Page 14 of Her Second Chance Cowboy

“When I was real little,” Bex said, “a rainbow came down and touched that house, and you know what’s at the ends of rainbows, right?”

She nodded. “Of course. Pots of gold.”

“I didn’t find one of those,” she said, a little glumly. “Daddy said it probably disappeared before I got there, but I did find a heart locket.” She was quiet for a moment. “Do you want to see my rainbow house?”

Nancy had already made the turn for the cottage; there was no way she was missing out on this. She let Bex show her the house. It wasn’t a big place—two small rooms—and it was obvious that kids came here to play. There was an overturned barrel with a tablecloth thrown over it to create a table and some plastic teacups. “Bex, this is a wonderful place,” she said and meant it. This was a gold-star level clubhouse.

“It’s my secret place,” Bex said in utter seriousness. “You’d need a password to come in. Do you want to know what it is?”

“I would love to.”

“Ponies,” the girl all but sighed in a dreamy sort of way that hit Nancy with a wave of pity. Was her age a factor in her not being able to ride? Or would Colin keep her out of a saddle indefinitely out of fear? “Could we have a tea party?”

Nancy smiled. “Of course!” Bex beamed and beckoned her over to the table. They sat down, and Bex served her pretend tea in one of the plastic cups. Nancy politely sipped at the air. “Does Daddy come here with you?”

Bex shook her head. “No boys allowed,” she said. “He doesn’t have the password.”

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. “Well,” she said, “thank you for letting me come play.” Bex served her a plate of invisible food that she gushed over, as was expected.

“You’re a girl,” Bex pointed out. “Girls get the password if they want it.”

How cute, she thought and plucked an invisible cookie from the plate. They played tea party for the next ten minutes before Nancy, reluctantly, had to break the spell and take her back to the car. Colin would be expecting them.

NINE

Nancy parked outside the main house right around lunch time—and just like that, Colin felt like he could breathe again. “Hey!” he called. He and the ranch hands had spread out lunch at a picnic table sheltered by an overhang; it was saved from the worst of the morning downpour. “Y’all hungry?” Bex hooted and ran toward the men with Nancy trailing after her. They sat at the picnic table, and Colin handed a plate with a hotdog and chips to Bex. “How were swim lessons?”

“We wore goggles!” Bex announced in dramatic fashion and launched into a tale about going underneath the water. Colin laughed; she had the ranch hands wound around her little finger. He looked over to Nancy, who was frowning at her phone and hadn’t touched her food. “Everything okay?”

Nancy looked up and sighed. “It’s just work. A client of mine decided to have a spur of the moment vow renewal, and my boss wanted some pointers since she’s taking lead.”

“Isn’t she supposed to know her own business?”

Nancy snorted. “She hasn’t handled an event personally in years,” she said. “Everyone else must be busy.” She finished her text and set her phone on the table, but Colin noticed that she picked it up for every bing and chirp. It was pretty obnoxious, really. Especially when Bex was in the middle of a story.

“Has the woman given you a break at all today?” Colin asked, trying not to sound accusatory and failing.

Nancy didn’t look up from her phone. “If you’re asking if I was texting while we were at Bex’s swim lesson, then no, I wasn’t.” Her tone was sharp. “My work phone was turned off the whole time. That’s why I have over two dozen messages to sift through now.”

“Why’d you even bother taking her if you were so busy?” Anger, hot and quick, shot through him. He knew it was irrational—her being on her cell during lunch wasn’t that big a deal—but it wasn’t too much to ask for her to be present, especially when Bex clearly wanted Nancy’s attention for her story.

She looked up. “I’m on vacation—I wasn’t expecting to get any work calls at all unless something came up with Evie’s wedding. But I have a good relationship with this client, and I want to make sure their event is handled well. Why are you so upset about this?”

Too late, he realized the rest of the table had gone silent. “Are you fighting?” Bex’s voice was small; her bottom lip trembled in the way it did when she was genuinely upset, not just play-acting to get her way. Colin deflated.

“We’re not fighting, sweetheart,” Nancy said, but when her phone beeped with an incoming call, and she picked it up automatically, Colin saw red.

“Seriously, Nance?” She glared at him, pressed to accept the call, and got up from the table. Bex sniffled and slid over so that he could put an arm around her. “It’s okay, darlin’,” he told her, rocking her slightly. “We’re not fighting.” Bex nodded along with him, but she didn’t look at all certain.

He and Bex had been just fine on their own for years, but ever since Nancy moved into their guest house, he couldn’t relax, and now Bex was crying. It was unacceptable. He pressed a kiss to the top of Bex’s blonde hair and looked to where Nancy was leaning against a tree, cell to her ear. “It’s going to be fine,” he repeated.

* * *

Bex was off for the rest of the day: overly polite and going out of her way to make sure Colin wasn’t angry. He’d tried again and again to assure her that everything was just fine, but she was clearly picking up on the tension that he was still feeling.

At dinner that night, Bex sat at Colin’s side, uncharacteristically quiet. Finally, Nancy asked her, “Sweetheart, are you upset about what happened at lunch?”

Bex’s eyes fell to her plate and then climbed back up to Nancy’s face. “Yeah,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”

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