“Those four?”
“Yep. It just takes some of us a while to figure out what we really want,” he said.
“And sometimes when we do figure it out we don’t get it.” She nodded.
“Want to explain?”
“I was going to get out of the rural life and make everyone sorry they’d treated me like they did. After that three-year battle with my dad, it seems like a silly goal,” she answered.
“I understand. I left with one goal in mind—pro ball. Only it got changed when I figured out that my heart wanted to be a rancher no matter what my mind wanted. And that until I gave in and became what my heart wanted, I wasn’t going to be really happy with anything or anyone,” Cade told her.
“The heart will have what it wants for sure.” She nodded in agreement.
He pushed up out of the chair with a groan. “That old tractor has got the worse ride of anything on the place.”
She almost opened her mouth to say that she’d rub the aches from his body but caught herself. The vision that went with the thought flushed her already hot and sweaty cheeks. “It wasn’t much better ridin’ in the hay wagon.”
“Life on the ranch, huh?”
“Yep.”
“See you at supper.”
“We’ll be there with bright shiny faces and ready to eat, I’m sure. And thanks for the root beer.” She grinned up at him. His dark lashes fluttered almost shut and she was sure that this time he would kiss her, but Alice yelled from the door and broke the moment.
“Hey, Retta, is it all right if we get into the refrigerator and get a cold soda pop?”
“Yes, it is,” she answered.
When she looked up Cade was already several feet from the porch on his way back to the house. She fanned herself as she watched him all the way across the distance, but the heat wasn’t all because of the hot weather.
Chapter Seven
Cade laced his fingers behind his head on the pillow and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. Clouds scooted across the full moon, leaving an array of designs, but his thoughts weren’t on the flitting shadows above him. They were on the attraction he had for Retta. Finally he sighed and crammed a pillow over his eyes, but sleep was a long time coming that Friday night.
The alarm on his cell phone went off the next morning and he hit a button to snooze a little longer but when it sounded the second time he slung his legs over the side of the bed. After rolling his neck to get the kinks out, he headed to the bathroom only to find Justin standing outside the door.
“Levi beat us and Mavis has taken over the second bathroom while she’s here,” he said grumpily.
Levi opened the door and a fog of hot steam rushed out to meet them. “Looks like Justin is ahead of you this mornin’. That’s strange, since you’re usually already in the kitchen by now. Havin’ nightmares about them two kids who are so feisty or were you dreamin’ about Retta and didn’t want to wake up?”
“You two are crazy.” Cade rushed into the bathroom, locked the door, and rubbed the fog from the mirror with a hand towel. The same cowboy was looking back at him like always. But there was something different there and if felt really good.
Cade was sitting on her porch that morning when Retta ventured outside before the sun was fully up. He was holding an empty cup.
“Want me to refill that? I just made a pot.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He held it out toward her.
A few minutes later she backed out of the screen door and handed his cup back to him. “So you’re a morning person too?” she asked.
“Yep. Looks like you are too.” He sipped the coffee. “Strong and black. Perfect.”
“That’s the only way to drink coffee, as far as I’m concerned. I’m used to getting up early. Daddy was always up before the sun. The work is never done on a farm, so I was up with him. I never could break the habit.” She sat down beside him on the top porch step.
“I’ve got a question,” she said. “I thought every minute of the days would be filled with activities like a summer camp.”
“Nope, we like to let the kids kind of find their place and then go from there. There’ll be fun things for them to do, but basically we like to build leadership and teams with a fairly flexible schedule. It takes a few days but they’ll settle in.”
“I’m a little worried about the Alice-and-Faith combination in the kitchen. Alice is so young and shy.”
Cade sipped his coffee. “Alice might need a protector and Faith might need someone to protect. One day in the kitchen won’t hurt them, and if they don’t like working together then they can always change their minds.”
“How about the boys?” she asked.
“Skip says that Kirk and Nelson are plotting against the girls. I’m a little worried about Benjy. He gets distracted easily. He may be helping with hay and then suddenly he’ll decide he needs to read for a while,” Cade said.
“The sun isn’t shining. Where is Hard Times? Did you know that turtles can live for years?” Benjy rounded the house and joined them on the porch.
“He’s probably hiding under a bush somewhere. I bet you get to see him before the summer is over, though. Are you ready to haul hay today?”
“Yes. Gabby is nice but I like Alice better. Did you ever read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland? That is a weird book. One time she’s big like a giant and another time she’s itty bitty. I wonder if that’s possible. I’d like to be big like a giant someday but not today because if I was I might hurt Kirk and that wouldn’t be nice.” He turned around and crossed the lawn back to the boys’ bunkhouse.
“Looks like he really doesn’t like Kirk,” Retta said.
“Hopefully by the end of the time they’re here, things will change for both of them.” Cade finished his coffee and stood up.
“How’s that?” She followed his lead and stood to her feet.
“Kirk will learn to be less aggressive and Benjy will learn to like him. Thanks for the coffee.” He tucked his fist under her chin and brushed a sweet kiss across her lips.
“You’re welcome.”
