Next Door Daddy

by Debra Clopton

  “I’m with you, Hank,” Polly chimed in. “I was afraid you would be blinded by them as you came over the hill.”

  “I see your point,” Hank agreed, and Esther Mae frowned.

  “Honestly, though, Hank, I don’t know why you’re laughing. Your legs haven’t seen the sunlight for a month of Sundays…No, I take that back. We’d have to replace month with year for you, but a year of Sundays just doesn’t sound right.”

  “Well, Nate ain’t got anything to worry about because I’m not planning to give him any competition. My bird legs will remain safely hidden beneath my jeans, thank you very much.”

  “Oh, Hank,” Polly teased. “I was hoping to talk to the fair committee and see about adding a five-mile bike race to the spring festival.”

  Nate frowned. “I thought you said you didn’t compete.”

  “I don’t. But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t add a little extra something to the festivities. I mean, what would be more fun than seeing a bunch of cowboys like you, out of their element on bikes. Seeing you looking so cute on one is what just gave me the idea.”

  Esther Mae almost elbowed Hank in the jaw as she got closer to the window. “Polly, are you saying you think Nate’s cute?”

  Nate grinned, seeing Pollyanna’s discomfiture. She turned as pink as the shorts she was wearing, and she really looked good in pink. He lifted an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, realizing that he was more than a little interested in her answer…the idea slammed into him like a two-thousand-pound bull. Since when did he care what a woman thought of him?

  Her eyes widened with surprise, or dismay, he wasn’t certain which. He had a feeling her words may have shocked her as much as they’d shocked him. A shy smile lifted the corners of her lips as her eyes mellowed and shifted away momentarily.

  “Yes,” she said in a halting, small voice. “I guess that I’m saying exactly that.”

  Monday morning the matchmaking ladies of Mule Hollow were all aflutter sitting in every available chair at Lacy’s salon, Heavenly Inspirations.

  “I’m telling you,” Esther Mae gushed, looking around the room. Not only were Norma Sue, Adela and Lacy in attendance, but also Sheri Gentry, Molly Jacobs and Ashby Templeton. Esther Mae’s matchmaking brain faltered on Ashby. They still needed to marry off Ashby, but so far the right fella hadn’t come along…although there had been some sparks between her and that not-so-ready-to-settle-down Dan Dawson…Esther and the girls had been watching them like hawks. There were sparks and then there were sparks, and with Dan it was just hard to tell, the boy could make sparks fly off of an ice sculpture he was so—well, to put it bluntly, so charmingly manly. Kind of reminded her of Elvis. She’d seen whole flocks of women trip over themselves when he flashed his pearly whites. But this wasn’t about Dan Dawson or Ashby, this was about Pollyanna and Nate, and never before had it been such serious business. She’d called this emergency meeting first thing Monday morning directly after happening upon them riding bikes the day before.

  “Well what?” Norma Sue snapped. “Don’t just sit there and keep us in suspense.”

  Esther Mae grinned, too excited to get frustrated with her old friend. “They were just so cute together. And they both looked happy. Happy, can you imagine? Nate Talbert hasn’t had a sparkle in his eyes in three years, bless his little ol’ heart. And the other day, she called him incredible. You heard her, Norma Sue.”

  “But, Esther Mae,” Norma Sue said, setting her coffee cup down on the counter. “I’m with you one hundred percent that the two kiddos need each other and it would be a wonderful thing. But fooling with widowers and widows? Frankly, I’m getting cold feet.”

  Adela waved her hand from where she sat at Sheri’s manicure table. “I was a widow.”

  Norma Sue balked. “You’re different. I’m just saying we could mess up here. What if we meddle and they get hurt more than they’ve already been hurt? It could happen. Even if they are both good people. And then there’s the boy, too.”

  Sheri nodded. “She has a point there.”

