The Cowboy Next Door (3 page)

“It's a house,” she whispered, knowing he wouldn't understand. She could look down the road and see the large brick house he'd grown up in. It had five bedrooms and the living room walls were covered with pictures of the children and the new grandchild that Wilma Blackhorse didn't get to see enough of.

“Yes, it's a house.” He kind of shrugged. He didn't get it.

“I've never lived in a house.” She bit down on her bottom
lip, because that was more than she'd wanted to share, more than she wanted him to know about her.

“I see.” He looked down at her, his smile softer than before. “You grew up in St. Louis, right?”

“Yes.”

“I guess moving to Gibson was a big change?”

“It was.” She walked to the back of his truck. “I want to thank you for this place, Jay. I know that you don't want me here…”

He raised a hand and shook his head. “This isn't my decision. But I don't have anything against you being here.”

She let it go, but she could have argued. Of course he minded her being there. She could see it in his eyes, the way he watched her. He didn't want her anywhere near his family farm.

 

Jay followed Lacey up the back steps of the house and into the big kitchen that his grandmother had spent so much time in. The room was pale green and the cabinets were white. His mom had painted it a few years ago to brighten it up.

But it still smelled like his grandmother, like cantaloupe and vine-ripened tomatoes. He almost expected her to be standing at the stove, taking out a fresh batch of cookies.

The memory brought a smile he hadn't expected. It had been a long time since his grandmother's image had been the one that he envisioned in this house. It took him by surprise, that it wasn't Jamie he thought of in this house, the way he'd thought of her for nine years. He put the box down and realized that Lacey was watching him.

“Good memories?” she asked, curiosity in brown eyes that narrowed to study his face.

“Yes, good memories. My grandmother was a great cook.”

He didn't say, “unlike Mom.”

“Oh, I see.”

“I guess you probably do. My mom tries too hard to be
creative. She always ends up adding the wrong seasoning, the wrong spices. You know she puts cinnamon and curry on her roast, right?”

Lacey nodded. She was opening cabinets and peeking in the pantry. She turned, her smile lighting her face and settling in her eyes. Over a house.

“I love your mom.” Lacey opened the box she'd carried in. “I want to be like her someday.”

She turned a little pink and he didn't say anything.

“I want to have a garden and can tomatoes in the fall,” she explained, still pink, and it wasn't what he wanted to hear.

He didn't want to hear her dreams, or what she thought about life. He didn't want to get pulled into her world. He wanted to live his life here, in Gibson, and he didn't want it to be complicated.

Past to present, Lacey Gould was complicated.

And she thought he was perfect. He could see it in her eyes, the way she looked at him, at his home and his family. She had some crazy idea that if a person was a Blackhorse, they skipped through life without problems, or without making mistakes.

“It's a little late for a garden this year.” He started to turn away, but the contents of the box she was unpacking pulled him back. “Dogs?”

“What?”

“You like dogs.”

“I like to collect them.” She took a porcelain shepherd out of the box and dusted it with her shirt.

“How many more do you have?” He glanced into the box.

“Dozens.”

“Okay, I have to ask, why dogs?”

She looked up at him, her head cocked a little to the side and a veil of dark brown hair falling forward to cover one cheek.

“Dogs are cute.” She smiled, and he knew that was all he'd get from her.

He didn't really want more.

 

Dogs are cute.
As Jay walked through the front door of his house the next morning, he had a hard time believing that Lacey could be right about dogs. He looked down at his bloodhound and shook his head. Dogs weren't cute. Dogs chewed up a guy's favorite shoes. Dogs slobbered and chewed on the leg of a chair.

“You're a pain in my neck.” He ignored the sad look on the dog's face. “You have no idea how much I liked those shoes. And Mom is going to kill you for what you did to that chair.”

Pete whined and rested his head on his paws. Jay picked up the leather tennis shoe and pointed it at the dog. Pete buried his slobbery face between his paws and Jay couldn't help but smile.

“Crazy mutt.” Jay dropped the shoe. “So I guess I keep you and buy new shoes. Someday, buddy, someday it'll be one shoe too many. You're too old for this kind of behavior.”

The dog's ears perked. Jay walked to the window and looked out. A truck was pulling away from the house at the end of the dirt lane. Two days after the fact and he remembered what the Chief had told him: keep an eye on things at Lacey's. Well, now it would be easy, because Lacey was next door.

He turned and pointed toward the back door. Pete stood up, like standing took a lot of effort, and lumbered to the door. “Outside today, my friend. Enjoy the wading pool, and don't chew up the lawn furniture.”

One last look back and Pete went out the door, his sad eyes pleading with Jay for a reprieve. “Not today, Pete.”

Jay walked across his yard, his attention on the house not far from his. A five-acre section of pasture separated them. He could see Lacey standing in the yard, pulling on the cord of a push mower.

