“Sounds like you’re giving her a well-balanced breakfast,” Denny said, his teasing tone increasing the warmth in her cheeks.
“We try.”
“I was wondering if you talked to the people staying in the house on the ranch,” he continued.
Yesterday he had called her to ask about moving to the house earlier so he could be there when the cows arrived.
“I called them last night,” she said, turning away from Renee, who seemed far too interested in her conversation. “I told them I would give them a month’s free rent in the apartment if they vacated the house earlier, but they preferred a refund. They’re dropping the keys off at the store this afternoon. When are the cows coming?”
“Tonight. I arranged for a truck to drop them off.” Once again she heard a heaviness in his voice that made her feel sorry for him.
“But what are you going to feed them? You said you had to fix the fences before you could put them out into pasture.”
“I’ll have to take tomorrow off and hope the cows don’t get out before that.”
She was about to say something when she heard the squawk of his trucker’s radio and the fuzzy sound of someone talking.
“Sounds like someone else needs to talk to you,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”
As she ended the call, Evangeline dropped her phone into her purse and turned to see Renee watching her with an enigmatic smile. “What are you grinning at?” Evangeline asked, though she was fairly sure she knew precisely what was on her friend’s mind.
“You sound like an old married couple, helping him like that.”
Evangeline didn’t bother to respond to that. Instead she lifted Ella out of her high chair and brushed the crumbs off her overalls. Then, dropping the little girl on her hip, she hooked her purse over her arm and grabbed the plates.
“Look at you, all efficient and domestic,” Renee said with a laugh as she cleaned up her own plate.
“I’m a natural organizer,” Evangeline said with a trace of melancholy in her voice as she clung to Ella.
Taking care of someone else’s daughter.... Organizing someone else’s domestic life.... Planning someone else’s wedding....
Always the bridesmaid.
Don’t go there, she reminded herself. That’s a dead end street.
But even as she told herself this as she and Renee parted ways, she felt her optimism slowly wearing thin, like a shirt worn too long, the fabric barely holding together.
She looked at Ella, this precious little girl whose father barely knew her, a sense of dissatisfaction niggling at her. This little girl was worming her way into Evangeline’s heart.
And her father?
Evangeline shook off the feeling and strode out of the coffee shop. The sooner Denny’s sister arrived, the better it would be for everyone.
* * *
“I am so sorry about this.”
Evangeline, still holding Ella in her arms, looked back at Denny from the dining room of the ranch house, her woebegone expression almost making him laugh.
Only the state of the house kept him from giving in to his mirth.
Muddy footprints encrusted the parts of the floor not covered with papers, old rags and discarded clothes. The kitchen counters were hidden by dirty dishes, pizza and take-out boxes, and paper plates encrusted with stuff Denny didn’t want to inspect.
“And this is only the kitchen and dining room,” Evangeline moaned, taking another turn as if trying to absorb the mess.
Denny pushed his hands through his hair as one more obstacle was dropped into his already crowded path. He had come straight here from work, his head still ringing from the constant drone of his truck, his eyes gritty with dust from the gravel pit, feeling as though he couldn’t run fast enough to keep up to his life. The cows were arriving tonight.
And now this?
Some help here, Lord?
Evangeline pressed her lips together, her eyes narrowing as she looked around the room. “I should have checked on them more often,” she said, anger taking over her dismay. “If I ever see them again...” She let the sentence trail off as if she understood herself the likelihood of ever running into three boys and a girl from New Zealand in Hartley Creek again.
In spite of his own frustration, Denny had to smile at her anger. “I’ll just have to stay late and clean it up.”
“Don’t be silly,” Evangeline retorted. “You don’t have time. You’re too busy getting everything else done. And your yearlings are coming tonight,” she said.
As if on cue, Denny heard the muted roar of a truck growing louder, then the sound of it downshifting.
“They’re here now.”
“You go deal with your animals. Ella and I will clean up in here, won’t we, Ella?” Evangeline said with a wide smile, tickling his daughter under her chin.
Denny looked from Ella to Evangeline, feeling torn as the sound of the truck grew louder. Ella was his responsibility, not Evangeline’s.
“Let me take Ella,” he said. “Then you can go home.”
“Don’t be silly. You’ll have your hands full unloading those animals and making sure they don’t get out of the corrals. It won’t be safe for Ella anyhow.”
“I guess you’re right.” He hesitated a moment, still feeling as if he was expecting too much from Evangeline.
Then she flapped her hand at him. “Go. Make sure those creatures are unloaded okay.”
“Thanks again.” He gave Evangeline and Ella a quick smile, then headed out the door just as the cattle liner pulled into the yard with a hundred head of bawling, hungry and cranky cows and yearlings.
He hurried over to the corrals. The gates to the pasture were shut and the corrals were solid. He had a tractor coming that he had rented from a local dealer and another truck arriving with hay.
An hour later the animals were unloaded, their bawling drowning out much of the conversation he’d tried to have with the trucker.
