No Place Like Home (9 page)

“B
rady!”

Norma Sue.
Brady groaned and slowed his pace. Friday, the first morning of the two-day event, had arrived way too early for him. He'd had a neverending sleepless night, he was tired and confused. His past had been nagging at him constantly after he'd dropped Dottie off at her RV. His heart was running away with him even as his head kept telling him that Dottie was leaving Mule Hollow and he didn't have any reason to think otherwise. To say the least, he wasn't in the best of moods.

Norma Sue barreling down on him first thing made for a dangerous situation. It wasn't that he didn't like Norma, he did, but he wasn't the dullest guy on the block and he knew that the town had a hawk eye on him and Dottie. Due in part because of his stupid wink. He still hadn't figured out why he'd winked at her.

Or kissed her.

“Brady Cannon, if I didn't know you better, I'd think you were trying to avoid me.”

He sighed and spun on the heel of his boot to face Norma Sue. She hurtled to a halt in front of him. Her wiry gray hair was sticking out from under the cowboy hat she wore to protect her skin from the sun and her rounded figure was covered by a big denim work shirt and jeans. She'd come prepared for work today. His only hope was that that was what she wanted to see him about.

“Hey, Norma, I wasn't trying to avoid you, just had a lot on my mind.”

She was sucking wind back into her lungs in deep gasping breaths. “I'm about to slap pass out. Whew-wee, getting these stubby legs to move fast enough to catch those long legs of yours is a trip and a half.” Bending over, she placed her palms on her knees, shoulders heaving.

Feeling a mite alarmed, Brady bent down, too. “I'm really sorry, Norma. Can I help you?” He started patting her on the back but she waved him off, snatched her hat off her head and started fanning.

“Fine. I'm fine, just—” she held her free hand up “—give me a sec and another— Whew-wee, this heat wave we're having today hoodwinked me.”

When she stood up at last, she was red faced, but grinning like the Mad Hatter. “I'm f-fine. I heard you been helping Dottie get ready for today.”

Brady braced himself. The woman was on the verge of cardiac arrest and still her mind was one-track! But what had he expected? Everyone knew Norma Sue
Jenkins had never been much for beating around the bush. “And who did you hear that from?”

“Actually, from Cassie. She was telling me a-wal-ago that you were so sweet to have them out to cook at your place. Been wondering where they were during the day.”

She was breathing more easily, and for that he was glad. He didn't want to start the proceedings with a call to the ambulance.

“It was the neighborly thing to do.”

“Oh, yes, it was,” she said, showing way too many teeth for his comfort.

“And
neighborly
is exactly what we want to be.” She rammed him in the ribs! “You need a sweet girl like that, Brady Cannon. That girl has been here, what, four days? And she fits right in. And everybody can see that the two of you clicked right off.”

He stepped away from her, rubbing his bruised ribs. “Norma, I don't want to interrupt your cakewalk or anything, but you can tell the ladies to back off.” She was finding humor in this but it wasn't funny. Not that she could know that he'd started dreaming again. But this time the dream was of Dottie, dressed in black, crying at his graveside. It was a vivid dream fashioned from watching Eddie's wife weep her eyes out as she clung to the casket containing his partner's body. That was all it had taken for him to draw back. Dottie had a heart of gold and though the odds were low of him dying in the line of duty out here in the sticks, it didn't matter.

“Look, Norma, I let Dottie use Mom's kitchen and
that's it. End of story. Y'all need to leave me out of this matchmaking stuff. I don't ever intend to marry.”

“What did you say? Brady Cannon, you listen to me and you listen up good, son. I know losing your partner was hard on you. Don't look so surprised. Your mamma told me she thought his dying affected you more than you let any of us know. She was worried about you. And after your parents died and suddenly you came home…when you'd spent your entire life wanting to get out of Mule Hollow, we knew.”

“Knew what?”

“We knew you needed time to heal. That your heart needed time to mend.”

Brady started to deny everything she'd said, but she held up her hand.

“No need to deny it, son. You're a man. Men handle things different than women.”

“Norma, you're steppin' over a boundary here.” Brady bit the words out. He'd never talked to anyone about what happened—and he wasn't fixin' to start now. “Look, I've got to get to work.”

“It'll all work out, son,” she called after him.

Brady kept on walking. He knew things didn't always “work out.”

Just ask Eddie's family.

 

The morning went from bad to worse.

It was like the vendors that had shown up were crazy or something. He decided right quick that he was going
to have to talk to Lacy and the ladies about screening their sales force before future events, because by the middle of the day he was ready to throw in the towel and cry foul.