“See you later.” He turned around and whistled all the way back to the ranch house.
She touched her lips to see if they were as warm as they felt but they were surprisingly cool. “Well, I’ll be damned. So all it took was a cup of coffee.” She took a few steps off the porch to watch him until he was out of sight.
The grass was damp and cool on Retta’s bare feet but it wouldn’t be that way for long once the sun came out. That was one of the things she missed when she lived in the city—the feel of wet grass early in the morning, and the scent of freshly plowed dirt.
“And neither grass nor dirt was as good as that kiss,” she whispered as she whipped around and went back inside the cabin.
Faith looked up with accusing eyes and asked, “You been out doin’ Cade?”
“No and how do you even know that kind of language? You are twelve years old for goodness sake,” Retta scolded.
“In my world that’s old enough to know that kind of thing. And I see the way you look at him. Might as well go on and do him and see if it’s any good.” Faith shrugged.
Retta plopped down in one of the recliners. Lord have mercy! When she was twelve she hadn’t even had a boyfriend yet. “I was on the porch with Cade. We had a cup of coffee together because we are both early risers. I see that you are too. So have you had sex?” Retta asked, bluntly.
“No, I’m waiting until I’m thirteen,” Faith answered.
Retta was glad she was sitting down. “Don’t you think that’s a little young?”
“Nope. One of the girls in the foster home where I stay is thirteen and she’s pregnant but I plan to get on the pill before I do it. I don’t want no babies, not ever.”
And this kid was going to be with Alice, who was only ten years old. Retta would take Mavis aside and talk to her so she could keep an eye on them.
“When did you give up your V-card?” Faith asked.
/> “What?”
“Virgin card,” Faith answered.
“Not until I was in college and only then because I loved the guy,” Retta answered honestly.
“Man, you must’ve been old-fashioned.” Faith giggled.
“No, just brought up by a God-fearin’ father.”
“There ain’t no God. If there was I’d have a mama who cared enough about me to not do drugs and get me put into the system when I was only five years old.” She bounced up from the sofa. “Is it time for us to get dressed and go up to the house for breakfast?”
“You got your bedroom put in order?” Retta asked.
“Yep, did that first thing. I always get up early so I can watch the sun come up. It’s the only quiet time I get in a house with so many kids in it,” she said.
Retta nodded and started toward Alice’s bedroom door, but it swung open and the little girl came out rubbing her eyes. Her brown hair was flying every which way. No wonder she wore braids. It was so curly that it would be hard to manage even in a ponytail.
“Good mornin’. Want me to braid your hair today?” Retta asked.
“Yes, please. My biggest sister fixes it for me every day before she goes to work. I’ll get the brush.” She ran back into the room and returned with it in her hand.
“So you like purple?” Retta asked as she carefully worked the tangles from Alice’s hair.
“No, I like pink,” Alice said. “Why would you think I like purple?”
“Your brush is purple,” Retta answered as she parted her hair and whipped the strands into a French braid.
“Katy, that’s one of my sisters; she let me borrow it,” Alice whispered. “We have to share at my house but my other sister, Tamara, she got a new one and said she’d share with Gloria. That way I got to bring this with me.”
Retta’s eyes filled with tears but she blinked them back. “Well, that’s mighty nice of Katy.”
“She’s my favorite. She works at McDonald’s and sometimes she brings hamburgers home for us.”
“How old is Katy?” Retta asked as she finished the second braid.
“She’s seventeen and she goes to high school. Mama says that she has to graduate so she can get a good job. Katy says she’s even goin’ to college,” Alice told her. “I want to learn to cook so I can get a job when I’m old enough.”
“What does your mama do?”
“She works in a factory where they sew all day. She brings home scraps and I make doll clothes out of them. When I get all growed up, I’m going to make fancy clothes for models like you see on television.”
Alice caught sight of her braids in a mirror hanging on the wall and squealed. “I love them. Can you do this every day? I’ll even get up early if you will.”
“Of course.” Retta hugged her tightly.
She squirmed loose and ran back to her room. “I got to get dressed and make up my bed and brush my teeth. I hope Mavis likes my new braids.”
Gabby and Sasha came out of their rooms, fully dressed, hair pulled up in ponytails and their hats settled on their heads. Their jeans were faded but clean and their tank tops hung on their slim bodies.
“I’d suggest you throw a lightweight shirt on over your tops or you’ll both sunburn,” Retta said.
“Good idea,” Sasha said. “Kirk and Nelson wouldn’t never let us hear the end of it if we got blistered. If they come out all without no shirts, let’s don’t tell them about sunburns.”
Gabby put up a fist and Sasha touched hers to it in agreement.
“Okay, everyone ready for breakfast?”
“Yes!” Alice pumped her fist in the air. “And then I get to learn to cook. I really like that Mavis.”
“I’ll give this cookin’ stuff one day and if I don’t like it, I’ll do something else,” Faith muttered.
Alice cocked her head to one side. “Really?”
“Yes, really. You got a problem with that?” Faith looked down on the girl that barely came up to her shoulder.
“Not if you don’t get in my way,” Alice shot back at her.
