Time seemed to pause for just one second, then all hell broke loose. Beauty reared back, letting out a frightened neigh as she lifted her front feet off the ground. Cade didn’t think—his body just reacted as he hurled the chunk of quartz he was holding at the snake. Nora screamed as she dropped the reins, then sprinted toward him.
Beauty’s eyes were wild as she pawed the air, then stamped at the ground with her front hooves. She gave another frightened neigh, then took off at a gallop, heading toward the ranch.
The snake was gone. Either the thrown rock or the horse’s hooves scared it back under the rocks it had probably been sunning itself on.
Nora had launched herself into his arms, clinging to his neck as her body trembled against his.
Cade tipped his head until his forehead touched hers. “Hey, now. It’s okay. It’s gone.”
Her arms wrapped tighter around him, and her eyes squeezed shut as she shook her head. Her words came out in a shaky tumble. “That was a rattlesnake, wasn’t it? I heard it rattle. Have I told you how much I hate snakes? Like I really, really hate snakes. Especially big scary venomous snakes. And that snake was really freaking big.”
“It’s all right. I’ve got you.” He held her for a moment, breathing in the scent of her and relishing the feeling of her in his arms. “We probably need to get going though. I don’t want Beauty to get too far ahead of us.”
Nora hung her head as she took a step back. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I dropped the reins.”
“It’s okay. Really. It happens. And believe me, that horse knows how to find her way home. She can see the barn once she gets to the top of the ridge, and that’s where both her baby and her next meal are. She’ll race right to it. Don’t worry about it.” He pulled out his phone and shot off a quick text, then pushed it back into his pocket. “I just texted Zane to let him know Beauty got spooked and was heading back to the ranch and to keep an eye out for her.”
He gave her arm a reassuring squeeze, then walked slowly toward the hillside. “I’ve got to get the rock so I can finish putting the key back.”
“Be careful,” she told him, wrapping her arms around her stomach.
“That snake’s long gone by now,” he told her. But he still kept a watchful eye on the layers of shale and rock. Just in case the snake, or one of its pals, was still slithering around. He grabbed the rock and returned it to its rightful place, with the key to the cabin tucked securely beneath it. He crossed to Gypsy, untied her reins, and swung easily into the saddle. He held his hand out to Nora. “Come on. You’ll have to ride with me.”
She cautiously approached the horse, then held up her hand and placed it in Cade’s. He pulled her up and settled her in the saddle in front of him. Holding his arms around either side of her, he lifted the reins, and clicked to the horse as he squeezed her sides with his legs.
Nora gripped the saddle horn as Gypsy plodded forward. Cade could feel her still shaking. He pulled her back to lean against his chest. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
They rode in silence to the top of the ridge. Several times Cade had started to say something then stopped himself. He knew he’d hurt her feelings. Which was maybe for the best. Best she figured out now he wasn’t a guy she’d want to get mixed up with. But still—he hated that he hurt her. Hated that their perfect afternoon had ended on such a crappy note. And hated that she thought any of it was her fault or due to something she did.
No, it was all on him. As usual.
He rested his chin on her head. “She was barely four when it happened.” He spoke softly, but he felt Nora stiffen then force herself to relax. “The scar, I mean.” Like she didn’t know what he was talking about. “You have to understand. When Amber and I had her, we were practically kids ourselves. We didn’t have a clue what we were doing. Especially me.”
He blew out a sigh. “You know I was barely nineteen when I met her. Amber. I was a young buck, just starting off in the rodeo, running roughstock events. I’d won a few rides, and I was full of spit and vinegar, walking around like I owned the place, showing off for the steady stream of buckle bunnies by blowing every purse I won. I’d seen Amber a couple of times. She was pretty but also self-assured. She knew what she wanted, and she apparently had her sights set on me. We hooked up for a while, then she told me she was pregnant.”
“Oh.”
