The Rancher Next Door. Betsy Amant St.
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only thing that would make her feel better about the nursing home was if there wasn’t a need for it at all. She’d hoped to be able to move Nonie into the rental house with her, but after talking to the staff on the phone and letting them know she was coming, she quickly realized home health care wasn’t an option any of them could afford, nor could her grandmother’s physical condition thrive without constant care. She’d have to redeem herself with daily visits—it was the least she could do for the woman who helped raise her.
“Who’s your grandmother?”
She swallowed, determined not to let the wave of emotion overtake her. “Irene Foster.” Her dad’s mom, who’d never failed to try to explain her son to Caley, despite Caley’s lack of interest in excuses. Motherly love might overlook a lot, but it was harder from a daughter’s end of things. Not that it mattered much now. “I call her Nonie. She’s a Broken Bend native.”
“I recognize her name from the church prayer list. She’s been on the homebound sheet for a while.” Brady nodded, sympathy and something brighter—awareness?—lighting his eyes as his gaze held her own. “Well, neighbor, if you ever need help out here, just holler.” He gave Ava a squeeze before he released her, then gently caught her chin and directed her gaze to his. “Though next time, little miss, you better ask permission before climbing over that fence. You hear?”
“Yes, sir.” Ava ducked her head, her long hair draping over her flushed cheeks—but not before Caley caught the disappointment in her eyes. Disappointment over breaking a rule and being reprimanded? Or was it over not being able to visit and see Scooter freely?
Either way, she couldn’t bear her crestfallen expression. “Ava is welcome here anytime—with your permission, of course. Scooter loves playmates.” She caught her dog’s collar with one hand and nudged him in the behind with her foot. He immediately sat and panted, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth and giving the impression of a doggy smile.
“We’ll see.” Brady shuffled one boot against the driveway, the sole scraping against the rocky gravel. “She has plenty to keep her busy. I’m sure you don’t need her underfoot over here.”
Caley’s stomach tightened. Was he trying to be polite and not impose? Or was this the brush-off? The attraction she’d felt toward Brady at first sight had definitely seemed reciprocated—however pointlessly. Still, why would he try to dodge her? Maybe he just wanted to make sure she really liked kids and Ava wasn’t intruding. Besides, just because she couldn’t embrace a relationship right now didn’t mean she couldn’t use a few friends—especially neighbors.
She straightened her shoulders and hoped her smile appeared more casual than it felt. “Ava would never be a problem here. In fact, I could use the company while I unpack.” She turned to include Ava in the conversation instead of continuing to talk about her as if she wasn’t there. “We might find some cookies somewhere in the truck. Want to help me look?”
“Yes! I mean—” Ava’s eager eyes darted from Caley to her father and then back again, as if unsure if it was okay to answer honestly. “Dad? Can I?”
Brady scooped his hat off his head with one hand and ran his fingers through his rumpled hair. “I don’t know, Ava.”
Caley took advantage of his temporary hesitation. “It’d really help me out. I hate unpacking. And the quicker I get it done, the quicker I can get out and find a job.” Especially now that her contact at the district fire station had proven slightly off in his assurance they would hire her. Turned out the guaranteed position wasn’t as guaranteed as she’d hoped, and an upcoming budget meeting would determine her fate. Putting in some volunteer hours definitely wouldn’t hurt the decision-making process, but she still had to find something to draw a paycheck in the interim.
Brady’s expression tightened, as if just remembering bad news. “It’s not that.” He squinted down at Ava, shading his eyes from the sun peering over the roof’s edge. “I came over here to find you because I just heard from Ms. Mary. Her sister broke her hip and she’s got to go to Arkansas next week to help her out.”
Concern furrowed the skin between Ava’s eyebrows. “Is she going to be okay?”
“I think so, it just means Mary’s going to be gone awhile. Several weeks, at best.” He glanced at Caley. “Mary is Ava’s nanny. She watches her after school and on the weekends while I’m out in the fields, and cooks and keeps up the house for me.” He released a sigh heavy with burden. Caley could recognize that particular sound a mile away—it was an echo of her own. “So I’m sort of in the lurch right now.”
Ava blinked up at her dad with childlike innocence. “But what does that have to do with me helping Caley?”
“Miss Caley,” Brady corrected. He shook his head, a reluctant grin taking dominance over his shadowed expression. “And I guess not much. I’m the one stressing over figuring this out, not you.”
“Then can I start right now?” Ava leaned down and picked up the box of pillows and bird feeders from the ground, as if in effort to prove her work ethic.
“It really is okay. I can’t eat those cookies alone, you know.” Caley grinned, hooking one finger through Scooter’s collar before he knocked over Ava and her box.
Brady pulled his cell phone from his back jeans pocket and checked the time. “Just until suppertime. You know Mary doesn’t like us to be late for dinner.” He replaced his phone and offered Caley a quick wink that not only surprised her, but automatically made her insides flutter with a swarm of line-dancing butterflies. “And I don’t like cold potatoes.”
Ha. So he wasn’t all uptight, after all—just stressed over figuring out a new routine. She’d been there. Odd how she already had so much in common with her neighbors. Maybe her coming back to Broken Bend was for more than Nonie, after all. She’d have to be careful, though. She didn’t do the commitment thing. But maybe she could somehow find a way to help this handsome cowboy and his adorable daughter and forget her own troubles for a while.
Temporarily, of course.
* * *
That new neighbor was going to be trouble.
Brady could feel it in his bones. Just like his achy right knee meant it was going to rain later that night, he just knew he was going to eventually regret living next door to Caley Foster. Even if she was the prettiest thing he’d seen in a long time.
Or maybe because she was the prettiest thing he’d seen in a long time.
Brady swung easily over the fence separating his property from Caley’s rental and strolled back to his horse, Nugget, grazing several yards away. Ava had taken to Caley quickly, and against his better judgment, so had he. And why wouldn’t they? With those bright green eyes and charmingly messy blond hair—not to mention her grit and ability to take care of herself—Caley Foster seemed like a fresh breeze wafting through Broken Bend.
He just didn’t have much room in his life for gusts of wind these days.
Still, there was something unique about a woman who moved cross-country by herself to take care of her grandmother in the nursing home—something that spoke of goodness and light. Something he didn’t get much of these days, not with him and Ava constantly beating their heads like a couple of battering rams.
Nothing was the same anymore, and the new normal they’d created as a family of two instead of three felt awkward even at the best of times. A knot tightened in Brady’s throat and he swallowed against it, though he knew the effort would be as wasted as trying to convince Ava she didn’t belong on a workhorse beside him. A horse had killed her mom, and though everyone in town deemed it an accident, Brady knew better. It was his fault. He shouldn’t have allowed Jessica on that high-strung beast in the first place, shouldn’t have allowed her to insist she could handle it. Even though four years had passed, he couldn’t erase the image of the stallion’s flat ears and wide eyes before he reared up and threw Jessica off. Some memories were impossible to forget.
And