“Thanks for doing this on such short notice,” Denny yelled as he scribbled out a check on the top of the nearest fence post, blinking at the dust raised by a hundred sets of hooves in the dry dirt of the corrals.
“No problem. They look like a nice bunch of animals,” the trucker called back, tucking the check into the back pocket of his shiny blue jeans. He tipped a stained hat back on his head and looked over the gathered cows. “Bart had a nice herd built up. His wife was so happy you bought them.”
Denny slipped the pen back into his pocket, giving the trucker a weak smile. At the last minute he had decided to purchase the majority of Bart’s herd. It had been part of Denny’s long-term plan that, like everything else so far, had become part of a short-term plan. However, Bart had given him a good deal and Denny knew that once he sold the calves that came with the cows, he’d get half of his cost back. It was a good investment. A smart investment.
The timing was rotten but he couldn’t let the deal slip out of his hands. More importantly, Bart had built up his cow herd using animals Denny had had to sell when he’d sold his family’s ranch. By buying them back, Denny felt as if he had regained a connection to what he’d lost two years ago. A connection to the herd his own father had so painstakingly raised.
“Well, good luck with them,” the trucker said, tucking a wad of chew in his mouth. He sauntered off, climbed into his truck, and with a hiss of brakes and a puff of smoke, the truck lumbered out of the yard.
Denny glanced over the herd milling around the corrals. Thankfully the waterers worked. Now he simply had to wait for the tractor to be delivered and the feed to arrive.
He felt a tense agitation at the thought of the cows and calves having to wait to be fed after their stressful trip.
One step at a time.
He turned just as Evangeline came walking fro
m the house toward him, holding Ella on her hip.
“Hey, everything okay?” he asked, walking toward them.
She nodded, giving him a quick smile that didn’t help his resolve much. The more time he spent with this woman, the harder it became to keep aloof from her. To remind himself that he wasn’t the person for her.
She looked past him to the gathered herd, still bawling, still upset. “Those calves look too young for yearlings,” she said.
Denny shrugged. “I bought Bart’s herd. A bit ahead of my five-year plan, but then my plan is in shreds right about now anyway.”
Evangeline’s expression shifted into a slow, careful smile. “Are you saying that part of your plan was to eventually have a calving operation?”
He shrugged as he brushed the dust off his shirt. “As long as I drove truck, I didn’t figure I could calve out cows, but since I can’t truck full-time because of Ella, I figured I may as well get a start on the herd.”
“On this ranch?”
“If your dad will go through with the plan we hatched.”
“Plan?”
“The lease agreement was to give me some space. I was hoping to buy it from him after that time.”
Evangeline shook her head, a mixture of emotions chasing across her face as she shifted Ella on her hip, tilting her head to one side as if studying him from another angle. “So you planned to settle down.”
“Eventually.”
“I see.”
Her cryptic comment made him even more puzzled, and he was about to ask her what she meant when the rumble of an engine sounded above the noise of the cows.
Puzzled, he spun around in time to see a red-and-black tractor pulling into the yard with a round bale balanced on the front-end loader. It was pulling a wagon with a couple more bales teetering on it.
“What in the world—?” He frowned, completely at a loss. The tractor was to have been delivered later today.
And the hay...
“That’s what I came out to tell you,” Evangeline said, resting her hand on his arm to get his attention. “I called Carter Beck and told him what had happened to you. He ranches just up the valley. He’s here to help.”
Denny blinked the dust from his eyes as the fist that had a permanent hold on his stomach released some of its grip.
He looked back at her, grinning like a kid. “You are amazing.”
As their eyes held he felt as if her bright smile dove into his soul and settled there.
He didn’t want to look away and it seemed neither did she. The bawling of the cows and the drone of the tractor bracketed them, but Denny could only think of how Evangeline’s face lit up when she smiled.
Then the tractor grew louder, and the cows, as if sensing that supper was coming, increased their own bellowing.
Denny gave her a quick nod then jogged toward the tractor. A tall, dark-haired man was driving. A young boy was perched behind him in the cab, a battered and worn cowboy hat sitting on the back of his head.
“Hi, Mr. Denny,” the little boy called when Carter reached down and opened the door of the cab. “We brought some food for your cows.”
Denny flashed him a quick grin and a thumbs-up, then pulled himself up on the lower step of the tractor, putting him eye level with Carter.
“I can’t thank you enough for this,” he said over the roar of the tractor.
Carter just grinned back at him, his teeth white against the dark stubble shading his chin. “No problem. I’m guessing you want a couple of bales put out in the corrals?”
Denny explained where they should go and Carter nodded. Denny jumped off the step and ran back to the corrals. He clambered over a fence, closed one gate, opened another, and a few minutes later Carter had unhooked from the wagon and transferred the first bale into the corrals. When they were done, three bales were spread out and three more lay ready for the next time the cows needed to be fed. The bawling had quieted to an occasional bleat from a calf and the sound of a herd of cows chewing on hay.
