Single Dad Cowboy

by Brenda Minton

  “You’ll make a good mom someday.”

  His words took her by surprise. She hadn’t thought about it, about being a mom, anyone’s mom. After all, she was her mother’s daughter. Her mistakes were proof that DNA mattered more than a loving environment. She had become Patricia Duncan. And Patricia Duncan had abandoned her small child in a parking lot in Arkansas with a note that someone should contact Gibson Cross.

  Sometimes she thought she remembered that day. There were times, late at night, that she would wake in a panic, thinking about being alone, being afraid.

  They reached her car and Dylan still held her arm, his hand strong but gentle. She looked up into those steadfast hazel eyes and wished she could be a better person, the type of person a man like Dylan Cooper would love. He brushed hair back from her face and his hand remained.

  “Dylan, I have to go.”

  “Let me do this.” He leaned a little and she felt her heart catch at his meaning. His hand moved to the back of her neck, warm and secure.

  “No.” She pulled away, but her heart raced ahead of her, wanting what she knew was wrong for both of them. No relationships, she repeated to herself. No letting anyone else down. Not Callie or Cash. Especially not Dylan.

  * * *

  Dylan had stumbled into worse things in his life than what he felt at that moment for Harmony Cross. He’d wanted to kiss her years ago when Jackson dared him. But this felt like a tumble, a straight-out falling down, worse than being bucked off of a horse. Harmony had been in his arms, and then she was gone, backing away, her eyes wide and maybe a little fearful.

  And he still wanted to pull her close and kiss her. He wanted to tell her he’d been thinking a lot that this was a mistake, this helping-each-other-out business. He wanted to tell her it was the worst thing. And holding her was the worst thing. Because how in the world could he focus on the two kids in the house when Harmony Cross had the most kissable mouth of any woman he’d ever met? Every time he got around her, he wanted to hold her close. For a real long time.

  He wanted to help her. He wanted to see her strong. He wanted her to have faith in God, and in herself.

  And all of that added up to one big bundle of trouble, because Harmony didn’t believe in herself and she sure wasn’t going to let anyone else believe in her. But he could still see in her the girl he used to know, the one that acted as if she could not only overcome mountains, but bulldoze her way right through them.

  “Dylan.” She sighed a little and he looked down at her.

  “Harmony.” He grinned as he said it, hoping to chase away the stormy gray in her blue eyes.

  “Don’t. Please don’t make this complicated. I love Callie and Cash, and I want to keep helping you with them.”

  He winked. “Just them?”

  “What?”

  “You don’t love me, too? Not even just a little?”

  “I don’t love you. I tolerate you and I think you love yourself a lot.” Her smile had reappeared, and he was okay throwing himself under the bus to get that reaction from her. “I’m not ready for anything other than friendship.”

  “I know.” He kissed her cheek. “And I’m sorry for pushing. We’re not so different, you and I.”

  She laughed softly at that. “Yes, we are. You rescue people. I hurt them.”

  He didn’t ask her to list who she had hurt. It wasn’t an imaginary list, he knew that. He knew if he asked, it would bring back memories she’d probably already faced at least once today. He could see the guilt she felt. It flooded her face with emotion and the smile she’d worn moments ago disappeared.

  “You’re doing a good job of rescuing me and the two kids in that house.” It seemed like a good idea, to remind her that she had done some pretty decent things.

  “They’re easy to help, Dylan.”

  “Yeah, they are. I don’t know what I’d do without them.” He remembered last night. “Cash called me Daddy last night. Man, that is a hard one to wrap my mind around. There are steps to being someone’s daddy. A wife, having kids, all of the ways it usually happens.”

  Moisture gathered in her eyes. She reached for his hand, squeezing. “You are their daddy, though.”

  “I guess I am.”

  “Speaking of two kids, you should get back in to them and your cold soup.”

  “Ah, escaping. Very good.”

