Roxann Delaney - A Nanny for the Cowboy

Hayley watched out the window as Luke drove them to town. Others might think it was a bleak scene, but she loved the contrast of dark, bare trees and earthy, dormant fields against the bright blue sky. The late winter had gifted them with warm days, well above freezing, and birds were busy hopping from tree limb to tree limb. Even though she’d lived on a farm while growing up, she’d become accustomed to the city and often forgot the beauty of a world without skyscrapers, interstate highways and traffic.

She kept Brayden busy during the ride by reciting nursery rhymes, which made him giggle and squeal. Luke joined in now and then, and before she knew it, they were almost to town.

“Did you see much of Desperation when you stopped for groceries the other day?” Luke asked.

“Only a little,” she admitted. “I was focused more on where I needed to go, since I had Brayden with me and didn’t really look around much.”

Within seconds, he brought the truck to a stop at the intersection of Main Street and the county road. “We’ll be at the Chick-a-Lick before you know it.”

She wasn’t certain she’d heard right. “Excuse me? The what?”

“Chick-a-Wick!” came the yell from the back.

Luke laughed. “He has a little trouble with some of his letters. It’s the Chick-a-Lick Café, and it’s been here for as long as I can remember. People have been known to come as far as fifty miles for the food and the company.”

“Then I’m definitely looking forward to lunch.”

After turning the corner, Luke drove slowly down the street. Pointing out the window, he said, “That’s the old Opera House the town folks have been renovating for several years.”

“It’s beautiful,” she answered, as he pulled into a parking spot in front of what was obviously the café. She waited until he shut off the engine, then she stepped out of the truck and took Brayden from his car seat.

Luke joined them at the curb and took the squirming little boy from her arms, setting him on the sidewalk. “He loves coming to the café. He gets to see all his favorite people.”

“I guess so,” Hayley said, laughing, as Brayden ran toward the café. They followed and Luke opened the door, while Hayley took Brayden’s hand in hers, and they all walked inside.

Her first impression was that the Chick-a-Lick was a typical small town café. But when she stepped farther inside, silence moved through the room filled with customers like a wave, and she felt all eyes on her. “Oh, my,” she whispered.

Chapter Three

For several seconds, Luke wasn’t sure what to do. Everyone in the café was watching them, and the words fight or flight jumped to mind. Common sense quickly told him that there would be no tucking tail and retreating. He’d have to find a way to make this uncomfortable moment a little easier for both him and Hayley.

“There’s a booth over there,” he said, pointing to the only empty spot in the café. Hayley nodded, and he followed her through the crowded but unusually quiet room, making a point to nod and say hello to neighbors and friends.

“Hey, Luke,” Tanner O’Brien called to him.

“Tanner,” Luke greeted, and smiled at his friend’s wife as if walking into the Chick-a-Lick with a pretty woman was a daily thing for him. “Good to see you, Jules. And Wyoming,” he added, patting their young son on the shoulder as he passed.

He grabbed a high chair on the way, and by the time Hayley had settled Brayden into it and scooted into one side of the booth, the usual buzz of conversation in the café had resumed. Still, Luke knew people were speculating on who she was and what was going on.

Hayley picked up one of the menus tucked behind the napkin holder and looked around the room. “You were right. It’s definitely a popular place.”

He nodded his agreement and grabbed his own menu, hoping to hide the fact that he was clueless on how to handle this predicament he’d gotten them into. He hadn’t given any thought to how the first visit to town with Hayley would quickly become a topic of gossip. After all, he’d never come into the café before with any woman other than his wife, when he was married, and everyone in town knew how that had ended.

He rarely missed Saturday lunch at the Chick-a-Lick. Even Brayden knew with some kind of sixth sense where they were going when they started for town on Saturday. Leaving Brayden behind was never an option. His son would complain. Loudly. But taking Brayden, while leaving Hayley behind, just hadn’t seemed right, either. So here they were.

As he looked over the menu, he told himself that she deserved to have a meal she hadn’t cooked, and this was the perfect chance to introduce her around so she could meet people and maybe make a few friends. Now all he had to do was find a way to keep gossip at a minimum.

By the pale, pink blotches on Hayley’s cheeks, he guessed she was feeling a little embarrassed and maybe even uncomfortable. “They’re curious,” he told her. “They’re all good people.”

“It’s all right,” she answered. “I guess I’d be surprised if they weren’t. I’m sure that even if I was eighty and gray-haired and wrinkled, they’d still wonder.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, you’re right.” And he felt better because she understood.

“So what’s good?” she asked. “Besides everything.”

Suddenly glad she wasn’t eighty, gray-haired and wrinkled, he was in the middle of making lunch suggestions when the waitress came to the table.

“Hey, Luke,” she greeted. Placing several packages of crackers on the table in front of Brayden, she turned to smile at Hayley. “I’m Darla. Welcome to the Chick-a-Lick.”

“Nice to meet you, Darla. I’m Hayley Brooks, Brayden’s new nanny.”

Darla took the hand she offered. “Aren’t you the lucky one? He’s such a cute little guy. So are you all ready to order?”

When Hayley nodded in his direction, he answered, “I guess we are,” and they gave Darla their orders. She’d just walked away when Tanner and Jules O’Brien approached the booth with their son.

“Okay, I’ll say it. Jules is dying of curiosity,” Tanner said, laughing.

“I am not!” His wife gave him a playful punch in the arm, and then laughed, too. “All right, I guess small-town nosiness has rubbed off on me,” she said, smiling at Hayley.

Luke hurried to introduce his friends, and explained that Hayley was his son’s new nanny, without feeling it was the wrong thing to say.

“Perfect,” Jules said, with a glance at her husband.

“Hi there, Wyoming,” Hayley said to their son. “How old are you?”

Wyoming held up three fingers.

“He’ll be four in August,” Jules added. “And we really should get home. It’s so nice to meet you, Hayley. I hope you’ll all stop by the ranch sometime.”

They said their goodbyes, and when the O’Briens were gone, Luke let out a sigh. “I guess that went okay, didn’t it?”

“Very okay,” Hayley replied.

Darla soon returned with their meal, and the three of them fell silent as they enjoyed it. Luke didn’t fail to notice that Hayley kept an eye on Brayden, helping him with his food the way a mother would. And for a change, Brayden behaved like a perfect little gentleman, instead of wanting to get up to run around the café.

Luke had just finished paying the bill at the cash register and they were ready to leave, when the door opened. “Looks like you both have your hands full,” Luke told the couple who walked into the café.

“Double trouble,” Dusty McPherson replied, glancing at his wife with a grin, as he jiggled one of his twin sons in his arms. More quietly he said, “Hey, Luke, I’ve been meaning to ask where Dylan has disappeared to.”