True Love Cowboy

by Jennifer Ryan

  He simply stared at her beautiful face and all that long wavy golden hair spilling down her shoulders and chest. Stunning.

  Her eyes opened when she sensed him staring.

  “You look like an angel.”

  Her smile punched him in the heart.

  “Thank you.”

  A woman who could take a compliment. He didn’t think such a creature existed, but she did.

  “You look worn out. Ready for me to drive you home now?”

  He hadn’t been thinking. “I’ve kept you from having a proper meal and didn’t even think to ask if you had other plans or someone waiting for you to come home.” The last part sent a surge of jealousy through him.

  “I enjoyed the sandwich and the company. I didn’t have any plans aside from spending an hour or so with your dad after I dropped off the food to hear the latest Emmy stories.”

  “He tells you stories about her.”

  She kind of bounced off the wall, hooked her hand around his arm, and nudged him toward the elevators again. “Well, you may not know this, but we’re in a kind of telephone game. You tell your dad stories and send him cute pictures and videos, then he shares them with me. No misinformation or weird relays in our thing though.”

  They had a thing?

  Okay.

  She punched the button for the elevator. “Emmy is adorable. Absolutely the most brilliant girl on the planet. I wholeheartedly agree with her assessment that ice cream is a food group. Along with chocolate,” she added as they stepped into the elevator. “And wearing monochromatic outfits is the new trend. Her purple ensemble for your pizza date two weeks ago was totally on point.”

  He didn’t know where it came from, but he laughed. “Wow. Okay. You do know a lot about us.”

  “Well, her. Not you. Except that your dad always complains you work too hard and don’t come home enough.”

  He put his hand over hers on his arm. “I think you and I should get to know each other better.”

  Her exuberance dimmed when she realized what he meant and that she was standing really close to him. So close that he could smell the garlic and chocolate on her from her day in the kitchen cooking, mixed with the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she ate with him.

  He backtracked, thinking he’d come on too strong. “Unless there is someone waiting for you to come home.”

  She kind of came back to herself all at once. “Oh. No. That is, I’m not seeing anyone. I was just surprised you were interested.”

  “The timing and the circumstances are strange.” He usually had better game than this. And timing. “But . . . I don’t know. I appreciate what you did for my dad and staying with me tonight. I just got back to town. I haven’t connected with anyone. Except you. I’d like to get to know you better.” That might be more than he’d said to a woman, other than Steph, in a long time. He definitely needed to up his game.

  The elevator dinged and let them out on the ground floor.

  She slipped out ahead of him and he followed, wishing he hadn’t said anything that would make her stop touching him.

  He caught up to her. “Trinity, if I’ve said something . . . or you’re just not interested—”

  “It’s not that.” She stopped in the middle of the hospital lobby and stared at the floor.

  “Great.” He hoped that reassured her.

  “Um, it’s just been a while for me. I . . . uh . . . something bad happened . . . It’s been hard to . . . trust myself lately.”

  Okay. He got that. “I haven’t really dated in a while. And if you know anything about Emmy’s mom, you know that trusting myself to know if someone is good for me or not has been hard, too.”

  She finally met his gaze. “I actually don’t know that much about you and your ex-wife.”

  “She’s just an ex. We never got married. Weren’t even engaged.” Why he wanted her to know that particular detail he didn’t know, and chalked it up to full disclosure.

  “Well, I’ve never been engaged either, but my three brothers have all gotten engaged, and two got married, over the past year, making me the perpetual bridesmaid.” She rolled her eyes. “And that’s a major turnoff, right? I wasn’t trying to say that I want to get engaged or—”

  He touched her shoulder. “Got it. But do you want to . . . spend some time together?” He heard how that sounded like a lame pickup line for sex and backtracked. “I mean hang out.” What the hell was wrong with him? It was like he’d never asked a woman on a date.

  She grinned at him, her eyes full of humor, then cocked her head toward the door. “We should head out.”

  The nonanswer confused and disappointed him. Did he blow it? Probably, because she was right; he was beyond tired.

  They let the quiet, cool night surround them as they made their way to her car in the parking lot. The drive home was long. Neither of them spoke much, but listened to the softly playing country music as they relaxed next to each other and enjoyed the ride.

  She pulled into the driveway, and though the lighting was dim with only the flare of her headlights beaming off the garage door, he caught the moment when it all came back to her and her eyes clouded with distress.

  “You must have been really scared when you found my dad. I know I nearly freaked out when I saw you hoisting him into your car. I couldn’t get down the driveway fast enough.”

  She took in a calming breath and let it out slowly.

  He’d seen her consciously do the same thing several times during the ride to the hospital.

  “I’m just glad we got him the help he needed.”

  “I can’t stop thinking about it. What if he hadn’t called in the delivery order? What if I didn’t get in until late tonight or tomorrow?”

  Trinity laid her hand over his on his thigh. “It all worked out.”

  He turned his hand and linked his fingers with hers. “Thank you for finding him, for getting him out to your car. I know you’d have gotten him there on your own no matter how hard it was for you to do alone. But most of all, thanks for staying with me and being . . . you.” Because he didn’t have anyone in his life who was just like her. He didn’t have someone who’d take the time to sit with him and wait just so he wasn’t alone.