He glanced at his watch. He had time before he had to head to work. Pushing aside his better sense, he headed down the road to see if she needed help.

“Good morning, neighbor.” She stopped pulling and smiled when he walked up. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“No, thanks.” He moved a little closer. “Do you want me to start it for you?”

“If you can. I've been pulling on that thing for five minutes.”

“Does it have gas in it?”

She bit down on her bottom lip and her hands slid into her pockets. “I didn't check.”

He would have laughed, but she already looked devastated. Mowing the lawn was probably a big part of the having-a-house adventure. He wouldn't tease her. He also wouldn't burst her bubble by telling her it wouldn't stay fun for long.

“Do you have a gas can?”

“By the porch. Cody brought it. I just figured the mower was full.” She went to get the can of gas. Cody was a good guy to bring it. Jay liked the husband of one of his childhood friends, Bailey Cross.

Jay opened the gas cap, pushed the machine and shook his head. “No gas. He probably filled the gas can on the way over, so you'd have it.”

“Of course.” She had the gas can and he took it from her to fill the tank.

“I can mow it for you.”

“No, I want to do it. Remember, I've never had a lawn.”

The front door opened. Lacey's sister stepped out with the baby in her arms. The child was crying, her arms flailing the air. Corry shot a look in his direction. He tried not to notice the eyes that were rimmed with dark circles, or the way perspiration beaded across her pale face. He looked away.

“She won't stop crying.” Corry pushed the baby into Lacey's arms.

“Did you burp her?” Lacey lifted the infant to her shoulder. “Corry, you have to take care of her. She's your daughter. You're all she has.”

“I don't want to be all she has. How can I take care of her?”

“The same way thousands of moms take care of their children. You have to use a little common sense.” Lacey made it look easy, leaning to kiss the baby's cheek, talking in quiet whispers that soothed the little girl.

He could have disagreed with Lacey. Not all moms knew how to take care of children. He'd been a police officer for five years. He'd seen a lot.

“I should go. I have to work today, but I wanted to make sure you have everything you need.” He told himself he wasn't running from something uncomfortable.

“We're good.” Lacey looked down at the baby. “Jay, thanks for this place.”

“It needed to be rented.” He shrugged it off. “But you're welcome.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” Corry moved forward, her thin arms crossed in front of her, hugging herself tight. “Aren't you going to tell him about the stove?”

Lacey smiled. “It isn't a big deal. I can fix it.”

“Fix what?”

“One of the knobs is broken. I have to go to Springfield tonight. I can pick one up.”

“What are you going to Springfield for?” Corry pushed herself into the conversation.

“None of your business.” Lacey snuggled the baby and avoided looking at either of them. And Jay couldn't help but be curious. It was a hazard of his job. What was she up to?

“I can fix the stove, Lacey,” he offered.

“Jay, I don't want you to think you have to run over here and fix every little thing that goes wrong. I'm pretty self-sufficient. I can even change my own lightbulbs.”

“I'm sure you can.” He looked at his watch. “Tell you what. You pick up the knob. I'll have my dad come over and fix it tomorrow.”

That simplified everything. It meant he stayed out of her business. And she didn't feel like he was taking care of her.

“Good.” She smiled her typical Lacey smile, full of optimism.

He had to take that thought back. Her sister showing up in town had emptied her of that glass-half-full attitude. Maybe her cheerful attitude did have limits.

“Do you want to see if the mower will start now?” He recapped the gas can and set it on the ground next to the mower. Lacey still held the baby.

“No, I have to get ready for work now.”

“See you at the diner.” He tipped his hat and escaped.

When he glanced back over his shoulder, they were walking back into the house and he wondered if Lacey would survive her sister being in her life.

And if he would survive the two of them in his.

“I
can't stay out here all day, alone.” Corry paced through the sunlit living room of the farmhouse, plopping down on the overstuffed floral sofa that Lacey had bought used the previous day.

Lacey turned back to the window and watched as Jay made his way down the road to the home he'd grown up in. A perfect house for a perfect life.

For a while he'd even had a perfect girlfriend, Cindy, a law student and daughter of a doctor. The perfect match. Or maybe not. He was back at home, and Cindy was off to California pursuing her career. Lacey knew all of this through the rumor mill, which worked better than any small-town paper.

And the other thing they said was that it was all because of Jamie. But no one really talked about who Jamie was and what she meant to Jay Blackhorse.

“Come on, Lace, stop ignoring me.” Corry, petulant and high-strung. Lacey sighed and turned back around.

“You'll have to stay here. I have to work, and I can't entertain you.”

“I'll go to town with you.”

“No, you're not going with me.”

“Why not?” Corry plopped down on the sofa and put her feet up on the coffee table.