  “Yes, I have to, because I might say something that we both know would be wrong. As sweet as you are, it would be wrong. I have to put some distance between us. Maybe a few days’ worth.”

  He opened her car door and even though he didn’t agree with what she’d said about distance, he did. After walking back in the house and being confronted with two kids that were still sick, he knew he had to get his focus back where it belonged. Cash woke up, still sick. Callie crawled up in Dylan’s recliner and fell asleep.

  He was a dad. He guessed those two kids had rescued him as much as he’d rescued them. Because of Cash and Callie, he was a better person. He’d been forced to grow up, to make decisions he might not have made without them.

  When his mom showed up it was close to evening. He’d fallen asleep sitting in the rocking chair and woke up when the door opened. He started to stand but a sharp pain in his ribs took his breath.

  “Don’t tell me you’re sick, too?” Angie Cooper set her purse down and surveyed the scene in the living room.

  Cash was groggy but awake. Dylan had placed a bucket near the sofa, just in case. Callie was awake, still in his recliner and she had a princess cartoon on TV. Dylan pushed himself to his feet but the pain in his side was a definite reminder that he’d gotten thrown from a horse hours earlier.

  “I’m not sick.” He winced as he took a step. “Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea?”

  “No, I brought dinner for you. Is Harmony still here?”

  He glanced around the room. “Why would Harmony be here?”

  “Jackson said she was helping with the kids. I would have come over sooner if I’d known you were alone.”

  “Mom, I have it covered. I’ve been taking care of these kids for a year now.”

  “I know you have. But you’re home. Why in the world are you so determined to do it all on your own?”

  “Because this is my life now, and I have to adjust to being a single dad who raises two kids. My kids.” He looked from Cash to Callie.

  “I’m proud of you.” His mom patted his arm but she didn’t do more, and he was glad. He sure didn’t want to cry on his mom’s shoulder. Not today.

  “Thanks, Mom.” He headed for the kitchen with the basket of food she’d handed him. “What’s for dinner?”

  He walked gingerly, rubbing his side as he went.

  “I think a trip to the ER for you,” his mom called out from the living room. “Homemade vegetable soup for my grandchildren.”

  He stepped back into the living room. “What about the ER?”

  “You might want to get those cracked ribs taped up?” She smiled as she pulled Cash onto her lap. Callie left the recliner for Angie’s lap as well.

  “My ribs are fine.”

  “I’ve been around long enough to know when one of my boys needs a trip to the emergency room, Dylan. You can’t let things go. You have kids to think about.” She kissed the top of Cash’s head and smiled up at Dylan.

  “You win.”

  She smiled at that. “I always do.”

  As he drove toward Grove, Dylan wondered if he would ever win again. There were things he’d like to win, he thought. At the top of the list, for whatever crazy reason, was Harmony’s trust.

  Just her trust, he told himself. Trust meant she would have to share the heartache she was covering up. She would have to share the pain that lingered in her blue eyes.

  He knew it would take time, but h
e was a pretty patient guy.

  Chapter Ten

  It took Harmony two days to get over the stomach virus she caught from Cash and Callie. For those two days she gladly let Dylan feed her horse. She tried not to be upset when he stopped in to tell her he’d gotten a halter on the animal. Yes, it was all about being stubborn, but she’d wanted to be the one. Dylan doing it meant that he didn’t think she could.

  With the virus behind her, on Saturday she headed to town and the Mad Cow. As she got closer to the Tanner place she hit her turn signal and pulled up the drive. Several shirts and a couple of pairs of bib overalls fluttered on a line that stretched across the yard, hung between two rusted poles. Bill Tanner was sitting on the edge of the porch, looking even thinner than the last time Harmony had seen him.

  She stepped out of her car and Bill looked up, adjusting his ball cap and half smiling at her. “Hi, Bill.”

  “Miss Cross.”

  She made her way across the lawn, stepping carefully through overgrown grass. “You can call me Harmony.”

  “I reckon.”

  “How is Doris?” Harmony sat on the step just a few feet from the old farmer.

