Page 51 of Her Cowboy Reunion

“My sister will see the point,” said Lizzie. She jotted a note into her phone. “Melonie sees potential in the simplest things. So what aspects of a town do we need? For survival?”

“Jobs.” Heath spoke first. “If there are no jobs, there is no survival.”

“How do we create jobs out of nothing?” asked Jace.

“Well only the good Lord can do that,” answered Lizzie, but she made another note. “Stores. Shops. Services. Church renovation.”

“Lack of investment capital,” replied Heath. He sounded flat. “Who wants to invest funds in a high-risk venture with little potential?”

“No one,” answered Jace, but Lizzie made them think with her next statement.

“You’re talking like men.”

The two men exchanged blank looks.

“You’ve got to get to the heart of the matter. If people have reason to love a town, they fight for it. It’s not about opportunity only. It’s about emotion. Compassion. People helping people.”

“Where was she ten years ago?” wondered Jace. “Because we might have had a shot then.”

“We’ve got a shot now,” she replied. “You should have seen people’s faces when Zeke and I brought the flyer around about Uncle Sean’s memorial. If you get to the heart of the matter, you get results. That’s all I’m saying.”

“It will be a wonderful memorial.” Heath met her gaze once more. “And we’re grateful that you and Corrie have taken it on. But I don’t know how you turn a one-day prayer service into a movement.”

“It’s real nice of you and Corrie to do this, Lizzie.” Jace turned and smiled her way again.

They didn’t see the potential.

Lizzie did.

She and Corrie spent the next two weeks working and chatting with people. She supervised two more foals and kept the stray dog’s food dish full. On rainy days she tucked it beneath a covered bench to keep the food dry, and by the end of the two weeks, the little dog seemed stronger. Still a mess…but rounder, and less furtive. Corrie proved to be a great emissary and Zeke got to know the layout of the town. The current lambing season was quieting down, in time for haying season to begin as the sun sloped higher in the northern sky.

The last Sunday in May was Reverend Sparks’s final day on the pulpit. A subdued group of people filled the church. Before the opening prayer he gazed around the church, from person to person and smiled. “If we’d gotten this kind of turnout more regularly, we’d be staying open!”

Some folks squirmed, but most offered wry smiles, and when he completed the service, he shook hands, one by one, outside. When he got to Lizzie’s hand, he held it a little bit longer. “You’re beginning to make a difference, Miss Fitzgerald.”

“Call me Lizzie.”

His smile deepened. “I’ll see you tomorrow for the memorial service, and I want to thank you for asking me to officiate. It is an honor to stand tall at a military service. My dad served. And my brother. It means a lot to our family.”

He squeezed her hand lightly, and moved on to the next person.

Zeke grabbed her other hand. “Are we baking the cakes today? For real?”

“Cakes and shortcakes because Miss Corrie got a great deal on strawberries.”

“I love them so much!”

So did Lizzie. “And you can be our kitchen helper, okay? Although…” She withdrew her phone as her app signaled. “Well, it might be just you and Corrie and Cookie in the kitchen. It looks like we’re having foal number five today.” Corrie had just joined them and Lizzie held up the app. “I’m abandoning the kitchen in favor of the foaling stall.”

Corrie accepted that like she accepted most anything. “No matter. Rosie is cooking, and Cookie and I can handle everything else with the help of our young friend here.”

“And I’m making the cupcakes. Right? Because being a kitchen helper is a real important job.”

“That it is,” Corrie told him.

Mrs. Hathaway came their way and put out a hand to Corrie. “I don’t believe I know you.”

“I don’t believe you do.” Corrie took the old woman’s hand gently. “Corrie Satterly. I’m helping out at Pine Ridge Ranch.”

“Are you the cleaning lady?” Mrs. Hathaway asked.

Lizzie’s cheeks went red. She was pretty sure her mouth dropped open and she was just about to leap to Corrie’s defense, when Corrie laughed and tucked the old woman’s arm through hers. “I do my share of that, for certain.” She smiled and the old woman smiled, too. Kind of. “I help out with this and that and you know how it is with a barn full of men. They are always needing something, aren’t they?”

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