Second-Chance Cowboy

by Carolyne Aarsen

  By the time they got the sow fixed up and carted on a trailer with her piglets back to the farmer’s yard, he was back in service. Then his cell phone dinged steadily with messages from the school. He tried to call his father but he wasn’t around. Neither were Cord or Ella. So he told Dr. Waters he had to go to the elementary school, earning him a scowl and a slight reprimand.

  He knew it didn’t look good. Barely a week on the job at the vet clinic and things were falling apart for him at home. But what else could he do?

  “If that’s what you think should happen,” Morgan said.

  “I do,” Miss Abrams said. “I know it’s not an easy solution, but Nathan needs some time with you more than he needs school right now.”

  Morgan stifled another sigh. Part of him knew she was right, but he wasn’t sure how this was going to work.

  “I’ll take him home,” Morgan said. He put his hand on his son’s shoulder and, to his surprise, the boy didn’t flinch away. He looked up at Morgan, looking so bereft Morgan knelt and pulled him into his arms.

  Nathan stayed there a moment, resting his head against Morgan’s neck. His son, he thought, a rush of pure joy flowing through him.

  But then Nathan pulled back, withdrawn again.

  “We’re going back home,” Morgan told him.

  “Which one?”

  The question hit Morgan like a blow. He knew Gillian had moved around a lot. Had his son no sense of which place was home?

  “We’re going to the ranch. Where Stormy is.”

  His face lit up at that. “I really want to see Stormy again. I think she misses me when I’m in school.”

  “Maybe she does.”

  He picked up Nathan’s backpack and held out his hand, but Nathan jumped off the cot and hurried ahead of him toward the door.

  Morgan thanked Miss Abrams and, as they walked back to the truck, Nathan smiled. “I’m excited to ride my mom’s horse,” he said, looking ahead as if imagining himself doing so.

  “I’m sure you are,” Morgan said. The school counselor he had spoken to before he picked Nathan up had mentioned that the only time Nathan seemed to show any life was when he talked about his mother’s horse. She suggested that Morgan let Nathan fantasize about the horse and riding it. Affirming his comments, she said. Morgan wasn’t entirely sure how to go about that, so he figured he would treat Nathan’s suggestions like he had his twin sister Amber’s when they were growing up. Agree and nod and smile.

  “But I can’t until Stormy is trained,” Nathan said.

  “That’s true.”

  Nathan said nothing. Instead he stared out the window.

  “I have to stop by at the clinic for a minute,” Morgan said. He had forgotten to write down the billable hours for the call he did this morning.

  Nathan just nodded. At least he wasn’t crying.

  Morgan pulled up to the clinic, dismayed to see Tabitha’s truck parked there. What was she doing back here? He thought she worked at the café in the afternoon.

  “Isn’t that the truck of the lady who almost ran over Brandy?” Nathan asked.

  “Yes. It is,” Morgan said.

  “Her name is Miss Tabitha, isn’t it? And she works at the café? She gave me a coloring book and crayons even though I’m not a little boy. But it was nice. And Grandpa Boyce says she’s the lady that trains horses.”

  “Yes. Miss Tabitha does train horses,” Morgan answered. “But she’s very busy working for Dr. Waters and Mr. Sepp at the café.” Morgan hoped he got the hint as he helped him out of the truck.

  Nathan walked ahead of Morgan, skipping a little, looking a lot happier than he had in a while. Guess sending him to school hadn’t been such a good idea after all. Guess he wasn’t much of a father for not knowing that.

  Morgan opened the door and, as always, his eyes had to adjust from the bright summer sun to the windowless back room with its pens and gates. He wondered why Dr. Waters hadn’t at least put a skylight in here. Or replaced some of the penning. One of these days some animal was going to lose it in here and bust one of the rusted posts.

  “Wow. What do you do here?” Nathan asked.

  “This is where we work with cows and horses and bigger animals like that.”

  Nathan nodded as he followed Morgan through another door and down the hall to the front office, checking out the posters of dogs and cats and various other animals lining the walls between rooms.

