Wild Cowboy Country

by Erin Marsh

  “Okay, okay,” Peggy Montgomery said to Lulubelle as she reached up and petted her. “I can take a hint.”

  The camel made a satisfied rumble. At the sound, little Savannah poked her head out of the shed Bowie had recently built when he’d separated the camels from the llamas. Seeing her mother receive attention, the calf galloped over, a smaller version of Lulubelle.

  “Yes, I see you there,” Lacey’s mom said. “You are a cutie. We need to name a dish after you too.” Over the past few years, the Prairie Dog Café and the zoo had participated in several successful cross-promotions. As part of the collaboration, Bowie’s wife, Katie, had redesigned the menu to feature the zoo’s various residents. The restaurant’s meatloaf with haystack onions had always been a favorite with the locals, but when Katie had placed Lulubelle’s picture by the item, it had become extremely popular with the tourists as well.

  “What do you think, Lacey?” her mom asked as she petted Savannah. “Should I feature this little peanut’s baby picture on the children’s or dessert menu?”

  With her mom’s attention focused on the half-grown calf, Lacey rubbed her temples. “Maybe you could name a milkshake after her?”

  “Oooh, that’s a good…” Her mom trailed off as she lifted her eyes in Lacey’s direction. Lacey’s fingers froze mid-massage.

  “Honey, what is wrong? And don’t try distracting me. You’ve got a headache. That makes three already this week.”

  Actually, she’d had one on and off for two weeks straight. “It’s just so bright today, Mom. That’s all.”

  “Lacey Diane Montgomery, do I need to call a specialist myself? I am not above making an appointment for you.”

  Lacey didn’t doubt that for a moment. Her mom was a natural-born manager. Her dad had loved to cook, and her mother had run the business end of the restaurant. He’d always teased her, calling her Mrs. Bossy Pants. She would pretend to swat him, but she’d never succeeded in hiding her smile.

  “I have an appointment with a specialist scheduled for later today,” Lacey finally admitted. They’d reached the point where her mother would worry more if Lacey didn’t tell her.

  The news did not mollify Peggy. Her cornflower-blue eyes narrowed. “In the city?”

  “Yep,” Lacey said. “Dr. Peyton referred me to a clinic with a focus on brain injuries.”

  Her mom crossed her arms. “How are you getting there?”

  This was the even harder part. “I have my ways.”

  Her mother was a petite woman. Lacey had inherited Peggy’s height, or rather lack of it, but she’d grown slightly taller than her mom. The couple extra inches didn’t matter though. Peggy knew how to appear bigger than a towering grizzly standing on its hind legs. She didn’t even need to straighten her shoulders. It was all personality.

  “Do not play coy with me, young lady. You didn’t even feel up to driving to the zoo. Is your grandfather taking you?”

  Lacey couldn’t help it. She shifted guiltily. At twenty-seven, she still had no immunity against her mother’s look.

  “Lacey…”

  The warning note in her mother’s voice jarred the words from Lacey’s lips. “Grandpa hates waiting rooms and hospitals. It’ll be a marathon too. I have an appointment with a neuropsychologist and a neuro-ophthalmologist who treats concussion patients. They were good enough to schedule everything at once since I live so far away.” She hoped if she tossed enough balls of information at her mother, Peggy would be too focused on juggling them to keep grilling Lacey. She also didn’t mention she’d need to stay overnight in the city since the appointment with the eye doctor was a day later. No sense in alerting her mother to the fact that she’d be sleeping in the same hotel as Clay Stevens or that they’d be spending two days together.

  “What is a neuropsy…” Her mother trailed off. “You’re trying to distract me. Who is taking you? Why are you being so evasive?”

  “Mom, don’t you want to see the baby wolves?”

  “Lacey, I’m onto all of your little tricks. Is Katie going with you? Is that why you came to the zoo early today instead of with those horrible Stevenses? I still don’t understand why you insist on volunteering at the same time as that hoodlum who caused your brain injury.”

