Texas Homecoming

by Carolyn Brown

  “Thank you, but I’d better be getting on back to the ranch,” she answered. “You tell Linda I said hello.”

  “Will do, and you do the same for me to Sonny.” He lowered his chin and looked up at her over the top of his glasses. “And, honey, don’t you pay no mind to all these old women and their gossiping. What goes on between you and Cody Ryan is your business.”

  “Thanks for that too,” Stevie said, and smiled.

  Glen walked her out to the van. “I was right sorry to hear that you have to tear down your mama’s house. I understand you kind of fell through the floor and cut your leg up real bad. That why you’re limpin’?”

  “Yes, sir.” Stevie got in behind the wheel.

  “Well, you just drag that sumbitch if you have to, girl. We need us a vet like you around these parts, someone who will come when we call and not tell us we have to bring our animals to town for them to check. You will just bill me at the end of the month like always, right?” Glen asked.

  “I sure will,” she answered.

  He shut the door for her, then stood back and waved until she couldn’t see him in the rearview anymore. “I can’t leave folks like Glen,” she said as she turned left onto the county road leading back to the ranch. “I’m just now building up a decent practice here in Honey Grove.”

  You are talking to yourself again, the voice in her head reminded her.

  “I know, but I’ve got to figure this Australia and Oklahoma City thing out and make up my mind about one or the other, or neither before I talk to Cody about it,” she muttered.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Maybe Jesse was right, Cody thought as he drove his new pickup truck into town to buy a load of feed that morning. He had been too busy to actually go into town and look at trucks. He had liked the one he had totaled enough that he asked the dealer to order one just like it. Since the Ryans had always bought their vehicles from the same dealership with the same business, the manager even offered to deliver the one they had on the lot to the ranch. Cody had planned to have Stevie with him when he took the first ride in it, but she and Mia had gone off on a vet call, and besides she’d been acting strange for two days now. She had said she needed to talk to him about something when he got home from Dallas, but when he remembered to ask her about it, she was evasive, and distant.

  For the past few days, she’d been distant and almost cold toward him. She’d answered his questions with a simple yes or no, and when he teased her about it, she just shrugged it off.

  “What did I do wrong?” he muttered as he backed the truck up to the loading dock of the feed store, got out, and went inside.

  “Hey!” Beau Martin came from behind the counter. “What can I do for you today?”

  “I need as many bags of feed as you can possibly load on that truck out there,” Cody said. “And put them on the ranch bill. How are you today, Beau?”

  “I’m good.” He beamed. “Mia and I are going out tonight. Dinner and a movie over in Paris. Got any suggestions for a good restaurant?”

  Cody almost said Sonic for burgers, but he didn’t. “You want fun or fancy?”

  “I want to impress her,” Beau answered, “so I guess fancy.”

  “If you really want to impress her, ask her where she would like to go and what movie she would like to see.” Cody had been surprised when Stevie wanted to watch The Ranch and when she kept talking about a Sonic date. “Sometimes it’s not where you go or where you eat but just getting to spend time together.”

  “Well, that would sure enough take the worry out of the evening. Thanks, Cody. I appreciate it. She’s so beautiful, and way out of my league. I don’t want to blow things with her by…” He paused. “By taking her someplace cheap and making her feel like she’s not worthy of a five-star restaurant.”

  “You are so welcome,” Cody said.

  “I’ll get right on that feed, and I’ll get an invoice made up soon as I get it all loaded.” Beau started for the storeroom.

  Cody followed right behind him. “I’ll help with that.” He hoisted a hundred-pound bag of feed on his shoulder and tossed it over in the bed of the truck.

  “Is this a brand-new truck?” Beau asked as he tossed a bag over the side. “Last time you came for feed you were driving an older truck.”

  “Yep, just got it delivered a little while ago,” Cody answered. “I’ve been using the ranch work truck until we could rescue my old truck and the insurance claim could be filed.”

  “And you brought it to the feed store?” Beau was visibly shocked. “If and when I can afford to buy a fancy truck like this, I hope I’ll be taking Mia out for a ride in it, not messing it up with ten bags of cattle feed.”

  Cody bit back a grin. “With that in mind, do you think you should be taking advice from me about where to take Mia for supper tonight?”

  Beau shook his head. “Nope, but that was good advice.”

  “Well, what would you do when you would like to take your girlfriend out for a ride,” Cody asked, “but she has been cranky for two days?”

  Beau shrugged. “Man, that’s above my pay grade, but if you figure it out, don’t forget how you deal with it, because someday, I might need that advice too.” He tossed the last bag over onto the pile in the truck’s bed and headed back into the store. “Let’s get you an invoice made up, and don’t tell Mia that I asked about where to take her.”

  “My lips are sealed, but only if you never mention that I said Stevie was cranky,” Cody agreed.

  Beau tapped a few keys on the computer, and two copies of the invoice rolled out of the printer. “You’re all ready to go. I hope Stevie gets over her cranky spell soon.”

  “Me too.” Cody signed one copy, handed it back, and took the other with him. “See you next time around.”

  “Thanks again for the advice.” Beau said.

