Single Dad Cowboy

by Brenda Minton

  “I have to admit I wouldn’t think you knew that.”

  He laughed easily, something that she envied. “I’m a Cooper, Harmony. I have eleven siblings. Our home has been the stopping point for more foster children than I can count and I have tons of nieces and nephews. Of course I can change a diaper. My mom never believed in separate duties for the males and females in our family. She’s an equal-opportunity chore giver.”

  There was a lot to admire about Angie Cooper, a lady who could command a family as large as hers with love and grace. Harmony’s own mother was just as loving, but a family of three children had seemed tiny compared to the Coopers.

  “So?” Dylan nudged her arm.

  “No. There is no way I’m going to ‘team up’ with you.” There was no way she could handle Dylan in her life. Her heart couldn’t handle it if she let him down. Or those two children. She’d hurt too many people already. The other reason would make more sense to him. “Dylan, I’m working hard to be a recovering addict. And one of the goals for myself is no lying.”

  “I’m not asking you to lie. I’m offering an exchange of services. I’ll be here to help you out when you need me. And you help me out from time to time. Everyone is satisfied. And I’ll no longer be pegged as the bachelor in town most in need of a wife.”

  “I think the answer is still no.”

  He sniffed his shirt. “But why? I don’t smell bad.”

  “You’re nothing but trouble, Dylan Cooper.”

  “I promise, no one is going to ground us.” He reached for the truck door again. “Think about it. We don’t have to lie. We just have to team up. We’ve already called a truce, right? So if we help each other out, that’s a handy excuse when someone calls to check on us. You can say Dylan has it covered. I can say you’re helping with the kids.”

  “And I’m still saying no. I’m here if you need me, but needing space is about needing space.”

  He climbed up inside the beat-up old truck cab and started the engine. “I’ll see you around then, Princess.”

  She stepped back and watched him drive off. No, she wouldn’t see him around. She was going to hibernate here on the ranch and give herself time to find her life again. She wasn’t in Dawson to get involved in the lives of the people she’d once known. The last thing she needed in her current condition was a distraction.

  Dylan Cooper, with his hazel eyes and bad-boy smile was just that, a distraction. His dark, curly hair was a distraction. His swagger, all cowboy with faded jeans, also a distraction.

  She walked back to the corral, proud of the way she’d made it through the day. Each day got easier. She used the cane less. She cried less. More and more she believed she might survive. Today she’d managed to smile more. She’d even laughed.

  Because of Dylan and those two children. She could admit he’d brought a lightness she hadn’t felt in a long time. Because Dylan didn’t allow her to be a victim.

  In the first few months after the accident, she’d wanted to die. She’d wanted to give up. She’d found ways to numb herself to the physical pain, and to the emotional pain that often hurt worse.

  Her best friend had been driving the night of the car accident because Harmony hadn’t been sober enough to get behind the wheel. She stood at the corral watching the horse graze on what grass there was in the small enclosure. It wasn’t enough to hurt him. She’d have the vet come out tomorrow to check him and make sure he didn’t need more than grass and grain.

  Beau turned to look at her, his ears twitching as he sniffed the air. She whistled softly and he took a few steps in her direction but the grass distracted him again.

  It didn’t take long for her back and legs to give out. Harmony limped back into the barn and sat down on an upturned bucket. She leaned her head against the wall and waited for the pain to subside, at least enough to make it to the house. Her mind filled with thoughts of Amy. She kept her eyes open, because if she closed them she would see the flash of lights as a truck ran a stop sign. She would hear the crash of metal and see her friend, lifeless in the driver’s seat.

  In the silence her heart moved toward God, praying for peace and strength to get through.

  When she finally walked out of the barn, the sun was a hazy fixture hanging in the western sky. As she crossed the lawn toward the house, she heard a child laughing and realized it came from the little house just across the field from her place. The house sat on Cooper land. And even from a distance she could see Dylan Cooper in the front yard.

  She watched them, smiling when Dylan lifted Callie to his shoulders. She could hear the faint laughter, carried on the breeze. A truck pulled up her drive and stopped. She smiled at Wyatt Johnson, pastor of Dawson Community Church, and his wife, Rachel. It was their second visit this week. She knew she had her dad to thank for that. Since getting to town she’d also had visits from various members of the Cooper family.

  “Hi, Wyatt, Rachel,” she greeted them as they got out of their truck.

  “We were on our way home from town and thought we’d stop by and see if you need anything.” Wyatt’s gaze fixed on the corral and his eyes narrowed. “Is that the horse from over at Bill Tanner’s? Terry’s horse?”

  “It is.” She looked back at the horse that hadn’t stopped grazing since they unloaded him.

  “How did you manage that?”

  She shrugged, telling him the short version of the story. The version that didn’t include Dylan. “I think Bill realized it was time to let the horse go.”

  Rachel moved next to her husband. “And the memories.”

  “Yes, the memories.” Harmony smiled.

  “We wanted to check on you and make sure everything is okay out here. If you need anything at all, let us know.” Wyatt made the same offer he’d made days ago when she first arrived in Dawson.