“Because I said so.” Lacey rubbed a hand across her face. “This is not what I want to do every day, Corry. I don't want to raise you. You're a grown woman and a mother. If you're going to be bored, we'll find a sitter for Rachel and you can get a job.”

Corry frowned and drew her legs up under her. The baby slept in the bassinet someone from church had donated to their new home. They both looked at the lace-covered basket.

“You know I can't work,” she whispered, for a moment looking vulnerable.

“You stay home with the baby, Corry. Be a good mom and let me worry about working.”

“I'm not worried about it.”

Of course she wasn't. “Fine, then you can be responsible for cooking dinner.”

“I can't cook. Well, maybe mac-n-cheese or sandwiches. Not much else.”

“You can learn. I have cookbooks.”

At the word
cookbook
she saw Corry's eyes glaze over, and the younger woman looked away.

“I want to call my friends and let them know where I am.” Corry plucked at the fabric on the couch. “They'll be wondering what happened to me.”

Lacey shook her head, fighting the sliver of fear that snaked into her belly when she thought about the kind of friends that Corry had. She didn't want that old life invading Gibson.

“You can't drag the old in with the new, Corry.”

“Just because you walked away from everyone doesn't mean that I have to.”

“I didn't walk away, I started over.”

“I don't see how you can like it here.”

Lacey stood up but didn't answer. She picked up her cell
phone and slipped it into her pocket, a way to let Corry know that she meant it when she said her sister couldn't contact people from her past.

“I'll be home by four o'clock. But after dinner, I have to go to Springfield for a few hours.”

“Fine, have fun. Don't worry about me, stuck out here, alone, nothing to do.”

“I won't.”

Lacey grabbed the backpack off the hook on the wall and walked out the front door, letting it bang shut behind her. She heaved the backpack over her shoulder and glanced back, seeing Corry on the sofa, watching.

She couldn't tell Corry about the classes in Springfield, or what they meant to her. Corry wouldn't understand. Lacey was one month away from finishing high school. She would finally have a piece of paper to show that she had accomplished her goal.

As soon as the GED certificate was in her hands, she wanted to enroll in college. She wanted to be a teacher.

She wanted to help children who, like Corry, had never had a chance. Maybe if those children had someone to believe in them, their lives would take different paths than the path her sister had taken.

 

It was after ten o'clock Friday night when Jay saw headlights easing down the long drive to the old farmhouse that Lacey had rented. He dropped his book and went to the window.

“Who is it?” His mom turned down the volume on the news program she was watching.

“I'm not sure. Someone pulling into Lacey's.”

Lacey's house was dark.

“You should go check on them. They don't have a phone yet.” His mom had joined him at the window. She peered out
into the dark night. Clouds covered the full moon but Jay could see stars to the south.

“Mom, I think they can take care of themselves.” He shrugged off his own curiosity. “I'm not her keeper.”

“You're also a nice guy. Don't try to pretend you're not.” His mom gave him the mom look. “Jay, she's a sweet girl and she's worked hard to change her life.”

“I'm sure she has. But I also don't think you can take in every stray that comes along.”

“Okay, fine.” She peered out the window again and then shrugged as if she didn't care.

“If it makes you happy, I'll go check on her. But I have a feeling she isn't going to appreciate it.”

“Maybe not, but I will.” She smiled at him, and he knew he'd lost the battle.

He grabbed a flashlight and his sidearm, sliding it into the holster he hadn't removed when he'd walked through the door thirty minutes earlier.

Pete woofed from the dog bed near the fireplace. The dog didn't bother getting up. He was retired from the police force and usually didn't care who did what.

Jay walked out the door and headed across a field bathed in silver light as the clouds floated overhead. Pete woofed again and he heard the dog door flap as the lazy animal ran to catch up with him. Obviously Pete had decided the action was worth getting up for. Five years of sniffing drugs and searching for lost kids, and now he spent most of his time sniffing rabbit trails and chewing up perfectly good shoes.

A shadow lingered in the front yard of the old farmhouse. Pete lumbered to Jay's side, growling a low warning. Jay's hand went to his sidearm and he walked more carefully, deliberately keeping an eye on the form that had stilled when the dog barked.

Pete took off, his long legs pounding and his jaws flapping.
The person in the yard ran for the car and was scrambling onto the hood. The outdoor security light had been shot out by kids nearly a year earlier. As clouds covered the moon, Jay thought about the mistake of not getting that light fixed.

“Who's there?” He recognized the trembling voice.

“Pete, down.” The dog immediately obeyed Jay's command. He walked through the gate and crossed the lawn to find Lacey cowering on the hood of her own car. He should have recognized the headlights of her Chevy.

“Where in the world did he come from?” She didn't move to climb down from the car. He almost laughed, but she had books and she might throw them.

“He's mine.”

“Do you always sic him on people when they come home at night?”

