Cowboy Meets Cowgirl by Jeannie Watt

Author:Jeannie Watt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781959988441
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2023-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

For the next several days, when Trace arrived on the Keller Ranch, the first thing he did after rounding the curve was to check to see where Em and her tractor were. Usually, he spotted her in the fields, and although he never saw her during the workday, she made it a point to stop by the old house before he went home to check progress. And when she did, her attitude was friendly, yet a touch distant, despite his assuring her that he wasn’t looking to interfere with her independence.

Trace was good with polite distance, perhaps even relieved, because something had changed for him. He refused to put a name on it, other than “longing” or perhaps “wishing things were different.” He had scars. He’d be the first to admit that. He had trouble trusting and he had trouble believing that people who said they’d be there for him would be. He knew his limitations and had explained them to Em, who’d questioned them, and then accepted that he was who he said he was, thus letting him be.

He got what he’d asked for. And it was driving him a little crazy.

On his last workday that week, Em didn’t show up for her usual inspection. Trace wanted to show her the tile work he’d done in the bath and ask about grout. A necessary contractor-client conversation that was also an excuse to see her. After taking more time than usual cleaning up, he heard the door open and came into the kitchen, expecting Em. Instead, Henry, the retired ranch manager, was standing in the doorway. He wore a canvas vest with a couple of lures hooked to the shearling patch on the front, and his silver-streaked black hair was caught at the back of his neck with an elastic band.

“You’re doing a hell of a job on this place,” he said. “Daniel and I come out and take a look sometimes in the evening.”

“Thanks.”

“You want to go fishing?”

“Excuse me?”

“I know you probably have plans, but I go every day about now, and it occurred to me that you might enjoy some wind-down time.”

“I’m finishing up a custom order tonight,” he said. Those blue-gray chairs that matched the firepit. “I make furniture on the side and my client is getting antsy.”

“I understand.” The old man turned to the door.

“Tomorrow?”

Henry turned back, his lined face lighting up. “Yeah. That’d be good. I’ve got plenty of tackle, so you don’t gotta bring anything.”

“Great.”

“Maybe a six-pack.”

Trace smiled. “I’ll see what I can rustle up.”

So it was that the next day after work, and again with no sign of Em, Trace carried a small cooler of beer to the side-by-side when Henry showed up exactly at quitting time. The old man drove across the fields to a series of small ponds connected by a channel of live water, and parked under the shade of a lone Russian olive tree.

Trace got out of the vehicle, stretching his legs and rolling his shoulders as the sun hit his back.

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