  In the office, Tabitha stood by the desk, talking to Jenny, her one hand pressed to her cheek, her other clutching her elbow. She looked like she’d been crying.

  “I doubt Dr. Waters will give you more hours,” Jenny was saying.

  “Why should he? He barely gives Morgan enough. Dr. Waters is running around like a fool himself, losing business because he can’t keep up. Makes me wonder why he hired Morgan in the first place.”

  “Are you kidding? Who in Cedar Ridge would ever say no to a Walsh?”

  “And who would say yes to a Rennie? We both know what my father’s reputation has done for my sister and me. Now that I quit the café, how am I ever going to pay off my bills and finish that wretched house? And I still have a ton of cleaning up to do.” She stifled another sob, pressing her hand to her mouth.

  Morgan held back, realizing he had stumbled into a very personal but potentially disturbing conversation. He gathered that Tabitha had lost her job at the café. But what surprised him more was his reaction to her tears. He wanted to rush into the room and pull her into his arms. Comfort her like he used to whenever she was upset.

  He was about to back away and wait until those impulses passed, but Nathan had finally caught up to him. He saw Tabitha and went running past Morgan into the room.

  “Hi! You’re Miss Tabitha, aren’t you?” he said, smiling up at her.

  Tabitha’s reddened eyes grew wide as she looked from him to Morgan, who now stood in the doorway. She spun away, swiping at her face.

  Morgan shot a warning frown at Jenny, who wasn’t looking at him either. He guessed she wasn’t too proud of her “he’s a Walsh” comment.

  Nor should she be. Morgan liked to think that his high GPA, his stellar reputation at his previous vet clinic and his strict work ethic had been the reason Dr. Waters hired him.

  Not his last name.

  “Why is Miss Tabitha crying?” Nathan said, turning to Morgan. “Why is she sad?”

  “I’m okay.” Tabitha sniffed, then turned back to Nathan.

  “I was crying too,” Nathan said, looking back at Tabitha. “I miss my mommy and I want to ride her horse but I can’t.”

  Tabitha gave him a wavery smile and touched his head lightly. “I’m sorry you can’t.” Then she looked puzzled. “And why aren’t you in school?”

  He shrugged, suddenly very interested in the hem of his worn T-shirt. “School makes me sad,” he said, twisting it around his hand. He managed to poke a hole in it and wiggled his finger through it, making it bigger. “So my daddy says I don’t have to go anymore.”

  “But who will take care of you?” Tabitha glanced over at Morgan, who simply shrugged. He wished he knew too.

  Just then Cass came into the office and dropped a file on the desk. She looked around. “Am I missing something?”

  Jenny stood and nodded at the other vet assistant. “Why don’t you take Nathan to see the new puppy we’re taking care of?”

  Cass frowned, and then Jenny raised her eyebrows, motioned her head down the hall, and suddenly Cass seemed to get whatever hint Jenny seemed to be giving.

  “Nathan. Do you want to see an adorable Labradoodle puppy?” Cass said, sounding puzzled but obviously going along with whatever Jenny seemed to be planning.

  Nathan grinned. “Labradoodle. That’s a funny name.” But he willingly trotted along behind Cass.

>   “So. Tabitha just lost her job at the café.” Jenny turned to Morgan. “And now you have your son, who can’t go to school and who, in my opinion, probably shouldn’t have been going to school. The other day you were asking me for names of a nanny and Tabitha was asking me if there’s anyplace that’s hiring. Seems to me we have a solution to two problems in one right here.”

  “Wait a minute—”

  “But—”

  Both Morgan and Tabitha spoke at once. Jenny held up her hand. “Do you have a nanny for your son? Do you know of anyone who can do it for you? I know you’re willing to pay decent money because you told me so.”

  He realized the sad truth of what she was saying. “No. I don’t.” He felt like a kid being quizzed in school and sensed where Jenny was going. But he wasn’t going to be the first to say anything. Ten years ago Tabitha had roundly rejected him. He wasn’t about to allow her to do it again on purpose.

