Lesbian Cowboys by Sacchi Green

Author:Sacchi Green
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cleis Press
Published: 2010-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

GIRL COWBOY

Charlotte Dare

Lucille had some choices. Either sell the small dairy farm she had struggled to manage on her own or hire a stranger to help her keep it up and running. Either way the dream she’d shared with her husband before he shipped off to war would never come to fruition.

“Mornin’, ma’am,” he said, tipping his cowboy hat. “Name’s Del Mather and I’m here on account of your notice at Crowley’s Market.” He smiled brightly, his baby face a beacon atop a slender lighthouse dressed in a checkered shirt and dusty Levis.

“I just put that ad up no more than a half hour ago,” she said.

“I know. I watched you do it and then followed you here, Mrs. Lucille Grady.”

Lucille examined him from the weathered, felted wool of his Stetson down to the worn-out boots with shiny spurs that jingled as he fidgeted. “This is a dairy farm. A very small dairy farm.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, still smiling.

“Forgive me, but you look like you belong breaking horses on a sprawling ranch somewhere in Texas.”

He hiccupped in a childlike laugh. “Well, ma’am, I do hail from Amarilla and did work the rodeo circuit for a spell, but these days I’m lookin’ for any work what I can do outside and with my hands. A very small dairy farm’ll do just fine.”

Lucille smiled. “I have a fresh batch of blueberry muffins cooling. Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

He looked at the tip of his boots. “No, ma’am.”

She watched Del with fascination as he scoffed down his third muffin and polished off a second cup of black coffee. “Would you like a peach, Mr. Mather? I just picked a basket of enormous ones yesterday.”

“No Mister—just call me Del, and yes, I’d love a peach.”

Lucille selected the largest one from the basket on the windowsill and wondered when this poor fellow last enjoyed a meal. “Here you go.”

“Thank you kindly, Mrs. Grady. I better take this with me. Looks like there’s a lot of work to be done out yonder. What do you want done first?”

“The milk needs to be bottled and the eggs crated and taken to Mr. Crowley’s. I’m already two hours late on delivery again, but he’s been understanding.”

“Then I better hop to it.” Del sprang from his chair, his hat in one hand and the peach in the other.

“Del,” Lucille said, tossing him another peach. “A snack for later.”

His sweet grin and the ensuing flutter in her stomach unsettled her. Her stomach hadn’t fluttered like that since the day she stood at the Altar of Saint Sebastian Church over four years ago and said “I do” to Henry Grady, Jr.

She quickly grabbed a cloth and occupied herself washing the breakfast dishes. No sense wasting any more time wondering about Mr. Del Mather when there were a dozen peach cobblers to make and deliver to Mr. Crowley’s before suppertime.

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