He held a hand out and she refused the offer. Lacey Gould, afraid? How did he process that information? She always seemed a little like David, confronting the world with five stones and a lot of faith.

And she collected dogs. Of course, not real ones.

“I didn't know it was you. I saw a car pulling up to a dark house, late.”

She grasped the books and shot him a “stupid male” look. “So, I can't come home late?”

“You were in Springfield this late?”

“Do you interrogate all of your renters?”

“No, I don't interrogate all of them. It was a question, Lacey. You were going to Springfield after work. It's late. We saw headlights down here and we were worried. Mom was worried.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I have to get inside. I have the breakfast shift and I have to be at work at five in the morning.”

“Let me help you down.”

“Jay, do me a favor, grab your dog.”

“He won't hurt you.”

“He's huge and he has big teeth.”

“You're afraid of dogs.” More information to process. He reached for Pete's collar. “What about that dog collection of yours?”

He shouldn't have asked. Asking meant he wanted to know something about her, something that didn't quite make sense. He wanted to deny that she was a mystery to solve.

He definitely didn't want to get involved.

“I love collecting dogs.” She stared at Pete. “The kind without teeth.”

“Toy ones.” He smiled and she glared.

“Don't tell anyone. How embarrassing would it be if everyone knew?”

“People can be afraid of dogs, Lacey.”

“It's a ridiculous fear. Some dogs bite.”

“Pete doesn't bite.”

She smiled. “But if he did, he'd take a big bite.”

“He chews on shoes, but he barely chews his own dog food.”

“You chew it for him?”

“Now that's disgusting.”

She slid down from the hood of the car, but stayed on the other side of the vehicle. “I need to get some sleep. Thank you for checking on us.”

He nodded and in the sliver of moonlight that filtered through a break in the clouds he read the book in her hand.
Algebra 2.
She hugged it tight to her chest.

“You don't have to know all of my secrets, Jay. At least you know I wasn't in town and up to no good.”

“I never thought that.” But hadn't he wondered? When she'd said she was going to Springfield tonight, hadn't he suspected something?

“You did. And that's fine.”

She turned and walked away. He held on to Pete's collar and watched her go. Her back was straight and her step was less than bouncy.

Pete pulled, trying to go after her. Jay almost agreed with the dog, but decided against it. One thing he didn't need was more information about Lacey Gould.

 

Saturday mid-morning and the diner was full. Every table. Lacey hurried to the table where the Golden Girls were having Saturday brunch. Not that the Hash-It-Out served brunch; for Gibson, that meant a late breakfast if Jolynn still had biscuits left.

“Lacey, honey, how are you doing?” Elsbeth Jenkins pointed to her coffee cup. She could chat as much as anyone, and Lacey knew the older lady really did care. But Elsbeth did have her priorities. Coffee first.

“I'm doing fine, Miss Jenkins.” Lacey poured the cup of coffee and handed her a few more creamers. “Is there anything else?”

“No, honey, nothing else. We're just going to sit and chat for a bit. Is Bailey working today?” Goldie Johnson asked.

“No, ma'am, she's not working today. She's only here when we're short on help.”

“How is she feeling?” Goldie nodded as she spoke.

“She's feeling great and she and Cody're excited about the baby.”

“Honey, did that grandson of mine ever write to you?” Elsbeth stirred two creamers into the tiny coffee cup and turned the liquid nearly white.

Lance had taken a job in Georgia shortly after the two of them broke up. And she hadn't really missed him. She realized now that she had been more in love with the idea of love than in love with Lance. It had been wrong to start a relationship
based on a desire to be a part of this town, a family and something that would last forever.

“No, Miss Jenkins, I haven't heard from him. Is he doing okay in Atlanta?”

“Oh, I don't know. You know how men are, they don't talk a lot. But I'm really sorry that things didn't work out between the two of you.”

The cowbell over the door banged and clanged. Lacey looked up, glad for the distraction. And then not so glad. Jay walked in, blue-and-gray uniform starched and pressed. He looked her way and then looked the other way.

She swallowed and started to move away from the Golden Girls but one of them stopped her. “Honey, now that's a boy that needs a good woman like you.”

“No, I don't think so.” Lacey smiled anyway.

Jay sat down with a couple of guys close to his age. They were dusty from work and their boots had tracked in half the dirt from the farm. Lacey had just finished sweeping up before the Golden Girls came in.

“Would you like coffee?” She asked because she knew he'd say no. He always did, and it was fun to watch his eyes narrow when she asked.

“Water, and a burger. No fries.” He moved the menu to the side.

“Extra lettuce.”
Health nut.
She smiled. “Be just a few minutes.”

“Thanks.” He didn't look at her.

“You roping tonight?” one of the other guys asked Jay as she walked away.

“Yeah, I'm working with a horse that a guy from Tulsa brought up to me.”