A Cowboy State of Mind

by Jennie Marts

  He seemed uncomfortable too as he raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Oh my gosh. What happened to your shirt?” she asked, staring at his missing sleeve. “Did you hurt your arm?”

  “Nah, just my pride. I took my shirt off to work on the car and next thing I know that dang goat Otis grabbed it. I ended up in a tug-of-war with him, the shirt, and the dog, and my sleeve was the loser. I tried to chase him down, but he got away. I even tried to barter with him, offered him some nice grain in exchange for giving me my shirt back, but your goat is sorely lacking in negotiating skills.”

  Bryn pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. “So you lost your shirt to my goat?”

  “Essentially, yes.” The corners of his lips tugged up in a sheepish grin. “He may have tried to apologize later by getting overly friendly with my leg when I was trying to finish up on the car, but I’m not sure if he was apologizing or flirting with me.”

  “With Otis, it could have been either.” She ducked her head. “Sorry about that.”

  He shrugged. “It’s okay. He and the dog kept me company while I worked. And regrettably, it’s not the first time a farm animal has tried to get frisky with me.”

  Mandy wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean by frisky? Like a cow wanted to play a game with you?”

  He chuckled. “Something like that. Anyway, I don’t want to interrupt your girl time. I just wanted to let you know that despite being attacked by and losing half my shirt to your goat, I got the alternator in and your car is running fine,” Zane told her.

  “Oh, you’re kidding. That’s great. Thank you.” Bryn stood but didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t exactly give him a hug with the green goo covering her face. And he’d already told her he wouldn’t take any money as payment. But she wanted to offer him something. Besides myself. “Can we offer you some pizza? We have plenty.”

  He peered at the pizza boxes. “You could probably talk me into taking a slice or two to go. I don’t want to interfere with all this fun happening in here. I just wanted you to know I finished the car and am heading out.”

  “You don’t have to go,” Mandy told him as Bryn moved into the kitchen to grab a plate. “Take off your hat, and we can give you a beauty mask too.”

  He shook his head and kept his smile in place, but Bryn caught the sadness that passed over his eyes. “There ain’t enough guacamole in the world to make this mug beautiful, but I appreciate the thought.”

  “You’re beautiful to me,” Bryn said so quietly she wasn’t sure he even heard the words. But the awkwardness of the phrase being out there had her swallowing and avoiding his eyes as she busied herself with putting two giant slices of pizza on a plate and covering them with foil. “Really, Zane, thank you so much. A couple slices of pizza doesn’t seem like enough for fixing my car, and helping with the horses, and, well, just…everything.” Oh yeah…and for kissing me senseless and leaving me weak in the knees.

  “It was nothing.”

  It hadn’t been nothing to her. It had been everything. Everything she’d imagined—hot, passionate, thought- robbing. And everything she didn’t need. She wanted safe and nice, and nothing about that kiss was safe. It was fraught with heat and danger.

  And it was senseless because Zane was leaving anyway—there was no point in starting anything with him. But hearing him say it was nothing accompanied by the slight shrug of the shoulders had her chest tightening and left an ugly rock-sized pit in her stomach.

  He tipped his head to them. “I’ll see you all later.”

  “Thanks again,” Bryn said as she passed the plate to Zane. Their fingers brushed, and she thought she caught a quick catch of his breath. She wanted to hug him or offer to make him dinner or say something, anything, to tell him how much she appreciated all he’d done for her. But she couldn’t—not with Elle and Mandy watching their exchange.

  She already felt like a fool for standing there gawking at him, green gunk sliding off her cheeks. He looked uncomfortable, like he didn’t know what to say either. He was probably anxious to get out of there, already regretting their earlier kiss. She raised a hand in a weak wave. “See ya around.”

  “Yeah, see ya around,” he answered before slipping out the door.

  * * *

  An hour later, Mandy was tucked into bed. The girl had made a valiant effort to stay awake, but Bryn thought she might have been asleep before her head had even sunk into the pillow.

