Kathleen Eagle - One Less Lonely Cowboy

“Cold drinks in the fridge. Everything else is …” Mike gestured toward the kitchen. “Pop and iced tea. Pretty much all we carry this time of day. But I can make coffee.”

“So can I, Dad. Iced tea sounds good.”

“Jack’s getting cleaned up.” He waved his hand toward the table. “Have a seat and dig in.”

“Oh, no, we’ll wait for Jack,” Iris said, even as she followed the first half of the invitation.

Lily offered her daughter a smile, props for minding her manners. Her father had always been a stickler for good manners.

Tense silence took over, disrupted only by the sounds of Mike drinking. Water. He gulped it down—always had—three thunderous gulps, just so you knew he was there at the head of the table. Lily adjusted the position of the fork her dad had placed beside her plate as she glanced furtively across at Iris, who was fooling with something beneath the edge of the table. No toys at the table . Who would say it first?

The sound of booted footsteps brought three heads up in unison.

Jack stopped short of the table, swept off his cowboy hat and bowed his head. And yes, he was a hottie. Black hair—watered down a bit, if Lily wasn’t mistaken—square chin, full lips, broad shoulders, working man’s hands gripping the brim of what some women might say was the best kind of hat a man could wear.

Mike laughed. “Hell, man, take a seat.”

Jack glanced over at Lily. Hard to tell, but she was pretty sure he was blushing. Iris had been so right. The man was easy on the eyes.

And the innocent look in his eyes right now was utterly charming. “Thought I was interrupting a prayer or something.”

“More like you answered it,” Mike said. “Nobody wants to start without you.”

“I thought you said cowboys didn’t spike their hair, Mom.” Iris, Iris, Iris . She slipped her phone—what else could it be?—into the pocket of her jeans. “What do you use? Gel or spray?”

“Water. It’s called hat hair, and I was trying to …” Jack raked his hand through his thick wet hair. He glanced at Lily and smiled. “Should I go out and come in again?”

“Oh, no,” she said. “We’re glad you’re here.”

Jack studied the back side of the barn roof, mentally calculating the square footage of the section that had yet to be resurfaced. Mike was strictly a do-it-yourselfer, but there was no way Jack was letting him get up there. It had been at least two years since the front and nearly two-thirds of the back had been covered with galvanized steel roofing. Jack remembered feeling relieved when Mike hadn’t asked if he was available to add the roofing job to his schedule. He would have had to say no, and back then it might not have been too hard. Mike had two whole lungs back then.

It probably wouldn’t take Jack too long to finish the job if Mike would get him the supplies. Since Mike’s surgery, Jack had offered more than once. Hinted , more like. Jack didn’t have to go looking for work. If there were thirty hours in a day he could easily fill every one of them with jobs he would enjoy, which didn’t include roofing. Mike was the only person on God’s green earth he would even consider doing that kind of work for. But you didn’t offer to help Mike do anything he hadn’t hired you for. You might get away with quietly doing something he hadn’t asked for, but if he noticed, he would for sure try to pay you for your time. Jack had half a mind to buy the materials himself—sure would be nice to plug up the leaks—but he hadn’t figured out a way to apply sheets of metal to a roof without making any noise.

On the ground, sitting close to his right boot, Hula roused herself, pricking her envelope-flap ears. The dog’s nose was like an arrow, and Jack’s glance followed her direction. It was a moment before he heard footsteps, another before Mike rounded the corner of the barn. He looked tired, and he was clearly trying hard to hide some new pain that had him gimping lately.

He gave Hula a leathery hand to sniff, patted her head, hitched up jeans that were already riding too high, looked up at the roof and folded his arms over his withering chest. “I’m gonna get to that this spring for sure.”

“After we finish calving.” Jack followed Mike’s lead, and the two men stood side by side, arms folded, eyeing the barn roof.

“Absolutely. I’ll have plenty of time then. Before it gets too hot. I’m countin’ on you to help me with calving.”

“You’ve got me. First on my list. Whenever things get slow here, I’ve got Jensen and Corey on there, too, but you know you come first.”

“You ever thought about taking on a partner?”

“You lookin’ for work?” Jack grinned as he adjusted the brim of his hat against the sun. “If I ever thought about it, which I haven’t, I don’t know too many other men I’d take on.”

“How about women?” Mike slid him a straight-faced glance. “Just kidding.”

“You got one in mind?”

“If you ever decided to expand, you’d want to go equal opportunity.” Mike was back to studying the roof. He lifted a shoulder. “A woman can cowboy as good as a man.”

“She’s trained for teaching. That’s about as good as it gets, I’d say. Lots of schools out here have trouble hangin’ on to good teachers. But cowboy like a man?” Jack shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“I didn’t say like . I said just as good. Tell you what, Jack, my girl can ride .”

“When was the last time you said that to her? ”

“I don’t know. Maybe never.” Mike slid one hand down the side of his left thigh and rubbed. “She didn’t need to be told. She knew what she could do, and she did it.”

“What’s going on with your leg?”

“It’s gettin’ old, just like the rest of me.”

Jack adjusted his hat again. “Did you skip your checkup again?”

