Oh boy, you don’t know the half of what that dirty mouth can do. “Folks might say the same thing about you, Tobin. You act so laid-back. You’re so freakin’ happy-go-lucky all the time.” Fletch paused. “But that ain’t the case, is it? You’ve got a darker side that no one sees.”
Tobin looked startled for a second. “So, Doc, you’re an expert on all animal behavior? Or you just guessing about me?”
Fletch smiled.
“And with that,” Tobin said, “maybe we oughta talk about the business—or nonbusiness as the case may be—at hand. I’ve done next to nothin’ on this. Far as I know Renner’s done even less than me besides having Tierney set up the corporation and constructing the building.”
“I’ll tell you what—bein’s I’m on sabbatical, I’ve got way less to do around here than you. I’ll jump on the research. See what options we’ve got. I’ll see if I can’t come up with a concrete plan, or at least a reason to abandon this idea altogether. Then if Renner asks you about it, say I’ve taken over. That way you’re off the hook and I’ve got a valid excuse for bein’ at the Split Rock for the next few weeks.”
“Really? You’d do that?”
Fletch shrugged. “It’ll be a change for me, if nothin’ else.”
“Thanks, man.” Tobin stood. “I gotta get. Buzz me if you need anything.”
“Will do.” Fletch reached for his laptop.
Tobin’s footsteps stopped. His voice drifted across the cavernous room. “Can I ask you something?”
“I guess.”
“Is Tanna part of the reason you’re spending all your time off up here?”
No, she’s the only reason. “Yep. Something about that woman . . . just got to me from the get-go. Never happened before.”
“Does she know that?”
“No. So like you, I’m gonna try like hell to look like I’m busy.”
Chapter Twenty
Harper barreled into Wild West Clothiers shortly after noon, blond hair sticking up every which way. She set the baby carrier on the floor, looked around the store and burst into tears.
Slightly freaked out, Tanna gently took Harper by the hand and sat her in the chair closest to her baby.
“Harper? If you hate where I positioned the socks and slippers display, I can always put it back where it was.”
That caused her to cry harder.
While Harper cried, a panicked Tanna studied her face. Her skin was blotchy. Her eyes swollen. Her lips puffy. The beautiful, serene, always put-together woman was a mess.
“I’m sorry. It’s not the display.”
“I kinda figured that. Can you tell me what’s goin’ on?”
A long pause ensued and Harper leaned over to check on her baby. “Poor Jake. Upset mama turns his whole world around.”
The kid hadn’t uttered a peep. “He seems to be adjusting.”
“The car ride always mellows him out.” Her red-rimmed eyes met Tanna’s. “I’m losing my mind because I received notification that my sister Liberty was injured in the line of duty.”
Tanna’s stomach dropped. She reached for both of Harper’s hands. “Oh my God, Harper, that’s horrible.”
“Evidently it’s bad enough they brought her back to the U.S. as soon as she was stable. That’s all they’ll tell me.”
“Where was she stationed?”
“Afghanistan. She only had two months left on this tour and she talked about getting out of the service for good.” Harper bit her lip to keep from crying—no wonder the skin was so raw. “This isn’t the way she’s supposed to do that! Then I think, God, at least she’s not coming home in a casket.”
“Do you know what happened? Or the extent of her injuries?”
She shook her head. “So I have to fly to Walter Reed to deal with this.”
“When are you going?”
“Today.” She smoothed her hand over her head, trying to tame her hair. “I have to take Jake with me since I’m nursing. It scares me to death to take my baby into a hospital environment where the patients have been exposed to all sorts of weird viruses from all over the world. But that said, I don’t know what I’ll do if they won’t let me bring him into the room with me to see Liberty. As much as I want Bran there . . . as much as I need him there . . . he has a ranch to run and a child to take care of. He’s a great daddy, but Tate is a handful.” She sniffled. “I have no idea how long I’ll be gone.”
“Don’t you have other family that could meet you there and help out?”
