Home with the Cowboy

by Mary Sue Jackson

  “Let’s play with your new GI Joes.” Daniel took out the bucket of green plastic men. They were the same ones he and Robert had played with when they’d been kids.

  Bobby played with the army men for a little bit, but he was soon drawn to the pillow fort. Taking a handful of the plastic soldiers with him, he crawled through the fort’s entrance, saying, “Come with me, Unca Danny!”

  As he peered inside the fort and watched Bobby play, Daniel didn’t have the heart to stop him. Unfolding the blanket he’d placed on the end of the couch, he draped it over the top of the fort before he squeezed through the entrance to join him.

  “What are we doing in here?” whispered Daniel. It was dim enough that it seemed like an appropriate place to whisper.

  “Playing soldiers,” said Bobby as if it were obvious.

  Normally, Daniel had a tendency to glance at the time, waiting for Willa to reappear when he was caring for Bobby on his own, but this time, he didn’t even notice how long they’d been playing. Bobby didn’t throw any fits. He only whined twice, and Daniel found he could easily redirect the toddler’s attention.

  By the time Willa peeked inside the fort and asked how it had gone, Daniel could say he’d enjoyed his time with his nephew. It wasn’t that he didn’t love Bobby, but up until this point, the toddler had been more work than play. Daniel had only ever worried that he was doing something wrong, or that Bobby would start screaming, or something would go ass over teakettle and Willa would need to swoop in and clean up his mess.

  “Did you get your project done?” he asked Willa once the two had emerged from the fort.

  “I got a good chunk of it done, thanks. So, you liked the pillow fort after all?” Willa’s grin was enough to ease any annoyance Daniel had felt about her throwing pillows everywhere. But he realized that even though he’d taken care of Bobby this afternoon, he’d still needed Willa to arrange the afternoon. The fort had been her idea, hadn’t it? It felt like she knew what Bobby needed on a level Daniel didn’t think he could achieve.

  He saw Bobby yawn, the little eyes heavy. Before Willa could take him, Daniel picked him up and said, “I’ll put him down for his nap. You relax.”

  Daniel rarely put Bobby down for a nap, only because Bobby tended to fret and ask for Willa. It often ended up being a battle between wanting the toddler to go to sleep easily versus not giving into his every whim. Daniel had always heard that kids Bobby’s age were difficult, but he hadn’t known the half of it. Two-year-olds could bring down an adult male like himself within a few hours if they put their minds to it.

  Daniel laid Bobby in his crib. Bobby sat up immediately, his lower lip wobbling. “Wiwah,” he mumbled as his face screwed up.

  “Time for your nap, buddy. Let’s close the blinds.” Daniel ignored Bobby’s wobbly lower lip as the room dimmed. He held his breath, expecting Bobby to burst into tears in any moment.

  But when Daniel returned to the crib, he saw that Bobby had lain down, a teddy bear clutched close. Daniel rubbed the boy’s back until the sleepy eyelids closed.

  Triumph filled him as Bobby fell asleep. He wanted to shout with joy, maybe even beat on his chest like men did when their favorite football team won the Super Bowl. He had put Bobby to bed, and the tot hadn’t thrown a fit, either!

  “Is he sleeping?” said Willa when Daniel returned to the living room.

  Daniel ignored her skeptical tone. “Yup, he fell asleep without any trouble.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s great.” She smiled. “You’re getting the hang of this parenting thing.”

  Willa had already started cleaning up the fort, and Daniel felt guilty for getting so annoyed at her earlier. As Daniel placed one of the cushions back onto the couch, Willa laid a folded blanket over the arm of the couch. Their hands connected for a millisecond, and Daniel felt the touch throughout his body. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. To his amusement, a blush colored Willa’s cheeks from that mere brush of hands.

  He thought of how he’d held her in his arms just days ago when Willa had chased after the laundry. The sudden urge to repeat that moment was almost too much temptation to avoid. It didn’t help that Willa had left her hair down, and it tumbled around her shoulders in riotous chocolate curls.

