Jenna's Cowboy

by Sharon Gillenwater

  Something flashed in his eyes, then he lowered his arms and straightened, taking a step closer. “Don’t I get a hug?” Was his voice a little thicker?

  Jenna hesitated for a second, then chided herself. This was Nate, her friend. And he was home safe and sound. Quick tears stung her eyes. Thank you, Lord. “You bet.”

  She slid her arms around his waist and hugged him, resting her face against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her too. What did it matter if he held her a little tighter and a little longer than was customary? She wasn’t going to complain.

  Still, if she had any sense, she would end it quickly and not risk him thinking she might be open to anything other than friendship. She was a complete failure when it came to romantic relationships. Getting involved with anyone was unthinkable.

  When he finally released her and she stepped back, tears stung her eyes. “I’m glad you made it okay.”

  He gave her a lopsided grin. “Me too.” He walked to her truck, but instead of checking the tire, he looked over the tailgate at the ice cream. “You gonna share?”

  Jenna laughed, feeling back on solid ground. “Help yourself. If I eat any more I’ll make myself sick.”

  He picked up the carton, grinning when he read the flavor. “I should have known it would be chocolate.”

  “Is there any other kind?” When he reached for the spoon, she touched his arm to stop him. “There’s a clean one in the glove box.”

  “Do you have anything contagious?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  He scooped up a bite of the quickly softening ice cream and ate it. “Considering the germs I’ve been exposed to the last few years, I doubt yours will give me a problem.” A tiny smile hovered at the corner of his mouth. “I like your hair that way. Though I’m surprised the purple doesn’t clash with the red.”

  She laughed and smoothed her hair as the breeze ruffled it. It was a losing battle. “It does clash with some of my clothes. They’re hair extensions, so nothing permanent. I’ll have my stylist take them out next week. Are you here for a short visit or a long one?”

  He swallowed, his gaze skimming the countryside. “Neither. I’m home to stay.”

  “I thought you were going to make the army a career.”

  “I was seriously considering it. But after Dad had surgery, I decided I needed to be here to help him. So I didn’t reenlist.”

  “I’m sure your folks are thrilled to have you home.”

  He ate another couple of bites, then stuck the spoon in the carton and held it out to her. Regret shadowed his eyes. “Mom cried and Dad got all choked up when I told them. Every time I’d talked to them before, they’d brushed his neck and back problems aside, saying it was nothing to worry about. I think they were trying to prove it by flying out to see me when I got back from Iraq instead of me coming home then. I could tell he was in rough shape. But they both insisted that the neck surgery would fix him up. Maybe they really thought it would.

  “But I wasn’t convinced, so I called his doctor after he had the operation. Dad had given the doctor permission to talk to me, but I don’t think he really thought I’d call him. He said Dad would be fine as long as he didn’t work so hard, but that his neck and back are a mess. Several compressed discs and arthritis from the top to the bottom of his spinal column, some stenosis causing pressure on the nerves. The doctor said he shouldn’t run the farm by himself and especially not do any heavy lifting. Dad admitted last night that they’d been debating selling the farm because they couldn’t afford to hire anybody.”

  “Then it won’t support them and you, will it?” Frowning, Jenna walked a few feet away and dumped the ice cream in the grass. The ants were in for a treat. She straightened and looked back at him in time to see a fleeting grimace.

  “In good years it wouldn’t be too bad, but this isn’t a good year for cotton. I’ll have to make sure I don’t eat too much.” He smiled, but his expression was strained. “And live at home.”

  Putting the lid back on the carton, she pulled an empty plastic grocery bag from behind the backseat and wrapped it up. “That isn’t going to be easy. You’ve been on your own a long time. So have they.”

  “It will be a patience builder all the way around. I’ll look for something else part-time.” He bent over, gripping the tire iron, and pushed down. The muscles in his arms flexed until the lug nut broke free, and Jenna silently thanked the Lord for sending her a strong Good Samaritan.