  “Mom,” Lacey said quietly. “We talked about this. You’ve got enough to do at the Prairie Dog without playing limo driver.”

  Her mother snorted. “My secondhand clunker is hardly a limousine, and I can rearrange the schedule. I do own the restaurant.”

  “Mom, Clay has to drive past my house to drop off his nephew. It is a waste of gas not to join them.”

  “I don’t trust that man. He’s no good. You can see it in his eyes. His father’s were the same fickle blue. You can’t put your faith in someone whose eyes change so easily. I told your father…”

  Pain caused Peggy’s face to momentarily crumple. Time had tempered its rawness but not its power. Lacey knew too well. Both her mother and she could go along for days, weeks even, without feeling the razor-sharp slice of loss. But then, unexpectedly, it would strike, sure and deep. And for Peggy, mentioning the Stevens family was like stabbing a well-honed knife through her carefully constructed tranquility.

  Lacey wanted to tell her mother that Clay wasn’t his father, but intellectually, her mom already knew that. It was her heart that couldn’t accept it. So Lacey just said, “I know, Mom. I know.”

  Her mother ran her tongue over her teeth twice. She swallowed. Hard. Then the muscles around her mouth tightened before relaxing into a placid expression. “Well, enough about that Stevens boy. How are you…” Realization flooded her mother’s face. She tilted her head, her lips slightly parted in horror. “Surely, you’re not letting him take you into town.”

  There was no avoiding the whole truth now. “Clay owes me. Like you said, his nephew did help cause all this.”

  “I should be taking you,” her mother said.

  “You have a business to run, and you hate hospitals as much as Grandpa, maybe even more. Clay is just my chauffeur. We’re barely going to talk to each other—same as when he gives me a lift to the zoo.” That, at least, was true. They’d barely chatted since the aborted kiss. Zach sprawled in the back with his headphones while she and Clay sat in stony silence with the radio playing country music.

  “I didn’t want to bring this up, but your grandfather said Pete Thompson called him a few weeks ago. Evidently, he caught you kissing that Stevens boy in his barn.”

  “Mo-om,” Lacey said.

  Her mother held up her hand. “I know. I know. You’re twenty-seven years old. You have a right to your privacy and your love life, which is why I didn’t say anything until now. But him? He’s a con artist, Lacey. You need to be careful. People like him know how to take a person’s good sense and twist it into a pretzel. Don’t get entangled with that man.”

  “I’m not going to,” Lacey said. “Pete Thompson was just letting his imagination get the better of him. Clay had taken me riding to show me some ideas he had for improving water retention on his property. I got dizzy, and he was helping me dismount when Uncle Pete walked in. That’s all.”

  It wasn’t exactly the whole truth, but Lacey didn’t want to worry her mother. Besides, nothing was going to happen between Clay and her.

  “Pete is an excitable person. I always wondered how he managed to get along with Clay’s grandfather. Now John Frasier was a reserved individual, nothing like his jet-setting daughter. She was too much like her mother. I have no idea why John married a socialite from back East, although I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised. The men in that family never marry local girls. I suppose Clay will be no different. It’s not as if any woman from Sagebrush would give him the time of day. He may be handsome, but we Western girls can recognize a rattler when we see one.”

  And with all the biology classes Lacey had taken, she shouldn’t have
trouble identifying one. But lately, she’d begun to wonder if the town had put Clay in the wrong taxonomy entirely.

  “Why don’t we see the baby wolves?” Lacey asked, hoping to end this increasingly awkward conversation. Her mom nodded. As soon as they began to walk away from the camels, Savannah gave a rumbling sound of protest. Lacey laughed and patted the calf on her fuzzy head. “You’re turning into a bigger people person than your mama.”

  Savannah sighed heavily.

  Lacey gave her one last rub. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “Do you ever miss your old job at the zoo?” her mother asked as they turned in the direction of the nursery.

  “A little,” Lacey admitted. “It’s nice to be able to interact so closely with the animals, but there’s nothing like watching them in their natural habitat.”

