Second-Chance Cowboy Read online

  Now he had to find a way to make that happen.

  “So should we start unpacking the boxes we put in your room?” he asked.

  Nathan tossed the stick and Brandy took off after it. “I guess so,” he said, his voice holding little enthusiasm.

  “We can finish decorating your room if you want,” Morgan said with a hopeful tone. “Hang up some pictures.”

  This got him a lackadaisical nod as Nathan watched Brandy return.

  “Drop it, Brandy,” Nathan commanded, but the dog wouldn’t relinquish the stick.

  “I think we should tie Brandy up again while we unpack,” he suggested as he caught the dog by the collar. The dog immediately sat down.

  “She doesn’t like being tied up,” Nathan protested. In fact, he had untied her a few moments ago, which was the cause of Brandy’s sudden flight across the road.

  “Probably not, but until she gets used to this place, it might be a good idea. You don’t want her to get run over.” Brandy tugged at Morgan’s restraint, but he was used to handling uncooperative dogs and kept a steady pressure on the collar. “Sit,” he said, and once again, she did as she was told.

  “Can I untie her when I’m done?”

  “If you make sure you stay in the yard with her.”

  Nathan stared at the dog and heaved out a long-suffering sigh. “My mom never made me tie her up.”

  This didn’t surprise Morgan. Gillian had always prided herself on being free-spirited.

  Which was probably why she never told Morgan that Nathan was his son until the boy was two years old.

  “I know, but we live on a road and we don’t want anything to happen to her.” Morgan kept his tone even as he told Brandy to heel and led her back to the rope attached to the veranda and tied her up.

  Nathan didn’t reply but followed Morgan into the house. He trudged up the stairs behind him, his footfalls heavy. Morgan knew he shouldn’t expect more enthusiasm from the boy over the situation. Thanks to Gillian, the kid barely knew him.

  Morgan and Gillian had met during his first year of vet school. She was in town to compete in a rodeo. They fell hard for each other, got married quickly, and then, after a year, she left him, claiming that she didn’t want to be tied down.

  Gillian moved back to her mother’s place in Idaho and returned to the life she’d lived when she and Morgan had met. Driving around the country, pulling her horse trailer behind her, entering any rodeo she could.

  Two years after she left Morgan, he found out, via her mother, that he and Gillian had a son. A five-year-long battle for visitation rights followed soon after.

  For some reason, Gillian kept Nathan away from him with her constant movement, chasing her dream of being a champion barrel racer. Gillian’s mother had no explanation either since she had become as estranged from her daughter and grandson as he was.

  Then, this spring, as Gillian was competing in a rodeo up in Grande Prairie, her horse’s feet went out from under him around the second barrel. Gillian fell beneath him and, in a freak accident, was crushed and in a coma. Gillian’s mother, Donna, had flown in from Idaho to be at her daughter’s bedside and was with her when she died hours later. Donna had also arrived with Nathan.

  Thus it was at the hospital, at his wife’s bedside, for the first time in the seven years Nathan had been alive, Morgan finally met his son.

  They were complete strangers to each other. It was a horrible time. Nathan was withdrawn and grieving and clung to his grandmother, the only other person he was familiar with.

  While Morgan was tempted to leave Nathan with Donna, he also knew the sooner he could take care of his son, the sooner they would bond.

  And he also knew he needed to come back to a place where he had family and community.

  Cedar Ridge.

  So he contacted Dr. Waters, the local vet, about a job and managed to snag a commitment. He was supposed to start today but he’d asked if he could begin tomorrow instead.

  He and Nathan had moved back to Cedar Ridge only yesterday and were barely unpacked. He wanted to spend one more day with Nathan before he went to school. Though it would be a scant three weeks before school was out, Morgan wanted to get Nathan used to the kids he would be attending school with. That way September wouldn’t be as much of a shock.

  Thankfully Morgan’s father lived in Cedar Ridge and was willing to let Nathan come to his place after school. Cord and Ella, his brother and his fiancée, had also offered assistance as needed.

  It was a patchwork support system but it would do for now.

  He hoped by the time summer vacation began that he would have found a nanny or someone to help out.

  “So, it’s a good thing that Uncle Cord and Auntie Ella came to help us get the house organized yesterday,” Morgan said to Nathan with forced joviality. “I’m sure you’ll get to be good friends with your cousins Paul and Suzy.”

  “I never met them before.” Nathan’s tone indicated that he didn’t care if he ever met them again. He flopped on his back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as if the conversation was now over.

  “But you’ll get to know them better,” Morgan replied, struggling once again with a sense of sorrow. Ever since he met Nathan, the boy had been prickly and angry and rejected every advance Morgan made.

  He knew Nathan was grieving and confused and upset, and that it would take time. Morgan tried hard to understand but each rebuff was like a blow.

  “When do I get to see Gramma again?” Nathan asked.

  “In a couple of weeks.” Donna had asked if Morgan would be willing to drive down to Idaho for her fiftieth birthday and he had agreed. The counselor he talked to had underlined the importance of maintaining contact with the one constant in Nathan’s life. “But for now, let’s see about making this room cozier.” Morgan pulled out his jackknife to cut the tape on one of the few boxes of personal items Nathan had.

