Cowboy Courage

by Carolyn Brown

  Rose left her beer sitting on the counter beside the pizza box, picked up her purse, and drove straight to Hud’s place. She wanted to talk to him in person, not on a phone, and if he fell asleep while they were sitting together, that was all right. She just couldn’t be alone that night. She didn’t only want to be with someone, she needed to be, and her heart said that someone was Hud.

  Rose parked beside his truck and got out. Red met her on the porch, and she stooped down long enough to rub his ears before she rapped on the door.

  Hud yelled, “Come on in.”

  She eased the door open and stepped inside a small foyer with a hallway leading off to the right. A couple more steps and she could see into the living room, dining room, and kitchen area—all one big room, divided by floor type—off-white tile in the kitchen, hardwood in the dining room, and a light brown carpet in the living area. He’d been stretched out on the sofa, but when he saw her he jumped up and met her in the middle of the floor.

  He wore a pair of loose-fitting, plaid pajama pants and a faded tank top. When he opened his muscular arms, she walked right into them and laid her cheek against his hard, broad chest.

  “Are you all right? You look like you just lost your best friend,” he asked.

  “I can’t wrap my head around why Wilbur would do that. Aunt Luna is so mad that I’m afraid she’ll have a heart attack.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and cradled the back of her head in his hand. “I’m sorry, darlin’, but pain and grief are strange things. They affect everyone different. How are you holding up?” He helped her remove her jacket and then led her to the sofa.

  “I’ve only just gotten reacquainted with Aunt Luna, so why am I so sad?”

  They sat down at the same time, but he didn’t let go of her hand. “What is it that you’re really sad about? Find that and you’ll know what’s triggering your emotions.”

  “When did you get to be a therapist?” She laid her head on his shoulder.

  “I’m not, but I’ve kind of been in Luna’s shoes. When my grandpa died, I loved him too much to blame him for leaving me in a world without him, so I got mad at the doctors for not saving him when he had the heart attack,” he told her. “You’re afraid of losing your aunt, and maybe feelin’ a little like…”

  She put a finger over his lips. “If a love that lasted more than sixty years falls apart, what chance does anyone have? I’m tellin’ you, Hud, they’d have to sedate me for days and maybe even hospitalize me if that happened to me.”

  “I hope that when I get married, I go first,” Hud said. “I can’t imagine the pain of losing someone I love, either to divorce or death.”

  “But that’s selfish,” Rose whispered. “That’s leaving behind someone to endure the pain like Luna is doing now.”

  “Call it self-preservation. I’ve kind of always hoped that if and when I ever get married, my wife and I will go together.” He let go of her hand, slipped an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her even closer to his side.

  “That’s what Aunt Luna said.” Rose sighed. “She and Wilbur had watched The Notebook and they made a pact to die the same night. Guess that some loves have an end to them that doesn’t involve death.”

  “Guess Luna and Wilbur forgot to include God and that other woman in the plan,” Hud said.

  “Looks like it, but meeting her and then this—it’s teaching me to value each day, not give a damn what other people think, and to live today like there’s no tomorrow,” she said.

  “That reminds me of Tag’s motto. He got it from a Tim McGraw song called ‘Live Like You Were Dying.’ Only he took it to extremes a lot of the time,” Hud told her.

  “I remember that song.” She sat up straighter. “That’s what I should do. Not take it to extremes but not be afraid to take risks.”

  “That’s a beautiful attitude. Congratulations on deciding.” He tipped up her chin and kissed her. “I kind of made the same one when we moved here from Tulia. I wasn’t going to regret living in this little house or working from daylight to dark, because Tag and I were paving the way for future generations. Someday they’d look at what we’d made and be grateful we had it to pass down to them.”

  “And that’s beautiful too.” She snuggled down into his arms. “You wouldn’t by any chance have The Notebook, or could maybe find it on Netflix?”

