Page 59 of Cowboy Falling Hard

KATIE LESSING STOODback, holding the door open. She was happy to see all of her friends, but...the fact that they were all here on a school morning, especially on the day of the Apple Festival, well, she didn’t want to be negative, but normally they set up a time that suited them all when they got together.

They didn’t just show up at her door.

She couldn’t push the ominous feeling that threatened to blacken her soul away. It just felt heavier and heavier.

“Can I get any of you some tea?” she asked, as she closed the door and followed her friends into the kitchen.

They were comfortable enough in her home that one of them went to the fridge and grabbed creamer as another pulled out chairs while a couple more went straight to the cupboard and grabbed some mugs as all of them murmured that they’d drink a little tea.

She had hot water in her tea pot on the stove.

It was old-fashioned, but she loved it because it was a bright yellow and looked cheerful and happy in the mornings. Sometimes mornings were hectic as she got her three kids ready for school, and the teapot always cheered her.

Normally Russell wasn’t around, and she did most of the work getting the kids ready herself. Since he had such an important job, he needed to be at work early to set an example for everyone else. That’s what he said anyway.

“Are you all going to the festival today?” she asked as she set her favorite cinnamon and apple flavored tea bags, along with green and black tea on the table.

She paused for just a moment as no one reached for it.

Her eyes swept around the table, and while Orchid seemed to be trying to push her lips up, Lavender’s face was dead serious, and Daphne looked sad.

She stopped. They had been friends too long for her to continue this farce.

“There is a problem. How about you all just tell me what it is.”

She stood at the table, her hand still holding the box of cinnamon tea.

Lavender and Daphne were seated at the table, and Orchid had just set mugs around.

“I think maybe you need to sit down,” Orchid said softly.

Katie hated being the only one of the room who didn’t know whatever it was that was making everyone look so dreary, but she sat, knowing that she felt like an underdog, so she was trying to latch on to something to get annoyed about.

Trying to school her thoughts and saying a quick prayer that God would help her be calm, she sank into a chair slowly, putting her hands on the table, folding them in front of her.

Consciously she tried to relax her muscles, but her hands wanted to cling tightly to each other, and she couldn’t make herself slide back on her chair, instead sitting on the edge, her breath feeling uneven her lungs like a balloon losing air.

“I’m ready.”

Lie.

But, how does one brace oneself for a terrible blow? Maybe one of them had cancer. Or maybe one of them was moving away. She didn’t want to lose her friends, and she hated the idea of someone her age battling that dreaded disease.

But they could count on her support. Just as soon as she got used to the idea.

“I saw Russell in the parking lot of the C-Store about twenty miles away from Sweet Water last night.”

“Yes. He had to go on a business trip. He’ll be gone all week.” She rolled her eyes. “I keep telling him he needs to get a job where they don’t make him work so much. Often it’s weekends, too.”

“He’s not working. He was with a woman. They kissed. It wasn’t the kind of kiss that you give a co-worker.”

She sat with her mouth open. Her heart stopped. The room spun, and her vision narrowed everything becoming black. Her friends disappeared. She could hear them. They were saying something. Maybe somebody was touching her hand. Maybe there was a hand on her shoulder. She wasn’t sure.

Her first instinct though, was to deny.

“Are you sure it was Russell?” she asked, her words sounding like they came from far away as she lifted her head and tried to focus on Sadie’s face.

“I’m sure.”

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