  A drum roll started at the shampoo bowl, a sure sign Lacy was deep in thought as she tapped her red nails on the porcelain and said nothing. She was sitting with one leg draped over the arm of the shampoo chair and her arm resting on the bowl. Everyone watched her think and waited in silence. Finally she nodded her blond head and her fingers ceased tapping. “I get where you’re coming from, Norma Sue. And you, too, Sheri. But I’ve got a great feeling about these two. And I’ve been praying hard. It’s not like either of them just recently lost their spouse. If it had only been a few months, or even only a year, I might hesitate. But it’s been three years for Nate and two for Polly.” She smiled, her eyes bright. “Like I said, I’ve been praying about Nate for a while and so has Clint, and I really feel good about this. You know I don’t think anything happens by chance. I don’t believe it was happenstance that Pollyanna and Gil moved in next door to Nate. He needs them and God knows it. And they need him.”

  “I agree,” Adela added, drawing everyone’s gazes to her. With Lacy and Adela both in agreement, the entire room knew to take notice.

  “And then there’s the idea about the bike ride. That was genius,” added Molly Jacobs, who, ever the news reporter, had her pencil poised on the notepad she’d been scribbling in. “I could really get my mind around a great article on this. Readers would eat it up.”

  Norma Sue snorted. “You be careful there, Molly. We don’t want another herd of wacko women coming after Nate like you brought down on poor Bob.”

  Laughter exploded as Molly turned fuchsia. “Hey, if you’ll remember, if it hadn’t been for me writing that article, my Bob and I wouldn’t have come to our senses and realized we loved each other.”

  “That’s right!” Lacy said, springing up from her chair. “God works in plain crazy ways sometimes. And I just love that about Him.”

  “You would.” Sheri laughed. “You and Him are a pair to be reckoned with.”

  Norma Sue grinned. “Now, that’s the honest truth. This bike ride would fit right in. Of course, there’s the problem with cowboys and bikes. I mean, not many of them have bikes. ’Course, we could put them on horses, but it’s funnier to mix things up a bit for them.”

  “That’s very true, Norma.” Esther Mae was the first to speak. “They would sure be cute, all those pale legs. Why, the girls would come, I can just see all the teasing. You know, romance starts with teasing many times.” She sighed. “We could start it off by giving each woman who shows up a pair of sunshades!”

  Molly was scribbling and chuckling. “I can see this is going to be fun.”

  Lacy walked over and pointed to the page. “You write something good, Molly. Love will be in the air, I just know it. When we add the bike ride in with the cow-chip-throwing contest and the three-legged race I just know we’re going to hear more wedding bells chiming this summer. I can feel it.” She looked around the room. “Just think about it, y’all. This will be my one-year anniversary of being here. Norma Sue, Esther Mae and Adela, your dream of reviving Mule Hollow is coming true. Just look at all of us newlyweds sitting around this salon…Ashby, don’t you worry, we haven’t forgotten you.” She winked. “Just because we’re concentrating on Polly and Nate doesn’t mean we don’t have our eyes on the lookout for your Prince Charming.”

  “Thank you for not forgetting about me,” Ashby said. “I’m more than ready for my Prince Charming, and I can’t even get a date.”

  “We’ll have to do something about that,” Adela said.

  As usual Adela had been quiet, happy to listen to everyone else chattering away as she took it all in. Now she smiled. “Girls, what if we fixed the bicycle shortage by having the females bring the bike and we make it some kind of team effort?”

  “Couples!” Esther Mae exclaimed, jumping up and almost knocking over the portable perm-roller bin in her excitement. “It’s a stupendous idea.”

  Everyone looked at one another, minds whirring as smi
les spread around the room.

  Norma Sue was the only one frowning. “But I still think that when it comes to Pollyanna and Nate that this is one time that we should double up on our praying and not so much hands-on tweaking.”

  Esther Mae sucked in her lips and clasped her hands tightly together. “I just don’t get what the big deal is, Norma. Widows and widowers need love, too.”

  Norma Sue rolled her eyes. “Esther Mae, I didn’t say they didn’t need love. I’m just saying let’s double up on our prayer, proceed with caution and let the good Lord do most of the work.”

  Lacy batted her big blue eyes mischievously. “Don’t we always?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nate felt like he’d been dragged behind a horse overnight as he eased into Sam’s Diner. Deep in their Monday-morning checker game, Applegate and Stanley had been watching out the front window when he maneuvered himself out of his truck. They were now staring at him like a couple of keen-eyed hawks.