“My dad took off on us when my brother and I were still in grade school, and I didn’t want to do that to my family. I cared about Amber, and I figured we could make a go of it. You know, for the kid.” He sighed as he looked out over the mountains. “I never truly knew what love was until the nurse put that little baby girl in my arms. She was crying and her face was all scrunched up and red, but she was mine. I’m a pretty tough son of a bitch, but I’d never been more terrified of anything in my life. She weighed less than seven pounds, but she had a hold of my heart like a socket wrench to a bolt. She might have been a red-faced baby, but as she grew, she turned into the cutest little bugger—all big blue eyes and tons of blond hair.”
“It sounds like you were happy.”
He let out a hard grunt. “No. We were never really happy. Allie might have been a cute baby, but she was colicky and cried all the time. And Amber was always yelling at me. I suppose we were probably tired and worn-out and didn’t know what the hell we were doing, but we fought all the time. And nothing I ever did was good enough. I went back on the road, just a few rodeos here and there, trying to make some money, but Amber had a jealous streak a mile wide. She was sure I was messing around on her—I wasn’t. But she never believed me. We were miserable, and I found it was easier to be gone than it was to be at home.”
A cool breeze blew across his heated cheeks. He hated talking about his screwed-up marriage.
“I’d spent a lot of summers with my grandparents, so I’d seen at least one example of a healthy marriage, and I knew we didn’t have one. Amber never trusted me. Not when I was gone, and not when I was home. She was always telling me to be careful, not to let the kid do this or that. She had me so scared I’d hurt Allie that I was afraid to be alone with her. Even though I tried to play with her and read her books, Amber told me daily what a terrible dad I was, how I didn’t know how to do anything right with her. Then one day, all her convictions came true.”
Nora sucked in a quiet breath but didn’t say anything. She just waited for him to go on.
He swallowed back the emotion that day always brought up in him. “Amber left me alone with her. She was only going to the grocery store. Hell, she wasn’t even gone an hour. But it only took two seconds for Allie to fall.” He shook his head, thankful Nora couldn’t see his face. “She tumbled down the stairs and hit her head—split her forehead open. She wasn’t very big, but dang that girl could scream. I heard the thump and knocked over my chair trying to get out of it. I’ll never forget rounding the corner of the hallway and seeing her at the bottom of the stairs. We lived in one of those splits levels, so there were only like five or six stairs, but she must have hit the bannister or something. I’m still not sure. She split her lip too, and there was so much blood, I thought I was gonna pass out.”
“Head wounds always tend to bleed more,” Nora said softly.
“I know. And my rational brain might have got that, but my dad brain just saw his little girl screaming and blood everywhere, and I just lost it. I didn’t know what to do, so I picked her up, put her on my lap, and raced her to the emergency room. Forgot to grab ice or even a towel. I used my shirt to try to stop the bleeding.”
“Was she okay?”
“Yeah. She ended up with six stitches and a scar that still hurts my heart every time I see it.”
“Sounds like that wasn’t the only scar that day left.”
He huffed out a sigh. “No, that was the end of our marriage too. By the time Amber made it to the hospital, she’d completely lost it. She’d just gotten home and seen all the blood when I’d called her. She walked into the emergency room spitting mad, and she walked right up to me and slapped me across the face.”
Nora gasped.
“I deserved it. I’d taken my eye off her, even if it was just for a second, and I let our little girl get hurt.”
“It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident.”
“It was my fault. I knew it. And Amber knew it. And that was the excuse she needed to kick me to the curb. I moved out and she moved back in with her parents. Between her and her dad and her sister, they kept me away from Allie for almost a year.”
“They couldn’t do that. You were her dad.”
“Not much of one. I missed her like hell, but I felt so guilty about what had happened and I was afraid to be alone with her—afraid something would happen again. I went back on the road and threw myself into bull riding and competing.”
“And hoping that if you got hurt, it would somehow make up for Allie’s injuries.”
Nailed it. He shook his head. “There you go, getting all therapist on me again.”
“It doesn’t take a therapist to see what you were trying to do. It seems obvious.”