  “I have it,” Hud said. “It’s one of Tag’s favorites, but don’t tattle on me. He tells everyone he only watches action films. Want something to drink? I’ve got sweet tea, beer, milk, orange juice. I’ll get you something before I get the movie.”

  “Love a glass of tea.” She got to her feet. “But I can pour it while you find the movie.”

  She went to the kitchen and only had to open two doors before she found the glasses. She filled them with ice and tea, then carried them to the living room. She’d barely sat down on the sofa when he returned with the movie in his hands.

  “We don’t have cable TV out here so we brought a closetful of movies with us when we moved.” He put the disc into the DVD player and picked up the remote. Then he sat down so close to her that air couldn’t force itself between their bodies. Sparks danced around the room like fireworks on the Fourth of July, and Rose loved the feeling.

  Sometime during the movie, she fell asleep. When she awoke, she and Hud were cuddled up together on the sofa and the sun was pouring into the room. She checked the clock on the wall and jumped to her feet, startling poor Hud so badly that he fell off the sofa.

  “It’s eight thirty.” She gasped. “The gift store opens at nine. I’ve got to get home.”

  Hud braced his back against the sofa. “Tag is never going to let me live this down.”

  “Did I hear my name?” Tag asked as he came through the back door. “We’ve got fencin’ to do…oh, so you had company last night?” He grinned.

  “We fell asleep in the middle of the…” Rose stammered.

  “No one falls asleep watching The Notebook.” Tag’s grin got bigger.

  “Well, we did.” Hud stood up, walked across the floor, and kissed Rose. “Sorry, darlin’. I should’ve set an alarm. Call me when you have time.”

  “I will, and Tag, don’t be judgin’ your brother by yourself.” She nodded as she put on her shoes. “Y’all have a good day!”

  “Ouch!” Tag said.

  She heard Hud chuckling as she closed the door.

  She left the house with every shred of her dignity intact, and when she got into the car, she started to giggle, and she laughed all the way home. She’d just spent the night with Hud. They hadn’t had sex, but if they had, she wouldn’t have been embarrassed. She was comfortable with Hud. Just being with him was comforting and exciting both at the same time. For the first time since she’d been a teenager in Tulia, Texas, she could just let go and relax around a guy.

  Chapter Fourteen

  By Friday afternoon, Rose had put a pretty crystal candy dish filled with chocolates in one of the bedrooms—one that did not have a patched hole from bullet holes. She’d arranged a lovely bouquet of mixed flowers in a vase for the dresser, turned down the bed, and had a bottle of champagne cooling in a pretty bucket filled with ice. She was busy chasing Chester out of the room and off the bed again when she heard a rapping on the door.

  When the Davises arrived, she met them at the door and even carried their suitcase up the stairs for them. With his tail held high, Chester followed her up the steps, like he was the butler. She showed the sweet little lady with gray hair, and her dignified-looking husband with wire-rimmed glasses and a head of silver hair, to the room.

  “If y’all need anything, just call me,” Rose said as she shooed Chester out—again.

  “This is the very room that we stayed in our first night,” Edna said.

  “Only then, I had the strength to carry you over the threshold, darlin’,” her husband said.

  “Well, darlin’,” Edna giggled. “I was sixty pounds smaller then too.” She turned back to Ros
e. “We’ll rest a little while and then we plan on meeting up with some friends for supper and maybe a movie. It’s the couple that was our best man and maid of honor at our wedding. We’ll be back by eleven at the latest.”

  “Thanks for letting me know. Your room key will let you in the front door if you get back early, and breakfast will be ready at eight,” Rose said as she closed the door.

  Chester raced ahead of her and went straight to the kitchen. He sat in front of the refrigerator door until she got out his daily piece of fish, cut it up, and put it on his plate. He ate all that, and then batted one of his toys around the living room while she looked up simple recipes for muffins. Her plan was to make muffins and serve them with a side of fresh fruit the next morning. If they flopped, she’d rush down to the pastry shop and buy a dozen, but she’d love to tell Aunt Molly that she managed for at least one day.