  “I should start dinner,” blurted Willa, effectively breaking the moment.

  When she hurried away, Daniel sighed inwardly. He might be getting the hang of this parenting thing, but when it came to Willa, he was still a complete greenhorn.

  But then again, every day that he became more confident in caring for Bobby meant a day closer to Willa riding off into the sunrise. He suddenly felt torn between his pride in himself for learning how to care for his nephew and wanting Willa to stay as long as possible. He wished he could have both, but in his experience, the universe was never that kind. He’d learned that the day his parents had died in a senseless accident.

  Sixteen

  Willa’s eyes were bleary as she glanced at the time. How was it already time for lunch? Stretching, she groaned as her back popped.

  She’d been working on this stupid website design for Grayson since nine a.m. that morning without a break. Right then, she felt her stomach growl, and she realized how hungry she was. She probably should’ve had more than a cup of coffee for breakfast.

  After the fort incident, Willa had felt more confident in Daniel’s ability to care for Bobby without her. Until the next day, when she’d asked him to watch Bobby so she could run some errands and had returned to find Bobby on the floor of the barn, his trucks spread around him, while Daniel had been in the hayloft.

  Daniel had assured her that he’d still been able to keep an eye on Bobby, but Willa had been horrified. What if Bobby had gotten into one of the stalls and a horse had kicked him? Or if he’d tried to play with any of the sharp tools lying around the barn? Or tried to climb the ladder to the loft?

  Willa had had some choice words for Daniel, and they’d only resolved the argument later that evening after Bobby had gone to bed.

  Today, Willa had been adamant with Daniel: no leaving Bobby alone in the barn or the kitchen, another place where the toddler always managed to get into heaps of trouble. Daniel had agreed and told her she wouldn’t be disturbed as long as she was working.

  Now she really needed to check in with Daniel and Bobby. Despite Daniel’s novice mistakes and his initial defensiveness, he’d listened to her and had agreed with her. Overall, she trusted him.

  She admired that quality in Daniel, that he listened. It took a mature man to hear criticism and accept that he’d made a mistake. That quality gave Willa hope that Daniel would become a good parent for Bobby once he’d fully learned the ropes.

  Someone knocked on the office door, and then she heard Daniel say, “Can I come in?”

  Willa opened the door. “I was just about to get some lunch, actually.”

  Smiling, Daniel lifted up a green plastic lunchbox. “I made you lunch. I thought you could use it.”

  Taking the lunchbox, she opened it to see that Daniel had made her a sandwich—turkey on rye with mustard, her favorite—along with apple slices, sweet potato chips, and a pudding cup. The sandwich was cut into triangles, just the way she liked it. She’d forgotten that she’d told Daniel that she liked her sandwich cut into triangles, not rectangles, and he’d joked that he didn’t care what food looked like as long as it tasted good.

  “Oh, thank you. This looks great,” she said, her heart fluttering in her throat. “I’m starving.”

  “I meant to put a brownie in there, but I didn’t realize we were out of them, so pudding it is.”

  It was ridiculous, but Willa felt tears well up in her eyes. She’d always been the one who’d made lunches for people: for her dad, for Bobby. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had done something so simple, yet kind. Had her dad ever made her a lunch? She’d always made it herself when she’d been in school, and when she’d been older, she’d made sure she’d had her own money to pay for i
t.

  “Well, I’ll let you get back to it. I need to get some work done outside,” Daniel said.

  “No, it’s okay,” replied Willa, surprising both herself and Daniel. Before she could lose her nerve, she added, “Stay and have lunch with me. I needed to take a break, anyway.”

  “Then I’ll make myself something, and we’ll eat in the living room. That work?”

  When they sat down together on the couch—Bobby was napping at the moment—Willa felt butterflies in her stomach the whole time she was eating her lunch. It was ridiculous, considering how many times she’d been alone with Daniel. But his making her this lunch the way he had only reinforced how attracted she was to him.

