Second-Chance Cowboy

by Carolyne Aarsen

  Tabitha shot a glance at Morgan, who had been talking to his brother but now looked up.

  “It was hard on her,” Morgan added, getting up to pull a chair out for Tabitha. “No thanks to me and Amber.”

  “What do you mean?” Ella asked her future brother-in-law.

  “Let’s say we didn’t make it the easiest on her.”

  “That’s because you had the biggest crush on her,” Boyce put in. Then he gave Tabitha a gentle smile. “Sorry, but it was true.”

  Tabitha could hardly speak. She was so surprised to hear Boyce speak so openly about his son’s relationship with her.

  “He was definitely smitten,” Cord chimed in, giving Tabitha a careful look.

  She wasn’t sure how to interpret all of this.

  “I wish Amber was easier on you, is all,” Boyce continued. “I always felt like I should apologize for her behavior.”

  “Amber had her own stuff,” Morgan put in.

  “Well, if your mother hadn’t spoiled the two of you rotten, she might not have had stuff,” Boyce grumbled.

  “Oversharing, guys,” Cord said, shooting a warning glance around the table. “I don’t think Tabitha needs to hear all the Walsh family dysfunctions.”

  Tabitha was amazed at the completely unexpected comments. Boyce apologizing for his daughter? Mentioning dysfunction in the Walsh family?

  “I think we can eat now,” Ella called out. “Kids! Time to come to the table.”

  They scrambled to their feet and hurried over.

  “Is Oliver napping?” Morgan asked, looking around as Suzy and Paul found their places.

  “Yeah, he’s always so tired after church.” Cord pulled a chair out for Ella and settled Suzy in another one. “And grumpy.”

  “Like his dad,” Ella teased. Cord tugged her ponytail in reply and sat down.

  “I want to sit by Miss Tabitha,” Nathan announced as he dragged a chair away from the table. “You sit here,” he said, pointing to an empty chair beside him.

  Which would put her right beside Morgan.

  “Don’t you want to sit between your dad and me?” she suggested.

  Nathan glanced over at Morgan, looking as if he was considering the idea. Then he shook his head. “No. I want to sit with you.”

  Again embarrassment washed over Tabitha, but as she sat beside Morgan, another feeling superseded that emotion.

  Here she was again. Sitting beside Morgan at the table in the Walsh house with members of his family.

  She remembered all too well how much she enjoyed being here once Morgan dared tell his family they were dating. For a few months, before she dropped out of school and before things fell apart, she felt a part of a family that had roots and belonged to a community.

  Things she had always longed to be a part of.

  But thanks to his mother, her father and her own past with Morgan, it was not to be.

  “Let’s pray,” Boyce said, looking around the table, his gaze resting for a few seconds on Tabitha.

  Then everyone reached out their hands. She took Nathan’s and then, after a moment’s hesitation, Morgan’s. His hand was warm. Rougher than it used to be. The hands of a man, not a young boy.

  And as his fingers curled around hers, she couldn’t stop from seeking out his face.

  Only to find him looking at her as his features softened.

  And when his hand tightened around hers, Tabitha thought her heart would burst.

  * * *

  Morgan sat back in the wooden chair on the deck, a feeling of satisfaction washing over him as he looked out over the view. Good lunch. Good company.

  Tabitha sat upright in her chair beside him, her hands clasped tightly on her lap. She looked tense. Did being around his family do that to her?

  Or did his presence cause it?

  Cord had settled on a rattan sofa beside Tabitha’s chair. Boyce had gone back to his house in town, claiming that he needed a nap. The kids were playing on the swings and play center that Cord had set up a month or so ago. Nathan seemed happy enough to join them. Another small victory.

  Though he’d been back to the family home since he left, it still shook him to see the changes that Lisa had made when she and Cord got married.

  “If you have the time, Morgan, I’d like you to check out a cow that’s having some trouble,” Cord said, clasping his hands behind his head, his one foot resting on his knee.

