Delores Fossen - No Getting Over A Cowboy

No idea, but Nicky did have an idea that someone, probably her, would be making another grocery run first thing in the morning. Not that she had time. Apparently, she had toilets to unclog, room assignments to finish not just for here but for the Widows’ House once they had the all-clear to return. She also no doubt needed to smooth things over with the housekeeper, Alice, because someone had almost certainly managed to piss her off by now.

“Lizzie’s little boy, Liam, was running through the house, playing ninja, and he broke some stuff,” Loretta continued.

That didn’t surprise Nicky. She’d only caught glimpses of the four-year-old, but Liam always seemed to be running. Lizzie needed to try to get him under control or there were going to be even more problems. “Keep a list of the broken items, and I’ll replace them,” Nicky said.

The only bright spot in this day was that Kaylee was napping and hadn’t wandered off to pester Garrett. But even that silver lining was tarnished. Since it was 6:00 p.m., it was too late for a nap and too early for her normal bedtime, which meant she’d be up half the night. That meant no sleep for Nicky at a time when she desperately needed it.

No one would certainly accuse Nicky of wearing rose-colored glasses right now.

It didn’t help that she was in Garrett’s office. Even though he wasn’t there, she was still surrounded by his things and could almost feel those things scowling at her. Kaylee hadn’t seemed to mind, and that’s why she’d fallen asleep on the small sofa beneath the window.

“Ruby Billings,” Loretta went on. “Suicide,” she added in a whisper to indicate that it was what had made Ruby a widow. “She’s already complaining about her roommate.”

Nicky checked her list. There were five available bedrooms and a family room with a pullout sofa, which meant people had to triple up in some cases. In Ruby’s case, she was sharing with D. M. Arnison—surgical complications—who’d arrived on a Harley. Nicky didn’t know D.M. that well, but the woman did have Tourette’s which caused her to let curse words fly without warning. That might offend some of the other widows, but someone had to room with her. And it wasn’t as if the woman could help what came out of her mouth.

“Ruby wants you to check with Mrs. Granger to see if we can use her kids’ rooms,” Loretta added. “Since they’re not using them and all.”

Nicky was shaking her head before Loretta even finished. “No. We’ve disrupted the family enough, and those are their own personal spaces.”

Something she didn’t have at the moment, but she would hold her ground on this. They would make do with the six rooms they had. Even if they had to cram sixteen widows and two children into them.

Nicky checked her bed assignment list again and grabbed a pencil to make the changes. She’d given up using a pen because the change requests were coming in on an hourly basis.

“Put Ruby in with Lizzie and her son,” Nicky instructed. “Ask D.M. if we can move a cot for her in the big bedroom with the Ellery sisters. The sisters have said they’ll share the king-size bed that’s in there. If that doesn’t meet their approval, then I’ll start calling hotels.”

It was something Belle had insisted she not do, but Garrett’s mom maybe hadn’t realized the logistical and plumbing issues involved with having eighteen houseguests.

She gave Loretta the revised list, and Loretta handed Nicky the list of things yet to be done. Some needed help getting luggage upstairs, dinner had to be fixed, and there’d be cleaning up after that.

“You’re not on the bedroom list,” Loretta pointed out.

“Kaylee and I will sleep in here. Garrett moved his office to the guesthouse.”

Loretta eyed the sofa, which was smaller than a twin bed, and there wasn’t exactly a lot of floor space, either. It didn’t matter. As exhausted as Nicky was, she could sleep on the desk. But exhaustion would have to wait.

“Oh, and this came for you,” Loretta said just as she was about to leave. She took the box from beneath her arm and gave it to Nicky.

There was a white satin ribbon wrapped around it, making it look like some kind of gift. But Nicky instantly got a bad feeling about it. “I’ll open it later,” she told Loretta, mainly to get the woman moving.

Loretta did, but only after Nicky started mumbling to herself as she looked over the new to-do list. The moment Loretta was gone, however, Nicky slipped off the ribbon, lifted the lid a fraction and looked inside.

Oh, God.

Two yellow roses.

Her stomach went into a spin, and for a couple of seconds, it felt as if someone had sucked all the air from the planet. But the oxygen was there, and Nicky took several deep breaths, hoping they would steady her. That was asking a lot of mere air, but it helped some. It helped even more when she tossed the box in the trash bag that she’d been using as a garbage can.

The roses were nothing, she reminded herself.

Nothing.

It took a couple more repeats of that mantra, more deep breaths, too, but Nicky finally gathered some composure. She didn’t have time for games like this.

She glanced at Kaylee to make sure she was still asleep and then went in search of a plunger. She only got a few steps before she saw a familiar face headed her way. Gina Simpson, car accident. But this was one additional widow Nicky actually wanted to see. Gina was not only Kaylee’s nanny, but she was also Nicky’s best friend.

“There’s a really hot cowboy unclogging a toilet.” Gina hitched her thumb in the direction of the other side of the house. “Never thought of that as hot, but he managed to make it look spellbinding. He’s got an audience, too. I think a couple of the women are hoping for a butt-crack showing.”

With that, Gina pulled Nicky into her arms for a too-hard hug. Gina was built like an Amazon warrior and sort of resembled one, too, with that untamed mop of brunette hair and six-foot body. The tattoos helped with that image. She had one on her arm, another on her ankle, and a gold nose ring that always seemed to catch the light just right.

“What’s wrong?” Gina said after looking at Nicky’s eyes.

Nicky dismissed her worry with a wave of her hand. “Just tired, that’s all.” And to get them on a different subject, she added, “Who’s the toilet-cleaning cowboy?” Because she couldn’t imagine Garrett volunteering for that. Of course, she couldn’t see him refusing to do it, either. Beneath all that growl and hiss, she suspected he was a nice guy. He just hadn’t been a nice guy with her.

“Lawson Granger,” Gina provided. “A brother?”

“Cousin. Garrett’s brother doesn’t live here at the ranch.” Actually, Lawson didn’t, either. He had a place in town.

“I got your messages about the dead body and the change of location.” Gina glanced into the office, smiled when she spotted Kaylee. “Thought you could use some help so I picked up fried chicken and pizza. It’s on the counter in the kitchen. Oh, and I hauled my camper trailer here. Figured you could use the extra space. It only has one bed, but I can double up.”

Nicky could have kissed her. And she did. She kissed Gina’s cheek. “Sometimes, I think you have ESP.”

“Oh, I do.” She winked, but it wasn’t exactly a joke.

Gina did have a knack for anticipating problems, which made her an excellent nanny. It also made her a little creepy sometimes, and it was impossible to keep a secret from her. Not from others, though, thank goodness. And Nicky had some she wanted to keep secret. A couple of them she was trying to forget, two that could further complicate what she was trying to do here in Wrangler’s Creek.

And one that could destroy her.