Come Home, Cowboy

by Cathy McDavid

  Josh led Wind Walker to the center of the arena, Teddy at his side. He let out the lunge line and cued Wind Walker to trot. Luckily, the horse didn’t appear bothered by the people and noise. Josh marginally relaxed. After a few circles, he cued the stallion into an easy lope. When the moment was right, he handed off the lunge line to Teddy.

  The crowd showed their appreciation. With Josh standing beside him and coaching him along, Teddy put Wind Walker through his rehearsed paces, including stopping and backing up. Neither of them could have performed better.

  “Tell him to stand,” Josh said.

  The stallion responded to Teddy’s cue. He and Josh approached Wind Walker and, as rehearsed, Teddy petted the horse. More applause followed and some cheers.

  That was as much as they’d practiced. Josh, however, wasn’t done. He still had his surprise.

  “Teddy, I need you to listen carefully. This is very important.” He waited until the boy looked at him, placing his hands over Teddy’s and the lunge line. “When I tell you it’s okay, you give Wind Walker the cue to walk. You understand me?”

  He nodded.

  “You sure? This is important.” Josh didn’t think he was taking too much of a risk, but things could, and sometimes did, go wrong.

  “Shoor, shoor,” Teddy said.

  “Good boy.” Josh smiled. “I knew I could count on you. Now, go stand where we were.” He pointed to the center of the arena.

  Teddy did as Josh instructed.

  “Well, folks,” Theo improvised, as if he’d known Josh’s plan the whole time. “It appears the exhibition isn’t over.”

  Josh could sense the crowd’s interest, and he tried not to let his nerves get the better of him. When Teddy was in place, he faced Wind Walker and stroked the stallion’s sleek neck.

  “I’m counting on you, too, boy. Don’t let me down.”

  Wind Walker bobbed his head. They had practiced this only once. Yesterday, in private, and it hadn’t gone great. Josh truly had no idea how the horse would behave today.

  Retreating a few steps, he ran at the stallion, and then grabbed the mane with his left hand as he swung himself up onto Wind Walker’s back. The stallion flinched, tensed and danced in place.

  “Okay, Teddy. Now.”

  The boy cued the stallion. Josh applied a gentle pressure to Wind Walker’s sides with his calves.

  One step. Two steps. A quarter circle and no blowups. At the completion of the circle, Josh nudged Wind Walker into a trot, then an easy lope.

  The crowd’s applause was drowned out by the roar in Josh’s ears as his pulse soared. They’d done it! And riding this magnificent animal was every bit as exhilarating as he’d imagined.

  After several more rounds, Josh brought Wind Walker to a stand. “Whoa, boy.”

  Theo’s voice burst from the speakers. “Look at that horse, folks. Just like we told you. Mustangs are smart, gentle and eager to please. You’re going to have to put some effort into training them, but here is a perfect example of what you’ll get in return.”

  The crowd applauded and hooted with excitement. Josh dismounted and let Teddy lead Wind Walker from the arena. Summer waited at the gate, her hands clasped to her chest and tears of joy in her eyes. She couldn’t stop looking at Teddy, who flashed his funny grimace-smile.

  “You were wonderful, honey.”

  Summer wasn’t alone. Cara had come over during the exhibition. She was looking, too, but at Josh.

  For the first time, she put up no barriers between them. Every emotion was there in her face for him to see.

  She hurried forward to meet him and, like earlier, hugged him around his waist. “That was incredible.”

  When she finally let go and lifted her gaze to his, Josh couldn’t stop himself from saying, “I’m falling for you, Cara Alverez.”

  He expected her to make a dash for the nearest hiding place. She didn’t.

  “Maybe we can talk later,” he said.

  Her answer, one simple word, gave him hope.

  “Yes.”

  Chapter Ten

  They met in the dining room, the Dempseys and McGraws both. Summer, too, as she’d handled the bookkeeping and paperwork for the adoption fair. The last truck and trailer had left the ranch an hour ago. After catching their breaths and grabbing a quick dinner of leftovers from the snack bar, the families were regrouping to review the results of their efforts.

