Finding Her Cowboy

by Sarah Gay

  Becca slapped her hand over her mouth while she hurried inside, closing the door with an embarrassed whimper. She was no stranger to humiliation—she’d always been a little left of center—but her new neighbors didn’t know about her quirkiness yet. She hadn’t expected to mortify herself during their first interaction. There were negative consequences to living alone; she’d gotten in the habit of thinking out loud—a habit she’d need to kick if she didn’t want to become known as the neighborhood’s crazy lady; every neighborhood had at least one crazy person.

  Thunder cracked with a deafening boom, causing her heart to drop. She ran to the back of her house, pulled opened the thick back door, and leaned out into her enclosed porch. “Navi!” she shouted, but her voice drowned under the force of the howling wind.

  After five minutes of squinting into the black night, Becca locked the screen door and went back inside, leaving the thick wooden door ajar so she’d hear Navi meow. Perhaps someone had seen her, as Holly had suggested. Becca sat at her kitchen table and opened Holly’s note with her number scribbled across the bottom. Becca lifted her phone and swiped through her gallery of photos until she found the perfect picture of Navi when her cat was only a few months old. She texted the photo to Holly, along with a folded hands emoji.

  Holly immediately texted back, She’s adorable! I’ll post this ASAP. I’m sure we’ll find her tonight.

  Becca breathed out a sigh of relief as she set her phone, screen up, on the naturally distressed, antique, double drop-leaf kitchen table, exchanging it for the bottle of raspberry jam. With a grunt of effort, she twisted the lid open, causing the top to pop and release the tangy sweet aroma of berries boiling in melted sugar—the soothing scent of her grandmother’s kitchen. She didn’t know anyone her own age who canned fruits and jams, not until now. She skimmed the top with her pointer finger for a quick taste. “I think I’m gonna like it here,” she said with a lazy smile, stealing another fingerful of jelly.

  A second text came in from Holly. Thought you might want a sneak peek of the neighborhood’s most eligible bachelors. The names of five men were listed in alphabetical order, along with their photos.

  Becca clicked her tongue as she swiped through the men’s headshots. “No way,” she laughed out. The photos could have passed for amateur stock photos. Every time she’d gotten onto a stock photo website in the past to find a pic for a promotional advertisement for her store, she’d been bombarded with self-submitted photos of middle-aged, overweight men with cheesy poses who’d entered their submission under the guise of “handsome young man.”

  But these guys had to be okay, or Holly would’ve never sent her their pics. Perhaps she was being too hard on them. She pledged to have a more open mind as she continued, stopping at number five. “He has a nice smile,” she said, rubbing her neck. The top half of the man’s face was hidden in the shadow of his brown leather outback hat. His hat told her that he liked to be in the outdoors. It looked like the photo had been taken outside in bright sunlight. She wouldn’t mind seeing more than his well-formed mouth and chiseled chin, but the thought of going out on another first date sent a shiver up her spine.

  She responded to Holly’s text with, Thanks for getting Navi’s photo out there, and the bachelor list, but don’t stress. Being twenty-four and single suits me just fine.

  A minute later, Holly replied with, Your happy spirit is exactly what this neighborhood—not to mention one lucky, lonely bachelor, needs. I already reached out to each of these guys and asked if they’d seen your cat.

  The lights blinked off, along with the hum of the refrigerator. “Yep, that about sums up my week,” she said with a hint of amusement. “That’s one way for me to get out of unpacking tonight.” She maneuvered carefully around the boxes stacked chest-high with the dim light of her phone, telling herself not to think about her cat being eaten by a wild animal.

  The next morning, Becca woke to the relaxing sound of steady rain as it clinked against the clay rooftiles above her head. She welcomed the contrast to last night’s restless sleep; the howling winds had woken her several times during the night, causing her to shake in fear for Navi’s safety.

  She stretched out as she reached for her phone on the far side of the bed. Maybe Holly had a lead on Navi. “Dead,” she said with a wrinkle of her nose. Her phone’s battery had been on the verge of dying when her movie had finished, sometime after midnight.

