Page 42 of Her Second Chance Cowboy

Nancy set her down. “We’ll go check on them,” she promised, “but stay close and watch where you walk.” They started off together down the path to the stables and chicken coop: Nancy prayed that the animals weren’t injured. They hadn’t had time to get them squared away and fully secured because they’d been trying to locate Bex, and Nancy had no idea what they might walk in on.

When they rounded the curve, and stable came into view, Nancy felt tears burn behind her eyes. The stables and chicken coop were still standing; they didn’t look damaged at all. Bex took off at a run, and Colin let her. She opened the stable door and disappeared inside. “Should we be worried?” Nancy asked.

“I don’t think so,” Colin said. “Structurally, it looks sound. Maybe the tornado didn’t come this way.” He turned around to look back toward the house, and his breath came out in a painful wheeze.

“What—?” Nancy turned, and the sight of the empty lot where rainbow house used to be caught her in the stomach. Saliva pooled in her mouth like it did right before she threw up, and she swallowed again and again to keep it down.

“You thought to check the house,” Colin pointed out in that wheezy, choked voice. “If you hadn’t been here, if you had left for Evie’s—” He threw his arms around Nancy. “Thank you, thank you, thank—”

She put her fingers over his mouth, stopping his words. She wasn’t some kind of hero, and she didn’t want his praise; it made her stomach heave to think about what might have happened if they hadn’t found Bex in time. Colin’s blue eyes dove into hers, saying all of the things that she wasn’t allowing him to speak aloud. His lips pressed kisses into the pads of her fingers, and little zips of sensation tingled through her hand and up her arm. She dropped her hand, but their eyes remained locked.

I love you, she thought.I love you, and there’s no way I’m going back to Boulder. There was nothing there for her—no job was going to give her feelings as deep and true as she was having now. No job was going to fulfill her the way this man and his daughter did. She opened her mouth to tell him just that, but what came out was, “We should check on Bex before she tries saddling another horse.”

Colin chuckled and, mercifully, looked away. “You’re right.”

Together, they followed Bex’s path into the stable. She wasn’t trying to saddle another horse, thankfully, but she was patting at the nose of a spooked mare, muttering soothing nonsense to it. The other horses were just as scared, whinnying and trilling as Colin walked by. Nancy patted one handsome, spotted gelding that was in a stall not far from the door. It leaned into her palm, as if seeking comfort from her, and she could see that his face was wet with tears. Her heart broke. “What can we do for them?” she asked.

Colin headed for the gear shelved at the end of the stable. He grabbed three brushes. “We soothe them,” he said and handed her a brush. “Bex, do you want to show Nancy what to do?”

Bex took the brush from Colin and nodded, all business now. She took Nancy to the stall with the scared gelding, and Nancy watched as the girl ran the brush over the horse’s flank. Nancy had grown up around horses her whole life, but she’d never cared for them like this. She knew how to brush a horse down after a ride, but that was always quick and perfunctory—it was just part of the routine. This was definitely not routine. Nancy was fascinated by how the horse seemed to relax as Bex crooned to and brushed him.

“Do you want to try?” Bex said, gesturing to the brush in Nancy’s hand.

She nodded, smiling now. “I would love to.”

For the next hour, they brushed down the horses and helped them to settle. Then, they went to check on the chickens and Pulled Pork. Colin had built him a small structure all his own after a few days in the stables with the horses, and it too was standing, fully intact. Bex laughed when they checked on the young pig: he was snoring loudly, oblivious to the whole ordeal.

Colin leaned on the fence post, watching Bex give the chickens and Pulled Pork an extra helping of dinner. “We should go into town,” he said. “People have been gathering at the diner the last few years, after storms like this. It helps everyone figure out if everyone’s safe, if they have somewhere to go.”

“Wow.” Nancy was impressed. In Boulder, everyone was on their own in disasters. There were just too many people for the community to pull together like that. “But surely the whole town can’t fit into the diner at once.”

“No, but people don’t usually stick around long. They go in, let everyone know they’re okay, report if there’s anyone missing or seriously hurt, or if they have any major problems that mean they can’t stay at home. If they need help, it doesn’t usually take long before someone steps up to offer it. Once they’re set for the time being, they head out and more people drift in. It was Michael’s idea,” Colin told her.

That’s not surprising in the slightest. “He practically runs this town, doesn’t he?”

Colin snorted. “You could say that again…but at least he does good things.”

Nancy thought to mention Mr. Perriman’s retirement party, but it wasn’t the time for it.Later, she thought.When things are settled.She could tell him about the party and her involvement in it after she told him that she had no intention of leaving Windy Creek.

Colin swore softly. “I’m going to have to tell Nick and Evie about the barn.”

“I can help with that.”

He smiled but shook his head. “No, I should be the one to tell them,” he said.

“They’ll understand,” Nancy promised him.

“I know,” Colin said. “They’re the best, and they won’t say anything at all about their ruined day, but—” He jammed his hands into his pockets. “This was supposed to be the thing that launched this as a dude ranch, but I can’t see that happening now, and I’m just selfish enough to be worried about what that means for me and Bex.”

Nancy leaned into his side, resting her head on his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Colin,” she promised, though she had no idea how she would live up to that promise.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Colin walked into Ed’s with a pit in his stomach. They’d loaded up in Nancy’s car and driven into town, unable to stop themselves from staring at what they saw along the way. The damage was extensive. Whole homes had been torn off of their foundations. It helped a little to put his own situation into perspective. No matter how much they stood to lose with the barn demolition, they hadn’t lost their home. They hadn’t lost their lives.

“Nancy! Colin! Bex!” Evie ran to them the moment they walked through the door of the diner, Nick trailing after her. Watching Nancy embrace their shared friend, Colin’s stomach swirled uncomfortably. He and Nancy decided that they couldn’t hide what had happened from them. They knew that the couple would be anxious to hear how things at the ranch faired, and neither could bring themselves to actually lie to their friends. When she pulled away from Nancy, Evie’s eyes went to Colin. “How bad is it?”

Colin sighed. “It’s bad, Evie,” he told her. “We lost the barn.” She gasped, a panicked sound, and she leaned back against Nick. Colin found himself apologizing, as if he could have stopped the tornado from tearing through. “I’ll issue you and Nick a full refund,” he promised. Evie was quiet a moment. She looked up at Nick, who nodded. “We’d still like to use the chapel if that’s intact,” she told him. “We’ll pay for the use of that space, and then we’ll figure out a quick venue for the reception.” Clearly, they’d talked through the possibilities before Colin and Nancy had arrived.

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