  “Surely you’re not going to make the poor guy work on his day off,” Ella teased as she sat down beside Cord, cuddling up against him.

  “He doesn’t work that hard,” Cord returned, giving Ella a gentle smile as he fingered a strand of hair away from her face. “He can help his big brother out.”

  Morgan felt a flicker of jealousy at the sight. He knew his brother had traveled his own dark road to get to this place. Losing his wife in childbirth, trying to raise three kids on his own.

  Ella coming into his life was an answer to many prayers sent up by his father.

  “I don’t mind,” Morgan said, leaning back. He looked over to where Nathan was playing with Suzy and Paul. The sound of his laughter floated back to him and it made him smile to see his son happy for a change.

  “And how is the horse training with Stormy coming along, Tabitha?” Cord asked.

  “She’s headstrong but we’re working on that.” Tabitha’s voice sounded strained.

  “Do you seriously think you’ll get her to the point that Nathan can ride her?”

  The incredulity in his brother’s voice annoyed Morgan.

  “Tabitha knows what she’s doing,” he snapped.

  Cord shot him a surprised look. “I’m sure she does. Ernest taught her, after all.”

  Tabitha spoke up. “A horse like Stormy might not be the best mount for a child now, but in time—”

  “She sure looked explosive to me when Ernest brought her over,” Cord said, shaking his head. “I think it’ll take way too much work to turn her into a kid’s horse. Waste of time, if you ask me.”

  “We didn’t ask you.” Morgan shot a warning look at his brother.

  “We’ll have to see how it goes,” Tabitha said, her voice tight.

  Morgan wanted to reassure her that he thought she was capable.

  But before he could say or do anything, she stood. “I should go,” she said, turning to Ella and Cord. “Thanks for a wonderful lunch. I enjoyed it.”

  “You don’t have to leave yet, do you?” Ella protested.

  “I should. Thanks again for lunch. It was delicious.” She gave Ella and Cord a tight smile, then walked past them all around the corner.

  Morgan waited until she was gone then turned on his brother.

  “You could have said that more tactfully.” Morgan blew out a sigh, shaking his head at his brother’s disappointing insensitivity. “I’ll be back.”

  Cord held his angry gaze, his own expression impassive. But Morgan saw the warning in his eyes and knew that his brother still had his concerns about Tabitha.

  Tabitha was still in her truck, grimacing as she turned the key. The engine turned over once. Then again.

  “Won’t it start?” he asked as he came to stand by the truck’s open window.

  She wouldn’t look at him as she shook her head. “Nope. Might need a boost.”

  Morgan tapped his hand on the door of his truck, trying to find the right words. “I’m sorry about Cord. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

  “I think I do.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. It’s just...nothing.” She opened the door of her truck and he stepped back. “I have a set of booster cables if you don’t mind helping me out.”

  He wanted to ask her more but he sensed she wasn’t going to
tell him.

  So he opened the hood, then went to move his truck closer. She was ready with the booster cables when he turned his truck off and got out.

  “You put the red cable on the positive?” she asked.

  “Make sure you keep the clamps far away from each other” was all he said as he got ready to hook up the negative post.

  She nodded, keeping the black cord well away from the red. She had that snappy look on her face that he remembered all too well. It was her habitual expression the first year she was in school.

  He sighed as she got in and started her truck. It turned over once, twice, and then the engine roared to life.

  He made quick work of unhooking the cables before she got out, rolled them up and handed them to her. She avoided his gaze, which annoyed him and frustrated him simultaneously. He thought they had been getting somewhere. When she agreed to come here after church, he’d taken that as a positive sign.

  But now she was reserved, withdrawn and angry.

  “Maybe let it keep running for a while when you get home,” Morgan said. “Make sure the battery is charged up good and proper.”

  “I will. Thanks.” Again, minimal eye contact. “Say goodbye to Nathan for me, please.”