She shook her head. “My younger sister Bailey is also in the army and she’s stationed in Japan. All my friends are pregnant or have infants so they can’t come with me. So I have to do this on my own.”
Tanna felt so helpless in the face of Harper’s distress.
Then Harper inhaled a deep breath. “I’d planned to be here tomorrow since my largest shipment for the year is arriving. It takes me a solid week to catalogue merchandise and I’ve always had Tierney or Janie to deal with customers. This can’t wait until I get back. The merchandise can’t sit in boxes long because there’s only a two-week window to decide on returns. I really hate to ask, but is there any way you can catalogue all the merchandise? That’ll entail you working in the back every day until it’s done. With as busy as we’ve been, Harlow will have to run the front end by herself.”
“Of course I’ll do it.”
Relief swam in her eyes and she teared up again. “Thank you.”
“Hey. I shouldn’t have to remind you that it is my job. Do you have sheets or lists from last year that’ll show me exactly how you want everything categorized?”
Harper nodded and stood. “My filing system makes no sense to anyone but me, so I’ll grab the files. Might take me a bit.” Her gaze winged from the baby carrier to Tanna. “Will you keep an eye on Jake?”
“Sure.”
Harper disappeared into the back.
Tanna crouched down and looked at the baby boy. Such a cutie. His small head appeared to be covered in white-blond chicken feathers. His lips were curved into a frown and milk seeped from the corner of his mouth. Jake sported a Western onesie in plain brown with fancy white stitching down the center. He wore camouflage pants. On his tiny feet were socks with a monkey face on the toes. Who said babies couldn’t be fashionable?
A wave of want rolled over her. She’d always expected she’d have a couple of babies and a husband by age thirty-six.
It could be worse. You could be on your way to some strange hospital to deal with an injured sibling.
Tanna sighed. She really hoped she heard from her brother soon.
She stared at the sleeping baby and willed him to wake up. Maybe she should just scoop him up and hold him anyway. The kid looked lonely.
Ha. You just wanna hold him and absorb that sweet innocence.
The cowbell on the door jangled and she looked up, expecting a customer, but Bran and Fletch walked in.
Fletch smiled at her. As did Bran Turner, but his smile didn’t make her heart turn cartwheels like the doc’s did.
You fall in love too fast, Tanna. This is a lusty friendship, that’s all.
“Hey, guys. What’s up?”
“Tracking down my wayward wife.” Bran crouched beside Tanna and immediately reached out to touch his son’s cheek. “Why is it you’ll sleep in public but not at home?”
Not surprising that Jake didn’t answer.
Fletch leaned over the baby carrier. “Damn, Bran. He is a cute little bugger. Kid totally takes after his mama.”
“Don’t I know it.”
Tanna glanced around but didn’t see Tate the terror. “Where’s son number one?”
“In the office with Tierney. Crazy woman is teaching him his numbers and I’ll be damned if the kid hasn’t learned them. He can count to ten.”
She and Fletch e
xchanged an amused look at Bran’s pride.
Jake squirmed and opened his eyes.
The sight made her melt. Baby Jake was a blue-eyed heartbreaker to boot.
“Heya, buddy,” Bran said softly. He moved the carrying handle and picked Jake up, bringing him to his shoulder as he stood. Patting the infant on the back, he said, “He’ll start fussin’ in a second. That oughta get his mama out here right quick.”
Sure enough, Jake squalled and Harper practically came running. “What . . . ? Bran? What’re you doing here?” Her gaze scanned the room. “And where is Tate?”
“I left him at home alone in the garage with the power tools, a pack of matches, a stack of porn and a bottle of vodka.” Before Harper retorted, he said, “I do know how to look after our son, sweetheart. He’s upstairs with Tierney.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “I told you I had to do one thing before I left.”
“I came to prod you along. We gotta get on the road so we don’t miss our flight.”
Harper walked over and took the fussy baby from him. “You mean my flight.”
