A Cowgirl at Heart

by Christine Lynxwiler

  “We’d love to have you.” Andrew jerked his attention back to the present. Crystal and Jeremy were getting into their truck, and Lynda McCord was looking expectantly at him.

  “I’m sorry. What did you say?” For the second time that day, his cheeks burned.

  Lynda smiled. “I invited you to come to lunch after church tomorrow. As far as that goes, we’d love for you to attend worship with us.”

  He nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate both invitations, but I’m not sure if I can make it.”

  She waved a breezy hand in a way that reminded him of Elyse. “You don’t have to let us know.”

  Jonathan shook his head. “No, there’s always room for one more at our table. Especially considering what you did today.”

  Lynda’s clear blue eyes flooded with tears. “Don’t get me started.” She looked toward where Elyse and Matthew had gotten Pal out of the truck and were examining him. Then she met Andrew’s gaze. “When I think of her being in that kind of danger...” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m just a mess today. I think I’ll go in and find a good book to read. Keep my mind off what might have happened if you hadn’t shown up.”

  When she was gone, Jonathan McCord kicked at the dry grass with his boot toe then looked up at the cloudy sky. “Might get that rain we’ve been needing.”

  Andrew nodded. “Weatherman said there’s a 50 percent chance.”

  “Jack says you’re from Texas.”

  “Born and raised,” Andrew said.

  “You just passin’ through?”

  Andrew felt like a young man standing on a front porch on Saturday night being grilled by a protective dad. “I’ll be around for a while.” Until he found Zeke again and got some answers. Or another lead turned up. “But eventually, yeah ... I’ll be leaving.”

  Jonathan nodded and considered the road for a moment, then looked back at Andrew. “Thanks again for protecting Elyse.”

  “I just did what anyone would have.”

  Jonathan smiled. “I wish we lived in a world where that was true.”

  Andrew shook the man’s hand one more time and walked to his truck.

  “Andrew, wait.” He heard Elyse’s voice behind him.

  He stopped until she caught up with him. “So what does your vet think?” He smiled. “Pal going to be okay?”

  She ran her hand through her tangled curls and nodded. “It’ll take awhile, but I think we rescued him just in time.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “Me, too. Thanks again for being there.”

  “Anytime.” He climbed into the driver’s seat.

  She gave him a little wave and walked back over to the dog.

  He put the truck into reverse. A flash of irritation at his reluctance to leave made him accelerate quickly on his way out. It was nothing personal, he reminded himself. But until they found Elyse’s Jeep, she was his main link to Zeke. With that in mind, it only made sense that he keep an eye on her for a while.

  ***

  Elyse held Pal’s head up and scrubbed under his neck. She glanced at her sister. “I guess this is a far cry from Broadway.”

  Crystal smiled. “I’m not complaining.”

  “Thanks for helping me bathe him. I know I groom dogs by myself all the time, but Pal and I are both still a little jittery.”

  “Who could blame you?” Crystal sprayed the water carefully on the dog’s chest and shoved her shoulder-length blond hair away from her face with her other hand. “It’s nice to be able to take care of something.” She frowned. “Even if it is a terribly scrawny dog. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t found him today. Or what would have happened to that poor woman, for that matter.”

  “Or what would have happened to me if Andrew hadn’t found me.” Elyse hated the quaver in her voice.

  Crystal stopped the water and stared at her across the trembling dog’s head. “How does it feel to have a real-life hero of your very own?”

  Elyse blushed and bent down to soap Pal’s stomach. “He’s not my very own hero. I can’t believe Mama invited him to lunch tomorrow.”

  Crystal didn’t move. “Well, he did save your life.”

  Elyse raised up and arched an eyebrow. “Can I get some water here?”

  She heard something that sounded suspiciously like a snicker. “I get it. Work, not talk.”

  Elyse shrugged. “I don’t mind talking. Just not about Andrew.”

  Crystal squeezed the trigger on the sprayer. “In honor of how relieved I am that you’re okay today, I’ll let you choose the conversation topic.”

  “What’s going on with you and Jeremy?”

  Elyse barely saw the surprise on Crystal’s face before her sister’s acting skills kicked in. “We’re planning a wedding. What do you mean?”

  Elyse considered repaying the favor and dropping the subject Crystal was obviously playing dumb about. But she had a feeling her sister needed to talk. “Y’all have been deliriously happy ever since you left Broadway and came home. But the last few days ... I can tell something’s different.”

  “Expecting deliriously happy to last forever is unrealistic.”

  Elyse stepped back and considered her sister’s suddenly drawn face. Maybe so. But it wasn’t too much to expect it to last until the wedding at least, right?

  Crystal laid the sprayer down and ran her hand down Pal’s wet back. “Okay, I know what you’re thinking.” She sighed. “And you’re right. Jeremy and I just have some things we need to work out.”