  Nathan charged to life and yanked the box away from Morgan. “Don’t touch my stuff,” he cried.

  “I was trying to help,” Morgan said.

  “Don’t need your help.” Nathan pushed the box under his bed, grabbed the other two larger ones and pulled them closer.

  Morgan was too taken aback at the fury in his son’s voice to reprimand him.

  “Okay. You can put what you want in the dresser. There are hangers in the closet for your other clothes. Any toys you have can go in the toy box.”

  “Toys are for babies” was all Nathan said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turned away from him.

  His rejection was like a hit to the stomach. Morgan waited but Nathan didn’t turn around.

  So he left, closing the door behind him. He leaned against the wall, dragged his hand over his face and uttered a prayer for strength and patience. He simply had to give him time.

  For now, Morgan had his own unpacking to do.

  He was fortunate that his father owned this house, giving Morgan a place to stay. The house had been part of a ranch that Boyce and Cord had purchased a few years ago and his father was willing to subdivide the acreage and sell it to him.

  And thanks to his share of Gillian’s life insurance policy and his own savings, he had a down payment to put on the place. The irony of it all hadn’t escaped him. Gillian had given him more in death than she had in life.

  Morgan pushed away from the wall and headed down the hall to finish setting up his bedroom. The bed, dresser and the bedside table his father and Cord had picked up at a yard sale were the only pieces of furniture in a room that looked like it could house a small family.

  While he worked, Morgan listened for any sounds coming from Nathan’s room.

  Nothing.

  He was finished putting his own clothes away when his cell phone rang. It was his father.

  “So, does the p
lace feel like home yet?” Boyce Walsh asked.

  Morgan looked around the bare room and chuckled. “Let’s just say I’m unpacked.”

  “It’s a start. Do you want to go out for supper?” his father asked. “I don’t feel like cooking and I’m sure you don’t either. We could meet at the Brand and Grill.”

  He hesitated. “What about the pizza place?” He wasn’t so sure he wanted to meet in the same place he knew Tabitha worked.

  “I hate pizza. Ate too much of that in my bull-riding days.”

  Morgan had to smile. His father often used his bull-riding days as a convenient excuse.

  “Isn’t there another place we could go?” Morgan said.

  “We could do Angelo’s but it’s too quiet.”

  “Guess it’s the Brand and Grill, then.”

  His father was quiet as if acknowledging how difficult going there could be for him.

  “May as well get it over with,” Boyce said. “You’re going to run into Tabitha sooner or later.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Good. I’ll see you and Nathan then.” His father hung up and Morgan tucked his phone into his pocket, blowing out a sigh.

  He certainly hadn’t figured on seeing Tabitha twice in one day.

  He would see her at the clinic tomorrow as well. Maybe the more often he saw her, the quicker he would get used to seeing her around.

  And the quicker he could relegate any feelings he still had for her to the past, where they belonged.

  Chapter Two

  There they were again.

  Tabitha hung back, hiding behind the wall of the kitchen as she watched Boyce, Morgan and Morgan’s son, Nathan, walk into the café.

  Seriously? Twice in one day?

  She rolled her eyes heavenward as if asking God what He was trying to tell her.

  “You going to just stand here daydreaming?” Sepp Muraski growled at her. “We got customers and supper rush is starting.”

  Tabitha gave her boss a forced smile. Sepp glared back at her, his dark eyebrows pulled tight together, a few curls of brown hair slipping out from under the chef’s hat he wore over his hairnet.

  Some might consider him good-looking. Tabitha didn’t, and she suspected that was the reason he was always so grouchy with her. She had turned him down twice and he hadn’t seemed to have forgiven her.

  “On it,” she said, straightening her shoulders and sending up a quick prayer for strength, the right words and attitude.

  She would need all that and more after her encounter with Morgan and his son this afternoon.

  The Walsh men were already seated when she approached them, coffeepot in one hand, menus in the other.

  “Coffee?” she asked as she set the menus down in front of them.

  “I’d love a cup,” Boyce said with a grin, pushing his cup her way. “Pretty quiet in here,” he said, making casual conversation.

  Boyce stopped in at the Brand and Grill from time to time, as did Cord, Morgan’s brother, so Tabitha was accustomed to seeing Walshes around. But she still had to fight a sense of shame every time she saw Boyce. She felt like she had a huge L written on her forehead because of the money her father had cheated Boyce out of.

  I’m working on repaying it, she reminded herself, thinking of the renovations she was doing to the house she’d inherited from her father. Each new cabinet, each piece of flooring, each lick of paint made the house more sellable, which would mean more money to give to Boyce to repay him for what her father had done.

  Then she could tackle the yard, a job that seemed so daunting she avoided thinking of it most of the time.

  “It will get busier,” Tabitha said as she turned to Morgan. “Coffee?”

  He just nodded, looking at the menu.

  Okay. She could do the avoiding thing too. She glanced over at Nathan, who was looking at her. “Can I get you anything?” she asked him.