  She plugged her phone into the charging cable on her bedside table. “Yes! Power!” she exclaimed as she hopped out of bed, but her phone would need some time charging before it would turn on for her to check if Holly had texted her.

  The floorboards creaked under her feet as she walked the long hallway to her bathroom. The bath situation in her new home wasn’t ideal; historic homes weren’t known for their master bathrooms or walk-in closets. She contemplated what it would take to print and distribute posters of Navi, but she couldn’t hang them up in the rain.

  Rainy days meant less customers, equaling a less-stressful day at the store. Ronny and Grace could handle the shop today, giving her time to search for Navi and finish unpacking. A profit dip would have normally gotten her down, but not on a day like today, when boxes cluttered her home and a missing cat rattled her nerves.

  On a day like today, she found purpose in projects. Growing up, she’d been the teacher’s pet on more than one occasion, but that was simply because she’d offered to keep the classrooms tidy. She knew herself well enough to know she didn’t function well in chaos. She paused in front of her bathroom mirror and whistled mockingly at her reflection. “Who doesn’t want frizzy, long brown hair and puffy eyelids?” she said with a laugh. “Maybe my cowboy likes his woman real.”

  Three hours later, Becca sat on a box in the kitchen labeled “books” and stared out through her open back door at the pouring rain, ignoring the hunger pang in her gut. What she needed now were utensils, not books. Those kitchen boxes had to be somewhere.

  She stood and lifted the box she’d been sitting on, transferring it to the tiny library off the front entry where books, stacked by genre, occupied every inch of the dark, distressed wood flooring. Only three more boxes of books to unpack, then she’d know how to organize them on the shelves. Where to put everything?

  A phone’s ring woke her from her internal dialogue. She leapt up from the floor and ran to her bedroom, scooping up her phone. “Hello?”

  “It’s Holly. Just got a text from Jack. He’s got Navi.” Her voice trilled with excitement.

  Tension released in Becca’s shoulders. “Holly, you’re an angel.”

  “Ah…wait,” she drew out. “He’s still texting. It looks like he called animal control before he saw my text. He’s saying something about his phone dying during the blackout and sleeping in, then charging his phone in his car. We’ve known Jack for years; he’s a great guy and amazing with kids.” She paused. “Just got another text from him. He can’t find her right now.”

  Becca pushed her toes into a pair of sandals and grabbed her keys from off the key rack on the wall next to the front door. “What? I don’t understand.”

  “I know, right? I’m dropping you a pin to his house right now.”

  “Thanks, Holly. Bye.” Becca didn’t mean to be rude, but she had to get off her phone to use her map app. She dashed out her front door to her car. Her thin cotton pajamas clung to her body as the rain pelted her back. Another downside to her historic home—no attached garage. She crouched over like someone with severe scoliosis to prevent the rain from saturating her entire body, to no avail.

  “Umbrella,” she sighed out, “that would have been a useful accessory to unpack this morning.” She started her car, then stared down at her phone in confusion; the map wanted to take her in a circle.

  She backed down her driveway, having no choice but to trust the directions. She turned left at the stop sign, then took another left at a fork in the road when her phone alerted her that she’d reached her destination—a light
yellow home with steeply pitched gables.

  As she walked up the driveway, she watched her back fence rise behind the house. In my back-door neighbor’s yard? That’s where Navi’s been hiding? At least the rain had abated, allowing her to get a good look at the country façade of the Tudor-style home.

  Becca didn’t waste time searching for the doorbell; she pounded on the door hard enough to wake a sleeping teenager. When the door swung open, so did Becca’s mouth. She struggled to find her voice as she stared up at bachelor number five’s strong chin and perfect lips as they slowly spread into an amused smile.

  Chapter Two

  “Come in,” Jack said to the mysterious wet woman on his doorstep, who simply stared at him instead of explaining why she’d knocked on his door.

