Page 15 of Cowgirl's Christmas Partner

Dr. Larkin kept walking. “We’re good on snacks,” he said. “But thanks for the offer.” He paused at the barn door and zipped up his coat. “I know you’re new to all this, but don’t worry so much. These things sort themselves out, nine times out of ten.”

Sarah watched him go, frowning. She hated to feel helpless. And she wasn’tnew. She’d been around horses her entire life.

“’Scuse me, Miss Carson?” One of the ranch hands had come up behind her. Sarah slapped on a smile.

“Good morning, Otis. What can I do for you?”

“I was wondering, is your brother around? We’re running low on hoof oil, and we need him to put in the order.”

“I can do that,” said Sarah. The words came out harsh, and she cleared her throat. “Anything else I can get while I’m at it?”

“Just the hoof oil,” said Otis. Sarah choked back frustration. Uncle Herb had been gone a year, and still the hands seemed to hesitate when it came to turning to her. She couldn’t blame them, exactly—Will held the purse strings, and they all knew it. It made the chain of command blurry.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out. “Hey, Tad. What’s up?”

“I’m going to be late today. I’ve got sort of a…situation.” He sounded stressed.

Sarah cocked her head. “A situation? What’s that splashing?”

“That would be my boots in my flooded front hall.” He let out a groan. “A pipe burst in the night.”

“Oof. That’s the worst.” Sarah grimaced, then brightened. “Why don’t you and West pack up your PJs? You can stay at my place tonight, while yours dries out?”

“I’m not sure…” He trailed off, which hopefully meant he was at least thinking about it. Sarah remembered his reluctance to accept the Grinch costume, so she waited—and finally, with a resigned sigh, he spoke again. “Yeah. That’d be great. My carpets are soaked, and I had to shut the water off to the house.” There was a slight pause. “We’ll be over soon. I really do appreciate this. And Sarah—oh. Here’s the plumber.”

Tad hung up and was gone, and Sarah smiled to herself. Her first guests in her new house…well, this should be fun.

* * *

“Do we eat this after, or is it just for the tree?” West draped a string of popcorn over the lower branches of Sarah’s Christmas tree. It fell off immediately, and he wrinkled his nose. “Well, we can’t eat it now. It’s been on the floor.”

“We’ll have plenty left over,” said Sarah. “You can eat some of that.”

“Can I put on some tinsel? And the gold balls?”

“One step at a time.” Tad retrieved the string of popcorn and hung it on the tree. “You’ve got to space it all out so it doesn’t look messy. No big gobs of tinsel, or—no, that’s aredball. It needs to go by a green ball, not another red.”

“Dad…” West squirmed away, and Tad backed off.

“Okay, no micromanaging. You just have fun.” He picked his way to Sarah through piles of ornaments. “I’ll fix it up later, once he’s gone to bed,” he whispered to her.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Sarah. “I don’t care how it looks, so long as he has fun.”

“He’s certainly doing that.” Tad covered his eyes as West tore into the tinsel.

“Speaking of disasters, did the plumber work out what happened with your pipes?”

“Oh, no mystery there. That was all me.” Tad flopped down on the sofa. “I thought I’d get in some practice before the ice sculpting competition.”

“Uh-oh…” Sarah tried not to smile. She could see where this was headed.

“I had this huge block of ice set up in the bathroom, but it was melting too fast, so I turned down the heat. But itstillkept on melting, so I opened the window. And then Ileftit open, and I woke up this morning to the Great Flood. I feel like an idiot. I’m not used to this cold. It never occurred to me it could mess with my—hey, quit laughing.”

“I’m not,” said Sarah. “Or, okay, I am, but this is my fault. I dragged you into this, and I turned up the pressure. Let me make it up to you.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to.” Tad’s mouth quirked up. “And itiskind of funny, in an expensive sort of way.”

Sarah winced at the thought of the damage to Tad’s floors and walls. “Tell you what,” she said. “Why don’t you and West stay here till your place is all fixed?”

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