  “You’re the lady that almost ran over Brandy,” Nathan said, his tone faintly accusing.

  “Not quite,” she said, her ribs still sore from hitting the steering wheel of her truck. “How is your dog?” she asked.

  “She’s fine.” Nathan just held her gaze. “I got the dog from my gramma and soon I’m getting a horse too.” His eyes brightened for a moment.

  That was some generous gramma, Tabitha thought.

  “What horse is this?” Boyce asked as Tabitha poured Morgan his coffee.

  “Gillian’s horse,” Morgan put in. “She was training it before...” He paused, glancing over at Nathan.

  She quickly spoke up with forced cheer. “So, Nathan, we have chocolate milk, orange juice and pop. What can I get you to drink?”

  “Chocolate milk,” he said, looking down at the menu again.

  “Be right back.” She scurried off to take care of that. She snagged a coloring book and a pack of crayons, wondering if he was too old for that, but she figured it was worth a try.

  When she came back, Boyce and Morgan appeared to still be talking about the horse Nathan was expecting.

  “You could get the horse trained?” Boyce said.

  “But who could do it?” Morgan asked.

  “My mommy was training it already.” As he spoke Nathan looked more animated than he had in the past few minutes. “She loved that horse. Said it would be a real goer.”

  “Here’s your chocolate milk,” Tabitha said to Nathan. “And I thought you might enjoy this.”

  She set the crayons and coloring book in front of him. To her surprise, he grabbed them and opened up the book.

  “Tabitha knows about horses and horse training,” Boyce said suddenly, looking up at her. “She could help you out.”

  Tabitha shot him a horrified look. What was he trying to do? Surely he knew the history between her and his son?

  “Would you be able to train my mom’s horse?” Nathan chimed in, looking suddenly eager as he leaned past his father. “I so want to be able to ride Stormy.”

  Tabitha felt distinctly put on the spot. And from the glower on Morgan’s face, she suspected he felt the same.

  “I’m pretty busy,” Tabitha said, and that wasn’t too much of a stretch to say. “Two jobs, and I’m renovating the house.”

  “We can find someone else,” Morgan said, giving his father a knowing look.

  “Tabitha is capable.”

  “She said she was busy.”

  Morgan’s dismissive tone shouldn’t bother her. It was better for everyone if they kept their distance. Though his mother, with her relentless disapproval of Tabitha, had passed away many years ago, the shame of what her father had done to his hadn’t.

  When Floyd Rennie left town three years ago, he had also left a number of citizens of Cedar Ridge high and dry when he decamped with money they had invested with him for the building of a new arena. It was all part of Cedar Ridge’s great hope to become part of the Milk River Rodeo Association circuit, thereby raising the profile of their local rodeo.

  The arena was only half completed when her father left, taking the investors’ money with him.

  The most prominent of whom was Boyce Walsh. Morgan’s father.

  Her father died a year later, leaving Tabitha the house she was working on now. She had hoped to sell it but the real-estate agent said she could get double for it if she fixed it up.

  So she began working on it in her off-hours. But it was taking much longer than she’d hoped.

  “There’s not many people close by who can do horse training,” Boyce put in, clearly unwilling to let either Morgan or Tabitha off the hook.

  “Amber could,” Morgan said.

  “And you know your twin sister is busy with her own life,” Boyce said. “Nor is she living in Cedar Ridge.”

  “So, are you
ready to order?” Tabitha said, pulling a pad of paper and pen out of her apron. She really needed to change the topic of conversation. Morgan clearly didn’t want her around and she had no intention of spending more time with any member of the Walsh family than she needed to.

  They gave her their orders and she hurried off to give them to Sepp.

  “You sure were hanging around that table a long time,” he grumbled. “We got other customers, you know.”

  She ignored him as she set up the coffeemaker to make a fresh pot of coffee. She knew well enough not to engage with Sepp.

  “I don’t pay you to hang around and bug the customers.” He had to get one more jab in before she left.

  She wished she could quit, she thought as she cleared a table, trying not to take her anger out on the hapless dishes. She wished she could walk away from Cedar Ridge. Leave it and everything it represented behind her.

  But she needed the job to pay for her house renovations. She was going to finish what she had started, and she knew she couldn’t leave town with her father’s debt hanging over her head.

  She shot a glance over at the Walsh table just as she caught Morgan looking at her. She flushed and spun away carrying the dirty dishes back to the kitchen. Adana had finally shown up and she was flirting with Sepp, who didn’t seem to be in any rush to get the Walshes’ orders done.

  “My last order ready yet?” she asked.

  “It’s ready when it’s ready” was all he said. “Scared I’m going to make you look bad in front of your old boyfriend?”

  She knew not to say anything more. Sepp was the most passive-aggressive person she knew and the more she pushed him, the worse he would get.

  A few more customers came in and Adana took their orders. Finally Sepp was done with Boyce and Morgan and Nathan’s food.

  “Service is getting kind of slow around here,” Boyce said as she set their food on the table.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, knowing she couldn’t shift the blame.