  “Tabitha, you just came back from walking around town trying to find a job. With no success.” She held one hand out to her and the other out to Morgan. “Morgan here needs a nanny. You need a job.” Jenny wove her fingers together, indicating a perfect fit. “Voilà. Both problems solved.”

  Morgan could see Tabitha was fighting her own reaction to the situation. He wished it didn’t bother him that she was so reluctant to help. But at the same time, he knew he was being hypocritical. He wasn’t keen on her spending time with his son either.

  She glanced over at him, her eyebrows lifted in a question. “What do you think? Do you trust me to take care of your son?”

  “Guess I have to,” he said.

  He knew he could sound more gracious than that, but Jenny was right.

  He didn’t have a choice.

  Chapter Five

  “Have you seen my mom’s horse?” Nathan asked Tabitha after he was done with his lunch. He was sitting at the kitchen island, head propped in his hands, elbows resting on the high counter as he watched Tabitha clean up the kitchen.

  Tabitha had arrived at the house early this morning determined to create a good impression. Morgan was also ready to go and he had given her cursory instructions. It wasn’t hard to tell that he was still reluctant to have her in his house, yet they both knew Jenny had been right.

  They needed each other.

  “No, I haven’t,” she said, tidying up the papers spread out over the dining room table. She and Nathan had spent the morning going over the assignments the school had emailed to Morgan and that he had printed out. Her heart had sunk when Morgan had informed her that he hoped she would help Nathan with his schoolwork. Just to keep him up to speed.

  Tabitha had reluctantly agreed. Thankfully he was only in second grade and she had managed to get him to read all his assignments aloud to her as they worked through them.

  Nathan didn’t seem to notice any hesitancy on her part. He seemed happy enough to be at home instead of school.

  Now he was bouncing his head in time to the country music Tabitha played on the radio in the kitchen, ketchup from the macaroni she had made him streaked on one cheek, his long hair sticking up. He needed a haircut but there was no way she was taking care of that. Morgan seemed hesitant enough to have her watch Nathan. She got it, she really did. Because she felt the same reluctance and it only grew with each minute she spent with Nathan. Being around him all morning had created an unwelcome pang of sorrow. Made her wonder what kind of children she and Morgan would have had.

  “I haven’t,” Tabitha said again, taking his plate from him.

  “Can we go see her now? I’m done with all my work.”

  “Is she here?”

  “Mr. Ernest brought her here on Tuesday.” He grinned, swiping his sleeve over his mouth, moving the ketchup smear to his shirt. Tabitha made a paper towel wet and walked around the island.

  “We can go see her, but first let me wipe the ketchup off your shirt,” she said.

  He held out his arm and she cleaned it as best as she could. The shirt was worn and thin. So were his pants. Tabitha wondered again why Morgan hadn’t purchased any new clothes for him.

  She looked around the house again at the sparse furnishings of the spacious, open-plan home. A large leather sectional and a television on a wooden shelf were all that filled the living room. An old worn table and four folding chairs huddled around it in the dining area.

  Nothing hung on the walls. There were no curtains at the window. It broke her heart. She had imagined the interior of this home so many times, but never in all her dreams did it look this bare and unwelcoming.

  She knew Morgan wasn’t short of cash. When he told her what he was willing to pay her, she was surprised. Pleased, but surprised. And she’d had to swallow her pride and thank him for it.

  All for the cause, she reminded herself.

  “Can you wipe my cheek too?” Nathan asked, holding his face up to her. “I think I have ketchup on it too.”

  She cupped his chin in her hand and gently wiped the remnants of the smear off his cheek. The smile he gave her created another tremor of sorrow at the thought of might-have-beens with Morgan.

  She pulled back with a start. She couldn’t let this little guy into her heart.

  “Let’s go see your horse,” she said. Nathan jumped off his chair and ran out the door, leading the way.