  “You’re welcome.” She slipped her hand free, grabbed her bag from the back, and rummaged inside until she pulled out a card. “Please call me in the morning and let me know how he’s doing.”

  He took the card, noted it wasn’t a business card, but her personal one.

  “And yes, I’d like to see you again.” She smiled softly with a touch of nervousness mixed in. “And maybe I’ll get to meet your sweet girl Emmy someday.”

  “She’ll want one of those double-chocolate brownies my dad likes so much.”

  “For her, on the house.”

  They stared at each other for a moment. He just took her in, then forced himself to get out of the car. “Is your place close?” He didn’t like her out on the dark roads this late at night, especially when she’d had a long day.

  “I live in the apartment above the shop.”

  Surprise punched him in the gut. “You mean in town?”

  She nodded.

  “Why didn’t you say anything? I would have found another way home.”

  “Because I wanted to drive you.” She gave him another shy but sexy smile, waking up all kinds of thoughts about her lying on white sheets and his hands caressing every inch of her silky skin.

  He eyed her closely. “You’re not an angel, you’re a temptress.”

  She laughed. “Call me in the morning with that update on your dad.”

  He held up her card. “I’m calling you for a lot more than that.”

  She pressed her lips together, hiding a nervous grin, but her eyes were bright with interest.

  He reluctantly closed the door and waved goodbye. When he walked into the dark house, he was still elated by their exchange and it made him miss her all the more.

  He couldn’t wait to see his father looking
better tomorrow and call the beguiling woman who took him by surprise and made him want to try the whole dating, and possibly relationship, thing one more time.

  Chapter Three

  Jon may not have slept well last night, but he’d eaten a damn good spinach, bacon, and cheese breakfast quiche this morning from Almost Homemade. He’d found it in his father’s fridge along with at least two dozen other prepared meals. He’d never tasted anything so good. No wonder his father ordered delivery from them.

  After he ate, he made the long drive into town. He stepped off the hospital elevator, hoping to find his father awake, alert, and doing much better today.

  The nurse at the desk stood. “Mr. Crawford?”

  He stopped outside his father’s door. “Yes.”

  “Your father should be back any minute. They took him for another chest X-ray to see if he’s improving.”

  “How did he do last night?”

  “He mostly slept comfortably, though he did have a few bouts of coughing. His fever is down. Oxygen levels are good.”

  He sighed out his relief. “Thank you. I’ll just wait in his room if that’s okay?”

  The nurse nodded, then sat back in her seat to work on the paperwork in front of her.

  Jon took the seat next to his father’s empty bed. He wanted to call Trinity, but it was only seven in the morning and he didn’t want to wake her after the long day and night she’d put in yesterday.

  He’d sent Steph a text last night, telling her about his dad. Luckily, he’d sent it late enough that she hadn’t responded until this morning. She and Emmy had already left for the airport. They’d arrive in a few hours.

  Steph said she sympathized with the situation, but wasn’t happy he wouldn’t be picking them up. Instead, he’d rented her a car, so she would have something to drive until she bought a new car—her old car wouldn’t have made the trip to Montana. She didn’t like having to take Emmy alone through two airports and to pick up the rental car, then drive in an unfamiliar area to meet him at the apartment he’d rented for them. She had the directions, and it wasn’t that complicated a trip. Given the circumstances, she could have been more understanding.

  His dad needed him more this morning. And while he regretted not seeing Emmy right away and hearing all about her first plane ride, he needed to know his father was going to be okay. Jon had been away too long. He hadn’t called home or visited enough over the past many years he built his business and sucked at his personal life.

  He planned to change things and spend more time with his dad and Emmy, living a simpler life afforded to him by all that hard work. His businesses were making him money. He had good people he trusted running them. Aside from overseeing things, he could focus on rebuilding his family’s ranch and raising his little girl.

  And maybe he’d finally find a woman he wanted to hold on to and make a life with.

  He thought of Trinity with her shy smile and generous heart.

  Nothing like Steph, who liked to use Emmy as an excuse to get him to do what she wanted in hopes they’d get back together. He’d played that game for months when Emmy came along. But he stopped playing a long time ago.

  He wasn’t that gullible.

  He hoped this would be a fresh start for all of them.

  When he floated the idea of bringing Emmy to Montana for the summer and that he’d love to move back home and live on the ranch full-time, he never expected Steph to say, “Let’s do it. Let’s leave California and build a different kind of life.” She had a job, family, a life in California.

  But Steph had a tendency to wear out her welcome. Her coworkers didn’t like that she got away with doing half as much as them. Even her family was tired of her being selfish and manipulative to get what she wanted.

  She painted a pretty imaginary picture of them starting over, living and raising Emmy together. He loved her unexpected enthusiasm, and maybe he got caught up in getting back to the life he’d had as a kid on the ranch. He dreamed of horses and cows in the pastures, and Emmy chasing chickens in the yard and picking vegetables in the garden. He hoped for the best.