  Placing the tire iron on the next one, he paused and glanced over at her. “Know of anybody who’s looking for a slightly rusty cowboy or farmhand?”

  “I do.” She tried to tamp down her excitement. They could help him, and she’d get to see him a lot more often than if he were holed up at the Langley farm all the time. Not that she wanted to delve into why the thought of having him around made her so happy.

  “Who?” He broke another lug nut free.

  “We are. Virgil White has been semi-retired for the last year. He officially quit the end of August on his eightieth birthday. He and Nadine bought a place outside of San Antonio so they can be closer to the grandkids. They finished moving out last week.

  “We’ll need somebody to work three to four days a week, sometimes more, depending on what’s going on. The house comes with it, if you want to live on the ranch. You’d only have to pay for the electricity and phone.”

  “You sure Dub doesn’t have somebody else in mind?”

  “We’ve talked to a couple of people, but we weren’t all that impressed.”

  Nate was quiet as he quickly loosened the rest of the lug nuts. He moved around to the back and slid the jack into place, easily working the handle to raise that side of the pickup off the ground. Spinning off the lug nuts one by one, he set them in a little pile on the ground nearby. He lifted the heavy tire from the hub and laid it in the pickup bed with an ease that Jenna envied.

  “That could be a real answer to prayer. But the days would have to be a bit flexible, depending on what I need to do at the farm.” He rolled the spare around to the side of the pickup and lifted it onto the hub. “I’ll give your dad a call tonight.”

  “You’re hired if you want the job.”

  He stood, a tiny frown wrinkling his forehead when he looked at her. “Don’t I need to ask him about that?”

  “You should talk to him, but I know he’d be glad to have you back.” She grinned at him. “I still have Daddy wrapped around my little finger. And I’m a partner now, so I have some say in things.”

  Nate arched one eyebrow. “So you’d be my boss lady?”

  “Got a problem with that?”

  He knelt down to finish mounting the tire. “Not unless you get all uppity on me. I’m used to taking orders.” He glanced up with an impish smile. “Used to giving them too.”

  “I bet you are.” Smiling ruefully, she watched him spin the lug nuts in place and tighten them down with the tire iron. They’d be about as hard to remove next time.

  Lord, thank you for bringing him home safely. Jenna had prayed for him while he was overseas, and she would continue now that he was home. She prayed for those she cared about. And she cared about Nate Langley.

  She just hadn’t realized how much.

  2

  Jenna didn’t have an opportunity to talk to her father about Nate until supper. They usually ate dinner around noon with a lighter meal in the evening, but because her dad and Will had been gone, a roast had been cooking in the Crock-Pot all day. She waited until the food was passed around and everyone, including their housekeeper Ramona and her husband, Ace, filled their plates.

  Having sudden reservations that maybe she had been too hasty to tell Nate that he was hired, she diced up some peaches and placed them on Zach’s plate. Her almost-two-year-old son grinned at her from his booster seat and picked up several chunks of fruit, shoving them into his mouth.

  “Use your spoon, Zach.” When the little boy obediently picked up the spoon and tackled the peaches, she tu
rned toward her dad.

  She watched him cut up his slice of roast beef and glanced at her mom, who had heard all about her seeing Nate and her impulsive job offer. Her mother gave her an encouraging smile and nod. Jenna took a deep breath and automatically caught Zach’s hand before he threw peaches at his uncle Will.

  A twinkle lit her son’s eyes. “No-no.”

  “That’s right. Throwing food is a no-no.”

  Zach grinned, first at her then at Will. “Sor-ry.”

  “Are you teasing us?” asked Will, giving the little boy an indulgent grin.

  Zach nodded, making them chuckle.

  Jenna tried to be stern, but it was hard when the kid looked so cute. “You need to quit playing and eat your supper, young man.”

  “Yeah.” Zach shoved the peaches into his mouth.

  Satisfied that his moment of mischief had passed, Jenna focused on her father. “I hired someone to replace Virgil today.”