  Cara, not normally a nail-biter, sat next to Summer and chewed on her thumb as her friend tallied the proceeds. Cara had paid close attention during the bidding, mentally adding the final sale prices for each horse. With so many interruptions, she’d eventually lost track and now had no idea how they’d done.

  A leaf had been added to the dining table to accommodate everyone and allow space for beverages. The guys were having a beer. Cara was too anxious to drink or eat.

  Only Josh’s two children and Teddy were missing. The babysitter Josh had hired watched all three in the family room. They’d wanted to play outside but, judging from the loud rumble of thunder every few minutes, rain would fall soon. Yet another reason to celebrate.

  Cara alone fretted about the final total. Everyone else remained confidently optimistic.

  Finally! Summer finished adding the credit card receipts and cash. Twice. She hit the total button on the calculator, an old-fashioned desktop model from August’s former—Gabe’s current—office.

  “Well?” Cara demanded when Summer took too long revealing the results.

  “Including the pre-event raffle ticket sales, what we took in today, sale of the thirty-four mustangs and donations collected both from the website and at the booth today...”

  “Quit stalling,” Cara begged.

  Summer tore the tape from the calculator and held it up for everyone to see. “Thirty-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty-four dollars and change.”

  Cheers went up from the men. Raquel burst out crying. Reese and Gabe hugged.

  “That’s wonderful,” Violet exclaimed. “Oh, Cara. I’m so glad. Good job. Good job, all of us.”

  “Congratulations.” The quiet voice on Cara’s other side belonged to Josh.

  She heard the smile in it and was deeply touched. “Thank you. We wouldn’t have raised anywhere near that amount without you, Teddy and Wind Walker.”

  “You put on a fine exhibition,” Theo added. “Very impressive. If you’re ever looking for a job, I might have an opening for a horse trainer.”

  Cole slapped Josh on the back. “Appears I have some competition.”

  “No worries,” Josh said. “I’ll never be as good as you, brother. And I’m starting to like cattle ranching.”

  How would August feel to hear his oldest son? Raquel must be wondering the same thing as Cara, for she pressed a hand to her heart and closed her eyes.

  Talk continued for several more minutes, swirling around Cara. She heard the words but nothing made sense. Her thoughts were too hectic, blending one into the other.

  Thirty-seven thousand dollars! What she could do with that sum of money. With careful budgeting, who knew how long she could sustain the sanctuary? Months? A year? And once she implemented Josh’s idea for a sponsorship program, she’d be bringing in more money. Hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a month.

  “Here. Keep this as a souvenir.” Smiling, Summer pressed the calculator tape into Cara’s hand.

  She stared at the total, rereading the amount she’d memorized. It was huge, and without the help and support of the Dempseys, the sanctuary might have gone under.

  “I want to pay you,” she blurted.

  “Absolutely not.” Summer shook her head. “I refuse.”

  “No. You.” Her glance traveled from one brother to the next. “Ten thousand dollars.”

 
“What!” Gabe pushed back in his seat. “No.”

  “Yes. I owe you. The sanctuary does. For the land.”

  “Dad gave that to you.”

  “He allowed me to use it. That’s not the same as owning. Now that I have funds, I should start paying a portion of the expenses. Rent, if you will.”

  “Cara, no.” Josh touched her arm. “None of us expects you to contribute.”

  “Yes, you do,” she argued. “Last month you were pressuring me to turn the sanctuary land over to the ranch in order to save the cattle operation.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Nothing’s changed.” She laid the tape out in front of her, smoothing the crumpled paper. “The sanctuary takes up almost a quarter of the ranch. It’s only fair that it pays for twenty-five percent of the property taxes.”

  “Ten thousand dollars is more than twenty-five percent,” Reese said, donning her estate trustee hat.