Bran shook his head. “I’m comin’ with you. So’s Tate. He oughta be real wound up by the time we get to Denver. Don’t envy those folks on the plane with us.”
“But . . .” Harper looked completely bewildered.
He curled his hands around her face. “You’re not doin’ this alone. And you’d have known that, had you not raced outta the house before I got off the phone.”
“But the cattle—”
“Will be fine. I’ve lined up help for Les, which oughta give him an incentive to get his work done and not screw around. Since we both know how much the cranky old coot loves to have helpers underfoot.”
Harper laughed and sniffled.
“Nothin’ is more important to me than you and our family. Nothin’.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “Liberty is my family too. Bein’ a family means we always stick together, got it?”
Tanna probably should’ve turned away to give them privacy, but the love and connection between these two caused warring feelings inside her: joy for their obvious happiness, sadness that she might never experience that for herself.
At that moment Fletch reached for her hand and squeezed.
She looked up. Whoa. When had they moved so close to each other?
But Fletch was focused on Harper and Bran too.
Bran placed a kiss on Jake’s head. “Now gimme back my boy. I’ll get Tate and you finish your business with Tanna. Five minutes. That’s it.”
Harper muttered something and Bran laughed. Then she faced Tanna. “Okay. All the lists from the past three years are in the file on the desk. I’ll have my cell phone with me so if you need something, text me.”
Tanna hip-checked Fletch. “See? Everyone in the world texts except you.”
“Now that I’m living up here for a bit I can just knock on your door if I wanna talk to you.”
“Shoot. I forgot to do one thing.” Harper raced into the back room.
Bran hefted the baby carrier. “Thanks for easing Harper’s mind, Tanna.”
“No problem. But it still strikes me as odd. Part of my job is to rotate merchandise. Why is this such a big deal?”
“Because it’s Harper’s favorite activity of the year and now she won’t get to do it.” He shrugged. “I don’t get why she loves ripping the plastic packaging off shit and steaming out the wrinkles, but I don’t question what makes her happy. The fact she trusts you to do it says a lot.” He looked at Fletch. “You comin’?”
“Yeah. I’ll be right there.”
After Bran left, Fletch lowered his lips to hers, giving her a kiss both hot and sweet.
“What was that for?” she said, a little breathlessly.
A secret smile crossed his face. “Just because.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Anytime. So, you wanna hang out after you’re done here? There’ll be daylight left so we can shoot skeet. There’s a range outside of Muddy Gap.”
“You’re taking me on a gun date?”
“Yep. Do you have a shotgun?”
Tanna rolled her eyes at the ridiculous question. “Did you somehow forget I’m from Texas?”
“My mistake.” He kissed her again. “See you later, sugar twang.”
Skeet shooting would take her mind off the change in daily schedule that meant for at least the next week, she couldn’t go to Eli’s place.
But she wasn’t sure if she felt relief or disappointment.
Chapter Twenty-one
Fletch pulled up to the fence at Eli’s, parking next to a van with Wyoming government plates. He heard happy, high-pitched shrieks a few seconds before he saw several girls chasing after one another, riling up the dogs yipping at their heels. The girls were part of a state sponsored social program—a pet project of his socially conscious cousin—that tried to curb juvenile delinquency in at-risk Native American kids by pairing them with Indian adults who’d successfully beaten the odds. Fletch watched as the young social worker, a spitfire named Andie who ran the program, followed the girls into the barn.
Eli ambled over, wearing his usual grin. “Mornin’, sunshine.”
“You are entirely too chipper before noon, Eli.”
“And I ain’t gonna apologize for that either. Has bein’ on sabbatical made you one of them lazy types that sleeps until noon?”
“Fuck off.”
Eli laughed and Fletch followed him to the fence connected to the chute, mimicking his stance, leaning over the top, gazing across the paddock.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what brings you by?”
No reason to hedge. “Tanna.”
“I figured.” Eli sipped his coffee. “But swinging by to say howdy to her because you were in the neighborhood ain’t all of it, since I’m pretty sure you woke up beside her a few hours ago.”