  Chester dashed behind the sofa and brought out an argyle sock, fought with it for a few minutes, then dragged it back to where he’d found it. In a couple of minutes, he brought out a bright pink sock with black cats all over it.

  “What have you got back there?” Rose asked as she stood up and pulled the sofa out from the wall. There was a whole pile of socks—every color, every style from men’s to ladies’. “Good grief, you’re a sock thief. I bet Aunt Molly doesn’t know about this.”

  Chester jumped up on the sofa, bounded over the back, and looked like a flying squirrel spreading out over his pile of contraband. He looked up at her with his yellow eyes as if asking her to keep his secret.

  “I won’t tattle if you don’t tell on me,” she whispered.

  Chester meowed at her.

  “Okay, then, deal.” She stuck her hand down over the back of the sofa, and he slapped at it.

  “Be careful, boy,” she warned. “I can show all this to Aunt Molly.”

  Her phone rang and Chester took off like he’d been shot. Rose was giggling when she answered it. “You’ll never believe what a stash I’ve found.”

  “What kind? Liquor or chocolate, or maybe a cheesecake in the freezer?” Hud chuckled.

  “Socks,” she said and told him what she’d found. “Evidently Chester is a thief. I wonder if the folks who stay here think the place is haunted by a sock-stealing ghost.”

  “How does he get into the rooms?”

  “He has to be a sly critter,” she said. “I’ve got guests tonight. They’re here because they spent their honeymoon in this place years ago.”

  “That’s romantic,” Hud said.

  “It is, isn’t it?” She sighed.

  “How long have they been married?” he asked.

  “I didn’t ask, but I’d guess maybe forty or fifty years.”

  “Out of all the places where you’ve been, where would you like to honeymoon?”

  Wherever you are, she thought, but she said, “That would depend on who I marry.”

  “Fair enough,” Hud said. “What I called for, other than to hear your voice, is to ask if seven is okay to pick you up tomorrow evening.”

  “That’s fine,” she said.

  “Hey, you want me to come over in the morning and help you make breakfast?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation.

  “I’ll stop by the store and bring what I need to make omelets and waffles,” he told her.

  “Thank you so much. I’ve got fresh fruit cut up and thought I’d make muffins,” she said.

  “That sounds good. What kind of muffins?” he asked.

  “I was just lookin’ at recipes,” she said.

  “I’m not much at baking, but…”

  “Hey, if you’re willing to help me, I’m good with whatever you want to make. I told them I’d serve it at eight. Is that too early?” She’d rather be talking about things more romantic than cooking, but if working in the kitchen meant she could spend time with him, then that was fine.

  “Okay, then, eight in the morning, and seven tomorrow evening. Getting to see you twice in one day is great,” he said.

  “You could come over this evening and keep me company,” she suggested.

  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” he said.

  “See you then. Don’t knock. Just come on in. I don’t want to disturb the guests.” She ended the call and pushed the sofa back with her knees.

  Chester peeked around the door and dragged what Rose hoped was another sock and not a dead mouse across the floor. He dashed behind the sofa with his prize and set up a loud meowing.

  Edna poked her head into the room. “I hate to bother you, but that cat sneaked into our room when I opened the door, and grabbed one of Abe’s socks. I chased him down here, but he’s a fast critter.”

  Rose pulled the sofa out again. She and Edna put their knees on the cushions and peered over the back.

  “Take your choice,” Rose said.

  Edna laughed. “The argyle is the one we lost last year on our anniversary, and that dark red one is the one I was chasing the cat for tonight. What’s funny is that the argyle is the socks that he was wearing when we married, and he only wears them on anniversary time. He was disappointed that he didn’t have both of them to wear this year. I’m glad to find it.”

  She reached down and got both socks. “You’ll think we’re crazy, but I saved that single sock even when we thought this one was lost.”