  “Mornin’, boys.” Figuring more than his pride was at stake, he squared his shoulders and tried to walk as normally as possible toward the counter. He’d been up half the night fighting off charley horses. But, despite the knots in his legs, his spirits were high. Even waking to find that his water pump had gone out hadn’t dimmed his spirits.

  Watching him with those hawk eyes, Applegate rubbed his boney chin. “As my pap woulda said, it looks like ya gotta hitch in yor git-along.”

  Stanley jumped his checker over Applegate’s, chuckling as he did. “Looks to me like bike ridin’s hard on a body.”

  Nate grinned at the old-timers despite the rebellion of his calves and hamstrings, then grimaced as he eased onto the stool at the counter. Every muscle running from his lower back to his toes stretched and screamed at him. He knew firsthand that getting bucked off a bronc was easier than this. Sam plunked a coffee cup onto the counter in front of him and filled it to the brim.

  “Looks like you could use this. What brings you ta town? We don’t see you in here too often.”

  Nate pulled his hat off and set it on the stool beside him, having been too distracted by his aching legs to hang it at the door. And too sore to walk all the way back to the hat rack. “My water pump went out during the night, and since I don’t do well without my morning cup of coffee, I decided to come see you boys’ smiling faces.”

  Applegate’s frown lifted slightly. “Well, it’s about time,” he shouted, tweaking his hearing aid.

  Stanley looked from Nate to Applegate. “About time fer what, App?” he asked, cringing when Applegate’s hearing aid squealed.

  “Fer the young fella to see thar’s life after—” He cut his sentence off and studied Nate.

  “After?” Stanley’s bushy brows met.

  Nate’s did, too.

  “Stanley, don’t be daft. The boy lost his wife earlier than I lost my Birdie and you lost your Elisa Jane and he ain’t fared too well. But hol’n up out thar all alone ain’t the way ta go.”

  Stanley spat a sunflower seed in the spittoon, light dawning in his eyes at the same time Nate realized where Applegate was heading. Instantly leery, Nate took another swallow of coffee and rethought his decision to come to Sam’s. It was exactly things like this that had held him back most of the time. Pollyanna had told him that she’d been hurt by people not talking to her about Marc after his death. But for him, it had been the complete opposite. Mule Hollow residents had wanted to talk about Kayla. It was he who hadn’t wanted to. It was just too private, cut too deep—he thought about her every day, woke up thinking about her, went to bed thinking about her. But he didn’t want to talk about her…at least he hadn’t until Pollyanna had come along. He knew Applegate and Stanley meant well, they were both widowers, but Nate just didn’t have the desire to discuss his life with the old cattlemen.

  The door swung open, saving him from further discussion as a couple of cowboys came sauntering into the diner. To Nate’s relief, Applegate understood that some topics were too delicate to discuss in a crowd. He stuffed a handful of sunflower seeds into his mouth rather than continue his line of conversation. Of course, with as loud as he talked they’d probably already heard every word he’d said. More than likely everyone all the way down to Pete’s Feed and Seed had heard him. Nate’s relief didn’t last long. One look into App’s wizened old eyes told Nate that he might have stopped talking, but that didn’t mean he was done.

  Nate took a swallow of the coffee, glad when Sam, who’d been keenly following the interaction, snagged up two mugs and headed around the end of the counter toward where the cowboys were sliding into a booth. His departure effectively gave Nate some breathing room.

  “So, ya want some breakfast to go along with your new smile?” he asked when he came back.

  Nate grinned over his cup, then took another drink. He should have known these three sharp-eyed gents would pick up on a change. But, though he’d made an improvement, he still wasn’t ready to talk. About Kayla or Pollyanna.

  “Nope,” he said. “I’ve got to get over to Pete’s and see if he happens to have a fitting I need stashed somewhere on those dusty shelves of his. But thanks for the coffee. Do you have one of those to-go cups handy?” He laid his money on the counter and picked up his hat while Sam filled the paper cup. As soon as Sam handed him the cup Nate headed toward the door. “You fellas have a nice day,” he called, tipping his hat at the checker players.