“I did. I could get used to having that cowgirl in my bed. Anyway, I wanted to see how she’s doin’. Or more accurately, what she’s doin’.”
“Well, she hasn’t been doin’ anything since up until this morning I haven’t seen her for two weeks. That aside, you questioning my methods, cuz?”
He shrugged. “Maybe a little.”
Eli took it in stride. “Been wondering if I oughta be questioning them methods more myself.”
“I know she hasn’t been here, but before that . . . had Tanna made any progress?”
“Some. Not nearly enough. She don’t scale the fence and run away from the horses like she did that first day when she helped me feed.”
Fletch frowned. “But she is at least around horses, in close proximity to them?”
“No. I’m as embarrassed as I am frustrated when I admit that Tanna’s idea of getting help . . . and my idea of helping her are vastly different.”
“Explain that,” Fletch demanded.
“She has no problem cleaning a stall. Or the whole barn, as long as there aren’t horses in said barn. I’m afraid to go into my own tack room because she’s got it so perfectly organized. She’ll even grab a bucket and help me feed. But as far as her spending time with any horse? Dropping a lead rope and catching one? Or even just standing by while I’m grooming one? Nope. Hasn’t happened yet.”
Fletch’s stomach knotted. “Shit. It’s been weeks since she first came to you, Eli.”
“I’m aware of that. I haven’t pushed her—we both know that pushing ain’t my way. Times like this, I wish it was. But I expected she’d get tired of the snail’s pace and take the initiative. A woman like Tanna, made of fire, stubborn as all get-out, shouldn’t be content to be shoveling shit. She oughta at least be riding by now. Heck, even having her pet a damn trail pony would be a step forward. Again, it hasn’t happened.”
“Got a theory as to why that is?”
Eli sighed—a rare sign of his frustration because Eli always excelled where others had failed. “If I was the type to lay blame, I’d point out that Tanna isn’t here every day trying to overcome this paralyzing fear . . . maybe because she ain’t sure if she wants to overcome it. Is she goin’ through the motions just to keep the folks off her back who think she oughta be over this issue by now?”
“She does have a job,” Fletch pointed out. “She’s limited on time during daylight hours, and she’s worked the last ten days straight.”
Eli faced him. “You making excuses for her?”
“No.” Fletch blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know. I don’t want to. She tries to hide her fears, but some nights she has nightmares. She won’t talk about them to me and I know they’ve got to do with the accident. I’d hoped maybe she was talking to you.”
Eli shook his head.
“Any time I ask what she’s doin’ out here with you, she changes the subject. I knew something was up, or that her progress had stalled or whatever when I realized she won’t even come down to the building where I’m working with Tobin because she’d have to pass through the horse corral.”
“I never would’ve pegged her as the Queen of Avoidance, but that’s what it’s come to. And I feel like I’ve helped put the crown on her head.” Silence stretched. “You got any suggestions?” Eli asked. “’Cause I ain’t too proud to admit I’m doin’ her more harm than good right now. Seems I’m better with horses than people.”
“Yeah, I’m right there with you most days.” Fletch tapped his fingers on the top of the fence post. “What were your plans for today?”
“Nothin’. I sorta wing it when the girls are here. Andie is insistent on them blowing off steam and excitement before I put them to work learning life lessons.”
Fletch snorted at the term life lessons. The girls were getting firsthand knowledge on cleaning a chicken coop, mucking out a barn, and the daily requirements of having livestock. “So you could’ve scheduled something for the girls today as a surprise?”
“Whatcha got in mind?”
“A hands-on demonstration about proper horse grooming with a veterinarian, assisted by the lovely cowgirl and expert horsewoman, Tanna Barker. Followed by a show-and-tell session of what it means to be a barrel racer. Complete with visual aids.” Fletch grinned. “Gonna show the Queen of Avoidance that the King of Tenacity is in the house today.”
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