Page 4 of Older Cowboy

He touched a finger to the tip of his nose. “Got it in one.”

“How are you liking it here?”

“I’m enjoying it very much. Rocky Ridge is everything I hoped it to be.”

“Good.” Her eyes flicked to her son as he half jogged toward them, saw his mom essentially standing guard over the extra pieces of cake, and shook her head. The boy left looking defeated. “Brian snuck around and has already had three pieces of that cake.Three. It’s why at home we’ve started to call him our bottomless pit.”

“Growing,” Cody suggested. “When my son Gabe was that age, he ate me out of house and home.”

“How old is he now?”

“Eighteen.” Pride entered his voice. “And continuing his academic career at Stanford down in California.”

“Impressive,” Amanda said, sounding like she meant it. “Did he ever slow down on the eating?”

He chuckled, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but not yet.”

They laughed together, watching as Brian played with the other children there, including his two sisters. Then, Cody took the opportunity to oh-so-casually fish for information. “Erika Cantrell works for your husband, right?”

“She does. She’s been a lifesaver. I’m glad Tim hasn’t run her off with his singlemindedness, though I’m sure I have Callie to thank for that.”

“Singlemindedness?”

She sighed. “My husband doesn’t mean to become an ogre with his staff, but sometimes, he still does. He’s a nice guy, I promise, but he saves all his kindness and patience for the little ones in his care. Sometimes, that means he’s a bit too brusque with his staff as a result.”

Cody frowned over at the doctor across the roof; he couldn’t help it. Some people used the term brusque or abrupt as a nice way to say rude or obnoxious. And knowing that man had been rude or even obnoxious to Erika made Cody’s hackles raise, no matter if the man served as a physician to children or not. Amanda must’ve sensed this.

“Don’t worry, Callie stepped in, and when I found out about it, I had words for him, too. Working with children takes it out of you sometimes. And while I understand that, if he’d run off the only qualified registered nurse who’d applied for the job, I would’ve made him sleep on the couch for a week. With no pillow, either.”

That brought back Cody’s normal good humor. “A fair punishment. Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

She smirked. “Callie’s the one who’s been the most protective of Erika, though. I don’t blame her. Erika’s been through so much.”

But before he could inquire what Erika had been through, there was a commotion as one of Amanda’s kids, the youngest, a little girl, pointed and shrieked at the top of her lungs. “A bee. Abee!”

“She’s allergic and terrified of anything that remotely resembles a bee or wasp. Got to go…”

Finding out the child hadn’t actually been stung was a relief, but after the brief episode of pandemonium died down, Cody’s attention flew right back to Erika. That smile of hers had been in place for hours now. He saw nothing that physically gave away that anything had ever been wrong for her, although he knew it could be difficult to live long in this life without some sort of trauma visiting.

He didn’t wish to pry or to unearth anything Erika might want to keep concealed, but he couldn’t help wondering what Amanda had been referring to. What was it that such a bright and beaming woman had been forced to endure?

CHAPTERTHREE

The followingFriday night after the wedding, Erika strode up the familiar sidewalk that led to the front door of Nikki and Bruce Cantrell’s home, her mother and father-in-law. Her late husband Blake’s parents had bonded with Erika during the three years of her and their son’s marriage, and when he died so unexpectedly and so young, those bonds had only strengthened.

She took in the pale green siding and the dark green shutters, the shabby chic wooden sign on their porch that said, “Home is where the heart is” with the shape of a red heart replacing the term for itself. The paint had faded badly enough that it needed a touchup, but she decided against mentioning it to Nikki and Bruce. The couple weren’t big on change.

Erika wasn’t big on change, either, if she wanted to be brutally honest about herself.

And that was in spite of the fact that she and Blake had met and married after only knowing one another for two months. They’d each graduated from high school weeks prior to that—him coming from another small town before his parents had moved to Rocky Ridge—and it’d been love at first sight. Erika hadn’t known if she believed in the phenomenon or not before meeting Blake, but when it happened to her, she couldn’t deny it.

Life had been challenging. She and Blake had been too broke to do anything but live with Nikki and Blake at first, but slowly and surely, they saved enough for a down payment for a home. Erika still lived in the teeny tiny cottage-style house she and Blake had purchased together. If not for the life insurance he’d bought while with his employer, she might’ve lost it.

But that payout had been enough to pay it off.

It’d also allowed her enough to grieve without having to work for a while and even enough to go to nursing school. Not medical school, no, but she didn’t mind. Things had worked out for her regardless, and looking back, all those events felt like they’d been meant to be. At least as far as her career went. She’d never stop regretting that her husband had died at only twenty-one.

Never. Ever.

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