  Dub’s hands stilled, and he looked down the oval golden brown mesquite table at her, his expression mildly surprised.

  “Whoa! Gettin’ a little big for your britches, aren’t you, sis?” Will’s wide-eyed grin told her that he thought she was in big trouble.

  “I’m a partner,” she said defensively, then grimaced because she’d let him bait her.

  Her dad finished cutting up his meat. “Who?”

  “Nate Langley.”

  Her father’s brows practically met in a frown.

  “Nate made it home?” asked Chance with a smile. When Zach pointed at his sippy cup, he handed it to him.

  Jenna nodded. “He changed a flat for me this afternoon on the way home from town. He got in a couple of days ago. So you knew he was coming back?”

  “I talked to him about three weeks ago, and he said he wasn’t going to reenlist.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “He wasn’t positive the army would release him. He’d had some friends whose tours were extended even though it was time for them to get out. So he didn’t want Tom or Chris to hear about it until it was a done deal. He didn’t want to get their hopes up and then disappoint them.” Chance moved the sippy cup farther back on the table.

  Jenna nodded in understanding and turned her attention back to her father. “His folks didn’t say anything until after he’d decided to come home, but they were thinking about selling the farm because Tom can’t handle the whole job and they can’t afford to hire anybody. Nate plans to do all the heavy work, but he needs something part-time so he has some income.”

  “Chris said she wasn’t going back to work at the clinic for another month, not until she’s reassured Tom is doing okay,” said her mother. “So their finances will definitely be stretched thin for a while.” A look passed between her parents. Jenna might be able to sway her father on many things, but the person he trusted the most for advice was his beloved wife, Sue.

  Zach reached toward her. “’Tatoes.”

  She put some mashed potatoes on his plate, added some carrots and squished them, then mixed a dab of gravy in with the vegetables. Cutting up some small bites of roast, she added them to his plate and smiled when he successfully put a bite into his mouth with the spoon. “Good job.”

  Zach gave her a potatoes-and-gravy-tinted grin.

  “Nate needs a place of his own,” added Sue, looking at Dub. “You said yourself that a man needs some breathing room.” Which was why her father had Chance build a house for himself and one for Will, each an acre away on either side of the main house.

  Will winked at Jenna. He had confided that he sometimes felt an acre wasn’t quite enough distance. “You know, Dad, I never have figured out whether you thought Chance and I should have the breathing room or whether you needed it.”

  Dub chuckled and dabbed a roll in the gravy, sending his wife a mischievous glance. “Both.”

  Jenna felt a twinge of guilt, suspecting that her parents might like to be empty nesters again. It was past time to talk to them about her and Zach moving into her grandparents’ house, which had been built in 1910. She loved the twelve-foot ceilings and numerous tall windows that made it bright and sunny. Her folks had remodeled it fifteen years earlier as a guesthouse, but it hadn’t been used much since her brothers had moved out. Dub and Sue enjoyed having their company stay with them in the ranch house.

  She wasn’t sure how much peace, quiet, and privacy they’d really had before she and Zach moved back home. With the exception of breakfast, Will ate most of his meals there, and Chance joined them in the evening several times a week, more often if he was between building projects. They enjoyed the food and the family, and being there was expected. She didn’t think it was a hardship on her mother, since Ramona did most of the cooking. But she expected her parents would enjoy more time alone.

  Jenna wiped potatoes off Zach’s face and a bit of carrot from his hair. Her food was getting cold, but that was normal. She picked up her fork. “Nate’s going to call you tonight.”

  “You think he’s up to the job?”

  “He said he’s a little rusty. But I think he’ll do fine.”

  “Does he look fit?”

  “Very.” Her cheeks grew warm when she realized what she’d said and how she’d said it.

  Will hooted and Chance grinned.

  “William, don’t tease your sister.” But the amusement in her mother’s eyes told Jenna that she liked her answer.

  “Yes, ma’am.” His laughter settled into a grin.