  “I know where to find you,” Harmony repeated her line from that conversation. “And church starts at eleven.”

  Rachel smiled at that. “I think she’s got it, Wyatt.”

  “I know she does.” Wyatt shrugged and looked a little sheepish. “But you’re here alone and your dad...”

  A guilty flush tinted his cheeks.

  “My dad wants to make sure I’m okay. I know.”

  Wyatt didn’t smile this time. “We’re all family here, Harmony. I think we all want to know that you’re okay.”

  “I appreciate that, Wyatt, I really do. And I promise I’ll call if I need anything.”

  He slipped an arm around his wife. Harmony felt the tiniest twinge of envy at the easy gesture. She wondered how it would feel to be part of a couple, part of a team. But she wouldn’t know because she wouldn’t allow herself a relationship, not a real one, not for a very long time. Not until she was positive she could do this life thing without letting anyone else down.

  Rachel stepped away from Wyatt and gave her a quick hug. “I’m just about a mile down the road if you ever want coffee.”

  “That’s an invitation I won’t turn down. Thank you.” She heard the quick laughter from across the field, Dylan and the children again. She pretended not to notice and smiled at the couple standing in front of her. “And Dylan came by earlier. He offered to help out if I need anything. It just made sense, because we live so close.”

  Wyatt gave her a steady, questioning look and she wanted to look away. Of course Wyatt, long a resident of Dawson, remembered her adversarial relationship with Dylan Cooper. She smiled and hoped he wouldn’t ask questions.

  “That’s good of Dylan. He’s had a lot on his shoulders and I’m sure he could use the help, too.”

  “He seems to be handling parenthood.” The easy words slipped out, because it was the truth. “But I’m here if he needs anything.”

  Wyatt’s face wavered between curious and concerned, but he shrugged and then offered an easy smile. “The
re’s another reason I stopped by today.”

  “Okay.”

  “I want to start a recovery program.”

  Harmony bit down on her lip and nodded, unsure what to say. She was involved in a program that offered anonymity. She craved it because for a long time it seemed as if everyone knew that Harmony Cross was addicted to prescription drugs. Did they know how easy it was to get those drugs? A toothache, headache, stomach pain, the list was endless. No one really asked questions. No one delved deeper. And when the prescriptions ran out, an addict knew how to find the person with pills to sell.

  “Harmony, I know this is tough.” Wyatt had shifted his arm from his wife’s waist and now held her hand but his direct gaze focused on Harmony’s face. “I know that you came here to shed the focus people were putting on your life, the attention and probably some suffocation by people who mean well.”

  She smiled at that. “You have talked to my parents.”

  “I understand how much you want to hide and how much you want people to stop asking if they can help or if you’re okay.”

  “Bingo.” She hoped that didn’t sound too harsh. She knew Wyatt’s first wife had committed suicide, leaving him to raise two little girls alone and deal with the loss of a woman he loved.

  “It isn’t easy to get back to life.” Wyatt looked down at Rachel. “Sometimes we need a person who leads us back into the light.”

  “I’m not looking for a person.” The answer came easily. “I’m not ready for relationships. I’m not ready to step in front of a group of well-meaning church people and tell them I’m an addict.”

  “I think you’ll find this group of people pretty supportive and ready to help each other through some tough times.”

  “I know,” she said. “But I need time. I’ve had all of the sermons thrown at me. God allowed this to happen to get me back in church. Or if I hadn’t walked away from God, this wouldn’t have happened.” The one that hurt the most was that God had a reason for taking her best friend. Not her. “I believe, Wyatt, I’ve just had a pretty big crisis in faith. I was hoping if I came back here...”

  Wyatt filled in the rest. “That God would be waiting?”

  “Something like that. I thought I’d find the old Harmony, the person I used to be.”

  “I think you will. I remember her as a girl who never backed down.”

  She hoped she’d be that person again. “The one question I really need answered is, why Amy? Why not me?”

  She hadn’t planned to say the words out loud. She shook her head, blinking away the quick sting of tears. Wyatt started toward her but she backed away because one touch and she’d lose it, the way she’d been close to losing it for days. Amy, her best friend, had been one of the kindest, most decent people Harmony had known.

  “No one on this earth has that answer, Harmony, and I’m not going to try to guess the reason. But I do know that God has a plan for your life, and that plan isn’t for you to give up.”

  “Thank you.” She wiped at her eyes and managed a weak smile. “I’m not sure if I can say I’m glad you stopped by.”

  “I don’t blame you. And I’ll let you know when we start this group. In case you change your mind.”

  And then they left, waving goodbye as they climbed in the truck.

  She waved back and headed for the house. She made it to the front porch and sat down on one of the old rocking chairs that had been recently painted a pretty poppy color. Her mother loved bright colors.

  The chairs matched the brightly colored geraniums and gerbera daisies blooming in the flower beds. Everything looked cheerful. It looked the way it had years ago when she’d spent happy summers here.

  She rocked, enjoying the soft, late summer breeze that blew across the porch, cooling the air. There were no more sounds of laughter from across the field.

  Only silence.

