Brenda Minton - Single Dad Cowboy

They still had a few days until autumn’s official start, but the air was a little cooler today and the breeze came from the north. There was still green grass and leaves on the trees, thanks to some good rain. At the Tanner farm, everything seemed gray. Dylan guessed he recognized it because he’d been feeling the same way for the past few months, since Katrina passed away. The two of them hadn’t ever been more than friends, but she’d needed someone at her side during the last year. Her last year. And she’d been only twenty-six.

“Mr. Tanner, I’m so sorry.” Harmony spoke and Dylan drifted back to the present. Harmony’s hand rested on Bill’s arm and her gaze connected with Doris’s. The two women smiled at each other.

“Take the horse.” Mr. Tanner turned and walked away.

“I don’t think...” Harmony turned to look at Dylan. He shrugged. She was on her own. Cash and Callie were struggling to get down and he knew they wanted that kitten.

He was settling them back on the ground when the kitten came out from under the porch again and headed across the yard. Harmony leaned down and picked it up. She gave the flea-bitten tabby a sad look and handed it to Callie.

“Take the horse, honey.” Doris Tanner patted Harmony’s arm. “He’s just a reminder. I want him gone. I want the corral gone. And Dylan, let those kids have that kitten.”

Harmony nodded and then flicked at tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’ll write you a check.”

Dylan watched as Harmony made painful steps back to her car. She sat in the driver’s seat and more tears trickled down her cheeks. Was it was from physical pain or from sharing heartache with the Tanners? He guessed when she showed up today, she expected to find a relieved farmer ready to take a check for a skinny horse, and never would have guessed at the pain she’d find.

She pushed herself out of the car and walked back to Doris Tanner. Bill had gone back in the house. Harmony handed over the check and Doris looked at it and shook her head.

“That old horse isn’t worth that much money.” Doris tried to hand the check back.

“He’s a national champion.” Harmony smiled. They all knew it wasn’t the truth. Bill had been doing his best to run her off.

“He’s one step away from glue.” Doris shook her head and looked at the check again.

Harmony hugged the older woman. “He’s a champion to me.”

For whatever reason, the rangy Appaloosa meant something to Harmony Cross, and Dylan didn’t want to know why. He sure didn’t want to see her as someone who cared about other people. That made her too big a complication. And with Callie and Cash heading for the truck with a kitten, he was pretty sure he had all the complications he could handle. What he needed was space to breathe, to figure out how to be a single dad.

“Do you have someone who can haul him for you?” Doris asked, and for whatever reason she glanced his way.

Harmony ignored him. “I’ll find someone.”

“I need to hit the road. Doris, if you all need anything, you give me a call.”

“Thank you, Dylan. But I think you’ve probably got your hands full as it is. Bill and I are making it through this. We’ve made it through plenty in our lives.”

“I’m just down the road.” Dylan glanced over his shoulder to make sure the kids were back in the truck. “And thanks for the kitten.”

At that, Doris smiled. “Oh, Dylan, kids need animals. It keeps them smiling, and don’t we all need to smile?”

“Yeah, I guess we do.” He really didn’t like cats. But it was pointless to mention that.

Doris touched his arm. “I’m going on in to see about Bill. Will you help her find someone to haul that horse out of here? And if you want that round pen, take it.”

“Sure thing, Doris.”

Harmony stood at the corral trying to coax that skinny horse to her with a few blades of grass she’d plucked from the yard. The horse trotted to the far side of the round pen, wanting nothing to do with her or that fistful of grass. He waited until Doris entered the house, then he walked up to the round pen. It didn’t make sense to have the horse in that pen. Bill had land. He had cattle. The whole situation smelled of grief and pain.

“I’ll haul him over to your place.” The offer slipped out, because it was the right thing to do. Harmony turned, smiling as she brushed hair back from her face.

“I can find someone.”

Argumentative females. He sighed. “Harmony, I’ll haul the horse.”

Harmony held her hand out and the horse brushed against her palm and then backed away. He didn’t think the animal had been worked since Terry left for the military a couple of years ago.

“He’s a lot of horse,” he cautioned. “He isn’t even halter-broke.”

“I’m not worried about it.”

“I’d hate to see you mess around and get hurt.”

She shot him a look, and he realized she was holding on to the fence, holding herself up. Stubborn female. He didn’t have time for stubborn.

“Why don’t you get in your car and head back to your place? I’ll get a trailer and bring him over to you this afternoon. You’ll have to pen him up for a few days because in this condition he’s likely to founder if he gets too much green grass.”

“I’ll put him in the small corral by the barn. It has plenty of grass for now.” She smiled at him. Man, that smile, it was something else. It could knock a guy to his knees. “And I’ll take that offer to haul him for me. If it isn’t too much trouble. The kids—”

He cut her off. “How much did you pay for him?”

“That’s a business deal, Mr. Cooper. I don’t sign checks and tell.” She turned away from the horse and made slow, painful steps back to her car.

He opened the car door for her. “That was real nice of you.”

She slid into the seat and looked up at him. “Why not do something for someone if you have the chance? That’s what you’ve been doing, isn’t it?”

He rested his arm on the top of her Audi and looked in at her. He knew she was referring to Cash and Callie, Katrina’s kids. “Yeah, I guess we’re all grown-up now.”

“Right, of course we are.” She started her car and reached for the door, forcing him to back up. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

He watched as she closed the door, and took off down the drive. Bill Tanner was standing on his front porch. The old guy walked down the steps, a little bow-legged from years in the saddle. He’d been a saddle bronc rider back in the day, one of the best.

He’d taught Dylan a thing or two about the sport. Dylan and Terry had both ridden saddle bronc, before Terry had signed up for the army. Dylan glanced at the rangy horse and smiled, because Terry had bought the animal from a stock provider who had intended to use him in rodeos and then decided the horse didn’t have enough buck.

But he still had plenty of buck, and if Harmony Cross gentled the animal down, she deserved a medal.

“Well, I guess Terry’s horse is going to have a good home.” Bill walked up to the round pen. “I should have sold him a long time ago. I’m just a stubborn old man who doesn’t like to deal with reality.”

“It isn’t easy, this reality stuff,” Dylan admitted.

“Take the girl her check back.” Bill held out the check with the flowery signature and four digits.

“Nah, Bill, I think she’d be real upset if you sent that back. Keep it and take Doris to the beach.”

Bill grinned. Probably one of his first real smiles in a long time. “It don’t seem right, to have this much money in my hand. But the beach would sure be nice.”

“Go. Have a good time.” Dylan adjusted his hat to block the sun. “She ain’t gonna miss the money, Bill.”