“Maybe to you. But I don’t think I even realized what I was doing until it was too late. I didn’t make the effort I should have with trying to see Allie those first few years. Then Amber used that against me to keep her from me after that. I still made the effort, cards and lame gifts for her birthday and Christmas, and I never missed a single child support payment. I ate canned ravioli for weeks some months just to make sure I had that check to send her. But Amber had turned the fall into a whole thing and threatened to take me to court for neglect if I didn’t go along with her.”
“Could she do that?”
“I don’t know. I told you, I was young and dumb, and I’d convinced myself that Allie was better off without me.”
“Do you still think that?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope not. I feel like I’ve been given a second chance, and I’m older now and maybe a little wiser, and I want to make this work. I’m the only parent she has left, and I don’t want to let her down again.”
She put her hand over his. “You won’t.”
They’d been talking as they made their way down the side of the mountain. As they entered the pasture, Gypsy gave a whinny and Cade knew she was ready to get back to the barn. And he was ready to be done talking about himself and what a mess he’d made of his life. “You want to see what this horse can do?”
The muscles in Nora’s back tensed, but she gave him a tentative nod. “Um, okay, sure.”
He wrapped his arms tighter around her and gave the horse the lead. “Hold on,” he said before nudging Gypsy with his heels.
Nora let out a tiny squeak and gripped his arms as the horse took off, galloping across the field. Cade had taken Gypsy on this same ride so many times, she knew the path and raced across it with speed and confidence.
They galloped up to the ranch, and Cade pulled back on the reins and slowed the horse to a trot, then an easy walk.
“Wow. That was amazing,” Nora said, her voice a little shaky as it came out in a breathless rush.
“She’s a great horse. I’ll give her a good brushing and an extra scoop of grain for bringing us both home.” He patted Gypsy’s side. “I just hope we beat Allie back,” he said glancing toward the bunkhouse where a large blue yoga ball sat propped against the door. “Aw hell, not another one.”
Nora turned her head, following his line of sight, then her shoulders shook against his chest as she let out a laugh. “At least they only brought one this time.”
“Not quite,” Cade said, directing her attention to Bryn’s front yard, where Tiny was rolling a hot-pink yoga ball around with her snout.
Nora laughed harder. “I think we should let her have that one.”
“I just hope she didn’t also help herself to whatever food I’m sure was dropped off with those balls.”
Zane’s border collie, Hope, came running out to greet them as they approached the barn door, her owner ambling out a few steps behind her. Zane raised his hand in greeting as he nodded toward the barn. “I just got Beauty in and settled. You guys okay?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” Cade told him. He wasn’t sure if he and Nora were good with each other again, but they had made it safely back to the ranch.
“I’m so sorry,” Nora said to Zane. “It’s my fault that Beauty got away. I let go of the reins.”
“I told you it’s not your fault,” Cade said. “The horse just got spooked by a rattler near her feet.”
“Dang. That’s scary for anybody,” Zane said. “Did it strike?”
“Nah. It slithered away.”
“Because Cade kept his cool and threw a rock at it,” Nora told him. “All I did was scream and run away.”
Zane shrugged. “Understandable. I’ve seen grown men scream and run away from rattlesnakes. They’re a nasty thing to run into. Where’d you see it?”
“By the hunting cabin. We got caught in that thunderstorm and holed up in the cabin for the afternoon.”
Zane’s gaze raked over their disheveled appearance, and a slight grin tugged at the corner of his lip. “I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon.”
Cade avoided his eyes as Nora swung her leg over the saddle horn.
“That would account for why Beauty’s saddle and blanket were damp,” Zane said as he raised his arms to help Nora off the horse. “By the way, Bryn called an hour or so ago, and they’re on their way back from Denver. She said they picked up a mess of Italian food from her favorite restaurant. And knowing Bryn, she got enough to feed the entire congregation of the United Methodist Church of Creedence. So you all are welcome to come for supper.”
“I might sit this one out,” Nora told him, rubbing her rear end. “Right now, all I can think about is soaking in a hot bath and putting on some dry clothes.” She waved as she headed to the bunkhouse. “I’ll see you later.”