Carter had parked the tractor, turned it off, and was talking to Evangeline when Denny joined them.
“Peace at last, eh?” Carter said, flashing Denny a grin as he tipped his cowboy hat back on his head and rested his elbows on the top rail of the fence.
“Best sound in the world,” Denny returned, coming to stand beside Carter and Evangeline. The little boy was standing on the first rung of the fence, his posture a miniature replica of Carter’s.
Evangeline had set Ella on the fence, wrapping her arms around the little girl to hold her steady.
“Looks like they’ve mothered up pretty good,” Carter said. “Nice herd of cows.”
“Purebred Red Angus,” Denny said with a note of pride. Watching the cows now, offspring from the animals he and his father had raised, created a connection to his father and the ranch he’d sold.
Maybe his life would work out, he thought with a lift of his heart. He looked at Ella sitting on the fence, Evangeline holding her. Ella clapped her hands and laughed as a calf skipped past them, tail up, its hide glistening in the sun.
“I think she likes them,” Evangeline said, slipping Denny a quick sideways glance.
A sense of rightness settled in his restless soul as he looked at Evangeline. He took in a cleansing breath and put his elbows up on the fence, his arm brushing hers. She didn’t move and together they watched the cows, sharing this moment of peace and contentment as Ella babbled her happiness.
“Well, Adam, we better get back to your mom and little sister,” Carter said, pushing away from the fence. “Evangeline tells me that the fences aren’t great. Zach said the same thing when he boarded his horses here, but horses are easier to keep in than cows. Me and my foreman, Wade, will come by tomorrow and help you get them ready.”
“That’s not necessary,” Denny said automatically.
“I think it is,” Carter returned with a grin. “You might be able to get it done but it will go faster with some neighborly help.”
Denny felt overwhelmed. He barely knew these people and they were already volunteering to help him out.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t bother,” Carter said, pulling his leather gloves out of his back pocket and tugging them on. Then he shot Denny another grin. “Good fences make good neighbors. If your fences don’t hold, your cows will be heading over to my pasture.”
Then, with another wave, Carter sauntered back to the tractor, Adam following him step for step.
As Carter started the tractor up and hooked it up to the wagon again, Denny turned to Evangeline, touching her arm to get her attention. “I know you organized this,” he said. “I can’t thank you enough.”
She shrugged, looking down at Ella, tickling her under her chin. “Carter and Emma are good people and like to help out.”
The sound of his daughter’s laughter feathered through the air, light, happy and content, her chubby hands tangled in Evangeline’s hair.
Evangeline winced and Denny reached over to help release them. As he did, their hands brushed each other.
Neither pulled away and as their eyes met once again Denny couldn’t stop a sense of expectancy rising in his soul.
Could something be happening between them?
Did he dare let it?
Chapter Eight
Evangeline glanced at the clock. Only five-thirty. She had a casserole in the oven upstairs that would be ready at six. She was taking it with her to the ranch.
Denny had been so busy fixing fences yesterday, she was sure he hadn’t eaten much for supper. Today he would be driving a truck and she knew he wouldn’t have time to cook. So today she made a casserole for him. Just a good neighborly thing to do. That was all.
She walked to the back of the store to see wha
t Ella was up to. The little girl sat in the middle of the space Evangeline had cleared for her future children’s corner, cuddling a teddy bear, babbling in her own high-pitched jargon. Evangeline had been taking care of her the past few days and had enjoyed every minute she spent with the little girl.
Evangeline knew she had to be careful. Every night she brought Ella back to Denny’s it grew harder to leave Denny and Ella and the ranch for her quiet, lonely apartment.
Half an hour later Evangeline had locked up the store early and the casserole dish was wrapped in towels and sitting in a box beside Ella. Ella sat in the back waving her hands as she babbled and hummed along to the children’s CD Evangeline had playing on her car stereo.
As Evangeline drove the road leading to the ranch, her heart lifted. She always loved going there, but when it was rented or leased out to other occupants she felt as if she were intruding when she dropped in.
But for the past couple of days she had a good reason to go, and looked forward to seeing cows on the pasture once again.
And seeing Denny?
Evangeline parked her car beside a large gravel truck and trailer. As she got out she heard Denny call her name.
And why did her heart give that silly jump at the sound of his voice as it had each time she heard it? She pulled herself together. “Hey, there,” she said, opening the back door of the car and unbuckling Ella as he came around his truck.
“Good timing. I just pulled in ten minutes ago. How’s my girl been today?” Denny asked, wiping his arm across his forehead, making a dirty streak on his chambray shirt.
“Great. Do you want to take her?” she asked, pulling Ella out of the car seat.
Denny looked down at his grimy hands and shook his head. “I’ll stain that cute outfit.”
As Evangeline set Ella on the ground, she tugged the little girl’s ruffled T-shirt down over her plaid shorts. “I picked it up at Reflections today,” Evangeline murmured, feeling suddenly self-conscious of her impulsive purchase. “All her other clothes were dirty.”
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