  She put her truck in gear and he stepped away. She drove off leaving Morgan behind, annoyed and confused. He thought about how Cord had treated her. What his father had said about Amber and him.

  Both were a good reminder to him why Tabitha was leaving. He didn’t blame her.

  And he knew it was for the best. She was starting to get to him and he couldn’t let that happen again.

  Chapter Nine

  Tabitha kept pulling Stormy’s halter, keeping her pressure steady.

  “What do you want her to do now?” Nathan asked from behind the fence.

  “I want her to move her back feet and I won’t let go until she does.” Tabitha fought down a beat of frustration at the horse’s stubbornness, remembering Ernest’s constant mantra. To hurry is to lose control.

  She and Nathan had spent the morning going over his schoolwork. It was exhausting for her, but she wouldn’t admit it.

  When he was done, they drove to her place to work with Stormy some more. She’d texted Morgan to let him know where she was. To her surprise, he had shown up a few minutes later, saying that Dr. Waters had said he could handle the rest of the calls himself.

  Again.

  Tabitha could tell Morgan was frustrated but he also seemed happy to be with Nathan. He had joined them at the corrals. While part of Tabitha was pleased he was there, she also felt very self-conscious suddenly. Ever since Sunday, Cord’s questions about Stormy taunted her and made her second-guess what she was doing.

  Was she truly wasting everyone’s time by working with this horse, as Cord had inferred?

  The question haunted her and was all the worse because it only underlined her own concerns.

  “She’s persistent, isn’t she?” Morgan asked.

  “I just need to be more persistent.” Tabitha struggled to keep the snappy tone out of her voice. Yesterday when she came back home, second thoughts and doubts dogged her again, and she wondered if Morgan had the same misgivings about her abilities as his brother.

  Then, finally, Stormy moved her back feet away from Tabitha and she immediately released the rope, petting the horse, stroking her side and encouraging her. Then she did the same thing all over again to reinforce the lesson. This time it took only a few minutes.

  “She’s catching on,” Morgan said.

  “Morgan found me a saddle, Miss Tabitha,” Nathan piped up. “And it fits me.”

  Tabitha glanced over at Morgan, looking puzzled.

  “I found one at the ranch. Used to be Amber’s. Cord is fixing it up for Nathan. One of the stirrups needs repairs and it needs to be oiled.”

  “That’s great,” Tabitha said, wondering if Morgan wasn’t pushing things too quickly.

  “I’m excited to use it,” Nathan said, adding one more burden to Tabitha. “When can I?”

  She could hear his frustration. She knew exactly how badly he wanted to ride his mother’s horse.

  It won’t happen.

  She pushed the unhelpful voice aside and concentrated on what she was doing, wishing, as she often did, that she didn’t have an audience.

  After half an hour of watching little happen, Nathan jumped down off the fence. “I want to go for a walk around the yard,” he said. “Can I?”

  “Not by yourself, sweetie. Your dad will have to go with you.”

  “Okay.” Nathan turned to Morgan. “Can you come?”

  “If it’s okay with Tabitha, sure.”

  It wasn’t really, but Morgan had already seen the mess on the yard. It wouldn’t be a surprise.

  “Just be careful. There’s a lot of...stuff.” While she wasn’t keen on having Morgan and Nathan see the mess that was her yard close-up, she was grateful for the reprieve.

  Sunday had created such a maelstrom of emotions in her, she was thankful she didn’t have to work in the vet clinic with Morgan this morning. That gave her a chance to breathe.

  It had been so difficult to sit beside Morgan at the house that she’d once visited when they’d dated. To hold his hand while his father prayed over the meal. To hear Boyce bring up her and Morgan’s old relationship.

  And having him standing by the fence, patiently watching her as she second-guessed everything she was doing, only made it harder to concentrate.

  They soon left and it was just her and the horse.