Cade swung out of the saddle and led the horse behind him as he followed Zane into the barn. He opened the stall door, and Cade guided Gypsy in and unbuckled the straps of her saddle.
“You all right, brother?” Zane narrowed his eyes and studied him as he leaned casually on the gate. “You look like you’ve been rode hard and put away wet.”
Cade shook his head—although the first part held a note of truth to it. He eyed Zane. “You ever done something that seemed like a good idea at the time, but then you started to regret it almost right after?”
Zane chuckled. “Almost daily.” He glanced back toward the bunkhouse. “But I wouldn’t think that little filly seems like a decision to regret. She’s about one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, she obviously loves your daughter, and she’s dang easy on the eyes. What’s the problem?”
Cade pulled the saddle and blanket off and balanced them on the top edge of the stall. “So many problems.” He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Besides the fact she’s only going to be here for a few weeks and that the whole reason she’s here is to take care of my daughter, not me, there’s the issue of me not being the kind of man any self-respecting woman should take a bet on. I don’t have a real great track record when it comes to sticking around for relationships.”
Relationships? Since when did he start thinking about this thing with Nora as having a chance at a relationship?
Zane shrugged. “Seems to me that’s her decision to make, not yours.” He chewed on a piece of straw he’d pulled from the hay bale outside of Gypsy’s stall. “Besides, people can change.”
The sound of an engine had them turning their attention to the barn door as Elle’s SUV pulled into the drive.
Cade unbuckled Gypsy’s bridle and pulled the bit from her mouth. He hung the bridle on a nail outside her stall, then drew the gate shut and followed Zane out of the barn. He could see Allie’s excited face in the back window as she waved happily at him as he approached the car.
He was tempted to look behind him to see who she was waving at, then she opened the back door and said his name. “Cade, you’ve got to see what we bought. We had so much fun. And I even got my nails done.” Her eyes were bright and carried none of her usual hostility toward him as she waved her painted fingernails in the air. Not that it wouldn’t or couldn’t come back, but he was going to enjoy it while he could.
Maybe people could change.
“Wow, those look nice,” he told her, not sure what the exact response was to compliment a manicure.
She was hopping toward him, her booted foot held off the ground. “And we brought back food. So much food. Bryn said it was enough to feed her whole church.”
“Told ya so,” Zane muttered as he opened the hatch of the SUV, sticking a hand out to prevent the cascade of shopping bags and takeout boxes from falling as he pulled out Allie’s knee scooter.
The girl hopped to the back and grabbed several of the bags, barely taking a breath as she chattered on about their day. “We had lunch and we went to the mall and we stopped at this really cool bookstore.” She passed him three of the bags. “I got a new shirt and two new books and the cutest dress for the dance on Saturday.”
Cade gaped at the plethora of bags. “How did you get all this stuff? I only gave you forty dollars to help with lunch.”
“Sassy bought lunch, so I spent my money on books. And Elle bought the clothes.”
“This is too much.”
“I know. I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer, and she somehow convinced me. You know what it’s like to argue with her.”
He peered through the window to where Elle was standing and doing a pretty good job of avoiding his eye. “Yes, I know what it’s like.” And even though he wanted to argue now, to tell his daughter they couldn’t accept all these things, the look of joy on her face was worth the price of his pride.
***
Later that night, a knock sounded at Nora’s door. Her pulse raced with hope that it was Cade, but instead she found Allie on her doorstep, holding a shopping bag and a small takeout box of food.
“I brought you some chicken Alfredo, and I wanted to show you my new dress,” Allie said as she wheeled the knee scooter into the kitchen.
“Thank you. You’re so sweet. I can’t wait to see what you bought,” Nora told her as she grabbed a fork from the drawer and pulled back the lid of the container. The scent of garlic and parmesan filled the air, making Nora’s mouth water. She twisted a strand of linguini around her fork and took a bite, then let out a groan. “Oh, yum. This is amazing. I didn’t realize I was so hungry. Your nails look gorgeous by the way.”
Allie waved her fingers in the air. “Aren’t they so pretty? I’ve never had a manicure in a salon before. It was really fun.”