  “Sure thing.” Cody waved and disappeared back through the supply room. He stepped down the concrete steps to the ground, got into his truck, and turned the radio on to his favorite country music station.

  * * *

  Stevie had spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon vaccinating cattle on a ranch way out beyond Dodd City. When she finished, she was tired, dirty, and hungry. She drove home with the radio blaring and planned to drag out her laptop that evening and enter all the invoices she had stuffed in an envelope on the front seat of her van—right after she had a long, soaking bath. That way, she could get her billing done early the next week—maybe for the last time in Honey Grove if she decided to take the Australia job.

  The rich aroma of roast beef met her when she entered the bunkhouse. She wasn’t even aware that Cody had put it in the oven since she had left earlier than he did that morning. She took long oven mitts out of a drawer and put one on each hand, then brought the blue granite roasting pan out of the oven and removed the lid. The potatoes, carrots, and onions were all done perfectly, and the roast fell apart when she tested it with a fork.

  She left it on top of the stove, turned off the oven, and headed straight to the bathroom, where she adjusted the water in the tub and dropped her clothing on the floor. Days had passed since she fell through the floor and had to have stitches in her leg, and in those days, she had only had a shower each day with a plastic bag taped to her leg.

  She wanted a bath. No, that wasn’t right. She needed to feel warm water around her so she could think. She had removed a lot of stitches from animals, and taking them out of her own leg couldn’t be a bit different. She went to the utility closet where Cody stored all his supplies, and found a disposable suture removal kit. In no time at all, she had removed the stitches, and the little black spider-looking things were lying on the vanity. The tub was nearly full, so she turned off the faucet and sunk down into the warm water.

  “I will never take a bath for granted again,” she said with a long sigh.

  She vowed that before she got out, she would have her mind made up about Australia. She would tell Cody about the offer and her de
cision over supper. Maybe then she would have some peace.

  “We can see if a long-distance relationship can work,” she said. “We would have two weeks before I have to leave, and I’m talking to myself again.”

  That comes from being an only child, the voice in her head whispered.

  Was that what had defined everything about her? she wondered. Including her problem with making a decision. Growing up, she hadn’t made friends very easily, especially after being made fun of by her classmates. In college, she had been of those nerdy students who studied all the time and didn’t have time for close friendships.

  The water turned lukewarm and then downright chilly, but she refused to get out of the tub until she had made up her mind. Finally, when she was covered in goose bumps, she admitted complete failure and flipped the lever at the end of the tub with her toes to let the water out.

  When she was dressed in warm sweats and had brushed her wet hair out, she left the bedroom. She was surprised to see that Cody had set the table. She hadn’t heard him come in. He had poured two glasses of sweet tea, and when she made it across the living area to the kitchen, she noticed he had already made each of them a salad. Now, he was busy slicing a loaf of homemade bread, most likely sent down from Pearl and Sonny’s house.

  “Are you in a better mood?” Cody asked.

  “What makes you think I’ve been in a bad mood?” She brought butter and salad dressings from the refrigerator.

  “You’ve been all buttoned up and refusing to talk to me,” he answered. “What’s on your mind, Stevie? Are you tired of living here with me? Tired of being around people all the time? Do you want to move out, and you don’t want to tell me?” He brought the platter with the roast, potatoes, and carrots all arranged beautifully on it to the table and went back for the basket of bread.

  “The thought of moving is my problem, but not just moving out of the bunkhouse,” she admitted. “I’ve tried to make up my mind about something for two days, and I’m no closer to making a decision than I was when you were gone off to Dallas with your dad.” She took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh.

  “Whoa! Let’s just have a silent grace so we can both say our own individual prayer before we talk,” Cody suggested.

  Stevie bowed her head and closed her eyes. Lord, she prayed silently, please let me make up my mind before I raise my head. It’s not fair to Cody, or anyone else for that matter, for me to sit on the fence about it any longer, and besides, this indecision is driving me crazy, and about to ruin whatever hope we have for a relationship.

  When she finally raised her head, Cody was staring at her. “You want to eat or talk or both?”

  “Both,” she said. “I’m hungry and this looks delicious.”

  “I’ll go first,” Cody said. “I accused you of being cranky, but after I said my prayer, I realized that I haven’t been easy to live with lately either. Remember me talking about my friend Nate?”

  “Yes…love.” She squirted dressing on her salad, then loaded her plate with pot roast and vegetables. “I couldn’t forget good old Nate and his British accent.”

  “Well, he called and asked me to come to South Africa with him to help out at a new clinic.” Cody loaded up his own plate. “I told him no right off the bat. I don’t want to look back someday and regret not spending as much time with my dad as I can.”

  “I understand.” Stevie took a drink of her tea. “I wish I’d had more time to spend with Mama before she died. You’ve got an opportunity that I didn’t have. You know that Sonny isn’t well, and that things will gradually get worse. Mama told me about her cancer, I moved home, and she was gone not long after that. But I also understand wanting to go follow that dream and be a part of something that would help others.”

  She opened her mouth to tell him about the job offer from Australia and the one in Oklahoma City, but took a bite of carrot before she said a word. She had to make up her mind, act on her decision, and then never look back with regrets, like he talked about, before she opened up to anyone.