  Elyse grabbed a towel and wrapped it gently around the dog. “It’s okay, sweetie,” she murmured. She looked at her sister. “I’m here if you want to talk.”

  Crystal’s smile was only a little strained. “And we have your hero to thank for that.”

  “If you don’t quit saying that, you’re going to need a hero to save you,” Elyse growled, mostly kidding. She lifted Pal out of the tub and wrapped him in a towel, anger welling up in her again that he was so lightweight.

  An hour later, when they were settled in the living room with the dogs around them, she looked up to find Crystal staring at her. “What?”

  “I have one question I just have to ask.”

  “Shoot.”

  “It’s about Andrew.”

  Elyse sighed. “Go ahead.”

  “Were you actually teasing with him? I couldn’t tell what it was about, but when you were introducing Matthew, your voice sounded like you were about to laugh, and it looked like you winked at Andrew.” The incredulous tone in her sister’s voice would have been amusing if it wasn’t for her own disbelief at her reaction to this stranger.

  “I didn’t wink at him,” she protested quickly. “But I was playing around with him. That’s why I hope he doesn’t come to lunch tomorrow. It’s too dangerous for me to be around him.”

  “You don’t feel safe with him?”

  Elyse looked into Crystal’s worried eyes and shrugged. “I know it sounds crazy, but I feel too safe with him.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You know how I’m all tongue-tied and flustered around people outside the family. But it’s not like that with him. He’s easy to talk to.”

  “And that’s a bad thing? I remember when we were teenagers you said that if you ever met a man you felt comfortable around immediately, you were going to...” Crystal put her hand to her mouth. “Oh! I get it. Oh.”

  Elyse didn’t answer. She remembered, too, her silly adolescent vow to marry the first man she could talk to easily. All these years, there’d never been any danger. And there still wasn’t, really. Just because the drifter didn’t make her a nervous wreck didn’t mean she was attracted to him. Maybe she was just finally getting over her shyness some and hadn’t noticed it.

  But if he came to lunch tomorrow, the whole family would realize immediately that she wasn’t reacting normally. She loved her family, but the last thing she needed was for them to make more of this than it was.

  “So ar
e you going out with Jeremy tonight? Or are you and he and Beka going to stay home and watch Sleeping Beauty?”

  Crystal’s face clouded. “I’m not sure what we’re doing, to be honest.”

  “Crys, I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

  Crystal shoved to her feet. “Pray for us. I really don’t know what’s going on. It just feels like he’s shutting me out suddenly.”

  Elyse shook her head and stood, gently moving Pal’s head from her lap. The other three dogs had let the newcomer have the place of honor tonight. Elyse would show her appreciation with extra attention for them when Crystal left. “Y’all have been through so much. I thought after Beka was found and you moved back here, everything would be perfect.”

  “God doesn’t promise us perfect.” Crystal’s rich voice trembled slightly. “You and I both know that.”

  “I’ll be praying for you.” Elyse hugged her. “I’m so glad you’re my sister.”

  “Same here.”

  When Crystal was safely in her car, Elyse locked the door behind her then whistled softly. Three dogs ... no, four dogs ... came running down the hallway to her. “Want to go outside?”

  They hurried to the back door, and she let them outside into the fenced-in yard while she got a bottle of water out of the kitchen. She left the door cracked a little, and when Missy, the black lab, pushed it open with her nose and bounded in, Elyse jumped. The other three followed behind her. “Good girl, Missy. Ready for bed?”

  Her three turned as one and went to her bedroom, leaving poor Pal behind looking at Elyse.

  She knelt down and hugged him. “There’s a place for you, too.” Standing, she clicked her tongue. “C’mon, let’s go.”

  He followed her down the hall and into the room. The other three dogs were bedded down on their individual rugs.

  Elyse took a couch throw and laid it on the floor not too far from Majesty. The golden retriever was a natural caretaker, and she’d look out for the new kid on the block.

  Pal smelled the blanket then curled up on it.

  Elyse turned off the light then turned it back on. For some reason, tonight she didn’t want to be in the dark. She slid from the bed and turned her bathroom light on and closed the door. Then she switched her bedroom light off. That was better. She snuggled under the cover. “Good night, guys.”

  It was hard for her to shut off her mind, but she finally settled down enough to say her prayers. Right before she fell asleep, she thought of Andrew and his daring rescue of her today, just at her darkest hour. She wouldn’t admit it to Crystal, but as far as she was concerned, he was the epitome of a hero.

  ***

  Back in her childhood room, Crystal McCord flopped onto her twin bed and pulled out her phone. Should she call him? How crazy was it that she’d be uncertain about contacting him first? Especially considering they’d spent the afternoon with a wedding planner.