No way was he going to do this again.

If he hadn't known better, he'd have accused Adela and Esther Mae of putting something in the lemonade—everyone was acting peculiar! Not only had Red, the hot-dog man, and Harlen, the taco guy, finally duked it out over the corn-on-a-stick lady, the birdhouse lady and the free-puppy lady had almost gotten into a hair-pulling contest over the roasted-peanut man. And it only got better. There was the cotton-candy man and the flea-market collectibles lady…evidently they'd been an item along the route. Unfortunately, they'd picked Mule Hollow to decide to call it splitsville, loudly and obnoxiously in front of the dunk-a-dude booth.

Cassie was having a blast. Every time he looked up from a disruption, there she stood grinning like the show was all for her enjoyment. She was a funny gal.

He'd finally been able to calm everyone down and despite wanting to haul the whole bunch to jail, he'd managed to control his temper and only hand out warnings. Only
after
making it perfectly clear that he had no problem changing his mind if they continued their behavior.

Cassie had not been happy with him spoiling her fun.

He was digging a bottle of ice water out of a chest when Dottie walked up. She wore a flowing summer
dress the colors of the sunset, all reds and oranges with a splattering of gold, and she radiated warmth and happiness.

She took his breath away.

He hadn't thought he could say it, but he was glad he'd had so much keeping him busy. At least he'd had something to focus on other than the long line of cowboys who'd surrounded Dottie's RV all day long.

“You've been a busy boy this morning,” she said, a gentle smile on her lips. “How are you holding up?”

He ripped the cap off his bottle of water and took a long swig, an avoidance move on his part. “I'm hanging in there,” he said, looking away from her. “Sorry I haven't made it over to your booth yet.”

He knew he could have. She did, too.

“Clearly I've been too quiet,” she laughed, handing him a cute little package of assorted candy wrapped in a clear plastic wrapper with a glittering yellow ribbon. “I was thinking that you, above anyone else, needed a little care package. We've been watching you referee all day. It's been very entertaining. I'm sure you noticed how happy Cassie was. The girl was absolutely gleeful. Especially when it looked like the birdhouse lady was going to challenge you to a little wrestling match. She looked as if she might be able to take you, too.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” He grinned and relaxed somewhat. Until he met her gaze. He took another quick swig of water and surveyed the field. It
was safer than looking at Dottie with her shining black hair and sparkling eyes.

“There's a mass of people here,” he said. Now they were reduced to small talk. If things got any more strained they'd be talking about the weather next.

Dottie cleared her throat and gently kicked a weed with her sandaled foot. “For the most part they seem to be having a great time. Especially the kids. Do you see the crowd at the petting zoo? I think Cort was right about that. You may be able to purchase that equipment you all need very quickly.”

“That would be nice. The people are great. It's these vendors I'm wondering about. For a while there I started looking for hidden cameras. I just knew I was on TV or something.”

She chuckled, a gentle tinkle that drew his gaze to her again. And he realized he'd been waiting to hear it all day.

“Now,
that
would have been funny. Brady,” she blurted his name out, then paused, as if she'd been waiting for the right moment to say what came next, but had to work up to finishing. “I wanted to say thanks for everything.”

He met her gaze. A strand of long ebony hair drifted across her face and he had to fight the urge to reach for it, to tuck it behind her ear. “Already sold all of it?” He knew she had; cowboys weren't fools.

She laughed and visibly relaxed. “I've sold much more than anticipated. I had no idea that cowboys love candy so much! What a stampede we've had.”

She was serious. She didn't get it. “They
like
the candy
lady.
”

Her gaze grew incredulous. “I hadn't thought of that. Cassie is really pretty, but honestly she wasn't at the table much.”

“You know very well I was talking about you.”

The crease appeared between her eyebrows and she cocked her head to the side. “Yeah, right.” She yanked a thumb toward her booth and took a hesitant step backward toward it. “I guess I'd better get back over there… I just saw you having a peaceful moment and thought I'd come say hi and see if by chance any information pertaining to Cassie had come in.”

“I hate it, but still nothing. If her name is really Cassie Bates, I'll know soon. But even if she's using a fake name, nothing with her description's turned up. You need to talk to her. Or I will if you'd like me to.”

She shook her head. “I'll do it. You'd think she'd be starting to act like she was missing someone. But she's not. She's as happy as a clam. I mean, every day she gets happier. This morning she was bouncing all around, yapping like she does about cowboys and husbands. That girl has a one-track mind. She was talking about looking up Bob today.”