  Their faces now washed and moisturized, Bryn and Elle sat on the sofa sipping wine from a bottle Elle had extracted from the cavernous duffel bag.

  “Your duffel is like Mary Poppins’s carpetbag,” Bryn told her, eyeing the duffel. “What else are you going to bring out of there? A spoonful of sugar or a handsome chimney sweep?”

  Elle shrugged and offered her a sheepish grin. “I think you’ve already got your hands full enough with a handsome cowboy who seems to be doing more than sweeping your chimney. He seems to be sweeping you right off your feet.”

  Bryn laughed. “Not hardly. My feet are still firmly planted on the ground.” Even if her heart was trying to soar.

  “Are you sure? Because from my vantage point, it seems pretty obvious you like him.” She leaned forward to grab her laptop from the coffee table, then sank back into the corner of the sofa.

  “It doesn’t matter if I like him or not. He’s going back to his old job in Montana, so he’s not sticking around. And besides, he’s so not my type.”

  Elle arched an eyebrow. “How can tall, dark, and delicious not be your type? Isn’t that everyone’s type?”

  Heat flared to Bryn’s cheeks. An impish grin stole across her face. “The man is delicious.” She swallowed, flooded with the memories of their kiss, of the way his strong arms had circled her waist and drug her against his solid chest. Shut it down, girl. There was more to Zane Taylor than soft lips and hard muscles—but oh, his lips were so soft. She cleared her throat. “But being hot isn’t always enough. He’s also broody and wounded and—”

  Elle covered her heart with her hands and let out an exaggerated love-struck sigh. “Sooo gorgeously broody.”

  Bryn cocked an eyebrow.

  “And?” Elle asked, ignoring the glare and opening her computer to sign on.

  “And I’m done trying to save men,” Bryn told her. “And hurting myself in the process.”

  Elle had been clicking the keyboard as they talked. She let out a tiny gasp, then raised her eyes, offering Bryn a measured look and a smirk over the edge of the laptop. “So, are you not trying to save him by kissing him like your life depends on it?”

  Bryn gasped. “What are you talking about? How do you know I kissed him? I mean…” She cut her eyes to the empty popcorn bowl on the coffee table. “I never said I kissed him.”

  Elle chuckled. “Apparently six hundred and twenty-four people know you kissed him. At least that’s how many have reacted to the Facebook live video so far.” She turned the laptop so Bryn could see the screen.

  The display was open to the horse rescue Facebook page that Tess had set up. And frozen in the middle of the screen was a picture of Bryn and Zane, their arms wrapped around each other and their lips locked in a passionate kiss.

  Chapter 9

  “Oh no,” Bryn said, her voice a hushed whisper.

  “Oh yes,” Elle said, studying the screen. “And you’re getting more likes and several heart and smiley-face reactions as we speak.”

  Bryn’s eyes widened as she raised her hand to cover her mouth. “Zane is going to be so mad. He hates having his picture taken, and he already told me he didn’t want to be on the camera.”

  “Well, he’s on it now. And he’s a hit. Although his cowboy hat covers most of his face. Which is actually kind of great because the majority of the comments have to do with trying to figure out who the mystery cowboy is that you’re suck
ing face with. This is so great.”

  “This is so not great. I told him we just set the cameras up for people to watch the horses, and that no one even knew about the video feed.”

  “Maybe they didn’t then. But they do now.”

  “How did this even happen? I thought the feed ran for like an hour. How did it stop on that one spot?”

  “This is just a few minutes of the feed. Looks like someone snipped just the kiss and reposted that tiny segment. It could have been your friend who was helping with the page, or it could have just been someone who saw the video and clipped that one part.”

  Bryn dropped her head into her hands. “This is awful.”

  “No, this is awesome,” Elle said, her voice rising with giddiness. “We couldn’t pay for this kind of marketing. An organic viral spread is the best kind of advertising you can get. You might not be excited about having hundreds of people seeing you make out with a hot cowboy, but this is the perfect thing to help with the horse rescue operation. People love a good romance. I’ll bet the donations start pouring in.” She clicked a few more times and let out a squeal. “Gah! Your GoFundMe campaign already has close to five hundred dollars in it.”

