relationships. When he concentrated on being the best father he could be, things changed in his life. His purpose was clear. Being a father to his son was the most important thing he could do with his life. Dating wasn’t high on his priority list and he was more than okay with that set of circumstances.

Then he focused on becoming the best farmer he could be. And after that he made sure he became the best friend he could be. He and his buddy Patrick O’Connell had gone to Minneapolis Timberwolves basketball games on the regular, and with him, he’d simply run around being a bachelor again.

Cody also had the good fortune of being the big brother of a professional NHL player. His little brother Boone had been drafted into the Edmonton Oilers up in Canada, and anytime he was in a nearby city, Cody would go watch him play. Gabe had grown up watching his uncle fly across the ice and dearly loved hockey. Patrick, too.

The sport had bonded the four of them together.

Yet while he had plenty of men to bond with during his day-to-day, including his job at the Duncan Ranch, there was something missing. And now after meeting Erika, Cody had a hunch that what might be missing was a woman. To date, or who knew? Maybe more. It’d been years since his marriage hit the skids, and he’d never really thrown the whole concept out the window. He was open to another try if he met the right person.

But he was getting ahead of himself.

Cody remained content for the rest of that evening simply hanging out and getting to know the townsfolk of Rocky Ridge. But not once did he let his awareness of where Erika Cantrell resided within the perimeter of the crowd slip. Like a destination on a map, he kept his radar homed in on her, on all that waist-length dark hair as she moved through the other wedding attendees.

On more than one occasion, she peeked up to glance at him or to notice him noticing her. And every time, he maintained eye contact while offering her his friendliest smile. He would never be pushy with a woman, not only was that not his style, it was ungentlemanlike. Call Cody old-fashioned, but he refused to not be a gentleman whenever a lady was present, a lady being anyone of the feminine persuasion.

His mama—God rest her angelic soul—had taught him that a long time ago.

So, as she moved through the crowd embracing the couple about to start a new life together, laughing with Josh and Maddie Duncan, and chatting with basically everyone else all while keeping her smile firmly in place, he watched her. He never lost sight of that swishy yellow dress of hers as she crossed that roof in a thousand different trajectories. Once, he was even able to hear the soft fabric making a crinkle noise as she whisked right past him.

As fortune would have it, he wound up standing next to the refreshment table as Amanda Blum, pediatrician Tim’s beloved, ambled over. He’d only been introduced to her once, but he had a gift for remembering names.

“Amanda, right?” he began.

“That’s right. And you’re obviously one of the groomsmen,” she said, indicating his semi-formal attire. “Coby?”

“Cody,” he corrected her gently. “I work out at the Duncan Ranch.”

“Wait,” she held up a hand. “The new farmer?”

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