  She watched him out of the corner of her eye, noting every movement he made. When she reached for a napkin on the coffee table at the same time Daniel did, she almost knocked over her glass of water in her haste to avoid touching him.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to touch him: it was the opposite. She wanted to touch him so badly that she knew that if she did, it wouldn’t end with just a brush of their fingers the way it had the last time.

  They ate without saying a word. Willa felt the silence like a blade hanging over her. Had she made a mistake in asking Daniel to stay? But if he hadn’t wanted to stay, he would’ve said no—right? Her insides twisted into knots, and she could barely swallow the sandwich he’d made for her, the sandwich that he’d cut up for her just the way she liked simply because he’d wanted to.

  They finished eating, and Willa struggled to find the words to express her gratitude. It seemed silly, considering it was just a sandwich, but it felt bigger than that.

  “Thank you for making my lunch,” she said finally, knowing the words were paltry compared to what she was currently feeling.

  “You’re welcome.”

  She gazed into his eyes, and before she could rethink the decision, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. As she pulled back again, she saw his eyes, opened wide in surprise.

  “The sandwich—” She swallowed hard. “I can’t remember the last time someone made me lunch.”

  Daniel’s gaze darkened. He cupped her cheek, the calluses on his palm in marked contrast to the gentleness of his touch.

  “Willa,” was all he said before he kissed her—on the mouth, this time.

  His lips were soft, but his kiss was anything but soft. He kissed her like a man with a mission, and Willa could only clutch at Daniel’s shoulders and hang on. The kiss deepened until she forgot everything else but him.

  She hadn’t known how much she’d wanted Daniel Gunn to kiss her until this very moment.

  “Wiwah!” called Bobby from his room. “Wiwaaaaah!”

  Willa broke the kiss, her face flaming. She’d told herself she wouldn’t get involved with Daniel, and here she was, kissing him in his living room!

  “I should go get Bobby,” she said, but Daniel stopped her.

  “Wait. What just happened—?” He pushed his fingers through his hair, disheveling it. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  Willa winced, even though she’d been thinking the same thing. That desire blooming in her belly? It dissipated like a deflated balloon within a second.

  “I mean, it shouldn’t have happened, because you’re going back to New York, and I’m staying here,” added Daniel. “It would be confusing for Bobby . . . because he might think you’re staying forever.”

  Willa smiled sadly. “I’m not sure a toddler has that much understanding, but I get what you’re saying.” Feeling humiliated, confused, and maybe a tad irritated, she got up from the couch before she could say something she regretted.

  This time, Daniel didn’t try to stop her.

  “Wiwah!” said Bobby when she opened his bedroom door. He was standing in his crib and attempting to climb out of it. He’d been doing that more and more, lately.

  “I’m here. Did you have a good nap?” Willa picked Bobby up before he could hurt himself. “Did you have fun with your uncle today?”

  “I hungwy,” was all Bobby could say. Willa laughed.

  At least toddlers were easy to understand. It was adult males that she didn’t understand, not one bit. Daniel kept doing such nice gestures for her, but then after he’d kissed her, he’d acted like she was nothing more than the hired help.

  What did he even want from her?

  Her frown deepened when she returned to the living room to see Daniel gone. At least he’d cleaned up after lunch, she thought in annoyance. But did the man have to run away from her now?

  “Hungwy! I hungwy!” said Bobby as Willa set him down.

  “What do you want for lunch? A turkey sandwich?”

  “I want ketchup,” said Bobby in all seriousness.

  That answer made her laugh, and it was enough for Willa to forget all about Daniel Gunn—for now.

  Seventeen

  Daniel swore as the hay bailer made a choking noise and then stopped dead. Opening up the engine compartment, he coughed when smoke floated upward. Why did this have to happen now when he needed to have bailed this hay days ago?

  No stranger to fixing machines that refused to work, he began to tinker with the hay bailer’s guts, hoping that it was something simple to fix. But after almost an hour of trying everything he could think of, the hay bailer refused to work.