  Half an hour later, Morgan and Nathan were still gone. And Tabitha was reasonably satisfied with the progress she’d made with Stormy. The horse had a long way to go, but things were moving in the right direction.

  She let Stormy go into the pasture, then clambered over the fence to see where Morgan and Nathan had got to.

  A few minutes later she found them by an old car. Nathan was inside the car, pretending to drive it. Morgan was grinning at the sight.

  “This is an awesome vehicle,” Nathan called out. “Does it still work?”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Tabitha said with a smile at the boy’s pleasure.

  “I’m thirsty,” Nathan announced.

  “I’ve got some lemonade and cookies in the house,” Tabitha answered.

  Nathan spun the steering wheel of the car one more time, then got out, following Tabitha and Morgan through a maze of boxes and stuff. Once again Tabitha had to resist the urge to explain all the junk. Resist the embarrassment that rose up at the unsightly mess.

  “You have a lot of things,” Nathan said, pausing to check out an old bathtub full of boxes of belts and rusted-out machinery parts. “It’s like a treasure hunt.”

  “If rust and metal is your treasure,” Tabitha said. “I hope to get it cleaned up soon, before I sell the place.”

  She felt she had to explain. Just in case Morgan thought she didn’t see it for herself.

  “That will be a lot of work for you,” Morgan said.

  “I prefer not to worry about it,” Tabitha said, glancing around the old truck bodies, pieces of tractors and boxes of junk they passed on their way to her house. “I’ll deal with it once I’m finished in the house.”

  Tabitha followed Nathan into the kitchen, cringing at the sight of the counterless kitchen, the patchy spackling job she’d done on the backsplash.

  She pulled open the refrigerator and took out the lemonade she had made for Nathan and put it on the table. She snagged a couple of glasses from the cupboard and poured the lemonade in. Nathan slurped his down right away.

  “Can I go outside?” he asked.

  “What do you say to Tabitha first?” Morgan reprimanded.

  Nathan frowned at him, but turned to Tabitha. “Thank
s. Now can I go?”

  “Sure, but be careful,” Tabitha said. She turned to Morgan.

  “Some lemonade?” she asked, holding up a cup.

  “No, thanks,” he said, looking around the house. “I like what you did here.”

  She smiled at his approval. “Thanks. I hope the future buyer sees the potential.”

  “Right. Well, as for Stormy, what do you think we should do?”

  The businesslike tone had returned to Morgan’s voice and she suspected it had much to do with her talk of selling the house. She let the thought linger. Could she keep the house? There was no debt or mortgage against it. Her father had life insurance against the loan, which was paid out when he died.

  But then she looked over at Morgan and the set of his jaw. She quashed that thought. There was too much between them, and besides, he had Nathan to think of now.

  “I think you’re going to have to tell him that it will be a while before he can ride Stormy.”

  “I’m inclined to agree with you.” Morgan sighed.

  Tabitha heard the sorrow in his voice. She knew how badly Morgan wanted to be able to do this for a son who was so distant from him.

  “How about if you take him out riding on a horse you can trust? Get him on another horse and maybe that will be enough of a distraction that he’s not thinking about riding Stormy so much.”

  Morgan nodded slowly as if considering the idea.

  “It would be an outing with your son,” Tabitha pressed. “A chance to connect on another level.”

  “I could use the connection.”

  “I think he’s softening to you,” Tabitha said. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there were a couple of times where he almost referred to you as ‘my dad’ but caught himself.”

  “Well, that’s something,” Morgan said, giving her a wry smile.

  “It’s like training a horse. You need to be patient but persistent.”

  Morgan’s smile shifted as he held her eyes. “This matters to you, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes. Of course. I don’t like seeing kids disconnected from their fathers.”

  “Were you? Disconnected from your father, I mean.”

  She slid her eyes away from his probing glance. “I loved my dad. He was a lot of fun. But fathers like him are more interesting when they’re someone else’s. My love for him was worn away one scheme, one lie, one disappointment at a time.”