Page 20 of My Cowboy Freedom
Chapter 6
Rock
“Sky doesn’t have a phone.” I told my Nina. “Your phone is an antique, but he doesn’t have oneat all.”
“How does he even survive?” She gave me the lid of her old, cast-iron Dutch oven to dry.
“Welcome the modern age.” I dried the lid, placed it on the counter, and held my hand out for the pot. “We need cars and electricity. We need smartphones. And you need to carry your phone with you wherever you go. Half the time you don’t even answer when I call you.”
“Maybe I don’t want to talk to you that badly.”
It’d hurt if I thought she meant that. “But what if there’s trouble?”
“Then I’ll use the radio. Cell phones are for horny teenagers to send each other pictures of their junk. Nothing good comes from them.”
“These kids today,” I mimicked her voice.
“Shut it, you.” She caught my cheek with a soapy hand.
I always shadowed her while she did her evening chores. I tried to be casual so she wouldn’t notice I was doing it and get on my case about not getting underfoot while she did her work. At fifty, Elena Marquez was an elegant fortress.
I always figured she was going to age like she was made of granite too, but her doctor was getting on her for the fifteen or so pounds of extra weight she carried, and they’d discussed her blood sugar, which worried me since she had relatives who’d lost the diabetes lottery. She was strong and I wanted her to stay that way forever.
“Why don’t you let me finish up in here?” I told her. “Go watch your show.”
Elena might complain about cell phones, but she’d taken to live-streamingDownton Abbeylike a millennial. She studied me from head to toe and then glanced at Maisy to confirm.
“You’re not tired?”
“I’m fine.” It annoyed me that she still looked at Maisy instead of me. “Don’t look at the dog. I’m telling you.I’m fine.”
“All right. I won’t turn down an offer like that. I put a plate in the oven for the boss when he gets back. I saved a second fresh pie just for him.”
“What? You’d hold out on me?” I grabbed my chest and mimed shock while Maisy circled my heels and barked. “You were like a mother to me. Howcouldyou?”
“Knock it off.” She laughed. “Maisy doesn’t know you’re playing.”
“Sorry, girl.” I bent over and scratched the confused dog behind her ear. It took her a minute to settle down. “I know, girl. Sorry.”
“Make sure you tell the boss about the new hand. If that little pack is all he brought with him, he’s going to need some gear.”
“I’ll let him know.”
She put her hand on my arm. “And you stay away from him until we know what kind of man he is.”
“I can take care of myself, Nina.” She was usually careful not to crush what she called my “fragile male ego.” The arrival of a good-looking ex-con had apparently changed all that.
“I know you can.” She sounded unhappy, which made me glance up from putting serving spoons into the utensil drawer.
“What?”
“You’ll be fine. You’re a grown man. I know that, but—”
“I’ll be extra fine, ’cause I done growed more than most.” I flexed my biceps bodybuilder style and kept my toneHee Hawlight.
But humor didn’t help when Elena was really worried about something.
“What’s got you so wound up about this guy?” I asked. “He seems okay, from what I could tell.”