  The wedding was in three months, and today they were supposed to choose and order invitations. Instead, for every one that she or Mama Ruth suggested, Jeremy gave some inane reason why that particular one wouldn’t work. Then he refused to point out an invitation that would suit him. By the end of the time, Crystal’s face was hot from the constant embarrassment. On the way home, she’d confronted Jeremy, questioning him as gently as she could about whether he still wanted to marry her. And he’d clammed up.

  She played with the fringe on a throw pillow. Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. He’d said yes, of course he did. And yes, he definitely still loved her. But then he’d refused to give any reason for his crazy behavior. She hugged the pillow to her. So now what? Would he call her? Should she call him?

  She pulled up a blank text message and typed in “Hey.”

  In less than a minute, the reply came back. “Hey.”

  She put her pounding heart on the line and let her fingers do the walking. “Do you want to do something tonight?”

  Then she waited. And waited. Finally, the light flashed. She pulled up his reply, feeling sixteen again.

  “I think Beka and I might just stay in tonight if that’s okay.”

  She hugged the throw pillow to her stomach and blinked against tears. What was happening? One thing she’d always loved about Jeremy was how easy he was to talk to. She’d wracked her brains but couldn’t think of anything she’d done to offend him. Yet for the last few days, he’d hardly spoken to her. And Friday when she’d offered to come get Beka and keep her a few hours, he’d made an excuse. It was almost as if he was slowly easing away from Crystal and taking his precious little girl with him.

  Before she could stop herself, she fired back a text. “Okay. See you at church then.”

  In a few seconds, she punched in another message. “I’m going to eat lunch here tomorrow since all the fam will be here.” Why should she go to his folks if he wasn’t even going to talk to her?

  Again, at least a full minute passed before the answer came back. “Sounds like a plan. Good night.”

  “Night.” She slammed the phone shut and toyed with the idea of throwing it against the opposite wall. Her mama and daddy would probably come running, and then she’d have to explain. On second thought, she grabbed her old Bible off the nightstand and flipped it open to where she’d stopped reading this morning. She needed a reminder that there was One who was constant and never-changing.

  CHAPTER 5

  Elyse’s breath caught in her throat, and she bolted upright in the bed.

  Nikki, her small white bichon frise, gave a sharp yap.

  Elyse blinked and looked around the dimly lit room at the dogs blinking sleepily back at her. It had been a bad dream. She’d seen Zeke again, holding the gun on her. And then she’d had the gun in her hand. That had been even worse.

  She flexed her hand now, stretching away the feeling of that cold, heavy weight. In the dream, she’d been about to shoot Zeke. Just as her finger had tightened on the trigger, he’d changed into her daddy. She frowned. Or maybe it was someone else. It was fuzzy now, fading further into confusion with every second of wakefulness.

  She put her palm to her chest. Her heart raced beneath her fingers. Just a bad dream. She used to have nightmares all the time after she was put into foster care and before the McCords adopted her. And she had a few after Cami died and Crystal went away. But she hadn’t had one in a long time.

  “It was a hard day,” she murmured to the dogs, all still watching her in the dim light. “Want to get on the bed?” She had a king-sized bed for this very reason. Sometimes she just needed the comfort of having her family all together.

  Missy, Nikki, and Majesty leapt onto the bed without hesitation, but the skinny yellow lab shoved to his feet and looked at her, as if unsure.

  “C’mon, baby.” Elyse patted the top of the covers. “You can get up here.”

  Finally, he climbed up slowly. She and the other dogs watched as he settled down right at the edge of the bed. Elyse lay back down and left her own dogs to find their places. Nikki nuzzled her hair then trotted down to nestle against the curve of her legs. Majesty stretched out on Elyse’s right side and Missy on her left. By morning, they’d be sandwiching her tightly, but tonight she didn’t care. She appreciated their calming presence. A reminder that she wasn’t by herself.

  A mental picture of Andrew, alone in his camper, flitted through her drowsy mind. She ran her hand down Majesty’s soft fur as she drifted back to sleep. He needed a dog.

  ***

  Andrew shook hands with the preacher and walked out into the sunshine. From the front steps of the tiny building, he could see the river sparkling through the trees.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder. “Andrew. How are you, my boy?”

  He turned around to smile at an older man. “Hi, Mr. B.T.”

  “We saw you on the news this morning. You and that McCord girl. It’s a cryin’ shame about Maxine’s no-good brother. But they said you’re a real hero. Everybody’s talking about it.”

  That explained why people
were even friendlier than normal this morning. “It was nothing.”

  “That’s not how Sheriff Westwood made it sound on TV.”

  Andrew didn’t know what to say.

  The older man seemed to sense he was uncomfortable with the subject. “Martha can’t quit bragging about what a good job you did painting our house. Especially the price. She still thinks I need to pay you more.”

  Andrew shook his head. “I told you before you paid me plenty.”