  He let out a long sigh and shook his head. “I don’t guess she’s doing too good. It’s hard to see her like that.”

  “I bet it is.”

  “I went two days ago. I guess her sister is coming up from Dallas to have a look at her.”

  Alone. Doris Tanner was alone. Harmony thought about the great circle of friends and family that had surrounded her after the accident. “Bill, let’s go have lunch at the Mad Cow and then we can go visit Doris.”

  “You don’t need to do that.”

  “But I want to.” Harmony stood and she held a hand out to Bill. “Dylan said you’re planning a trip to the beach. We need to get Doris better so she can have that trip.”

  Bill took her hand and stood. “If I go to town with you, you’d better drive like you’ve got some sense.”

  “Of course I will.”

  A few minutes later they pulled through the one stop sign in the town of Dawson. The feed store had a display of fall items. Straw bales, corn stalks and mums of all colors. Harmony would have to make a trip back to town in the old pickup her dad left in the barn. If she was staying in town for a few weeks, fall decorations would be nice.

  She pulled in to the gravel parking lot of the Mad Cow Café. It was a busy Saturday in Dawson. She parked next to a familiar truck.

  “Looks like Dylan is here,” Bill offered as he got out. “Guess you two are pretty serious?”

  Harmony opened her mouth and then closed it, because she didn’t want to look like a fish gasping for oxygen. “Well, no, we’re just friends.”

  “Not the rumor I heard.” Bill closed the car door and was already heading across the parking lot when Harmony caught up with him.

  “Well, you know how rumors are, Bill.”

  “Yep. They usually have a smidge of truth to ’em.”

  The smile took her by surprise. Bill’s and her own. He chuckled a little and opened the door of the diner for her. She never would have guessed this friendship, the one with Bill Tanner.

  Just like she never would have expected how much she missed seeing Dylan and the kids. But she had missed them. So much that her heart did a little leap when she spotted them in the Mad Cow. Callie called out, jumping from her chair and hurrying toward Harmony, a big smile and arms ready for a hug. Harmony leaned to hug the child, holding her tight for a moment and then kissing the top of her head.

  “You’re better?” Callie asked as her hand tugged on Harmony’s.

  “I’m better. Thank you for the chicken soup.”

  “Grammy made it.”

  Grammy meaning Angie Cooper, a woman ready to love all the children placed in her life. “Well, it was very good.”

  “We’re having chicken strips.” Callie led her to the table. “And Dylan cracked a rib because he can’t ride a horse.”

  They always had chicken strips. But the cracked rib was news to her. She remembered that he’d gotten thrown when he went to help Jackson. She shot him a look and he reddened just a little.

  “You cracked a rib?”

  “Two, but I’m fine.”

  Bill had already taken a seat at the table. He grinned up at her and winked. “Like I was saying.”

  “Bill,” she warned in a quiet voice.

  The older man laughed and reached for a menu. Harmony met Dylan’s easy smile. He winked and indicated she should take the seat next to his. She didn’t. Instead she pulled the chair out for Callie and took a seat next to Bill.

  “Bill and I are going to see Doris,” Harmony told Dylan as she looked over the menu a waitress handed her. Harmony smiled up at the woman she hadn’t seen before. And then she turned to Dylan again. “Where’s Breezy?”

  He shrugged. “She left. Something about finding more family. A brother, maybe her dad.”

  “Wouldn’t it be Mia’s dad and brother, too?”

  “No, they had different dads, she and Mia did.”

  “When will she be back?”

  He shook his head. “She probably won’t.”

  Harmony hadn’t known Breezy Hernandez very well, but she’d liked the free-spirited sister of Mia Cooper McKennon. She smiled up at the new waitress, who had reappeared with ice water and hot tea. Harmony ordered and handed the menu back to the waitress.

  And then there was nothing but time as they waited for their food. Time to look at Dylan. Or avoid looking at him. Time to think about his impulsive proposal days earlier.

