She glanced up as he approached. “Oh, good. You’re just in time.”
“For what?”
She sent him a wicked grin. “Today is cleaning day. I hope those are what you got at the general store.”
Hunter looked down at the new Levi jeans he had purchased the night before. They were a far cry from his designer pants, but they fit and they certainly hadn’t been expensive. If they got ruined, he wouldn’t be concerned because they wouldn’t be returning with him anyway. Neither would the checkered shirt he had purchased. “They certainly aren’t what I wear at my normal job,” he said with a half smile.
“Speaking of which, what exactly is your normal job?”
She threw the question out nonchalantly and Hunter almost answered truthfully. Thankfully, he caught himself just in time. “Oh, you know. Research and writing.” It wasn’t a total lie - he did research a lot of the companies they purchased and he did write up proposals - but it still felt wrong saying it aloud.
Daisy narrowed her gaze at him. “Uh huh, and where is it exactly that you work?”
“You ever hear of Elite Real Estate?” he asked, hoping she would say no. Of course, she could still google the company and find that no Hunter worked for them, but he didn’t think she would spend the time. More likely, she was asking now because she realized he hadn’t offered the information yesterday.
“No, but I don’t read a lot of magazines,” she said with a shake of her head.
He flashed her a charming smile. “Me either, but I like that one. So, what are we cleaning today?” he asked, changing the subject and hoping she would let her questions go.
“Everything. Starting with the coop here.”
She handed him a rag and pointed to the rails of the coop where poop from the chickens had landed. “Scrub away, and then I’ll show you how to clean the bedding. Cody can help you.”
“Aw, man, this is going to be even less fun than yesterday,” Cody said with a sigh.
“Not if we turn it into a game,” Hunter said. He couldn’t imagine having to do farm chores when he was Cody’s age, but he’d had chores of his own he hadn’t enjoyed. Thankfully, his older sister had been the creative type and she had invented games and prizes to go along with the chores, making them feel more fun and less like work.
“A game?” Cody looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “How do you make a game out of cleaning a chicken coop?”
“Well.” Hunter tried to think back to things his sister had proposed, but few of them seemed appropriate for this situation. There was one thought that might work. He turned to Daisy. “Is there an ice cream place in town?”
Daisy tilted her head at him as if trying to figure out his angle. “Yeah, there are a few options. Norma’s is a restaurant fairly close that specializes in pies, but I think she has some ice cream options as well or there’s The Soda Shop downtown. They do more specialty ice cream and drinks. Why?”
Hunter grinned as he looked from Cody to Daisy. “How about a friendly wager then? We’ll both follow your mom’s instructions and whoever cleans the coop the best gets to pick the ice cream we get as a reward.”
Cody’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea, but I bet I’m way better at cleaning than you are.”
“That is a nice idea,” Daisy said, “but I’m afraid an ice cream run isn’t really in the budget.”
Cody’s shoulders fell, but Hunter was determined to keep a smile on the kid’s face. “It’s in my budget, and since I proposed the game, I’m treating.”
“That’s very kind of you, but we can’t accept,” Daisy began.
Hunter cut her off before she could finish. “Is this Norma’s or the ice cream place a part of small town life?”
“Yes, I suppose-”
“Well, then I have to go there for my story anyway,” Hunter continued. He was determined to win this argument. “You aren’t really going to make me go alone, are you?”
“We can’t let him go alone, Mom,” Cody added, joining in the convincing. “No one eats ice cream alone.”
Hunter smiled at the kid as Daisy glanced between them. He could see the wheels turning in her head, but there was no reason for her to say no except for pure stubbornness.
“All right,” she agreed. “Ice cream it is, but only if I deem your job done well enough.”
“Deal,” Hunter said with a smile.
He and Cody listened intently to Daisy’s instructions and then began their work. Scrubbing chicken poop had never been Hunter’s idea of fun, but as he and Cody chatted while they worked, he found that he didn’t hate it as much as he’d thought.
“What grade are you going into this year?” Hunter asked as they finished with the perches and moved to cleaning the bedding.
“Second grade, but I don’t really like school.”
“Not any of it?” Hunter asked. He knew few kids enjoyed school - he’d been one of those when he was young as well - but school had been a distraction for him after his mother had left.
Cody scooped some bedding into a trash bag and looked up at him. “Well, I like recess.”
Hunter laughed. How very like himself Cody sounded. Though he hadn’t been around children for a while, Cody appeared to be a pretty cool kid. He glanced up to see Daisy staring at the two of them, but the expression on her face was hard to read. Was she happy? Angry that he was chatting with her son? He might have to ask her soon.
After they finished the bedding, Hunter stepped back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He’d had no idea chickens were so much work. Though he realized how dumb it was now, he’d honestly thought they were kind of like birds - give them food and water and clean the coop once a week. Of course, he’d only had one bird in his life - a parakeet when he was a teenager, so his experience on that was limited as well.
“Let’s see how you did,” Daisy said, stepping forward to examine the coop.
“It better be good enough,” Cody said. “I worked hard on it.”