  She followed him across the cracked sidewalk then down a worn gravel path to the corral. Brandy the dog had jumped up from her place in the sunshine and followed them, her tail waving. Nathan ran ahead, the dog at his heels, and Tabitha smiled at the sight. Life distilled to its essence, she thought, watching as Nathan stopped and petted Brandy, then hurried on.

  A large bale of hay with a fork stuck in it sat by the corral where a gray horse stood, head over the fence, looking expectant.

  “She’s always hungry,” Nathan said, walking over to her. But the horse shied away when he came near. “And I don’t think she likes me.”

  “She doesn’t know you yet, that’s all,” Tabitha said, coming closer to the fence. She leaned her arms on the top rail, warmed by the sun. A delicate summer breeze rustled the leaves of the trees surrounding the corral and teased her hair away from her face. Between working at the veterinary clinic and her job at the café and renovations on the house in the few hours she could carve out, she didn’t get to spend much time outdoors. “What’s her name?”

  “Stormy,” Nathan said. “Morgan said I can’t ride her yet.”

  “This is the horse you wanted me to train?” she asked, watching as Stormy trotted around the corral, head up, eyes wide.

  “Yes.” Nathan grabbed her arm. “You’re here now. Why don’t you train her?”

  “I haven’t gotten permission from your father to do that.” He hadn’t seemed crazy about the idea of her training the horse before.

  “But you’re here now.”

  “I know.” And if she was honest, the horse made her curious. She had trained horses with Ernest, and each time a new horse came on his yard, she felt a tiny rush of energy. What would this horse be like to work with? What was its personality? Its strengths and weaknesses?

  She felt the same questions now as she watched Stormy striding back and forth. She had a lovely gait and would make an excellent riding horse.

  “But she’s my mom’s horse, not my dad’s...not Morgan’s.” His voice took on a petulant tone but Tabitha caught the faint hesitation before he spoke Morgan’s name.

  “Why don’t you call Morgan Dad?” she asked.

  Nathan looked down, his mouth forming a hard line. “My mom said he wasn’t a good dad. He didn’t keep his promises.”

  She wanted to ask but part of her felt a need to keep a distance.

  Don’t get involved. You can’t fix this.

  It broke her heart but she knew she had to maintain
some emotional distance. This time she was determined to leave Cedar Ridge with her heart whole. She couldn’t do that if she got too close.

  “I can have a look at her, I guess,” Tabitha said, climbing over the fence, watching her to see how Stormy would react. The horse immediately jumped to one side, trembling as she stood.

  She turned to the dog, who sat beside Nathan. “Brandy, you stay.” The dog looked at her, then lay down. “Make sure that the dog doesn’t come into the pen, okay?” she said to Nathan.

  He nodded and squatted down beside Brandy, holding her by the collar. Tabitha waited but it looked like the dog understood her command.

  Tabitha turned back to Stormy as she walked to one side of the pen, her eyes on the horse, keeping her distance for now. Stormy shied again. Tabitha spent a few minutes observing and she could see the horse relax.

  She waved her arms and Stormy ran to one corner, but Tabitha kept pushing her and Stormy started moving. Tabitha had never worked with a horse in a square pen before and was unsure, but when Stormy moved into the corner, Tabitha waved her arms at her again and thankfully Stormy kept moving.

  “Why are you scaring her?” Nathan called out.

  “This is what horses do in a herd,” she said, keeping the horse going, wishing she had a stick to wave around as well to help guide her. “They chase the horse away so the horse understands who’s in charge, and that’s what I’m doing here.” She kept the horse moving, watching for cues that the horse was ready to “talk” to her. “See, when horses are in a herd they have to work together, but to work together, they have to listen and obey the boss horse. Stormy needs to know I’m the boss.”

  “But don’t you want her to be your friend?” Nathan asked, sounding concerned.

  Tabitha chuckled at that. “See, that’s the difference between Brandy and Stormy. Brandy is looking for a friend. Stormy is looking for a leader. Two different animals, two different things.”

  Stormy went around a few more times and Tabitha felt distracted, watching to make sure Nathan and Brandy stayed, that the horse didn’t push the fence, and yet keeping up her momentum.