  “I’m planning a birthday party for Cash,” Dylan said.

  “When?” She smiled at the little boy in his high chair, ketchup all over his mouth as he finished eating his French fries. Cash grinned back at her, a big smile that sparkled in his blue eyes.

  “Two weeks. You’ll be here, won’t you?”

  She nodded, because yes, she would stay. It wouldn’t be a birthday Cash remembered, but it was an important birthday. He was turning two. He had a new home, a new life. Even as little as he was, it mattered.

  “Yes, I’ll be here.” She smiled up at the waitress who appeared with their food.

  “What are you planning to do with that horse when you head on back to Nashville?” Bill asked as he poured ketchup over his fries.

  “I’ll take him with me.”

  Bill nodded at the answer and picked up the burger he’d also smothered with ketchup. Bill liked ketchup.

  Suddenly the day seemed normal. Harmony finished her lunch and held on to that feeling. Normal. She was just another person having lunch at the Mad Cow. She laughed at Cash’s silliness as he bulldozed a chicken strip through ketchup, and she answered Bill Tanner’s questions about Beau and how the horse was getting along. She invited him to visit.

  They finished eating and left. Callie held her hand and asked if she could ride with Harmony to the nursing home. Bill somehow ended up in the truck with Dylan. It all made sense. It all felt right.

  Harmony started her car with Callie buckled in her booster seat in the back. She smiled at the little girl and then headed out, still thinking about being normal and having a life that included these people.

  But it didn’t last. Instead grief sneaked up on her. By the time she reached the nursing home, it had her in its grips. It happened that way sometimes. She could be smiling and laughing, thinking maybe today would be the day when she would forget.

  But she couldn’t forget. Not a best friend. Not a moment that changed everything for so many people.

  She sat in her car for a long time after parking at the nursing home. Callie had unbuckled herself and crawled over the seat. Her little arms wrapped around Harmony’s neck, and she leaned in close, smelling like soap and chicken
.

  “Are you sad?” Callie asked, leaning close.

  Harmony smiled up at the little girl and nodded, but she didn’t form the words.

  Callie kissed her cheek. “Sometimes I get sad, too. I miss my mommy. Do you miss your mommy?”

  Harmony sniffled and smiled, her hand going to Callie’s sweet face. “You are precious, Callie. And yes, sometimes I miss my mom, too. But she’s in Nashville.” And Harmony would see her again.

  Harmony’s grief was for Amy.

  “Can I see her in Nashville?” Callie whispered close to Harmony’s ear as the car door opened and Dylan stood in the opening, peering down, his eyes narrowed as he studied her face.

  “Maybe someday she’ll come here and you can meet her,” Harmony offered the child.

  “Okay.” Callie scrambled over her lap and out of the car. The little girl hurried to the sidewalk where Bill waited.

  “What’s up?” Dylan held Cash’s hand and the little boy was tugging, trying to move away. Dylan held him tight.

  “Nothing. I’m good.”

  “What was it you said about needing to be honest?” Dylan gave Cash a warning look. “Buddy, stop pulling on my hand.”

  Cash stopped. Harmony grabbed her purse and got out of the car, forcing Dylan to take a step back. She closed the door and locked it, then faced the man standing behind her, waiting for her answer.

  “Everything seemed so normal back at the Mad Cow,” she explained. “Everything seemed right. And then I remembered that Amy is gone and I’m the reason why. How can I have normal moments, feel happy, have lunch with a friend and get hugged by a little girl like Callie, when...”

  Dylan’s right arm pulled her close to his side and he leaned down, his lips brushing close to her ear. “Stop. Give yourself a chance to live, because you are alive.”

  She nodded into his shoulder. “I’m not going to keep doing this, keep feeling sorry for myself.”

  “No, you’re not. Instead you’re going to be the friend Amy expected you to be. You’re going to face life and you’re going to do it every single day, thinking that you have this chance, this moment, to be happy. Do it for her.”