  Jenna peeked at her father and almost groaned. He didn’t seem one bit happy with what she’d said. “I meant he appears all healed up from his injuries. His leg didn’t bother him at all.” She cleared her throat. “And he’s added a lot of muscle.”

  Will snickered, and she tried to kick him beneath the table. She missed. He really was a responsible and intelligent thirty-one-year-old, except when it came to giving her a hard time. Why did his teasing turn her into a kid again, wanting to get even?

  “I’ll talk to him.” Dub pinned her with his gaze. “But the final decision is mine.”

  “Yes, sir.” She should have known better than to act so impulsively. She might be a partner, one who could give input into ranch affairs along with her brothers and mother, but ultimately, her father made the decisions. She needed to remember that. Everyone around called it Callahan country, and Dub Callahan was the reason.

  Will and Chance had some power over various aspects of the ranch—certainly more than she did—but her father was the reigning monarch. She was his princess, and that’s all she would ever be. “I’m sorry if I overstepped my authority. It was so good to see him home safe and sound, and when I heard about their situation, it seemed right to help them out.”

  “You know he’ll make a good hand,” Chance said quietly. He and Nate had been best friends since first grade. They’d kept in touch since graduation, although Nate’s access to email had been sporadic when he was overseas.

  “So that’s three votes,” said Sue.

  “Four,” Will added quietly. “We owe him the opportunity, if for no other reason than for helping keep us safe.”

  “I agree with all that, but I still want to talk to him face to face.” Her father’s expression softened as he focused on Jenna again. “War changes men, honey. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not.”

  Oh, he’s better. But she didn’t think she should express that opinion out loud.

  An hour later, Nate pulled up in front of the light tan brick, one-and-a-half-story Callahan ranch house. He’d expected that Dub would want to discuss the job in person, check him out for himself. He would have done the same if he were in the rancher’s boots.

  He walked up the stone steps to the wide porch that encircled the house. Chance threw open the door before he could knock and crushed him in a bear hug. When he released him, his friend took a step back and playfully slugged him on the upper arm. “Why didn’t you call and tell me they’d turned you loose?”

  “The colonel
waffled until the last minute. Then I was scrambling to deal with all the paperwork. I only got here day before yesterday. Spent the time hashing through stuff with the folks and running over to Abilene to see the grandparents.”

  “How’s your dad?” Chance clamped an arm around his shoulders and ushered him into the house.

  Nate noted that Sue had redecorated. Red was the predominate color, along with southwestern patterned throws, pillows, and pottery. She’d added more Western paintings and a brass statue of a cowboy riding a wild bronc. But the old, worn Western hats still hung on the antique hall tree, and Dub’s grandfather’s scuffed cowboy boots remained on the floor beside it.

  “I think he’s still way too weak and pale, but they both insist that he’s getting stronger. It’s hard for him to accept that he can’t work as much as he’s used to, so he overdoes it.”

  “Then it’s good you decided to come back home,” said Sue, holding open her arms.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Nate hugged her gently. “It feels right.” He knew she was pushing sixty, but there wasn’t any gray in her hair, even if it was a little lighter than it used to be. More strawberry-blonde than red. Jenna had inherited her mother’s hair and her turquoise eyes, but not her height. At five-three, she’d gotten shortchanged a few inches in that department.

  When Nate stepped back, Dub held out his hand. “Welcome home. Looks like the army agreed with you.”

  “Can’t complain. They treated me fair and square.” He shook hands with Jenna’s father, keenly aware that the man was sizing him up. Dub’s hair had turned silver, but he still stood straight and tall, topping Nate by a couple of inches. The boys had taken after him in height and with their dark brown hair. But only Will had his dark eyes. Chance’s eyes were green, which had prompted his brother to try to convince him that he’d been adopted when they were kids. They were a striking bunch, both in looks and with an air of confidence that came from being the most powerful family in the area.

  “But it’s good to be back in West Texas.” No bombs. Nobody shooting at him. No wondering if the person walking toward him was friend or enemy.