  “You and your father always did like the outdoors.” Her mother’s expression had turned wistful—the pain still present but with a bittersweetness tempering it. Lacey patted her mother’s shoulder. Peggy reached up and briefly touched her hand, giving it a light squeeze. In silence, they walked into the maintenance building. When Lacey pushed open the door to the nursery, she caught sight of her distant cousin standing in front of her camera perched on a tripod. Katie lifted her head, shaking her curly, red hair from her eyes. She waved Lacey inside but signaled her to stay quiet. Passing on the message to her mom by pressing her finger against her lips, Lacey softly padded into the room with Peggy close on her heels.

  They stood next to Katie, their backs against the wall, as the pups practiced walking. Most wolves would be fairly steady on their feet by now and getting ready to start exploring outside the den. Unfortunately, Theseus’s and Perseus’s injuries from the cave-in had put the two behind their siblings in the wild. Perseus’s leg remained bandaged. Although he’d probably walk with an uneven gait, Lou was fairly confident they’d saved the limb. And canines in zoos adapted remarkably well to a weakened or even a missing leg. Theseus had healed faster, but his movements remained a little unsure for his age.

  Despite their difficulties, the pups managed to climb clumsily over each other. Theseus tugged playfully at Perseus’s left ear. The little guy emitted a sound between a growl and a squeak. Even with his bad leg, he wiggled out from under his brother and scrambled to get on top. This time, it was Theseus who got a light chomp on the loose skin at the back of his neck. Happy, high-pitched squeals filled the room, and a smile stretched across Lacey’s face. No wonder Katie had hushed them. She filmed the zoo’s promotional videos, and the public would melt at the adorable sounds. Lacey knew she was enjoying watching the lobos, even if following their jerky movements made her head feel more woozy than usual.

  The pups’ energy began to flag. Perseus let out a small yawn. Clearly sensing that the little lobos needed a rest, the capybara rose on her stubby legs and lumbered over to the duo. With her large snout, Sylvia gently nudged them over to their nest of blankets. Perseus immediately snuggled against her, but Theseus took more time than his brother to settle. Eventually, his jaws opened to reveal his pink mouth and tongue. Closing them again, he licked the inside of his lips before resting his tiny chin on the capybara’s haunch. After that, all three animals quickly fell asleep.

  Katie turned off her camera and turned to greet them with a warm smile. When she spoke, she kept her voice low. “Sorry about hushing you.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it, sweetie.” Lacey’s mom waved away her concern. “That was a perfect moment. I’m glad we didn’t ruin it.”

  “They’re so much more active today,” Lacey whispered as the three of them crept quietly from the room. The nursery had a large picture window in the hallway, which allowed them to observe the animals without interrupting their slumber.

  Katie nodded. “I love this baby animal stage. Little Sorcha, our polar bear cub, is getting so big now.”

  “The wolves will grow quicker than she did,” Lacey explained to her mom. “It won’t be long before their ears perk up and they start looking more like juveniles.”

  Katie’s expression turned wistful. “I’m going to miss their floppy ears. They make the puppies look rumpled and sooo squeezable. Bowie says I’m worse than Abby when it comes to cuddling the zoo babies. With my own twins crawling, I don’t get as much snuggle time as I used to.”

  Lacey laughed and patted her friend’s shoulder. “At least you get to interact with the animals in the zoo. I love my career, but sometimes it’s hard to be an observer when a critter is struggling. But my job is to watch over the entire ecosystem, not just one of its members.”

  “You do realize you can’t control entire environments,” her mom said in the tone mothers always use when imparting wisdom.

  Lacey resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I know that.”

  “Do you?” her mother asked lightly. “Ever since you were a little girl, you felt personally responsible if something went wrong. I swear it was growing up at the Prairie Dog. Life doesn’t always run like a restaurant.”

  “Mom, you’re wasting your talents at the café. You should be writing internet memes instead,” Lacey said.

  Her mother turned to Katie. “Do you see what I have to put up with?”

