Page 9 of Older Cowboy

“So, Erika Cantrell. What can you tell me about her?”

“Erika? She’s a registered nurse.” Cody nodded since he knew that already. “I don’t know her well, but Callie does since they work together. They’ve become close there in that office.”

“Uh-huh,” Cody prodded, waiting for greater detail. Zeke scratched the back of his neck as if thinking.

“Well, her birthday’s coming up. I know because Callie keeps talking about the surprise party she’s planning for her.”

That sparked Cody’s interest.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. She’s going to bring one of those cupcake cakes. You know the ones I mean?”

He wasn’t sure, to be entirely truthful, but if it was what it sounded like, he could imagine what the thing must resemble.

“Sure. When’s this special event due to take place?”

“The fifteenth. I think. Or maybe the sixteenth…” Zeke peered up into the clear blue sky, and Cody felt sorely tempted to wring his neck. Really? Which was it? Still, he refused to voice this question out loud. “The fifteenth, yeah. This coming Friday.”

“That’s awesome, man,” Cody told him, impressed by how nonchalant he sounded. Because he didn’t feel all that nonchalant. He felt more like he was chomping at the bit like one of those horses over there in the pasture.

“Think Callie’s done that before, brought cupcakes to work. Everyone loves them.”

“Who doesn’t love cupcakes?”

“I know I do.”

“Me, too,” Cody said, no longer paying much attention.

If Erika loved sweets, he could provide her with however many sweets she wished. Truckloads, if necessary. And there was even a specialty dessert store on the square, he thought. He tried to think of the name of the place. It had sweet or sweets right there in its name, if he remembered correctly.

“Hey,” he spoke up just as Zeke turned away. “Isn’t there some sort of dessert shop here in town?”

“Lots of places have dessert. Every restaurant pretty much.”

“Yes, but like, a specialty shop? Maybe with Sweets in the name?”

“Oh, you mean Sweet Everything?”

“That’s it.”

“They’re best known for their black forest brownies. Some of the cakiest and fudgiest stuff I’ve ever tasted.” Zeke literally rubbed at his stomach as if imagining filling it with the brownies in question. “Ask for Allison, if you want something specially made. She’ll take care of you.”

“Okay, I appreciate it. Thanks, man.”

As Zeke disappeared into the barn, Cody tucked this precious intel into the back of his mind. He travelled around Rocky Ridge, had located the necessities and even a handful of places he liked to get takeout from, but he hadn’t yet stopped into Sweet Everything.

It seemed it was high time for him to change that.

CHAPTERFIVE

On that Fridayas she went in to work, Erika yawned as she entered the building. She’d stayed up half the night to finish a paper and turn it in, but that was nothing new. She’d been bleary-eyed and exhausted plenty of times over the years she’d had to work and complete her coursework at the same time. If anything, she was used to it.

What she wasn’t used to was loud yelling within the walls of the pediatrician’s practice even before the young patients arrived.

“Surprise!”

Erika nearly jumped right out of her skin. Then, as Callie, Julie, and even Tim began to sing the Birthday Song, she remembered. Todaywasher birthday. The big thirty-eight. How had that happened so fast? She was basically within striking distance of forty.

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