“Oh, boy…and I thought things had calmed down.”

“D
ottie, you need to take a break and come with me.
Now.
”

She was in the middle of a sale and more customers were waiting in line. Brady's sudden reappearance and demand alarmed Dottie. “Is something wrong?”

“You could say that,” he snapped, obviously not happy. Reaching for her arm, he helped her up from her chair, then informed the three cowboys in line holding sacks of candy that the sales were on him. They started to protest, but one glance from him and they decided now might not be the time to tangle with the sheriff. Especially since he immediately snatched her money bag and display basket, opened her RV's door, stuffed it all inside and led her away in all of a minute.

“What's going on, Brady? Has something happened to Cassie?” Fear seized Dottie at the hard expression on his face.

“Remember that competition she was talking about? Well, she's drumming it up all right.”

Weaving in and out of the crowd he practically carried her around groups who'd stopped to talk in the middle of the flow of traffic.

They'd gone all the way to the far end of the pasture when he stopped suddenly at the edge of a crowd. There was a lot of laughing and hooting as a young boy rode a mechanical bull. It moved up and down and around. It was obvious that the metal contraption could move much faster but was running at low speed for the child's sake. Dottie didn't understand what the big deal was. That is, until she saw Cassie standing beside the dark-headed cowboy in charge of the bull's controls. And Jake standing to the side looking forgotten about. His stance made it very apparent that he wasn't happy with the turn of events.

“Who is that?” Dottie asked, but by the look on Cassie's face she already knew. “Tell me that's not Bob.”

“That's Bob, all right. And that's Jake. You may remember Jake, he's the one she's been flirting with— Ever. Since. She. Arrived. Here. He's the one wrapped around her pretty little finger.”

Dottie groaned. “She said Bob was the reason she'd come to Mule Hollow. She said a lot of things. Is he looking for a wife? Poor Jake.”

“Poor Bob.” Brady tilted his hat back and grunted. “He wouldn't be averse to a wife, but I have a feeling he'd rather she be a bit closer to his own age.”

“Has she been making a nuisance of herself? Or worse?”

“Just watch. She's ridden that bull about four times. Bob is having to give her pointers every time and then rescue her when she nearly falls off.”

“She wouldn't.”

“I'm afraid so. Here she goes.”

The bull came to a halt and Bob picked the boy up and set him on the ground then turned to Cassie. Even from the distance where Dottie stood she could tell his smile was weak. He obviously didn't know what to do with the girl.

Ah, Cassie, what are you doing?

Dottie was embarrassed for the poor kid as she beamed up at him, oblivious to what was apparent to everyone else. The poor cowboy was being a polite gentleman and at the same time he was looking for an escape.

“What happened to the Jake infatuation?” she asked. “I mean, it's true, yesterday she was out there shaking hands with every cowboy she came within a hundred yards of. But she's been so into Jake.”

“I don't know who she's trying to make jealous, but she did say she was going to get some competition going. I was talking to Bob when all of a sudden she zeroed in on him. Bob's a really nice guy, wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings, least of all a kid like Cassie. But…” His words trailed off as they watched Bob help Cassie hop onto the bull. He then proceeded to show her how to hold the reins. She was acting as if she hadn't a brain in her cute little manipulative head.

“Has he had to show her all of this every time?”

“Yup. 'Fraid so.”

“Oh, Cassie. Cassie, Cassie. I'd never have thought she'd pull a scheme like this. I mean, she could have climbed onto that thing all by herself, she's smart as a whip and tough as nails.”

Finished with the quick run-through, Bob stepped back and turned the bull on. Very slowly it started twisting and bucking. A two-year-old could have held on at the speed it was going. Cassie looked pretty good for a few seconds then the speed picked up to what any four-year-old could handle and she started calling for help! Clutching the saddle horn with a vise grip, she pretended to be slipping off the bull's back, looking imploringly at Bob.

Dottie could not believe her eyes. “Oh, give me a break! That is such a pathetic show of flirtatious bunk!”

“Tell me about it. This is my fifth time watching. I'd hoped she'd have moved on by the time I got you over here.”

Dottie wanted to reach out and protect the girl from the foolishness. “Has she no pride?” she gasped when Cassie started slipping from the bull and cried out.

Brady grimaced. “Pride! Look at her.”

Dottie was almost as relieved as Bob when Jake practically knocked him out of the way to get to be the hero. Apparently he'd taken all he could take. Scooping Cassie from her precarious perch, and despite her indignant protest, he strode past a much-relieved Bob to the
outer edge of the gathering. All the while Cassie kicked her legs and glared up at the stone-faced young man who was on a mission to reclaim his status as her guy.