  For a moment it felt like peace. And in the midst of that peace she remembered that she had just aligned herself with Dylan Cooper. She guessed eventually she’d have to tell him that she was accepting his offer.

  * * *

  Dylan pulled in to the parking lot of the Mad Cow Café and immediately spotted the Audi driven by Harmony Cross. The only empty space was next to the silver car. He groaned to himself, because if he groaned out loud, he’d have to explain why to Callie. These days she asked a lot of questions. Her favorite words were why and what and how.

  When he’d left Harmony an hour earlier, he hadn’t expected to see her back in town so soon.

  “Dylan, why are you frowning?”

  He glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled at the little girl that he’d known since she was a baby. She smiled back. He couldn’t hide anything from her. She was always watching and saw a lot more than most kids.

  “No reason. Just wondering what I’m going to have for supper. What do you want?”

  “Chicken strips. And Cash wants tater tots and green beans.”

  “Green beans?” He laughed. “Why do you get chicken strips and he has to eat the green beans?”

  “Because he’s little.” She said it with the appropriate roll of her eyes that basically told him even a moron would know that a little kid needed green beans.

  “I think you should both eat green beans.” He climbed out of the truck and pushed the seat forward to reach in the back. He really needed to get a car or a new truck, one with an extended cab and four doors. The two doors had been fine when it had been just him and a dog traveling around the country.

  Car seats and kids changed everything.

  He unbuckled Cash from his seat and Callie unbuckled herself. She came in real handy, that kid did. She was his little helper. He hiked Cash onto his hip and reached to help Callie down from the truck. Together the three of them headed toward the diner. And then he heard the door of the Audi open. He hadn’t realized she’d still been sitting in that car.

  He watched her climb out of that car like it took every last ounce of strength she had to move. A wounded Harmony Cross was the last thing he needed right now. He’d been at Katrina’s side for the past year, and everything inside him was pretty much wrung out like an old kitchen rag. He had enough energy for himself and the two kids she’d left him to raise. Her kids, not his. But they were his now and he wouldn’t let them down.

  Katrina’s husband had died in a truck accident coming home from a long haul to California. He’d been heading to Katrina’s side as she’d gone into labor with Cash.

  As much as he wanted to ignore Harmony and walk into the Mad Cow, he waited, watching Harmony’s painful steps across the parking lot. Her long, curling blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she had changed from jeans and a T-shirt to a sundress. The stubborn female had left her cane in the car. He saw the grimace of pain around her mouth. He saw the flinch with each step.

  “Are you trying to get your picture put in the dictionary next to stubborn?” he asked as he waited.

  She looked up as if she hadn’t noticed them there. Her gaze landed on Callie, not him, and she smiled. Man, she was thin. He hadn’t noticed earlier. He’d had more on his mind than Harmony and her too-skinny horse. He guessed they both needed fattening up. But saying that would definitely break the truce between them.

  “I’m not stubborn.” She shifted her eyes from Callie to him. She was still pretty. Tired-looking, but pretty. It had been a long time since he’d paid attention to a woman, but he was positive those weren’t the words she wanted to hear.

  “So what are you if you’re not stubborn?”

  “Strong.” She lifted her chin as she said it, the glint in her smoky-blue eyes unmistakable.

  “Right.” He stuck his right elbow out for her to take hold of. “Allow me, miss.”

  “How very, um, chivalrous of you, Mr. Cooper.” But she took his elbow, her hand holding
tight. With her other hand she reached for Callie.

  He guessed that’s how you made a truce.

  It was also how rumors got started, he realized as they walked through the front doors of the Mad Cow, the cowbell over the door clanging loud to announce their arrival. There were about a dozen customers and they all turned to watch Dylan, the kids and Harmony Cross.

  Harmony dropped his arm and moved away from him. “Thanks for the lift, neighbor.”

  “Anytime.” He watched as she retreated taking a seat in a booth. He guessed she wanted to avoid rumors, too.

  He sat at a table with Callie and Cash. But his eyes kept straying to Harmony sitting alone. She probably needed a friend. He looked at the two dirty faces sitting across from him. He had plenty of friends. And family. Cash reached for the sugar and Dylan moved it out of his way. Callie tried to slap the little guy’s hand.

  “Hey, Cal, let’s not do that, kiddo.” He smiled at her, and she wrinkled her little nose and gave him a big-eyed innocent look that said he didn’t know what he was doing.

  He was tired.

  Cash reached for the napkins. He moved those out of the toddler’s reach, too. The waitress, Breezy, headed their way with menus and the coffeepot. She smiled and easily moved everything within reach to another table. She put crayons and a coloring placemat in front of the kids and filled his cup.

  “You look worn-out, Dylan.”

  He smiled up at her. Pretty as she was, he felt nothing but sisterly affection. After all, she was his adopted sister Mia’s biological sister. And didn’t that make her family?

  “I’m feeling about fifty years older than I am,” he admitted.

  She smoothed a hand over Cash’s buzzed blond hair and grinned. “Good thing you’re still cute. Maybe you can find a wife to help you out with these two.”

  “I think I’ll pass for now.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t proposing.” Breezy winked as she said that. “But I could help you find someone.”