  Katie raised both her hands, her chocolate-brown eyes as wide as a startled mule deer’s. “I am staying out of this.”

  “Wait until your twins get older,” her mom said sagely. “Then you’ll take my side.”

  Katie gave a theatrical moan. “They’re already growing up too fast. Ever since they figured out how to roll, they’re everywhere at once. As soon as I disentangle one from a near disaster, the other one finds a way to make the most innocuous object become a potential death trap. I swear I’ve babyproofed the house at least eight times.”

  “Anytime you need a babysitter, you can call Aunt Peg here,” Lacey’s mother said. “Although I’m not sure if your mom would appreciate someone else horning in on her territory.”

  Katie laughed, sending her red curls bouncing. “She is over the moon since the twins arrived. My dad too.”

  “I don’t blame them. You and Bowie make exceptionally sweet babies.”

  Lacey studied her mom. Although she’d never pressured Lacey to start a family, the woman simply loved kids. Whenever a baby was brought to the Prairie Dog, her mom would stop whatever she was doing and come out to greet the little bundle. She’d make funny faces and sounds until the child smiled, and the locals would always quip that Lacey needed to give her grandbabies. But she didn’t know if she ever would. Oh, she enjoyed watching newborns sleeping in their parents’ arms, but having one would mean opening her heart to hurt. And she didn’t want that. She’d stick to watching over the wildlife at Rocky Ridge instead.

  * * *

  Clay pulled his truck into the underground parking garage and glanced over at his sleeping passenger. Neither he nor Lacey had spoken much on the long drive into the city. During the last half, she’d closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

  It was strangely intimate, sitting next to her and listening to her measured breathing. Each soft inhale drew him toward her. He yearned to pull her against him and feel the weight of her head against his shoulder. He imagined a different drive. One where they were going on an adventure instead of heading to the doctor. Maybe they’d go north to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. They could hike together. He’d bring his camera and capture Lacey in the wilderness she loved. She’d be laughing, her lips parted ever so slightly. After he found the perfect shot, he’d gather her into his arms and kiss her. And there, away from the ranch, away from Sagebrush Flats, away from everything, they could simply be two people learning about each other.

  “Lacey,” Clay called gently, not wanting to startle her. His thoughts had deepened his voice, making it husky even to his own ears. At the sound of her name, Lacey gave a little half smile and snuggled deeper into the passenger
seat. He cleared his throat and spoke louder. “Lacey.” This time, her lips dipped into a frown. With an annoyed snort he found unbearably cute, she shifted away from him, her eyes still tightly closed.

  Gently, he brushed his hand against her shoulder, keeping his touch light. Her eyes fluttered open. Sleep had made her irises richer, the gold melting into a warmer brown. Dark and inviting, her gaze latched onto his. Her hand reached up next and settled against his cheek, her fingers pleasantly hot against his skin. He sucked in his breath, his heart kicking like a donkey. Hell, he wanted to lean forward and take what she sleepily offered. But he didn’t. Because a fully awake Lacey wouldn’t want to kiss him again. But he might…just might…have leaned into her hand for a second before he pulled back and gave her one of his most brilliant smiles.

  “We’re here.”

  She blinked, some of the bleariness clearing. With a yawn, she stretched in the seat, the movement pulling the knit fabric of her sweater tight over her breasts. Clay glanced away. Hell, what was it about Lacey that turned him into a damn teenager?

  “So, um, it looks like we’ve got time to kill before your appointment today. Traffic was lighter than I thought.”

  “Do you want to walk around before we head inside?” Lacey asked.

  “Are you up for that?”

  Lacey shrugged. “It’s better than sitting in a waiting room. I don’t know which I hate more: hospitals or being cooped up.”

  No, he couldn’t imagine Lacey patiently sitting at a doctor’s office or anywhere. Even with her brain injury slowing her down, she was constantly in motion.

  “We drove past a nice shopping district and a little park that’s fairly close to the garage,” Clay said as he climbed from the cab.