The Cowboy's Belated Discovery

by Valerie Comer

  Dad said love was worth the risk.

  But Garret’s heart wasn’t completely convinced.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Tori was an old hand at aiding a farrier, though she hadn’t done it often in the past few years, and not at all since Noah had started working with Rusty. She could glimpse the older smith’s deft hand in some of Noah’s movements.

  She led him horse after horse until they worked under the beam of the yard light coupled with the spotlight mounted to his truck. How many horses had he shoed today before arriving at the Flying Horseshoe? How could he even see anymore, let alone keep moving?

  Finally, Noah paused and rubbed his shoulder. “Guess this one is enough for today. I can barely see straight.”

  “I was wondering how much longer.”

  “You should have said something.”

  “You’re the one doing all the hard work. I figured I could last as long as you. The horses are enjoying the attention between the pedicure and the extra grooming while they wait their turn.”

  “Pedicure.” Noah laughed, stretching one way then the other before running a hand down Pippi Longstocking’s flank. “You like that, girl?”

  “All women do.” Tori smoothed Pippi’s mane. “A little pampering at the spa.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Noah raised his eyebrows at her in the harsh gleam of the spotlight. “I wouldn’t know. It’s all testosterone around Rockstead. My mother used to...” His voice trailed off.

  “I’m sorry for reminding you.” She studied him for a minute. “How about your sisters?”

  “They’re too young, thankfully.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “At thirteen? I doubt that unless they’re super tomboys. I thought little of anything but horses at that age, but if I had a chance to go to a friend’s sleepover where we did each other’s nails and makeup, I took it every time.”

  “Then it’s a good thing we live so far from town, isn’t it?”

  “But they have friends at school, right?”

  He shook his head. “Mom homeschools them. Or she did, before things got so bad. I’m not sure they finished eighth grade.”

  “Aw, I feel sorry for your sisters.” She just couldn’t even go there with Noah’s mom. “Girls that age need friends whether they’re in school or not.”

  “We do get off the ranges for church on Sundays. That has to be enough for them. It is, for the rest of us.”

  Tori could just imagine two sheltered girls surrounded by six big brothers. And their big adventure was one of those cowboys taking them even further in the mountains instead of to Big Sky Waterpark or something like that? “I wish they could come here for a week or two. Maybe not when the girls school is here — they leave Friday, anyway — but there are nearly always families with kids of assorted ages here. I really feel for them.”

  Noah quirked a grin. “I can see how much you enjoy the girls here. You handle all their questions well. Thanks for letting them watch but keeping them occupied out of range. Big load off me knowing I didn’t need to worry about them.”

  “They’re just curious.” She laughed. “And, you know, only Peyton has seen bigger muscles.”

  He shook his head, still grinning. “I need ’em for all this heavy work.”

  “I know you do.”

  Noah lowered one of the truck’s wings and latched it. “I wish you could meet Alexia and Emma, too. They could sure do with some good influence. Someone patient like you.” He eyed her thoughtfully as he rested a hand on the top of the truck box. “I’d even ask you to hire on at Rockstead Ranch if you didn’t look so busy here. My stepdad would pay well to have a companion for the twins.”

  Tori blinked as she stared at him, her mind racing. Really? Could this be the opening she’d been praying for? A chance to get away from Saddle Springs and make a difference elsewhere? “You serious?” She kept her voice light.

  “I would be if I thought you’d go for it.”

  “Maybe I should check it out.” Tori couldn’t believe she’d said that.

  His eyebrows shot up. “Really? Aren’t you needed here?”

  In her mind’s eye, Mom gave her an understanding smile and hug. Yes, Tori was good with the guests, but any outdoor-loving, extroverted Montana native could do what she did here. But helping out the Cavanagh sisters? That required someone with an affinity for thirteen-year-old girls. “I’m not indispensable here. I’ve been thinking of a change.”

  “But it’s your family...”

  Right. He and his five brothers worked for their dad together. He understood family, all right.