  Steph said she wanted a new job, new people, and a chance to re-create herself. But as their plans moved forward, it became clear she really wanted them to rekindle their love affair—one that had been doomed to failure because they weren’t compatible for a lot of reasons.

  As much as he wanted to make the move, he’d repeatedly asked Steph if she was sure she wanted to leave her life behind and start over in a new place without her family. Because she relied on her family, and especially her dad, when life got too hard to deal with, which was often because Steph was spoiled and liked it when others did everything for her.

  Despite all that, Steph pushed for them to move. Together.

  He blew up that train of thought right off the tracks and made it clear they were not getting back together. She’d given him a look that said she knew better than him. He’d made it very clear he intended to stay at the ranch and she’d be in town where she’d have something to do—away from him—and work while Emmy attended school. He’d even found her a job.

  He expected the next few weeks as she settled in to be fraught with a lot of anxiety. New state, new apartment, new job . . . He got it. He vowed to be patient while Steph settled in, even though he knew the best thing he could do was limit their interactions. He didn’t want to give Steph false hope that they’d be doing anything more than co-parenting Emmy.

  But Steph had a way of seeing things that weren’t there and making something out of next to nothing.

  He didn’t expect the transition to be smooth, but he’d put up with Steph’s drama—to a point—for Emmy’s sake.

  Maybe if his father was up for company today, he’d bring Emmy for a visit. She’d love it. And it might do his father good to see her.

  “Jon. Son. You’re here.” A nurse pushed his dad, who was seated in a wheelchair, into the room.

  Jon stood and helped his old man into the bed. “I got in last night. Just in time to see your friend Trinity dragging you out to her car.”

  He looked up at Jon, confused. “Trinity was at the house?”

  “You called her, said you needed her to bring some food. She said you promised she could take you to the doctor.”

  His father’s eyes clouded with confusion.

  “You don’t remember?”

  His dad shook his head. “No. Not really. It seems fuzzy.”

  The nurse touched his dad’s shoulder to get him to lie down. She helped him settle his head on the pillow, raised the top of the bed for him, pulled the covers over his lap and the oxygen tube up across his nose, then connected the oxygen sensor to his finger and walked out.

  Jon wondered just how little oxygen his father had been getting and if it had left his brain altered. “Don’t worry about it, Dad. The doctors and nurses will help you get better. Your color looks good.” The gray pallor he’d seen in his father’s face last night still haunted him. “How do you feel?”

  “Better. The last few days . . . They were rough.”

  “You should have called me. I would have come sooner had I known you were sick.” He’d have hopped on the earliest flight.

  His father stared at his lap. “I knew you were busy.”

  Jon stuffed his hands deep into his jeans pockets, feeling the extra helping of guilt pile onto the rest he carried with him for not paying attention to his dad and making him feel unimportant. “I’m not too busy for you.”

  “You were packing, getting ready to move. You couldn’t have gotten here any sooner.”

  He pulled one hand free and raked it over his head. “Damnit, Dad, I would have flown in immediately.”

  His dad settled into the bed and covered his mouth as a string of coughs, less intense than they had been last night, rattled his chest.

  Jon realized his anger was really fear. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here. But I am now.”

  “Where’s Emmy?” For the first time, he saw som
e joy in his father’s eyes. Jon wished he’d been that happy to see him.

  He checked his watch. “They should be landing any minute. I’m meeting them at the apartment in just a little while.”

  The happiness dimmed to disappointment. “Do you think Steph will like the new place?”

  “Sure.” He really didn’t know. Steph thought she deserved the world and he should give it to her simply because he had the means. Her parents, and especially her father, had spoiled her and she expected others to do the same.

  His dad gave him a look. “I thought she was excited about the move.”

  “She is. I think she needed a fresh start as much as I did.”

  His dad eyed him. “Where will you be sleeping tonight?”

  “At home.”

  His father raised an eyebrow.

  “At the ranch.” He’d been honest with his dad about his troubles with Steph, but his dad still wondered if Jon would get back together with her despite all that. Not going to happen. He didn’t want the illusion of a happy family, he wanted a real, honest relationship with a woman who actually made him happy.

  Dad nodded. “Does Steph still hope you’ll all move in together?”

  Jon sank into the chair. “I made it clear from the beginning that this was the start of a new life for us, but that didn’t mean we were getting back together. I got her the job, a place to live, and we’ll still raise Emmy together.”

  “But she’s still hoping for more.”

  “It seems that way sometimes, but then she talks about how she can be anyone she wants to be here. Like even she’s tired of the life she had back in California and wants to do and be something different here. Emmy’s four. After all this time, I can’t believe Steph’s still holding out hope for more. I just want to move on.”

  “Sounds like you’re ready for more than just a new place and a new job.”

  “I didn’t sell off everything. I still own a couple of the businesses that were already managed well and thriving without much help from me anymore.”

  “It’s good to keep a steady income. Especially when you have to take care of Emmy and her mother.”

  He didn’t owe Steph anything. What he did for her, he did because she was the mother of his child.