  “No, ma’am, I think it’s kind of sweet,” Rose told her.

  “I can’t wait to get back up to our room. This is a fantastic anniversary present.” Edna hurried out of the room.

  She’d barely disappeared when Rose heard the front door open. Hud carried in a bag of groceries and went straight for the kitchen. “I didn’t have to go to the store. Had everything at the house.” He put the eggs and sausage in the refrigerator, and set a small waffle maker on the cabinet.

  “Chester stole another sock, and…” She told him all about the argyle. “Would you do something like that?”

  “Sure I would.” He nodded. “It sounds like a really neat thing to do. I wonder if she wears something that she wore to the wedding too.”

  “I bet it’s that little brooch she had on her dress. It was shaped like a double heart, and she kept touching it,” Rose whispered.

  “You’re probably right.” He removed his phone from his hip pocket, toyed with the front of it a little bit, and laid it on the cabinet. “You said it had been a while since you’ve been out to a honky-tonk.” He picked up her hand and said, “May I have this dance, ma’am?”

  Her arms snaked up around his neck and his went to her waist. They were the only ones in the whole world as they danced to “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait. He sang the words with George, and she believed every one of them. That song ended and another one began.

  “I kinda made a playlist while I was plowing this morning,” he said.

  After half an hour, Lonestar finished up the concert with “Amazed.”

  She stepped back, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for a lovely evening. Want a beer?”

  “Only if we can take it outside and look at the stars,” he said.

  “It’s cold out there,” she said.

  “We can keep each other warm.”

  She believed him. Just looking up into his eyes warmed her from the inside out. “I’ll get the beers. You get the quilt from the back of the sofa. We might want it to sit on.”

  “Or wrap up in it and pretend that we’re the only people on Earth.”

  Now that was romantic for sure, and it echoed exactly what she was thinking. She pulled two beers from the refrigerator and followed him to the foyer, where he helped her put on her coat. Chester did his best to get out of the house, but she managed to shove him back inside and close the door.

  They sat down on the swing and he covered them both with the quilt. “Once a year let’s celebrate this night by wrapping up in a quilt and sharing a couple of beers.”

  “I like that idea a lot,” she said.
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br />   “No matter where we are in our life, let’s remember the good times,” he whispered as he kissed her for the first time that evening.

  Words weren’t necessary that cold winter night. They made out until they were breathless and then she fell asleep in his arms. When she awoke, she was lying on the sofa, with Chester staring down at her from the arm. The smell of coffee and sausage filled the air. The clock on the far wall said that it was seven thirty.

  She sat up so fast that she got light-headed. Chester took off in a flash, and then Hud was right there, holding a cup of coffee out toward her.

  “Good mornin’.” He sat down beside her and kissed her on the cheek. “It was nearly dawn when I woke up, so I just brought you in and started the coffee.”

  She almost told him right then that she loved him, but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

  “I’ll have to leave soon as breakfast is served. Tag and I are still plowing fields,” he whispered.

  “Thank you,” she said. “You’re a lifesaver.”

  “So are you,” he told her.

  * * *

  The Davis couple left right after breakfast that morning. Hud offered to stick around and help with cleanup, but Rose shooed him out of the house and called her mother.

  “Can you talk?” Rose asked.

  “It’s a great time,” Echo told her. “Your father is over in Harlan finishin’ up a project and won’t be home until suppertime.”

  “I might be in love,” Rose blurted out.

  “I’m not surprised,” Echo told her. “Hud Baker stole your heart when we were in Texas, and he never gave it back.”

  “But, Mama, I was just a kid then. I’m a full-grown adult now. Times have changed. I have changed,” she argued.

  “Honey, the heart doesn’t change, and when it gets set on something, that’s what it wants,” Echo told her.

  “What if he doesn’t feel the same way?” Rose paced back and forth across the living room floor.

  “You can’t do anything about the way he feels,” Echo replied. “The only emotions you’re in control of are yours.”