  “Consider the rest room and board.” Cara turned to Raquel. “Since August died, I’ve contributed almost nothing to the household.”

  “You’re family,” Raquel insisted.

  “Even family doesn’t get to live here for free.”

  “You help out.”

  “I want to help out more.” Cara indicated the pile of money and credit card receipts in front of Summer. “Is there ten thousand in cash?”

  “A little more than that.”

  “Count it out.”

  Summer did, secured the thick bundle of mostly large bills with a rubber band and handed it to Cara, smiling in approval.

  “Here.” Cara passed the bundle to Gabe.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “We all know how desperately Dos Estrellas needs money.”

  Gabe tapped the bills on the table top, some of the tension visibly leaving him. “I’ll deposit this in the bank on Monday.”

  “I also want you to take back section six.”

  “That’s too much, Cara,” Josh objected. “Pick the smaller section.”

  “I have enough money to buy supplemental feed for the next six months, at least. I don’t need the land.”

  “You might in the future.”

  “If that happens, we’ll talk then.”

  “Well?” Gabe shot his brothers a look.

  “I vote yes,” Cole said.

  Josh nodded. Beneath the table, his hand found Cara’s and squeezed.

  “Okay.” Her sigh of satisfaction ended with a tiny burst inside her, strange at first, then familiar.

  Joy. The emotion was tiny and fragile, like a seedling newly breaking the surface of the ground. With careful nurturing, it might grow. Might flourish and fill the hollow spaces within her heart.

  Everyone else had started talking again. Cara, however, sat in silence, sending a prayer of thanks heavenward. Her first since Javier’s death.

  “I’m sorry,” Josh said, his voice penetrating the din. “I was wrong about a lot of things.”

  Cara turned in her chair to face him. “You were right about a lot of things, too.”

  Caught up in celebrating, no one appeared to be paying the two of them any attention. Especially when Raquel returned from a trip to the kitchen with a tray of sweets.

  Josh leaned in close to Cara and spoke softly. “I’m looking forward to our talk later.”

  Oh, heavens. She’d agreed to that, hadn’t she? Simply because he’d said he was falling for her. Really? The heat of the moment was probably responsible.

  “Um...yes.” She removed her hand from his.

  He chuckled. He must like seeing her frazzled, since he was always saying and doing things to unsettle her.

  “Cookies?” Raquel sidled over with the large tray.

  Cara refused, her stomach remaining in knots. Josh, however, plucked up two cookies.

  Surprising Cara, Raquel bent and kissed her cheek. “Te quiero, mija.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “The money’s a good sign. We won’t lose the ranch.”

  Maybe. Dos Estrellas was hardly out of the woods. A mountain of bills resided on Gabe’s desk, awaiting payment. But, for now, there was hope.

  “Muh, Muh, Muh!”

  The revelry halted abruptly as Teddy burst into the dining room, stumbling and almost losing his balance. He dashed straight to Summer, stopping short directly in front of her. His features were twisted in anger or frustration. Cara wasn’t sure which.

  “What’s wrong, baby?”

  Teddy answered his mother with a string of garbled words that made no sense.

  Summer stood. “He’s upset. I’m not sure what happened, but I think we should go. He’ll only get worse.”

  The next instant, Nathan ran into the room. Like Teddy, he made straight for his parent and thrust himself onto Josh’s lap. “Daddy. He stole my truck.”

  Josh glanced at Teddy, whose sobbing sounded like a rusty machine. “He didn’t mean it, buddy.”

  Cara noticed Teddy held Nathan’s truck behind his back. Summer noticed, too.

  Getting anything back from Teddy once he had it in his possession was no easy task. Summer nonetheless tried. “Teddy, that truck belongs to Nathan. You can’t have it.”

  Teddy grunted and ducked behind Summer’s chair, preventing anyone from taking the truck. The next instant, the babysitter appeared, Kimberly balanced on one hip, issuing an apology for letting the squabble escalate out of control.