  “But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to say yes,” Cody admitted. “After traveling like I did for all these past years, I get the itch to go back where I can be a real help.”

  Stevie swallowed so fast that she almost choked. “And you think you’re not a help here? You are building up a pretty decent practice among folks over a three-county spread as a doctor who will make house calls. And besides, Jesse needs you on the ranch, not to mention how tough it would be to tell everyone goodbye if you took that job.”

  Are you talking to Cody or to yourself? she asked herself.

  Cody slathered butter on a thick slice of bread. “Ranch help can be hired, and if I wasn’t here, folks would go back to sitting in an office waiting room in town like they did before I got here. I’ll probably get over the desire to travel when I’ve had time to put down some real roots. I just don’t think I can do it in this bunkhouse, so I’m going to talk to Dad about moving into the vacant house over on the property he bought from Addy’s folks.”

  “Then your mind is absolutely made up?” Stevie asked.

  “Yes, it is. Family is everything.” Cody said.

  Stevie was hoping that he might say she was why he was staying in Honey Grove. But when she thought about it for half a second, she was glad that he hadn’t. If she was the only thing keeping him here, he could easily resent her later for being the reason he had not followed his dream.

  “Now, your turn,” Cody said.

  “I don’t want to talk about it until I’ve gotten off the fence and made a decision,” she said.

  “How long is that going to take?” Cody looked worried.

  “It’s like this,” Stevie said. “Since my house has to be torn down and I don’t have any family left, I don’t have any of those roots that you talked about. I do have a good foundation for my vet business, and we have a date, and other things keep getting in the way.”

  Cody started to say something, but then did what she’d done earlier—he took a long drink of tea before he spoke. “Sounds like you’re trying to make up your mind whether to stay in Honey Grove or not.”

  “Exactly,” she acknowledged with a nod and then told him about her offer to either relocate to Oklahoma City to her old clinic or go to Australia for two years. “I know I’ve been cranky. If these offers had come before the house flooded, I would have said no, but now I’m wondering if that was an omen.”

  Cody didn’t say a word until she finished. “I don’t want you to go,” he whispered, “but I can’t stand in your way if that’s your dream. You’re right, you don’t have a reason to stay, without family to hold you back, but maybe you and I could plant some seeds and see if together we could find some roots.”

  In that moment, Stevie listened to her heart and made her decision. “I’m going to call Rodney tomorrow and tell him that I appreciate his offer, but I’m staying in Honey Grove. I’ve been promised a fourth date, and that burger and fries means a lot to me.”

  Cody pushed back his chair, rounded the table, and tipped up her chin with his fist. The kiss was both sweet and hot at the same time, and it sealed forever the decision she had made. No matter what happened, she was determined that she would never look back with wonder if she’d made the right choice.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Stevie’s lips still felt warm from Cody’s kiss when Mia knocked on the door and yelled that she was bringing peach cobbler for their dessert. She set the plastic container on the table and pulled out a chair for herself. “We had lots of leftovers, and I know you like any kind of cobbler, Uncle Cody. Looks like I timed it just right.” She reached out and picked up a carrot with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. “I didn’t have supper, and I’m starving. Beau is picking me up in…” She checked the time on her phone. “Thirty minutes. He’s so sweet. He asked me where I wanted to go, and what movie I wanted to see. When I was with Ricky, we always did what he wanted to do. I know! I know! I shouldn’t comp
are them. They’re as different as a fresh cow patty and a diamond ring, but it’s tough not to, when Ricky is the only other guy I’ve been with or dated.”

  “I’m going to put off having my dessert for a little while and go check on Dad,” Cody said. “After that long trip, I should be taking his vital signs every day. You ladies can have some time to discuss the dating game while I’m gone.” He pushed back his chair and stood up.

  “You think all we talk about is you guys when you’re not around?” Stevie asked.

  “I hope so.” Cody flashed a smile on his way out the door. “Be back in a few minutes.”

  “I’m glad that Poppa isn’t any worse, but I was hoping that specialist would tell him he was getting better,” Mia sighed.

  “Not any worse is a good sign,” Stevie said. “It’s kind of like being in remission if he had cancer. We’d be tickled with that news, right?”

  “I suppose so,” Mia sighed again, “but I still believe and hope for a miracle.”

  “You got one when you met Beau,” Stevie told her.

  Are you talking to her or to yourself again? Her mother’s tone seemed to be happy.

  “Amen to that,” Mia said.

  “Where are you going tonight?” she asked.

  “We are going to Sonic in Sherman,” Mia answered. “I’m having a double bacon cheeseburger, double fries, and a chocolate shake, and then we’re going to see that new spy movie that just came out last week.”

  “Sounds like a perfect date. What made you choose a spy movie?” Stevie asked.

  Mia finished chewing another carrot before she answered. “It’s about kick-ass women spies, and I like action films.” She checked her phone again. “Beau isn’t the type to be late, and I’m ready to go, but I should brush my teeth. I don’t want him to taste carrots when he kisses me.”

  “Have fun.” Stevie started to serve herself some cobbler, but then decided to wait and have dessert with Cody.