Brenda Minton - Single Dad Cowboy

Mr. Tanner brushed at his eyes and shook his head. “Terry died in Afghanistan.”

Harmony closed her eyes briefly as a wave of grief slid through her heart. “I’m so sorry.”

A truck pulled up the drive. A dinged and dented extended-cab truck that she didn’t recognize. It rolled to a stop. The man inside sat there a minute, his hat pulled low over his eyes.

“Just what we need is a Cooper showing up and butting into my business,” Mr. Tanner growled, giving her a narrow-eyed look.

“I didn’t invite him,” she tossed back.

Harmony turned toward the truck and the cowboy getting out. She was suddenly tired, and her body was starting to react to standing for so long. She hadn’t thought this would be so difficult, buying a skin-and-bones horse. Nothing had been easy since the accident a little less than a year ago.

New Year’s Eve would mark the one-year anniversary. It wasn’t an anniversary she wanted to celebrate. New Year’s Eve would never be a fun-filled holiday again. She would never bring in another year without thinking of that phone call, asking her best friend to pick her up because she was so drunk she couldn’t drive.

“Dylan Cooper, been a mite too long since I seen you in these parts.” Mr. Tanner’s words shook her back to the present. She looked up as Dylan Cooper walked with a slow, easy gait in their direction.

Harmony wanted to groan but didn’t. Dylan Cooper was the last person she needed to see. She’d heard he was living in Texas. Of course he would be home now. Of course he would still be the best-looking Cooper of the bunch, with his lean cowboy frame and country-boy grin. He was tanned from summer sunshine. And his dark hair curled beneath his white cowboy hat.

With a dozen kids in Angie and Tim Cooper’s family, calling him the best-looking was saying something. In this new life she didn’t have time for good-looking, smooth-talking men. She had two relationships she was focusing on. With herself, and with God.

“Bill.” Dylan Cooper adjusted his cowboy hat and shifted to look at her. Harmony lifted her chin a notch and stared right back at him. The hazel eyes she remembered from so long ago were less teasing, less sharp. He had gone from boy to man in the years since she’d seen him last.

The teenage Dylan had been a flirt. He’d been too cute for words and he’d known it. She had steered clear. But then one year she’d taken a walk down by the creek with him. He’d kissed her, told her he didn’t like spoiled little girls and then walked away, leaving her mad enough to spit.

“Harmony Cross, I didn’t expect to see you here.” His gaze lowered to the cane in her right hand and then eased back to her face. “How are you?”

“Good.” She stopped herself from being sarcastic. She’d had a wreck that nearly killed her and did kill her best friend. She’d been in rehab. She’d overcome addiction. She was great. “How are you?”

“Been better.” He shifted back to Bill Tanner. “You doing all right, Bill?”

“Been better.” Bill smiled just a little as he repeated Dylan’s words, but Harmony saw the moisture in his eyes.

“I just came to pay my respects. I’m real sorry, Bill. If there’s anything you and Doris need, you let me know.”

“I appreciate that, Dylan. We’re making it, though.”

“What’s Miss Cross doing here?” Dylan didn’t look at her. He adjusted his white cowboy hat and kept his gaze fixed on Mr. Tanner.

“She’s trying to buy Terry’s horse.” Mr. Tanner sighed and shook his head. “All of this fuss over a horse.”

“Mr. Tanner, at least let me buy you some hay.” Harmony made the quick offer, thinking now would be the time to escape.

“Why are you keeping that horse, Bill?” Dylan’s tone was easy, friendly. Harmony shot him a look, doubting he was really on her side in this matter. More likely he was on the horse’s side.

Mr. Tanner looked away from them, back to the horse in the corral. The animal, as if he knew they were discussing his future, moved to the fence to watch. It was mid-September and a breeze blew, feathering the horse’s dark tail in the light wind. For a minute the animal was almost pretty.

“I keep thinking he’ll come home.” Mr. Tanner finally answered, the words hollow and sad.

Dylan’s hand rested on the farmer’s shoulder. “Terry wouldn’t want his horse kept that way.”

“I know.”

Harmony waited, holding her breath while Bill Tanner looked from her to the horse. Her gaze strayed to Dylan Cooper and he smiled. The lingering sadness in his eyes took her by surprise.

But she was more surprised when she noticed the door of his truck opening. As Dylan talked to Bill Tanner, two children escaped from his truck. A little girl, maybe preschool age, barefoot and wearing shorts and a tank top. And a boy, just a toddler. Both had blond hair. The boy’s hair was buzzed short. The girl’s hair was in raggedy braids with wisps of hair coming loose. The two held hands as they sneaked across the yard.

* * *

If Dylan had known Harmony Cross would be at the Tanners’, he would have ignored the voice in his head telling him to stop and pay his respects to Bill and Doris Tanner over the loss of the grandson they’d raised. Harmony Cross, with her dark blue eyes and curly blond hair framing her pretty face, was the last thing he needed in his life right now. He barely had time for himself these days, let alone thoughts that took him down back roads of the past.

What he needed had everything to do with the two kids in his truck.

As Harmony stood there, leaning heavily on a cane, waiting for Bill Tanner to come to his senses, Dylan gave her a long look. He remembered the last time he’d seen her. She’d been pretty full of herself back then. That girl seemed to be long gone. She’d been through a lot recently.

Hadn’t they all?

He guessed back in the day they’d all thought they’d live charmed lives free from trouble.

At least his personal drama hadn’t made the national news. Just the Dawson gossip channels. He guessed that might be nearly as bad. He’d been home a few weeks, and everywhere he went people asked questions. Or mentioned a sweet girl that he should meet. Because marriage would solve his problems?

Harmony was no longer watching him. Her gaze had shot past him and he saw a flicker of a smile turn her lips. She bit down on her bottom lip and her gaze flicked back to him like she hadn’t seen a thing. And that made him mighty curious. He turned just as Cash and Callie hurried across the yard toward a kitten that had crawled out from under the house.

The door of the house banged shut just as Callie pounced on the kitten that fortunately had the good sense to run back under the porch. Doris Tanner walked onto the porch, a thin woman in dark blue housedress. He remembered when she used to bake the best pies in the state. She shook her head as she walked down the steps, holding the rail for support.

Dylan shot her a smile as he hurried and scooped the adventurers up, one under each arm. He’d gotten pretty good at keeping them corralled. Sometimes he forgot that they were escape artists. Doris smiled his way and stepped next to her husband.

Dylan settled a kid on each hip and thought about making his own escape. But he didn’t want to leave Doris refereeing the two people that looked like they might butt heads any moment.

“Why all of this fuss over a skinny old horse?” Doris reached for Bill’s arm. “The horse needs to go, Billy. We can’t keep him in that corral forever.”

“Terry said to keep his horse. His last words to me were telling me I shouldn’t sell his horse while he was gone. I talked to him the day before...” Bill looked at the horse, shaking his head. Dylan wondered if anyone else felt the pain in the air, thick, heavy, weighing down on this family and this farm.