Debra Clopton - Her Lone Star Cowboy

Norma Sue hooted, slapping the table with her hand. “We’re just having some fun with you.”

“That’s right,” Esther Mae chuckled. “No need to get all choked up. Who do you think we are?”

“The Matchmaking Posse, that’s who!” Gabi blurted out. Squinting her eyes she gave them all a teasing, but firm warning. “Gram, please tell them I’m off the market.”

“That’s totally understandable after what you’ve been through,” Adela said, her smile sympathetic.

“It sure is,” Esther Mae cut in. “I can’t believe that man broke up with you because of your faith.”

“Hmmph,” Norma Sue snorted. “You’re better off without him.”

“Unequally yoked isn’t a good thing,” Adela said. “God has plans for you with a good Christian man.”

The conversation was bouncing around more than a pair of wet sneakers in a hot dryer. Unwanted, a sense of loss for Phillip stabbed Gabi’s heart. Sadly though, Norma Sue was right. Six weeks ago she and her fiancé had called off their engagement after she’d given her life to the Lord. Looking back now, Gabi knew the relationship had been doomed in the first place. But still, she hadn’t expected the man she’d thought she loved to leave her because he didn’t care for her newfound faith. But then, she knew there was more to the story. More to it than the ladies or even her Gram knew.

A tight knot filled Gabi’s chest. Her gaze dropped to her empty ring finger and the slow boil of anger and embarrassment bubbled inside of her. “Come on, y’all. You know I’m not here looking to build a relationship with a man. I’m here to build my relationship with God. I’m going to make up for lost time and try to make a difference in someone’s life. I’m here to learn how to do that from y’all, not have y’all match me up with one of your cowboys.” And work on herself—the Lord only knew she had a lot of work to do on herself.

“And God will use you,” Adela assured her. “I’m so glad you’re safe and you’ve at last made the decision to let Him be the Lord of your life.”

“Me too,” Gabi agreed, understanding how close she’d come to disaster—both with the car accident and her life in general. “Every time I think about slamming into that telephone pole and how totaled my car was.” She paused, her heart catching. “I just can’t believe I walked away with minor injuries.”

It had been a horrible wreck…. Gabi pushed thoughts of it aside, not wanting to think on it.

“I agree,” Esther Mae said, her glass of sweet tea paused in midair before taking a sip. “God’s got a plan for you. He has a plan for everyone and I just love watching Him work.”

“God still wants you ta use yor head, though. The next time a tornado is coming, you need ta not head out with a load of cattle,” Sam continued admonishing her, not letting go of his role as her protector.

“Sam, I wasn’t expecting that storm to blow this way.”

“It wasn’t supposed to.” The frown deepened on his weathered face—Gabi was surprised that it could get any deeper. “Out here, you got ta remember that you jest never know. Like Jess said, ya need ta be more careful. And that means don’t be trying to traipse off across a pasture in the middle of a lightning storm.”

“Jess told you that?” She hadn’t said anything to Adela about going across the ditch for help. What had the cowboy been saying? Sam’s next sentence confirmed her suspicions.

“Yup, came in right after he’d dropped your truck and trailer off at the clinic. The boy was still wet.”

Boy. Jess Holden was a man, not a boy—the fact distracted her for a moment. Over six feet tall, arms like iron and strength to carry her easily up the hill, heart-stoppingly blue eyes, square jaw, dark hair curling with the rain. There had been nothing about the handsome cowboy that reminded her of a boy. Jess’s smile flashed across her mind’s eye—okay, so he did have some boyish charm.

She was grateful to him for what he’d done, but coming in here and talking about it was not good. “What exactly did he say?”

Adela smiled gently and worry creased her eyes. “He said you were falling into the ditch full of raging water when he first saw you. That you got swept off your feet and towed underwater before he could get to you. Just a few more seconds and he might not have seen you fall in or go under. He was thankful, and so are we, that he’d managed to be there when he was. God’s taking care of you again, my dear.”

Good deed though it was, Gabi was having a hard time getting past the fact that Jess had been in the diner talking about rescuing her. Was he bragging? He hadn’t really seemed the type.

What mattered to her was that he’d been telling details she’d rather have kept silent so as not to worry her Gram. There was no call for that. None at all. And it bothered Gabi more than he could possibly know. She’d put her Gram through enough worry over the years and was determined to protect her from any more. That meant not making her worry over Gabi’s frustrations with the cowboy.

“Yes, Gram, you’re right,” she managed to say, trying to hide her displeasure at Jess, while also being truly grateful for God’s protective hand being on her life. “God has had His hands full looking out for me.”

It was so true. Gabi’s life had spiraled out of control before she’d given her life to the Lord. The drinking and partying lifestyle she and her fiancé had been living had been an empty one. Even more empty than she’d realized. And then she’d almost had a head-on collision with an oncoming car. She was still so thankful to the nurse who’d shared her personal testimony with Gabi and awakened her to the dead-end path she was taking with her life.

“I’d have been all right, with or without Jess’s help. Honestly, it wasn’t as desperate as he’s obviously made it sound.”

Sam looked less than convinced. “Jess said you were in the water b’cause you were on yor way fer help across the pasture. Gabi girl, you might have made it out of the water, but nothing about any of that’s smart. Par-ticularly, traipsing in the middle of the worst electrical storm we’ve had this year.”

Gabi took a slow, deep breath. “I was fine. I just did what I needed to do.”

“I can take care of myself, too,” Norma Sue drawled, jumping on the frown wagon with Sam. “But sometimes that means staying inside where it’s safe.”

The conversation was going downhill. How had it changed from worrying about some kind of crazy, romantic setup from the posse, to them jumping on her about not being careful? “Sooo, how are the plans for the second homecoming rodeo going?” she asked, deciding it was time to change the subject. She’d come home to Mule Hollow to be closer to Gram and to start a new life here. Adjusting to this many people trying to give input into her life would take some getting used to.

To her relief, Sam headed off to check on the new cook he was training in the kitchen and the ladies launched into a discussion about the second of three rodeos the town was having over the summer. The rodeos were to draw crowds to the small town but also to honor people who’d once lived here. There was a hope that some of them might move back like Gabi had chosen to do.

She listened and prayed for patience and the ability to make good choices. It was embarrassing to her to review and see what a mess she’d made of her life. It was hard knowing she hadn’t made good choices, but she was determined she was going to do better. Learning to trust herself was going to be hard on so many levels.

Learning to take advice was going to be even harder.

But she could do it.

She would do it.

God had given her a second chance and she wasn’t about to waste it. She was determined to start making a difference in the world around her. She just had to take a deep breath and stop messing up.