  “It’s all right,” Summer and Josh said almost simultaneously.

  Resolving the minor crisis took several minutes and a lot of coaxing. Ultimately, Nathan’s truck was returned to him. Teddy, unfortunately, suffered a meltdown, yelling, thrashing and refusing to be mollified. When he ran out of the house, Summer chased after him. Raquel checked on them, returning a few minutes later to report that Summer and Teddy were heading home.

  Regaining possession of his truck didn’t appease Nathan, and he continued to whine. For whatever reason, Kimberly added to the fray with her earsplitting cries. Josh settled up with the babysitter, and the four of them left. Josh took his tired children to the apartment.

  With the celebration at an end, Cara collected the credit card receipts and remaining cash, placing them and the adding machine tape in a plastic zippered food storage bag. She held the bag up to the light on the side table. She’d never seen this much money all in one place before. Keeping it in such a flimsy bag seemed silly. On the other hand, the clear plastic allowed her to see the money, and holding it gave her a rush of excitement.

  In the kitchen, she asked Raquel, “What’s left to do?”

  “You must be exhausted,” the older woman said, loading the dishwasher.

  “Actually, I’m not.” Cara hadn’t felt this invigorated in ages.

  “There aren’t many dishes left.” Raquel waved her away. “You go relax.”

  What Cara did was put the money and receipts in a safe place—the bottom of a dresser drawer. Outside, sprinkles had started to fall and dot the glass windowpane. Against the backdrop of a dark evening, the drops glittered like diamonds.

  It was still early, and plenty of work needed to be done in the wake of the adoption event. With the rain, most of it would have to wait. She supposed she could take down the temporary canopies they’d set up before the wind swept them away.

  “I’ll be back in a little while,” she told Raquel and grabbed her rain poncho on her way out the door.

  Taking down the two canopies was a simple enough job and over quickly. No one else was around. Josh, she knew, was with the children. She assumed Gabe had returned to the Small Change with Reese and her father. Cole had disappeared, and Violet had left earlier, stating she had a date with a hot bath. Weather permitting, a crew of volunteers was returning tomorrow afterno
on to assist with cleanup.

  Cara wasn’t sure what to do with herself next.

  Stowing the last canopy on a shelf in the storeroom behind the hay barn, she waited beneath the tall awning. In a short time, the rain had increased from a light drizzle to a steady downpour. While debating whether to make a run for the house or wait for a break, her cell phone rang.

  “Hi, Summer. How’s Teddy?”

  “Fine. Resting. Say, listen, Dr. Armstrong is here. He stopped by on his way out of town.”

  The psychologist from Teddy’s learning center. Cara had spent several minutes talking to him during the event.

  “He has a proposition for you,” Summer said. She sounded harried. Or was she excited? Hard to tell with all the noise.

  “A proposition?”

  “I think this is something worthwhile. Good for the sanctuary and a lot of children.”

  Cara plugged her other ear with her finger to hear better. “I’m listening.”

  Fifteen minutes later, she leaned against a column, having just hung up from her conversation with Dr. Armstrong. Earlier, she’d thought her day, her whole future, couldn’t have looked brighter. She’d been wrong. It was very possible the doctor was about to change her life and the future of the sanctuary.

  She couldn’t keep this news to herself and wanted to shout it to anyone and everyone who’d listen. What she did was run from the hay barn to the horse stable, up the stairs to the apartment landing, completely mindless of the pouring rain.

  Josh opened the door in answer to her frantic knocking and gave her a head-to-toe once-over.

  “You’re soaked.”

  “Can I come in?” she asked breathlessly. “I have something to tell you.”

  * * *

  JOSH COULD HARDLY hear himself think over the sound of rain hammering the apartment roof. He was amazed his kids could sleep through the noise. But they had been tired, having missed their regular afternoon nap because of the adoption event. Cara’s frantic knocking on the apartment door hadn’t disturbed them, either.