  “Look, if you’re serious, I’d be super grateful. I need to talk it over with Dad, of course, but I can’t see why he’d object. He doesn’t have enough hair left to keep pulling it out.”

  “Wouldn’t your mom have a say, too?” Tori couldn’t believe she was actually considering this impromptu invitation.

  Noah slumped against the back of the truck. “You’d think. But the more she withdraws, the more Dad takes charge. If I were you, I’d run in the opposite direction, frankly. It’s not just the twins. My whole family’s a mess, and I can’t promise one or more of my brothers wouldn’t hit on you.”

  “I can take care of myself.” The dejection in his posture and the despair in his words solidified Tori’s conviction that this was something she needed to pursue. It wasn’t only a desire to get away from Garret anymore. It was a door opening that could help her know if teaching might be a valid pursuit. This was more like an old-fashioned governess position, something she hadn’t realized still existed in contemporary times.

  “I don’t doubt you can.” Noah shook his head as he straightened. “And Dad wouldn’t stand for that, anyway. Forget I said anything. It would never work.”

  “And yet you’re worried about your sisters.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. I am, but something will come up.”

  “Maybe something has.”

  Noah studied her for a minute. “Tori, you’re too good for the likes of the Cavanaghs.”

  “You’re back to do the rest of the horses tomorrow, right? Let me talk to my parents.”

  “You can’t be serious.” Yet hope lifted his voice.

  “We’ll see.”

  Garret winced when he saw Lauren’s orange Wrangler turn into the drive. It had, apparently, been too much to hope that Doc Torrington would come on the call just because it was for a horse not a puppy. While both veterinarians were capable, Lauren took most of the small animal calls leaving the larger ones for her senior partner.

  “Hi, Garret.” There was no smile on her face as she slid out of the Jeep.

  “Hey.” He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “Boomerang’s in the stable.”

  “Wow, that’s a shortage of small talk, even from you.” She glowered at him. “It’s been weeks since we’ve seen you. Since you left a message on James’s cell that you were bowing off the worship team for a while and since you stopped hanging out with the gang. Since your dad is always the one opening the door when someone comes over.”

  Garret stared at her. “My mom’s dying,” he said stiffly.

  “And that means you don’t need friends?” Her voice softened. “We want to be here for you, but you’re pushing everyone away. How can we show how much we care when your walls are this high? People need people. Even introverts, sometimes. You’re not an island, Garret.”

  He started at that last bit. Those words took him straight back to Trevor’s wedding and the song Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton crooned at each other. Took him straight back to Tori in his arms and the hurt on her face as he’d backed off and bolted. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

  “Try me.” His best friend’s wife scanned his face. “I’m not a stranger to loss, Garret. My dad died when I was a teen. It was a massive heart attack, not cancer. So, you’re right, I didn’t have to watch him suffer and weaken. One evening I argued with him about curfew, and the next morning he was gone. I never g
ot to say I was sorry. Never got to say goodbye. Never got to tell him I loved him one last time.”

  “I-I didn’t know.”

  “I know you didn’t. You know why? Because you never let conversations get past music or horses or weather. You pretend emotions don’t exist. Guess what, buddy?” She took a step closer, her eyebrows rising. “They do.”

  “Look, I’m sorry it annoys you that I’m a private person—”

  She snorted. “Get real. You can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care. It’s James you’re hurting. He and Trevor and Spencer and Kade are all trying to figure out how to show you they care when you don’t answer calls or texts and are conveniently invisible if anyone drives out here.”

  All the guys. No mention of Tori. But why would she? Unless Tori was a whole lot more talkative than Garret, Lauren wouldn’t even know there might’ve been something between them.

  It wasn’t a might’ve been. He could deny all he wanted, but she affected him. Deeply. That kiss, right here on this doorstep, had pierced through to his heart. Why? Why couldn’t he let go of his fears and reach for the gift she offered?

  Take courage. That’s what Pastor Roland had preached on.