Alice might be small but she had three older sisters and evidently she’d learned to be tough when she had to be. Faith might have bitten off more than she could chew. Question was, with Cade’s kiss had Retta bitten off more than she could chew too?
Chapter Eight
Cade was headfirst into the tractor with grease on his hands and face when he felt a presence behind him. He knew it was Retta before he even straightened up. Even before he’d ever kissed her, there was a little kick in his heart that told him when she was near. But since the kiss, it had deepened into a pretty hard thump in his chest.
Cade backed away, wiped his hands on a red cloth, and held it up. “See this?”
“Sure. It’s a red shop rag,” she answered.
“It’s the color of OU football uniforms. That’s what we think of that color. We use it to wipe grease off our hands,” he teased.
“In Oklahoma shop rags are orange,” she shot back at him.
He laughed out loud. “So you ready to get your hands dirty?”
“Can I see the donkey first?” she asked.
“Not unless you want to walk over to the other barn where the stalls and corrals are. This is basically the tractor barn with only a few bales of hay for Gussie to keep her kittens in. Want a bottle of water? I’m ready for a break.”
“Sure.” She nodded. “I’ll get them. Tack room?”
He leaned forward so he could watch her all the way back down the center aisle. Her butt filled out those faded jeans really well. She’d tied the tail of a chambray T-shirt in a knot in the front so it accentuated her small waist and even left a tiny bit of back skin showing. She wore those cowboy boots and the straw hat with ease and she even knew what a tack room was and where it was located. That woman was a rancher. She might not know it yet, but the time would come when what was in her blood and her heart would win over what she thought she wanted.
She returned with a couple of bottles of icy cold water and handed one off to him. “Nice tack room. Saw a bunch of well-maintained saddles. You got horses?”
“Just a few old guys we put out to pasture. I keep them for the kids. Did you have horses?” He twisted the cap off the bottle and took a long drink.
She did the same. “Couple of gentle old mares for me to ride when I was a kid. Daddy got rid of them when I went to college.”
“Dogs or any other pets?”
“Daddy’s old cattle dog died a week before he did. I buried him behind the barn and covered the grave with stones. Then I took Daddy out there in his wheelchair—God, he hated that thing but he wanted to see where Rusty was buried. We both cried so hard that our eyes were swollen when we got back to the house.” She paused and took a deep breath, as if centering herself to keep from weeping again.
He could visualize the picture that she’d painted so well that it put a lump in his throat.
“How can I help with this job?” she asked. “I’m at loose ends, with my girls either in the hay field or the kitchen.”
He swallowed hard before he answered. “You can hand tools to me so I don’t keep hitting my head when I raise up to get them. I’ll be the surgeon if you’ll be the nurse who takes care of the equipment.” He finished up the water and threw the bottle like a football toward a trash can. “Touchdown!”
“Oh, no. You don’t get to throw the ball over the goal line, you have to run it or kick it, like this.” She laid her empty bottle on the floor, took two steps back, and shook the kinks from her shoulders and then expertly kicked the thing right over the top of the trash can.
Cade bent forward and made the referee’s sign that meant “no good.”
She bowed up to him, nose to nose. “That cleared the top of the goalposts and sailed right smack through the middle. It was good for three points, so now I’m ahead in this game. It’s not my fault that you thought you were playin’ basketball and threw the ball over the goal rather than carried it.”
“Are we keeping score until July Fourth?”
“Sure, and right now you are down by one,” she told him. “Now let’s get this operation over with so you’ll have a spare tractor when you need it.”
The air in the barn reminded Cade of the feel just before a tornado or a bad storm rolled over north central Texas. It was something felt, not seen, and words couldn’t begin to describe it.
“I guess you helped your dad with tractors?”
“If it’s a John Deere, I can tear one down and put it back together with my eyes closed. Since Daddy thought that someday I’d inherit the farm, he made sure I knew a spark plug from a distributor cap. But if you want to play surgeon, I’m glad to hand you whatever you need.”
He bent over the engine. “Crescent wrench.”
She slapped it into his open hand.
Man it was great to be working with a woman who knew the difference between a screwdriver and a torque wrench. “I guess you can do about anything when it comes to ranchin’.”
“Yep,” she answered.
Her head was so close to his that when she moved, her hair tickled his cheek. He had to think of something other than that kiss and the heat between them. Baseball—that would do just fine.
“I thought the boys might like a baseball game this afternoon.”
“Count us girls in. It’ll be fun.” Her warm breath on his neck put a little pressure behind his zipper.
He nudged her on the shoulder and the sparks flitted around even more. “We don’t want to encourage too much competition between the sexes because that doesn’t make for good teamwork, but we could make a little side bet that no one knows about.”
“Oh, yeah! What are we betting?”
“If the boys win, you get to name your prize. If the girls win, you can join me and my family in October in our private box at the OU-Texas game.”
She stuck out her hand. “You are on, cowboy, but that’s taking a big risk. You realize I’ll be rooting for Oklahoma right there in the midst of all you Texas fans.”
Cowboy Bold Page 8