“No. I did not. And if I needed a secretary I wouldn’t hire a cowboy.”

“So you finally kept an appointment.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it done.”

“And?”

“They tell me I’m gettin’ old.” Mike turned, hands on his nonexistent hips, a scowl on his leathery face. “Patch, patch, patch. You just wait, boy. It ain’t pretty.”

“Trying to imagine you looking pretty,” Jack said after a moment’s study.

“I never turned female heads the way you do, but I did all right. Lily’s mother was a real beauty. You can tell, can’t you, just lookin’ at my two girls?”

“Sure can. Just so I don’t put my foot in it, did you ever tell Lily about your surgery?”

“Hell, no. The docs took care of it. Chopped that sucker out, sewed me up, good to go.” Mike gave a flat-handed wipe-away gesture, folded his arms and turned away again. “So now you’ve got your answers. Yes, I saw the doctor, and no, I don’t talk to nobody but her about my innards. If you hadn’t hung around the hospital that time like you were waitin’ for spare parts, I wouldn’t be havin’ this conversation with you , neither.”

“Her?” Jack grinned. “I never met your doctor. Man, you are equal opportunity.”

“She’s gentle. The one who took the knife to my lung was a man. I told him, leave no stone unturned, take no prisoners, just kill the bastard. And he did. And I don’t plan on ever seein’ that man again.” His thin lips stretched into a wistful smile, momentarily erasing the creases around his mouth. “My regular doctor’s a woman. Early forties, nice voice, good hands, laughs easy.”

“Surprised you’d ever put off going to see her.”

“You maybe haven’t noticed, but my charm is limited. I gotta save it up.” Mike grinned, raising his eyebrows. “I know what I’m doin’.”

“Knowing and doing are two different things.” Jack lifted his gaze. “I could finish this roof in a day if I knew how you wanted it done.”

“Take you three days at least. We could do it together in a day.”

“All right. Order up the materials.” Jack looked down at his boss. “ Today , Mike. Those calves start dropping, we need a dry barn.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to make work for yourself.”

“And if you said it I’d take offense, so it’s a good thing you know better.” Jack tapped Mike’s shoulder with the back of his hand. “Have we got a plan? ’Cause I’ve got things to do.”

“You’re not on my clock today.”

“What clock? I didn’t say I had work to do. I said things .”

“Messin’ with horses?”

“Messin’ with your daughter.” He allowed a two-count hush. “And horses.”

Jack grinned, and Mike gave him a watch-it-kid look, which was just what Jack was aiming for. He wasn’t messing with anybody except Mike, who needed a little poking every so often. He was the kind of guy who thrived when push came to shove, and Jack wanted him to thrive. Wanted him to keep on shoving until it was time to shove off. If Mike felt better keeping people in the dark, so be it. Jack had eyes like a cat.

“So you’re taking Lily for a ride?”

“Might be the other way around. She asked me .”

“Did she, now.”

“Asked what kind of horses you’re keeping around these days. Did I know of any she could start Iris on? Did I have time to take a ride with her and show her where the rest of the horses are?” He chuckled. “Shouldn’t’ve said that in front of Iris. They were heading out to get her enrolled in school, and the girl was already looking to put it off. Her mom was having none of that, so off they went.”

“Did Lily ask about her mare?”

Jack frowned.

“Pretty little palomino.” Mike glanced away, guiltylike. “I sold her. Lily left, and I just closed all the doors.”

“Water under the bridge, Mike. You can always get her another horse.”

“Not like that one. Lily raised her, trained her, showed her.”

“She can do that again.”

“They won’t be here that long. She’ll get things straightened around real quick. That’s the way she is. No grass growing under that girl’s feet.” Mike stepped back. The plan for the roof had been made. He gazed off in the direction of his pastures. “You’d better get a move on, check those cows.”

“Did that first thing. Nothin’ yet. Thought I’d head over to the Corey place. Calves are startin’ to drop over there.”

“I was thinkin’ I might need you here.” Mike nodded toward a distant ridge. “Bring them cows in closer.”

“I did that last week. They’re right over the hill, Mike. You want me to move them into the horse paddock?” The question was meant to make a point, not call for an answer. The two-acre horse paddock was in close but far out of the question. The cows needed space. They were fine where they were for now. “What else you got? I ain’t gonna stand around.”

“Not even if I pay you for it?” Jack returned a level stare. Mike knew better, so he sighed, surrendering with a chuckle. “Okay, I need you here because I’m … gonna order up the roofing materials.” He lifted one shoulder. “And go to a meeting.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hell, you don’t need me to tell you what to do, Jack. You know this operation as well as I do. I don’t worry about you standing around.”

“Get the hell going, then.”

Jack turned away smiling. Mike was big on meetings. The grass-fed cattle co-op he’d started kept him pretty busy these days, and keeping his mind busy was good for Mike’s health. That and staying off the bottle. Mike was still a step ahead of the devil in that regard. Jack would know if he wasn’t. He knew all the signs. To each his own struggle, Jack figured, but if Mike went down, Jack would know the reason why. And he would return Mike’s many favors, try to be his good neighbor. If it hadn’t been for Mike, Jack wouldn’t even know what that meant.