  The open house had been yesterday, but it was possible the signs directing prospective buyers to his home were still pegged in the ground around the neighborhood. No matter what brought her to him, he wasn’t about to shoo her away; her flushed cheeks, bright blue eyes, and creamy skin had him swallowing back his drool.

  “I’m Jack Jones.”

  “Cat,” she said in a breathy voice, her dripping ponytail swinging as she stepped past him and searched the floor with her eyes. “Cat. I was told she’s here. She’s inside then?”

  He took in a deep breath of her vanilla, rose petal scent. “Should I call you cat woman?” he said when it hit him that this was the new neighbor Holly had texted him about. She turned her attention back to him momentarily, stifling a laugh. No wedding ring.

  “Sure, go with cat woman,” she said as if not caring if he knew her name. Her brow pinched together as her eyes searched the floor again. “Thanks for finding her. I was so worried.”

  He chuckled at her fun, slightly peculiar personality, but it was how she didn’t give him a second glance that piqued his interest. And anyone who dared show up at an unfamiliar house dressed in wet pajamas possessed serious confidence—too much confidence for someone that young…and beautiful.

  Please be over twenty-one. Looks were often deceiving. After that one date with the nineteen-year-old college student two years ago, he swore off anyone under twenty-one. He enjoyed the maturity and relaxed conversation that came with a woman who knew her mind.

  Strike that, Shelly knew her mind all too well, deciding to work in the Netherlands instead of settling down…in this house with him. A scowl crossed his lips. He needed Shelly out of his mind.

  A cat meowed in his back yard.

  “Navi!” the pretty cat girl exclaimed, rushing toward the back of his house.

  Jack pulled out his phone and texted Holly. What’s your cat friend’s name and do you know how old she is? “Sorry, she ran out when I came in.”

  She stopped at the back door and looked up at him. “You found her inside your house?”

  “Yeah. I came from Dallas this morning to check on the house,” he said, opening the back door for her. “When I walked in, I heard a cat crying, and I don’t have a cat.”

  “My cat’s been inside your house all this time?” she asked, pressing her fingers into her forehead as if trying to alleviate a headache. “I’m so sorry. If there are any messes, I’ll clean them up,” she said, her eyes scanning the floor again.

  “No worries. Seriously,” he said, waving his arm for her to join him outside. “The house’s fine but she didn’t have a collar, so I called animal services, then I saw the text from Holly and was just about to ask her for your number.”

  Her face dropped. “She won’t wear a collar. Did you see where she went?” She stepped off the porch, looked out across his back yard, then stopped suddenly, her arms going slack at her sides. “Wow,” she said with a slow blink. “I could die here.”

  “Excuse me?” he coughed out, not sure how to take her comment, but by the serene look on her face, she admired his work.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean I want to die here,” she said with a quick shake of her head. “I mean these are the most peaceful gardens I’ve ever seen. Straight out of a fairytale.” She bit at her bottom lip and nodded as if mulling something over in her head. “I need your gardener’s number.” She tiptoed to the hydrangea bushes and whistled for her cat as she bent over and lifted a few long, drooping stems. “And it smells amazing!”

  “Thanks.” He drank in her long legs and graceful arms. Her movements reminded him of when he’d attended the ballet on a school field trip as a kid. “Sorry I couldn’t keep her inside. She bolted past me.”

  She shivered as the light rain spritzed her forehead and cheeks.

  “I’ll grab us an umbrella.” He jogged back into the house, threw his hat on, and pulled an umbrella from the coat stand in the front entry.

  As he sprinted to the back door, he received a text message from Holly. Name: Becca Foley, Age: twenty-four, Sign: Single and looking for love!!!

  “Yes!” Jack exclaimed as he stepped back outside.

  “You found her?” Becca asked, peering up at him from under the protection of the black iron archway covered in honeysuckle, her face barely visible through the lush greenery.

  He rubbed his chin. “In a manner of speaking.”