  Daniel wiped the sweat from his forehead. He’d been working out in the fields since early morning, and today was another scorcher. Despite the heat and humidity, he preferred it to being in the house with Willa underfoot. He didn’t trust himself to behave when she was close by.

  That kiss yesterday had knocked Daniel off his feet. He’d had a feeling for a long time now that kissing Willa Markson would be pleasurable, but he hadn’t expected to feel like he’d been consumed by fire in the process. He’d wanted that kiss to go on and on as he stripped Willa of her clothes and touched her skin, her breasts, her legs—

  He pushed those thoughts aside. He’d been right to tell her that nothing could ever happen between them. Willa would want something serious, and he couldn’t give her that. It wouldn’t be fair to her if he pursued something. Besides, she wasn’t going to stay here in Texas, even if he did want something serious. Why get them both into some complicated mess when they both knew the stakes?

  Logically, it all made sense why he’d told her it wouldn’t happen again. The practical side of him patted him on the shoulder and assured him he’d done the right thing.

  His libido, however, told him he was the biggest idiot alive. And Daniel was afraid that his libido would win out over practicality, this round.

  But before he could afford the luxury of thinking about Willa or about whether or not he should kiss her, he needed to fix this damn hay bailer. Realizing he’d need to go inside the house to find the instruction manual—Daniel kept all instruction manuals in a folder in his office and had done so since he’d been a teenager—he steeled himself.

  He knew he could see Willa and not touch her. He had that much self-control—or so he wanted to believe.

  Willa and Bobby were busy playing in the living room, and he greeted them briefly before going to his office. He found the hay bailer manual fairly quickly, although he grimaced when he saw how thick it was. He didn’t have time to sit around reading some manual when he had hay to bail.

  “Just needed this,” he said as he walked past Bobby and Willa again. “I’ll be outside for the rest of the afternoon.”

  “Oh, then I’ll take Bobby outside to play. It’s not as hot as it was yesterday,” said Willa.

  Daniel grunted. He just hoped the two of them stayed away from him because he didn’t need any distractions. No matter how tempting Willa might be.

  Daniel sat down in the shade of the porch and flipped through the manual, trying to figure out what it was he needed to fix in the first place. He heard the front door open and close, and he watched as Willa and Bobby went to a shady spot near the barn to play. It was about fifty yards from where Dani
el would be working—not close enough that Bobby would get underfoot, but close enough that he could watch them out of the corner of his eye.

  Daniel walked back out to the field and placed the manual on the grass as he began to tinker with the engine itself. He became so engrossed in his work, he didn’t hear anyone approach, and it was only when he heard the sound of something ripping that he looked down to see Bobby tearing pages out of the manual.

  “Bobby, no!” Willa panted as she crouched down next to Bobby. “How did you get away from me so fast?”

  “Look, Wiwah!” Bobby laughed as pieces of the manual floated away in the breeze.

  Daniel immediately began to collect the pieces, quickly discovering that Bobby had ripped out the part of the manual he needed to fix the hay bailer. And considering that the hay bailer was so old, it would be unlikely he’d be able to find the manual on the internet.

  “Let me help. No, Bobby, you can’t keep ripping that up. That’s your uncle’s.” Willa took the mangled manual from Bobby before saying to Daniel, “I’m so sorry. I turn my back for a second, and he runs straight over here.”

  Daniel sighed. “Not your fault. I think I got all the pieces.”

  “Let me help you tape it up. Come on, Bobby. Let’s go inside and help your uncle.”

  Daniel had expected Bobby to throw a fit when Willa had taken the manual from him, but the toddler only laughed as the three of them returned to the house. Daniel hoped that he’d gotten most of the torn pieces; otherwise, he didn’t know how he’d fix the hay bailer today. He’d have to find somebody to fix it for him, and he didn’t want to spend money if he didn’t have to.

  “Bobby, you play with your toys while I help Uncle Daniel, okay? Here’s the tape.” Willa let out a giggle that stopped short when she saw the pile of paper on the coffee table. “Oh, dear. What a mess!”

  “You could say that again,” he said wryly.