“It is. I love to treat myself to a mani and a pedi every few months.”
“A pedi wasn’t exactly an option with this,” Allie told her, holding up her booted ankle.
“Not yet,” Nora said. “But you’re getting closer. You did really well in our therapy session yesterday, and I’ve got some new exercises for you to try when we get together in the morning. Since we’ve got all these yoga balls, I came up with some fun ideas of how to put them to good use.” She took another bite as she dropped into a seat at the table, then pointed to the bag with her fork. “Okay, tell me everything about today, and I’m dying to see the dress.”
Allie grinned as she put the shopping bag on the table and drew out a packet of folded tissue. Peeling back the layers, she lifted a deep purple sundress from its folds and held it up in front of her.
“Oh, wow,” Nora said. “It’s beautiful. And that color is perfect for you.”
“Thank you. I love it.” The dress came to right above Allie’s knees. “I got a supercute pair of sandals to wear with it, but I also thought it would match my purple cowboy boots. Which might be better for a barn dance thing.”
“It absolutely will. It will be darling. And perfect for the barn dance.” She wrinkled her nose. “And now I’m jealous that I didn’t go with you all. Now I want a manicure and a new dress for the dance.”
“Elle said there’s a cute dress shop in town. Maybe you can run into town tomorrow and still find one.”
“Good idea. I just might do that.”
“You should.” The girl’s hair fell over her shoulder and into her face as she tried to fold the dress and put it back into the bag. She huffed and blew her bangs from her face. “Urgh. My hair is driving me crazy.”
“Do you want me to braid it for you?”
“Would you?”
“Of course.”
“That would be great. Thanks.”
Nora took the last bite of her pasta, a little surprised at how quickly she’d demolished the serving, then gestured to the other chair. “You sit down, and I’ll grab a brush. You can do your shoulder exercises while I braid your hair.”
She heard Allie groan again, but the teenager was sitting at the chair with her splint off and already doing the first stretch when Nora returned with a brush and some elastics a few minutes later.
“It’s such a pain to try to do my hair with one hand,” Allie told her.
“You must be figuring it out though,” Nora said. “Because you’ve had your hair in braids the last few days.”
The girl shrugged. “Cade did it for me.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, it’s good that he can do it but also kind of annoying that he’s so good at it.”
Nora grinned as she twisted the girl’s hair into a neat plait. “It must be all that practice on his horse’s tail.”
Allie giggled. “It’s not just that. I also caught him watching a YouTube video on how to do your daughter’s hair last night when I got up to go to the bathroom.”
Oh, Cade. You old softie. “Aww. That’s so sweet.”
The teenager shrugged again. “Yes, sometimes he’s an okay guy.” She winced as she moved her arm through the exercise, but she completed the stretch. “He’s not really the way I’ve always thought he would be.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t spent a lot of time with him, not like I do now, but my mom and my aunt have never said anything good about him. They’ve always just told me what a selfish jerk he was and that he never cared about me. But I remember a few things, like him reading books to me and sitting on the floor in my room doing a stupid tea party thing.”
Nora had a hard time imagining the tough cowboy drinking out of a tiny teacup.
Allie raised her hand and touched the scar above her eyebrow. “My mom said I got this because of him. And that this is why he left.”
“What happened?” Nora didn’t want to say that Cade had already told her the story about that day.
“I fell down the stairs and hit my head. My mom said my dad wasn’t watching me and that he left because he couldn’t handle taking care of me.” The girl had ripped a piece off Nora’s napkin and was twisting it between her fingers. “She said she begged him to stay, but he said I was too much trouble and that he never wanted me in the first place.”
Nora sucked in a breath. That Amber was a real piece of work. Placing a hand on Allie’s knee, Nora sat down in the chair next to her. She had so many things she wanted to say, and all of them would be her standing up for Cade. But this beautiful, fragile girl had just shared something important with her, and Nora knew she needed to tread carefully. “That’s a hard thing to hear” was all she said.
