Page 42 of Older Cowboy

At the midpoint of April,Boone discovered that he would be unable to return to his team before the end of the season. Cody thought he’d be devastated, but he’d taken it better than expected. With his retirement came the question of where he might choose to settle down, and while his lady friend resided up in Canada, Cody still brought up the notion of them coming stateside.

“Rocky Ridge is a beautiful place,” he prompted him, attempting to be persuasive. “The Montana wilderness surrounds the area, and the town itself is quaint and friendly. It’d be a lovely locale for a hockey retiree and his new bride.”

“She’s lived in Edmonton all her life, man. We’ll need to have some discussions about it.”

“Fair enough.”

“I don’t even know what I’ll be doing. I’ll need to stay busy somehow.”

“Montana is a cold weather state, you know. Plenty of kid’s hockey leagues around. And I’m sure some need coaches. Especially the former NFL kind. In fact, I’d bet the college and high school crowd would chomp at the bit for someone like you.”

Cody wasn’t even buttering his bread on that one. If Rocky Ridge couldn’t provide his brother with a job, he suspected that somewhere like Billings could. Minor and junior hockey leagues dotted all these northern towns, both in rinks and on frozen ponds. And it wasn’t like Boone needed to stay in Canada for the money. He was a millionaire several times over.

“I’ll think about it.”

Apparently, his brother did more than think about it, because within a couple of months, he was asking Cody to hunt down a house for him. Boone gave him some parameters of what he and Kelsey were looking for, and Cody enlisted Erika’s help with the deal.

“They like modern with clean lines,” he explained, glancing down at his phone to read his brother’s text. His next descriptors must’ve come from Kelsey because he’d never heard Boone use such adjectives in his life. “Minimalist and spartan. A decent-sized yard and preferably a pond or lake on the property. Think there’s anything like that around here?”

“I grew up with someone who became one of the top real estate agents in the area. Her name’s Marcella. I’m sure she’d love to put out some feelers for him.”

“Oh, yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He grinned at her. “Excellent.”

Marcella sent them several homes with links to their multiple listing service website, and on their next few weekends, he and Erika motored about town assessing the offerings. One of the high-end homes they visited had tons of square footage and even a large pond on the grounds. But that wasn’t what attracted Erika’s attention.

“Oh, would you look at that,” Erika basically cooed like a dove, pointing—well, it was more like flapping—at the house across the street. “Too bad Boone doesn’t want something more historical.”

The home was a Victorian two-story, white with black shutters, and dotted with lots of tiny details built into the architecture.

“You like that?” he asked her.

“I really do.”

Cody tucked that little tidbit of information into a storage closet in his mind. They arranged for Marcella to meet with Boone and Kelsey who’d be coming to town in the next few days, and in the meantime, Cody prepared a surprise for Erika.

“Ever going to say where you’re taking me?” she asked during their subsequent date.

“Oh, sorry. Just need to run a quick errand first.”

He drove up to the same home they’d made an appointment for Boone and Kelsey to see and parked. He waited for her to spy the change.

“Awww, it sold,” Erika sounded sad after she caught sight of the sold sign outside of the Victorian. “Well, at least someone will get to enjoy it. I wonder who bought it.”

“Why?” He pinched her arm. “So you can knock on their door and demand a tour?”

“No,” she huffed. “I just wondered.” Without another word, he hopped out of his truck and basically raced to her side. Offering a hand to help her out, she glared at him. “What are you doing?”

“You’re necessary for this errand.”

Her glare morphed into a glower. Erika came with him, but the stiffness of her movements told him her acquiescence was anything but voluntary. He had to hold back a snort. Once upon a time, any reluctance from Erika would’ve given him pause, but now he saw it as feistiness. A feistiness he adored.

She twisted in place toward the home Boone would soon be touring, but Cody edged her in the opposite direction.

“I thought you said your brother wouldn’t like this place.”

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