  “Five hundred dollars? Are you kidding?” Well, dang. Zane was going to be mad, but her horses were going to be fed. She could afford a lot of hay and grain with five hundred dollars.

  “No, I’m not kidding.” She turned the screen back toward Bryn. “I’m telling you, people love a good story. And your page is giving them one. You’ve got these poor abandoned horses, which would have been enough to tug at anyone’s heartstrings, but now they have a budding hot romance to watch too.”

  “Our romance isn’t budding. Or hot.”

  Elle lifted a brow.

  “Okay. It is hot. Like crazy hot. I thought I would die this afternoon when he kissed me. But it was only the one kiss. And then Brody drove up, and Zane pulled away like I’d suddenly caught fire.” She picked at the seam of her pajama pants. “That doesn’t sound like a guy who’s interested in any kind of romance, budding or otherwise.”

  “In my opinion, actions speak louder than words. And by the looks of his actions, and the way his hand is gripping your waist, he is plenty interested.”

  * * *

  “Thanks for having her over,” Brody said the next morning when he picked Mandy up. “I know she had a great time.”

  “We all did,” Bryn said, squeezing the girl in a hug, then helping her load her stuff into her dad’s truck. Mandy climbed in and pulled the door shut, giving Bryn a little wave through the window. She waved back, then walked with Brody around to his side of the truck. “I think all three of us needed a girls’ night in.” Bryn had texted him the night before to make sure he was okay with Elle spending the night at her house. He’d answered he was fine with it and that he trusted Bryn’s judgment.

  Which was kind of funny, since she wasn’t sure she trusted her own judgment lately.

  “Well…uh…I’m glad you had fun. And speaking of fun…” He studied a spot in the driveway where a weed was coming up through the dirt. “I was thinking if you wanted to have some fun. Or like, you know, if you think you might need a night out instead of in, I’d be glad to take you.” He ground the weed with the toe of his boot. “Just something simple. Like going to dinner, maybe. Or whatever. If you want, I could take you to Taco Tuesday at the Creed. They put on a pretty good spread,” he suggested, referring to the local restaurant and pub, the Creedence Tavern.

  “Oh. You mean like a date?” A date? With Brody? Where was this coming from? Although, wasn’t this what she’d been saying she wanted? A nice, safe guy who was steady and reliable? But it was Brody. She’d known him forever. He was more like a brother—albeit a really cute brother—than a dating prospect.

  He shrugged, his cheeks brightening with the slightest shade of pink. “I guess. Or like a whatever.”

  “I usually help out with senior bingo night at the community center on Tuesdays.” Why did she say that? This was her chance to go out on a date with a real live nice guy, and she’d just made it sound like she’d prefer senior bingo night to his company. “But maybe I can get out of it this week.”

  “Okay. Yeah, sure. No problem. Whatever you think. It was just an idea. You know, a way to say thanks for keeping Mandy for me.”

  Oh. So maybe he wasn’t thinking it was a date-date. But he’d said the word date. “It was no trouble. I love Mandy. And besides, our sleepover was supposed to be a way for me to say thanks to you for helping with the vet visits.”

  He shrugged again. “I was glad to help. And not everyone is willing to hang out with a ten-year-old girl. Even if she is as charming as that one.” He jerked a thumb toward the girl in the truck.

  “We had a great time. I was happy to do it.”

  “All right then. I’ll be back in a few days to check on the horses.” He gave her an awkward hug. Which was weird since he’d hugged her many times. But not usually after he’d colossally failed at asking her out on a date.

  “Okay. Sounds good,” she told him. “And I’ll let you know for sure about Tuesday.”

  “Sure. You’ve got my number. Call anytime.”

  * * *

  Bryn had showered and dressed for her afternoon shift and was sitting on the floor watching the puppies when she heard a car drive up. Her house had become more popular in the last few weeks than it had been all year.