“Hmm.” She made a show of inspecting every minute detail, but Hunter could tell she was impressed. “I guess ice cream is in order this afternoon.”
“Yes!” Cody pumped his fist in the air and executed a silly little dance as Hunter exchanged smiles with Daisy.
“Yes, yes, you did a great job, but now we need to move the coop,” Daisy said.
“Move it where?” As Hunter looked around, he realized the grass, though short and brown all over due to the lack of rain, did look different in patches. Some were more green, others more brown and littered with feathers.
“Just a few feet to the side. That way they fertilize different sections of the yard, and they have new grass to eat every few days while they’re in the coop.”
Hunter was amazed at how the different pieces of the farming worked together. He’d always assumed it was just feeding some animals and planting a few crops, but Daisy was showing him it was much more. More than that, he was beginning to feel a sense of pride when he finished a task. In his life in the city, few of his tasks required much effort, and while he felt satisfaction when he secured a large commission for the firm, it was nothing like this.
“Can I help move the coop?” Cody asked.
“I’m afraid it’s still a little big for you,” Daisy said.
When Hunter saw Cody’s face fall, he spoke up, hoping he wasn’t stepping on Daisy’s toes, but anxious to make Cody feel better. He remembered being that age and wanting to be useful but being told time and again that he couldn’t. “Cody, how about you come help me? Your mom seems pretty strong and I don’t want to look weak.”
“Yeah!”
As Cody fell into place beside him, Hunter glanced at Daisy to see if she was upset, but the look he saw on her face was far from upset. The slight glisten of moisture in her eyes made him think she was grateful, but they also held a bit of fear. What was she afraid of?
With a soft sniff, she shook her head, and her voice, though it trembled with emotion, was clear. “Okay, on
three we lift and move to the left. One. Two. Three.”
Hunter lifted the coop easily but made a show as if it were so heavy that only with Cody’s help could he really get it off the ground. However, it was heavy enough that he wondered how Daisy managed to move it on her own. Perhaps she had one of the men she employed help her. When they reached the desired location, they set the coop down and Cody placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest.
“See, Mom? I can help.”
Hunter bit back his laughter as Daisy smiled at the boy. “Yes, you can. I guess that means you’re big enough to help muck the stalls too.”
His face fell slightly, but he knew she had him. “Oh, all right,” he said, adding an eyeroll for effect.
“Thank you for that,” Daisy said quietly as she fell into step next to Hunter. “He needed that, and I don’t think I’ve been very good at making him feel needed and useful.”
“No problem. I was about his age when my mom left, and I remember just wishing I could do something to not think about it.”
Her eyes took on a faraway glaze as she nodded. “I’ll have to think about how I can do that more.”
Once in the barn, she showed him how to muck the stalls. Cody was in charge of holding the wheelbarrow still as Hunter picked up the dirty hay. When that job was done, Daisy showed them how to rake through the remaining hay to find any hidden spots. Finally, Cody evened out what was left as Hunter added new hay to the stall. Though it was a workout, and he enjoyed the burn in his shoulders and arms, he would gladly let someone else handle that job if he ever had a ranch. If he had a ranch? Where had that thought come from? He enjoyed his life in the city. Didn’t he?
“Can I ask you something?” He set his rake against the side of the stall and waited for her to look up. She had let Cody have a break, so it was just the two of them in the stall.
She wiped a hand across her forehead and nodded. “I guess. What’s up?”
“Why did you leave the city?”
Daisy pressed her lips together, and Hunter wondered if she was even going to answer him. “I guess there were a few reasons. The biggest one, of course, was that I fell in love.”
“With your husband?”
She sighed and a wistful expression covered her face. “I thought I loved the city - the lights, the action, but my college roommate at the time was from a small town. She heard about some apple festival they were doing here and convinced me to come with her. At first, I hated it. I complained the whole first afternoon about how boring it was, how there was nothing to do, but then I saw the sunset and it took my breath away. You don’t see sunsets like that in the city.”
Hunter could agree with that. Not only were the sunsets blocked by the tall buildings most of the time, but he couldn’t remember the last time he had taken the time to watch one.
“The next day, I met Ethan. He took us to his ranch, this ranch, and showed us around. It was pretty much love at first sight. We began dating before I left town, and I found myself returning nearly every weekend to spend time with him and his family. That in itself would be enough for some people, but at the same time, I was going through personal hardships in the city, so I took it as a sign that God wanted me to come here.”
Hunter mulled over her words for a moment. Questions were racing through his mind, but he wasn’t sure which would be appropriate to ask and which would be important to ask. He decided to start with the one resonating loudest in his head. “First, I’m sorry about your husband. I’ve never been married, but I imagine that is a hard loss, especially with Cody. I told you I recently lost my father, but I know it’s not the same. I do have to ask though, how do you know God wanted you to come here?” He had known people who claimed to be believers, but he’d never had the courage to ask questions when they spoke of God. However, not knowing Daisy and knowing he probably wouldn’t see her after this week made it easier to ask her.
She tilted her head and studied him. “Do you know God, Hunter?”
“I don’t think so. I mean I guess I believe that someone or something created all of this, but that’s about it.” Suddenly, he felt a little silly for even having this conversation with her.