“Do you think we need to go over there?” Dottie asked Brady. Jake plopped Cassie down and the animated conversation began.

Even across the distance it was pretty evident that neither of them were happy.

“I think it'll be okay. Jake would never hurt her.” Brady glanced down at her. “Maybe you could have a talk with Cassie pretty quick.”

Dottie nodded just as Cassie shoved Jake and stormed away. Her face was red and Dottie wasn't certain, but she thought she'd glimpsed tears.

“I better go have it now.”

Brady grabbed her arm. “Whoa, let her cool off. She might not need to know you witnessed all of that. And even if she knows, maybe she needs to have some time to reflect.”

Torn with conflicting feelings, Dottie gave in. “You might be right. It's been a long day…a long week.” Especially since she hadn't slept much. It had been hard trying not to think about Brady and the kiss they'd shared. And all the reasons she needed to forget about it. She didn't even know the man, really. Which was all the more reason this infatuation was disturbing her.

“Come on, let's take a breather,” he said, breaking into her thoughts.

He took her hand and she let him tug her across the
open field to a stand of low-slung trees. They were a scraggly lot with thin gnarled trunks, but they offered a nice quiet place to relax. That was the only reason she'd gone with him.

“I don't know about you,” he said as they settled on the natural bench made by a double trunk of one of the gnarled trees, “but I feel like a dad going crazy over his daughter's dating choices. I'm worn smooth out. With all that I've contended with today, it's Cassie who has done me in.”

Dottie crossed her arms and leaned back against the tree trunk. She fought to relax, to find a comfortable common ground with Brady. To ignore memories of the kiss they'd shared. “The poor girl is practically making a fool of herself over Bob. And in front of everyone. I thought my main problem was going to be convincing her to cut Jake a little slack. Man, oh man, was I ever wrong.”

“She's a bit wet behind the ears, but I don't think she could have picked a safer place to mature.”

Dottie sighed. “I know you're right. But I feel so responsible for her.”

“God put her in your path for a reason. Do you believe that?”

Something in his voice changed with that question and she searched his expression. It occurred to her in that instant that God had put Brady in her path for a reason, too. Maybe it was to help Cassie out, but maybe there was another reason. She'd spent all this time with
him, had seen him in action, knew that he gave freely to the community, to his job, but she really knew nothing more about him. Who was there for Brady? What was his story?

“I do believe that God puts people in our paths for a reason. So why do you suppose our paths have crossed?”

She'd surprised him. So much so that he couldn't hide it. “To help Cassie,” he said after a second.

“Maybe. I was just sitting here wondering what a great guy like you is doing without a family. What's your story, Brady Cannon?”

He cocked his head to the side and studied her.

She smiled. “No joking? No winking? C'mon, what's your story?”

His expression hardened. “Let's see, Dottie with the good heart…you're out to save Cassie, you're on your way to help save a bunch of ladies in L.A. and now you think you can save me?” His gaze turned cynical. “It won't happen.”

Dottie laughed, mostly from surprise. “That's the last thing I ever expected to hear you say.” And it was. The good sheriff had changed, hardened right before her eyes.

“Why? Does that make me a bad person just because I don't want your help?”

“Nooo,” she drawled through pursed lips. “But I see you out saving everyone around you,
Brady to the rescue,
and I can't help wondering, who rescues you?”

He stood abruptly and walked to the edge of the trees, clearly angry. The question was why? His reaction
told her she was following the right lead. It felt similar to the moment she'd decided to pick up Cassie off the side of the road. Only, Brady hadn't had his thumb out.

“Let's just say I don't want to be rescued,” he grunted.

“That's too easy.”

He swung around. “What?”

She'd surprised him again. Rising, she walked to him. She wasn't sure what had come over her, but she was going with her gut. “You heard me, Brady. What's your story? I've wondered from the moment I met you why a great guy like you isn't married. It's none of my business, but if you want to talk, I'm here for you. It's the least I can do.”

His expression told her he wasn't planning to take her up on her offer anytime soon. But that was okay. She'd said what she'd felt led to say. She patted his arm. “You think about it. You know where to find me if you want to talk.”

She smiled at him then walked away. She should have felt bad about being so snoopy, but she didn't. She'd made an offer to someone she cared about and it felt good. Uh, cared about as a friend, of course.

Even if he didn't seem too fired up about the offer, it was out there. And now she needed to find Cassie.