  Lauren turned on her heel with a grunt of annoyance. “Fine. Show me Boomerang. What’s going on with him?”

  Garret should feel relief that she dropped the subject, but he didn’t. He needed to make the first step toward reconciling with his friends, but how? It was easier to talk horses. He swallowed hard. “His left eyelid seems swollen, and he’s squinting. Dad wonders if it’s a corneal ulcer.”

  A few minutes later she’d confirmed Dad’s educated guess and given Garret instructions on how to administer the ointments over the next day or two. Lauren stopped to sweet-talk Newton and Trudy on her way out of the stable before turning to Garret in the doorway. “Have you seen Tori lately?”

  He pulled back and stared at her. “I, uh, no.”

  “Neither have I.”

  Garret frowned. “But you both live at the Flying Horseshoe...”

  Lauren raised her eyebrows. “She did.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “There’s a lot she hasn’t told me, but thank the good Lord she’s not as tight-lipped as you are.”

  Whatever that was supposed to mean. He met Lauren’s gaze and waited.

  Finally, she sighed. “She’s gone, Garret. She took a temporary position at Rockstead.”

  “Rockstead?” His mind whirled, and he grabbed at the doorframe to steady himself. “Cavanaghs’ ranch?”

  “One and the same.”

  “But she can’t do that! There’s how many rough-and-tumble guys out there, far from town? They’ll take advantage of her. Not Noah, of course, but we don’t know his brothers. And besides, Bill and Amanda need her. She leads all the trail rides and...” His voice petered off as he noticed Lauren’s widening smirk. “You’re messing with me.”

  “Sounds like it would have worked, too. But it’s true. Not only is Rockstead full of testosterone-laden twenty-something single guys, those swaggering cowboys have thirteen-year-old twin sisters. Tori’s good with kids, and Noah saw that in action last time he was here. Offered her a job.”

  “But she can’t.” This time his voice was weak.

  “She did. Garret?” She waited until he met her gaze before she continued, her voice softer. “I’m trying to give you a break, because I know this is a really tough time for you, but this thing with Tori has been going on a lot longer. Time’s running out, dude. My sister-in-law is a special person, and she doesn’t deserve to be ignored and avoided by the man she loves.”

  Wasn’t love too strong a word? More like infatuation, only that was shallow and didn’t last.

  Lauren must have seen the question on his face, because she sighed. “Yes, love. We don’t always get to pick the direction our hearts go, Garret. I know you’re hurting, but she’s hurting, too. I don’t blame her for grabbing the first solid opportunity to come her way and reach for her future.”

  “She’s... dating Noah?”

  Her eyebrow cocked. “What would you do about it if she were?”

  Garret ran his hand through his hair and shoved his hat back on his head. His gut clenched while blood pounded in his ears. “It’s up to her.” He’d had his chance. She’d kissed him, and he’d walked away for her protection. That had been the best choice... hadn’t it? If so, why didn’t it feel like it? Why couldn’t he be happy for Noah?

  “What’s going on inside your head, Garret? Why are you pulling away from what could be the best thing that ever happened to you? All I can think of is fear, but you’ve never struck me as a fearful person before. You rode out at night with Trevor and Spencer hunting a mountain lion. If that wasn’t brave, I don’t know what was.”

  He remembered that storm-filled night. “That’s what friends do.” Yeah, he’d been nervous. More than.

  Lauren tapped his chest. “This is also what friends do. They tell each other how it is. Granted, I don’t know you as well as the guys do, but you’ve withdrawn from them — from everyone — and, well, I’m here. So here goes.”

  Garret met her gaze, bracing himself.

  “Whatever happened that’s causing you to backpedal, whether it’s your actions back then or someone else’s, I am one hundred percent certain that Jesus’ blood covered it on the cross. Ask forgiveness if you need to, claim it, and step into your identity as a child of God.”