  She tilted her head to the side and looked at him with perplexed eyes. “Was that a yes?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a ball of fluff jump onto his back-neighbor’s porch and huddle against the door. “Yes. That’s a definitive yes,” he said, pointing to the cat as he placed the umbrella over Becca’s head, allowing her to venture out from her dry spot. He raised the umbrella higher as Becca scrambled up a rock hill that acted as a waterfall when powered on. “Is that your house?” Jack asked when she’d made it to the top.

  “Navi!” she shouted, but the cat ignored her. “Yeah, that’s my house. Figures,” she said with a tired sigh as she climbed back down the rocks. “I should go feed her. She’s probably starving.”

  When their eyes connected, she sucked in a quick breath. Her reaction caused an electric bolt to shoot through his heart. He nodded but didn’t move out of the way for her to pass by on the narrow gravel path. He stared at her with intensity.

  She took a step toward him, the warmth of her body lighting his chest on fire. He wiped a streak of water from her cheek and tilted her chin up with his fingertips. She smiled at him for a second, then broke his gaze.

  “Can I walk you home?” he asked, pointing to a gate in their shared back fence.

  “Sure,” she said casually.

  Her indifference confused him. “This way.”

  “I didn’t know our yards had a gate connecting them. I haven’t dared explore my jungle yet. Are you sure you’re up for it?” she asked with a sparkle of mischief in her eye as she stepped through the gate. “We might get stuck back here.”

  “Okay by me,” he said with a seductive smile, hoping she’d catch his meaning. Her cheeks blushed red, but she didn’t speak, or give him any indication she reciprocated his attraction.

  Other than tall grasses, her back yard was devoid of life, but it wouldn’t take much to get it fertile again. Sometimes rest was all soil needed to replenish itself.

  “Navi,” she said sternly, reproaching her cat with her tone, while lovingly scooping the white and gold cat up in her arms. She smiled at Jack. “You saved me. Please come in and make yourself comfortable.” Becca opened her back door and beckoned him to follow her into the white, retro kitchen.

  She sauntered down the hall, her hips swaying with a natural, steady rhythm that Jack’s heartbeat fell in time with. She pulled two red towels from the hallway closet and glanced back at him with a slow blink as she tossed him a towel, drying her cat with the other. “Be back in a sec to make us some tea.”

  Jack stood in the small kitchen, not diverting his attention from Becca’s delicate movements until she disappeared into a room off the main hallway. It took his mind a few seconds to register that his umbrella had been dripping water down his jeans and onto the tiled floor.

  Murky water poole
d at his feet, saturating his muddy footprints that stretched ten feet across the white tiles to the back door. He shook his head at himself, tossed the towel onto the table, and retraced his steps, setting the umbrella and his hat on the back step.

  The rain pounded down with greater force, clanking against the metal overhang above the porch and releasing the tang of wet aluminum. He removed his shoes, placing them next to the sandals Becca had kicked off when they’d first walked in, like he should’ve done. He grabbed the towel from off the table and patted his face, replacing the metallic odor with a light floral scent—even Becca’s towels smelled like flowers.

  “Body wash commercial,” Becca whispered, stepping back into the room.

  He pulled his face out of the towel to catch her eye, but she’d already turned her back to him and begun rummaging through a box on the floor. She had changed into a pair of jeans and an oversized sweatshirt. Her long dark hair cascaded half-way down her back in loose curls.

  He wondered what it would feel like to run his fingers through the silky locks. “Excuse me?” he asked, wanting her to repeat what he thought he’d heard.

  Without turning around to face him, she waved her hand in the air dismissively. “Oh, nothing, just talking to my cat.”

  “Lucky cat,” he said, tossing his towel on the floor and getting down on his hands and knees to clean up the water and muddy footprints.

  “Do you prefer chamomile, orange, or mint?” she asked, flipping her head around, her hair whipping over her shoulders. Her mouth opened and she blinked twice before their eyes met. “What are you doing?”

  “Cleaning the floor?” he said, looking from side to side, questioning himself. “Is that okay?”

  “That’s…great.” She waved a tea box in front of her chest, fanning herself. “Mint. Yes, I agree, mint tea is both warming and cooling at the same time.” She stepped to the black iron stove and clicked on the gas.