  Four of the puppies were asleep, but one was rooting around and climbing over two of the others, trying to wiggle into a warm spot between his siblings. Bryn grinned at his little puppy tail furiously wagging as he squished himself into a comfy new spot. Their mother—which she, Elle, and Mandy had decided the night before to name Grace—licked their little multi-colored bodies. They had thrown around names for the puppies as well, but Bryn had been reluctant to name them all, since the idea was that she would eventually find homes for them and the new owners would want to name them.

  Thinking about splitting up the puppies or giving them away had Bryn’s heart aching, but the idea of a rescue wasn’t to keep all the animals, but to house them until she could find better homes for them. If she kept them all, she wouldn’t be able to help more. And the more thought she’d given to this horse (and puppy) rescue ranch idea, the more she liked it.

  She had the room. And if Elle was right, and they could collect donations to help house and feed the animals, she didn’t see how she could not do it.

  A timid knock sounded on the door. Bryn opened it to find Rosalee Boswell, her sixth grade teacher, standing on her porch holding a birdcage with what looked like two miniature parrots inside.

  “Mrs. Boswell, hi. Come in,” Bryn said, stepping back to let her enter.

  “I haven’t been your teacher in many years, Bryn. I think you can call me Rosalee.” The woman stepped into the house and set the birdcage on the kitchen table. Lucky scrambled over to check it out.

  “Yes, ma’am. I mean yes, Rosalee.” She gestured toward the kitchen. “How have you been? Can I get you some water or a cup of coffee? The pot should still be warm.”

  The woman stared down at her hands. “No, thank you, dear. I can’t stay. I’ve come to ask you a tremendous favor though. I’ve heard that you’ve started an animal rescue here at your ranch.”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly plan it, and it’s more of a horse rescue, but yes, I guess.”

  Rosalee’s eyes welled with tears, and her hands fluttered in her purse for a tissue. “I’m afraid I’m in need of a rescue.”

  “Oh no. What happened?” Her past teacher had always lived in a neat yellow house a few blocks from the school. “I mean, of course. I’ve got a spare bedroom, if you need it.”

  The other woman chuckled. “Oh, you are a dear, Bryn. But I don’t mean I need to be rescued. It’s my birds. I’m moving back to Kansas to live with my son and his fam
ily, and I can’t bring the birds with me. One of their kids is allergic. I’ve tried everyone I can think of. Well, everyone I would trust with my birdies. But I can’t find them a home. I’m hoping you can keep them and hopefully find a suitable place for them.”

  “Wow.” Bryn peered into the birdcage, relieved that her former teacher wasn’t actually planning to move in. “I’ve never had a bird before.”

  “These are lovebirds. Their names are Ralph and Rosie. And they haven’t been apart in over a decade.”

  “I’m sorry. This must be so hard for you.” Bryn patted her shoulder.

  “It is. But I’m at my wits’ end. I can’t take them with me, and I know you’ve got a good heart and will take care of them. I trust that you’ll do your best to find a good home for them.”

  “I will. I promise.” The birds were cuddled together on a perch in the cage. One tweeted and ruffled its feathers. “They’re gorgeous.”

  “They are, aren’t they? See how the one is a little rounder and has just a bit darker blue to his tail feathers? That’s Ralph. Rosie is a little more delicate.” She peered lovingly in at the birds. “They’ll sit on your finger, and they love to listen to music. Did you know lovebirds mate for life? These two will feed each other. And they pine for each other if they get separated.”

  Bryn had a feeling Rosalee would be pining for her two sweet pets as well. “I’ll take good care of them. Don’t worry.”

  “Oh, I know you will. I’ve got all their toys and food and snacks in the car. I stocked up so you wouldn’t have to buy anything for them for months. I also wrote out some instructions on how to care for them and things they like.”

  “Smart. I’ll come out with you and help you carry it in.” Bryn followed Rosalee to her car, wondering how the heck she was going to find a home for two ten-year-old lovebirds. She would have to ask Elle to come up with a cute post about them for her Facebook page.