  “You do the same, Nate,” Applegate yelled. “And remember, me and Stanley, we’re here if ya need us. We might be old, but we ain’t dead.”

  “Now, App, why’d ya go an’ say an all-fired dumb thang like that?” Stanley scolded, glaring at his buddy.

  Nate paused, nodding a greeting at the two cowboys who were now tuned into the conversation. Turning back, he faced Stanley and Applegate. “Look, fellas…” He fingered his hat. They really did understand. Both had lost their wives, and maybe he hadn’t ever thought about the fact that he might have been able to glean some helpful wisdom from their journeys through their own heartaches. The Bible did advise for young men to learn from their elders.

  He softened. “I really appreciate your offer.” It was true. “Can I take a rain check today?”

  Both men’s faces lifted into smiles and they sat a bit taller. “Well, shor ya kin,” Applegate said gruffly.

  “’At’s right,” Stanley added, his gaze somber. “Any time you need ta talk you know where ta find us.”

  Nate’s chest expanded as he realized he’d just done something that didn’t necessarily have everything to do with focusing on his own loss. He’d never thought that letting App and Stanley share some of their journey with him might be a way of helping them, too. He put his hat on and quirked a corner of his mouth. “I’ll do that.”

  He was almost out the door when Applegate called out. “I’d pick up some horse liniment over at Pete’s if I were you. Else you ain’t goin ta be able ta get out a bed tomorrow.”

  Nate chuckled. “I’ll add it to my list, sir.” Outside he took a deep breath. That hadn’t been so bad after all.

  He was just entering Pete’s when he saw Norma Sue, Esther Mae and Adela hustling out of Heavenly Inspirations across the street. Despite the pain in his legs he stepped into Pete’s faster than a bull out of a chute, so as to avoid them spotting him. From a safe vantage point, behind the red-checkered half curtain that covered Pete’s window he watched the three ladies hustle down the sidewalk chattering excitedly all the way. He had to crane his neck to see them cross the street heading to Sam’s. Whew! Talk about a close call. The only thing worse than getting put through the third degree at the diner would have been if the ladies had been there, too.

  “Who you hiding from?” Pete asked, coming up behind him.

  Nate looked at the large man and frowned. “Three guesses.”

  Pete let out a jovial laugh. “Say no more. I’d hide from them three myself if they were after me. But it’s you they’ve got their sights on. Better get this order
done, Norma Sue’s got some feed lined up for pickup any minute now.”

  Nate eyed the feed bags sitting on the sidewalk ready for loading and spun toward the feed-store owner. “Quick, then, I need to grab a few things to fix my water pump. Oh, and some horse liniment.”

  Pete grinned. “Heard about the bike ride. Don’t you know horseback riding and bike riding don’t exactly use the same muscles?”

  Nate hung his head and cringed. “Yeah, but I just felt like going for a ride.”

  Pete boomed with laughter and headed toward the back shelf where he kept just enough hardware supplies to patch most anything that might go wrong with all things mechanical on a ranch. “That’s a step in the right direction.” His words echoed what Nate had already realized.

  “You think so?”

  Pete raised an eyebrow at him. “Sure. Means you’re stretchin’ yourself. And though it hurts, it’s a good feeling, ain’t it?”

  Nate thought about that. Thought about Pollyanna. “Yes, sir, it is. It’s a real good feeling.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Polly was half inside the upstairs bathroom cabinet, painting, when she heard the familiar sound of Nate’s truck pull up outside. Her heart skipped erratically at the sound and she jerked, hitting her head. “Ow,” she yelped, scooting out from inside the cabinet. After placing her roller in the pan, she glanced into the mirror above the sink and cringed. She’d been working since she’d dropped Gil and Max off at school and had the paint splattered on her face and in her hair to prove it. Her heart continued thudding as she pushed her hair off her face.

  “Polly’s a pretty girlll,” Pepper sang, watching her in the reflection of the mirror.

  Polly stopped her primping and stared at herself in the mirror, feeling irrationally defensive. She wasn’t primping. She wouldn’t want anyone to see her this way. It was a normal reaction to look in the mirror and tidy up.