Page 39 of Her Second Chance Cowboy

Instead of wallowing, he grabbed a tee shirt from his drawer and threw it over his head. He went downstairs; the smell of earth and wildflowers assaulted him well before he reached the bottom. Bex was making messy, one-armed arrangements of wildflowers that she’d obviously harvested from the yard. She’d pulled out every vase he kept under their sink, all of his coffee mugs, and a giant mixing bowl and filled them all. “Bex, darlin’, what are you doing?”

She turned, and his stomach lurched when he saw her baby pink cast. Nancy’s neatly scrawled name in black Sharpie stood out like a beacon in all that pink. “I heard you and Nancy fighting yesterday,” Bex explained. “You said some mean things.”

His face flushed hot. “Bex—”

“I’m helping you apologize,” his daughter said and held out her arms. “Girls like flowers, right? I got the prettiest ones I could find.”

“You did,” he said. “These are the prettiest flowers I’ve ever seen, but sometimes grown-ups say things that they can’t take back. I’m not sure Nancy will accept my saying sorry today.” Colin wasn’t even sure he wanted to say sorry. He was still angry at her, even if that anger had been severely blunted by watching her walk away.

Bex didn’t get a chance to say whatever she wanted to say. At that moment, Nancy walked through the front door; her phone was pressed to her ear. “No, delivery will happen in three days. Not now. How the hell am I supposed to keep over a hundred arrangements alive for three days?” She sighed. “The dates for everything are in our contract. You want to contest that? I’ll be happy to get a lawyer.” Nancy listened to the rapid, angry voice on the other end of her phone, but her eyes finally took in all of the flowers that Bex had put out. She smiled softly. “I’m going to have to call you back,” she said, breaking into the other person’s tirade. “Something more important has come up.” She hung up her phone. “Bex, these are beautiful,” she crooned and carefully hugged the girl. “Did you pick all these for me?”

Bex beamed at her. “Daddy has something that he wants to say.” Bex glanced at him, smiling like she was doing him a real solid, but when Nancy looked at him, sadness and guilt and anger clawed at his chest. He would do just about anything to keep Bex happy, but this was a form of torture.

Colin cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for what I said yesterday, Nance,” he said, and he was surprised to discover that he meant it. He knew he’d hurt her, and that was never what he’d wanted. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to say that he’d been wrong, or to take back anything he’d said. If she stayed, something like this could happen again, and he wasn’t sure if he could live with that constant fear every time he left Bex alone with her. “I was angry, and I’m sorry I upset you.”

He didn’t know what he expected, but her smiling wasn’t it. It didn’t quite chase the sadness from her eyes, but it was genuine and kind. “I appreciate that, Colin.”But it doesn’t change anything, he finished for her. Did he want to take it all back? He wasn’t sure. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tightly. He stood there, statue-like, for a few moments before he hugged her in kind; he breathed in the sweet scent of her hair.

When she stepped away, though, Colin caught sight of her face, soft and impossibly sad, and he had to stop himself from pulling her back in against him. Instead, they settled in for a somewhat stilted breakfast—Bex did most of the talking—and Nancy excused herself as soon as her plate was clear. “I have to—” Nancy said but trailed off. Her eyes flicked to Bex. “Evie will be expecting me soon.”

Colin’s stomach twisted, but he nodded. “Of course.” He turned to Bex. “Come on, darlin’,” he said. “It’s about time I got going, and Jessie should be here any minute to drive you to school. Why don’t you grab your shoes and have them on when she gets here?”

Bex grumbled as she stood, but she started the hunt for her shoes, which allowed Nancy time to head upstairs to pack her bags. Colin watched her back, rigid as she climbed, as she disappeared from sight, and that clawed-out feeling was back. But, still, he didn’t call her back.

* * *

Nancy was going to lose her mind trying to pack. She grabbed her suitcase and opened it on Colin’s bed, but her hands shook so badly when she started folding her clothes that she had to stop and take deep breaths. In order to distract herself, she reached for her phone and dialed Evie. “Hello?” The bride-to-be’s voice made it clear she was still half-asleep, and Nancy had to bite back an apology. Evie had told her last night to call in the morning if she needed. They’d spent hours talking over everything, and while Evie had some colorful things to say about Colin, she had some equally colorful things to say about Nancy too. She kept calling them idiots, and Nancy couldn’t help but agree.

Why in God’s name would you hug him?She berated herself, but she needed one more memory of being in his arms, of being close to him. “I’m trying to pack,” she said by way of greeting. “I can’t make myself fold my clothes.”

Evie sighed. “You shouldn’t leave,” she said. Evie had said as much last night, but Nancy couldn’t stomach the idea of staying on the ranch and moving back into the guest house. Seeing him for the wedding was going to be bad enough. She had to put distance between them, or she wouldn’t survive it. “Not until you really talk to him.”

“There’s nothing more to say,” Nancy insisted. “He made it clear that I do not belong here, and honestly, I think he’s right. Windy Creek may be the place I’m from, but it’s never felt like my home.”Except Boulder never felt like home either, she thought miserably.

“And yet, you’re having trouble folding some tee shirts,” Evie pointed out.

Nancy sighed. “It’s not so much the folding,” she said, “as it is packing it up.”

“Oh,” Evie said, seriously, “well, that’s very different then.” She was being sarcastic, and they both knew it, but Nancy wasn’t ready to admit that just yet.

“Nancy? What are you doing?” said a small voice from the doorway.

She froze. “Evie, I’ve got to go,” she said and pressed the end button on her phone. She turned, and Bex stood before her. She looked so sad. Something dear and fragile in Nancy’s heart cracked. “Bex—” she started, but she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t feel right telling the girl about her and Colin without him present, but he’d already left for the day, and Bex had obviously gotten tired of waiting for Jessie downstairs.

“Are you leaving?” Bex asked, eyes filling with tears.

Nancy sat on the bed and beckoned her over; Bex came and threw her arms around Nancy’s middle. “I’m going to Evie’s,” she told the girl, truthfully. “I’ll stay with her until the wedding, but I’ll still be around all of the time, okay?”

Bex sniffled, and it was a miserable sound. “Do you pinky-promise to say goodbye before you leave?”

Nancy fluffed her hair. “I pinky-promise,” she said, and when Bex pulled back to hold up her hooked pinky, Nancy wrapped her pinky around Bex’s and squeezed.

Bex took that promise. “I should go feed the chickens before Jessie gets here,” she told Nancy. “I forgot to do it before breakfast.”

Nancy shooed her out. “Go on,” she said. “Before your dad realizes that you forgot.” She watched Bex go, and when she heard the girl’s feet stomping down the stairs, she was finally able to start reaching for her clothes. She’d made a promise to say goodbye, and she couldn’t be sure when Jessie would show up. She’d say goodbye before Bex went to school—and then she’d get in her car and go.

Nancy got all of her clothes back into her suitcases; she went into the bathroom and unplugged her hair dryer and scooped her make-up back into its carrying case.Were you moving in?, she scoffed at herself, astonished at how much she had to pack. It had been less than a month since she and Colin had started whatever this was between them, and she’d just taken over his whole room. She shook her head.Should’ve just stayed in the guest house.

She felt uncomfortable in her own skin all of a sudden, like she didn’t quite fit, and she needed to take control of something again. She grabbed her phone and called Reagan. If she could turn this situation into moving forward instead of running away, maybe she’d stop feeling so much like an alien in her own grief. “Nancy!” Reagan practically shouted in her ear. “I’ve been waiting for your call.”

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