  It sounded so simple. In some ways, it really was.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “We’re here.” Tori turned off the ignition in front of her cottage. No one had minded — or at least protested — her idea to bring the twins to the Flying Horseshoe for the last half of the agreement. “Think of it like summer camp,” she’d told Declan Cavanagh.

  Now there was an intimidating man. Type A might as well be branded on his forehead. The entire Rockstead Ranch thrummed with focused energy with little interaction and even less grace. No wonder Declan’s wife withdrew, his sons worked like a tightly tuned machine, and his daughters kept their escapades to themselves.

  Tori had signed on for a month, but two weeks on the remote ranch with two bored young teens was more than enough. But could she even pull off chaperoning the girls at the resort? She’d be helping out at the same time, but tourists were a piece of cake compared to twins.

  Emma and Alexia slid out of either side of the RAV4, and the doors shut with twin slams.

  Tori leaned on the vehicle, watching the girls take in the Flying Horseshoe. It was early afternoon, and a small group had gathered over by the corrals. They’d soon be heading out on a trail ride. On the other side of the row of cottages lay the small lake. A few teen girls sunbathed while smaller kids built sand castles with parents. Several boys shot water guns at each other from the unicorn and flamingo floaties beyond the raft. Two orange kayaks nosed along the far shore.

  The tension in Tori’s shoulders began to ease at the welcome, familiar sights.

  Alexia crossed her arms over her chest. “It doesn’t look too awful.”

  High praise.

  “Can we swim?” Emma gathered her long hair and tossed it over her shoulder.

  “Sure. Let’s haul our stuff in and get you settled first, then you can hit the lake.” Tori popped open the hatch, and the girls reached for their luggage. Carrying everything inside was going to take more than one trip, since Tori had also packed for a month away.

  She led the way up the steps along the cabin to the deck overlooking the little lake then set her burdens down to open the slider into the living area. Beyond lay the kitchen, bath, and a small bedroom with a loft above them.

  Tori pointed at the log staircase on the left. “You two will be up there. Make yourselves at home.” Hopefully Mom had sent someone to set up the two cots Tori had asked for.

  Emma headed for the steps, hoisting her wheeled luggage, with Alexia right behind her. A minute later she called down, “Sweet view!”
r />   Tori grinned. With the tall windows facing the lake, she knew what the girl meant.

  “Where’s our bathroom?” asked Alexia.

  “Down here. We’ll share.”

  A mutter followed by a thud told Tori what the teen thought of that. Well, the Carmichaels didn’t have the Cavanaghs’ money or their mansion. If anything proved wealth didn’t make people happy, the Cavanagh family provided the object lesson. Two weeks at Rockstead had served a good reminder that she had a really good life here at home, lack of romance notwithstanding. Noah and his brothers might be good-looking and nice enough, one at a time, but none of them held a candle to Garret Morrison.

  She carried her own bags into her small main-floor space and dumped them on the bed before returning to the SUV to grab another load.

  “Hey, sis! Need a hand there?” James slung his arm across her shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. “Good to see you.”

  Tori turned into her brother’s embrace. “You, too, James. It’s good to be home.”

  He poked his chin toward the cottage. “Your charges inside?”

  “Yep, and already complaining about three of us sharing a bathroom.” She rolled her eyes. “You should see their mansion. It makes our parents’ house look like a mountain cottage. It’s way bigger than even Delgados’ house at Eaglecrest.”

  James chuckled. “Well, the Cavanaghs have eight kids and the Delgados only had three, so I imagine they needed more space.”

  “Kind of, but they’re a blended family, and I think the house is older than that.”

  “Meaning?” His eyebrows rose.

  “Well, they each had three boys when they married, and the girls belong to both of them.” Although it truly seemed the girls belonged to all the brothers but neither parent. Tori couldn’t wrap her head around their family dynamics.

  “Huh.” James slung a backpack over one shoulder and lifted two suitcases. “What’s in these? Gold bricks?”

  Tori laughed. “One is full of about eight pairs of riding boots. A choice for every outfit.”