“Yeah, I’ve been mad at my dad for a long time, but now that I’ve been around him, it doesn’t seem like all that stuff was true.”
“Have you talked to your dad about this? Asked him what happened that day?”
Allie shook her head. “No. But why would my mom lie?”
To make herself look better in her daughter’s eyes. “I’m not sure, honey. That’s a tough one. And I didn’t know her, so I can’t say for sure.”
“I know my mom hated my dad, but he doesn’t seem all that bad. It’s just that every time I start to kind of like him, I feel like I’m hurting my mom.”
“Come here, sweet girl.” Nora held open her arms, and Allie practically fell into her lap. Her shoulders shook as she let out a sob, and Nora wrapped her tighter and pressed a kiss to her head as she let the girl cry herself out.
“Sorry,” Allie said, sitting back and wiping at the wet spot on Nora’s shoulder.
“Don’t be,” Nora said, passing her another napkin. “My shoulder is always available if you need a good cry.” She brushed the girl’s hair from her forehead. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“Me too,” Allie whispered.
“I may not have known your mom, but I know that she would want you to be happy. And Cade seems like he is really trying. I think you should talk to him. Tell him how you feel and ask him what happened that day you fell. I think he would give you an honest answer.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I mean, heck, the guy is watching YouTube videos at night to figure out how to do your hair. He can’t be all bad.”
***
After Allie left, Nora changed into her pajamas, brushed her teeth, and fell into bed, exhausted. It had been quite a day, and even though she was tired, she knew it would take a while to process everything that had happened before her brain would shut down and let her sleep.
Her phone chimed, and she was excited and nervous to see a text from Cade. Although her excitement may have been premature.
Hey was all it said.
Wow. He was such a great conversationalist. There were so many ways she could take that one word. She tapped her phone to her chin. How to respond? Hey yourself she typed back but added a smiley face emoji.
I was just thinking about you.
I was just thinking about you too. Gosh. This conversation was getting really deep. Thanks for teaching me how to ride a horse. Sorry I was such a failure at it. She hit send just as another message popped in from him.
I just got out of the shower. Alone. I preferred the one I took this afternoon with you.
Oh. Okay. Those were two very different directions of conversation. Before she could figure out what to respond, another message came in from him.
You weren’t a failure.
At the shower or the ride?
Either one. An emoji of a wide-smiling face popped on the screen. You earned a gold star from me on both.
What? I was terrible with the horse. She ran away from me.
Oh, you meant THAT ride…
Her cheeks warmed as she let out a laugh.
A winky-face emoji popped up on her screen. Her phone chimed again and the next message was just five gold stars.
Gah. How did she respond to that? She sent back a laughing emoji, then typed another message. I’m not sure how many stars you earned.
His return message was just a question mark.
She leaned back against her pillow, the flirty conversation and the texting format giving her courage. I might need another afternoon in the saddle to make a confident recommendation. She hit Send before she changed her mind.
She got another winky face emoji followed by the message, I’m a rodeo guy so I’m always up for another ride.
A giggle escaped her lips. A giggle? Really? She hugged her pillow to her chest as the smile she’d had on her face since he first texted her started to hurt her cheeks.
Her phone chimed with another message. Good night, Beautiful.
Emotion stung her throat. She was in so much trouble here. She really liked this man. He was tough and tender and strong and funny. He was in the middle of this terrible life situation, and he needed his concentration to be on his daughter. Her head warned her of what a terrible idea this flirting was and that this afternoon was probably a terrible error in her judgment. But her heart swelled with feeling for the man who had held her so tenderly in his arms and kissed her with such passion. And called her beautiful.
Good night, cowboy. She sighed as she set her phone on the nightstand and cuddled down into the pillow.
She’d just started to drift off when her phone chimed with another text. A smile was already on her lips as she drowsily picked up the phone. But her smile, and her stomach, fell as she saw the name on the screen.
Wide-awake now, her fingers tightened on the phone as she sat up. Dread swirled in her stomach as she opened the message from Geoff.
I can’t stop thinking about you. I miss you and I still love you.