“Well, God doesn’t generally speak directly in our ears, but a lot of the time, He’ll show his plans for us by opening or closing doors. When doors began closing in the city and my thoughts were constantly returning to Ethan and this place,” she indicated the area with her arm, “I took that as I sign that God wanted me here. Unfortunately, I’m no longer sure that’s His plan since it appears I’m going to lose this farm before I have a chance to do much with it.”
Another sigh escaped her lips, and this one seemed to carry the weight of the world. Again, Hunter was hit with the thought that he couldn’t let her lose this farm. He would have to find a way to convince Goldman there was another solution. “Have you ever considered changing what you do? I mean, instead of just ranching, maybe you could look at adding a dude ranch portion or more farming.”
Daisy quirked a brow at him and the corners of her lips lifted slightly. “I’d like to expand to something like that in the future, but I need to get what we currently do working well first. Adding those extras require money I just don’t have. I can’t just throw up a sign and have a dude ranch.”
“Right.” Hunter should have known that, so he didn’t know why he felt so crushed. It just seemed like every idea he had was dependent on money - something he had a lot of but Daisy didn’t.
“Anyway, I’m getting hungry. What do you say we go in and eat?”
Hunter nodded but his wheels kept turning. There had to be some way to help Daisy and still give Goldman what he wanted.
10
Daisy
Daisy couldn’t help but admire Hunter’s muscles as he stacked the bales of hay. He had taken her advice and picked up clothes from the general store, and while they were not designer labels, they fit him to a T. He looked like a cowboy, but not an over the top one like Sheriff Gillespie. Instead, he looked like a rancher - other than the slight highlights in his brown hair that had obviously come from a salon in the city.
“What?” he asked, obviously catching her watching him.
Daisy shook her head as a soft heat climbed her cheeks. She was glad she had given Cody the afternoon off. “Nothing. I was just noticing that you actually look like you know what you’re doing.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “You mean compared to yesterday when I was on my butt covered in chicken poop?”
She chuckled a little at the memory. “Yes, although somehow you even managed to make that look okay.”
“Just okay?” His lips twitched. “I am seriously losing my touch then.”
Daisy wondered if he had a girlfriend back in the city. He must. With his good looks and charming personality, it would be hard to believe he didn’t. Not that it mattered. She was not looking for a relationship, and at the end of the week, he would be gone anyway.
“Oh, I’m sure you can find it again when you go back. You probably have dozens of women to practice on.” Daisy turned from Hunter’s gaze. Why had she said that? It made her sound as if she liked him when she didn’t.
“What about you?” Hunter asked, changing the topic from himself. “Do you think you’ll date again? When you have time.”
Daisy chuckled. “In case you haven’t noticed, this is a small town and the selection is sparse.” Her smile faded as her eyes dropped to the floor. “However, I do know that Cody needs a father figure in his life, so I might date again one day. For him. Fanny and I are great, but we aren’t men. However, that will have to wait until I have time and after I get the ranch making money.” Daisy tried not to think about her lack of a love life much, but Aunt Fanny had a habit of bringing it to her attention every few days.
“But wouldn’t it be easier with someone else?”
Daisy’s gaze flicked to Hunter, and her voice held a note of defiance as she asked, “Are you saying I need a man to make life easier?�
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Hunter’s eyes widened as he realized how his words had come out. “No, that’s not what I meant at all. I just meant with everything here including the stress of providing for others, wasn’t that easier with someone by your side?”
Her face softened. “It was, but I guess it depends on who’s by your side.” Daisy wanted another partner someday, a companion, but she wanted someone loyal and truthful - not just any man. However, she also wanted to get off this dangerous subject. “Anyway, how about we get cleaned up and get that ice cream? I’m sure Cody is ready.”
Hunter’s mouth parted as if he were going to say something else, but instead he nodded. “Do I have time to run back to the inn and change? I’m sure I’m a little sweaty right now.”
“Actually, that’s a good idea. I could use a shower too. How about we pick you up in an hour?”
“I’ll be ready and waiting.” Hunter flashed her a charming smile and a wave before heading out of the barn.
Daisy watched him leave and tried to calm the thumping of her heart. She shouldn’t be attracted to him - her head knew that - but her traitorous body was not getting the hint. A shower. That’s what she needed. Not only to clean up but also to cool her body down.
Forty minutes later, clean and refreshed, Daisy backed the old SUV out of the driveway and headed toward the center of town where the inn was located. Cody jabbered behind her, debating with himself what kind of ice cream he was going to get while Fanny sat silent beside her. Daisy wasn’t sure exactly why Fanny had insisted on coming, but she had a sneaking suspicion the woman hoped to entertain Cody and give Daisy and Hunter some time alone.
Hunter was waiting for them outside the inn when Daisy pulled up. He had changed into a brown and green plaid shirt, and as he hurried to them, Daisy’s pulse quickened once more. “Perfect timing,” he said as he climbed in the back next to Cody. “I have been thinking about chocolate ice cream for the last hour.”
The Cowboy Billionaire Page 6
