Daisies in the Canyon(40)

Cooper had been so busy with the sheriff’s job that he missed dinner on Friday and that made her cranky.

You are acting like a hormonal teenager, she fussed at herself.

Abby and her sisters had finished the evening chores and she’d sat down on the porch with Martha at her side when her phone rang. Haley started in the minute she answered it.

“Sorry I haven’t called sooner but the twins had a stomach bug and all I’ve gotten done for the past three days is change stinky diapers and rock them. Tell me what’s going on and don’t stutter around. I feel something in my bones,” Haley said.

“And your bones never lie?” Abby laughed.

“Not when it comes to you they don’t,” Haley answered. “Trust me. Well, shit! Got a baby waking up. I’ll call later and we’ll talk some more about it. Big hugs,” Haley said.

Abby shoved the phone back into her pocket and said, “Well, Martha, at least I don’t have to change your stinky diapers.”

She reached out to pet the dog and the phone rang again. “That didn’t take long,” she said.

“What?” Cooper asked.

Just hearing his voice put a smile on her face. “I thought you were someone else.”

“Oh, got another boyfriend who calls often?”

“Another?” she said slowly.

He chuckled. “I called to tell you that I missed you at dinner, but I had to forget the lunch break if I was going to get through by five and get this pasture seeded.”

“Bonnie made fried chicken.”

He groaned. “I’d just about kill for good homemade fried chicken.”

“Then you should have taken a lunch break,” she said.

“Is your other boyfriend there now?”

“No, he is not and no, I do not have a boyfriend. How about you, Cooper? How many girlfriends have you got who are just your friends?” she said.

“I haven’t done a head count lately, but I will tell you that not a single one is here right now offering to help me plow until midnight when the rain is supposed to reach the canyon.”

“How many tractors do you own?” she asked.

“Two big ones and a little one that Grandpa bought for Granny to use when she got the urge to help. It hasn’t been driven in years, but I can’t bear to sell it.”

“Since you were good enough to teach me how to drive a tractor, I’ll drive one of them for you tonight. Tell me how to drive to your place. I don’t have any idea how to get there except over the fence. But why don’t you ask Rusty to help you?”

“I’m not attracted to him,” Cooper said.

“And you are to me?” she asked.

“Honey, that question doesn’t even need an answer. I’ll pay you if you’re serious about plowin’,” he said.

“I’ll take it in ice cream instead of dollars.”

He told her exactly how to get from Malloy Ranch to the Lucky Seven. She pulled her boots back on, tucked the laces into the tops, and then braided her hair into two ropes that hung down the sides of her shoulders.

“What are you doing? Going for another walk?” Shiloh came out of the bathroom with a towel around her head and a long terry bathrobe belted around her waist.

“Actually, I’m going for a drive, and I won’t be back until midnight or after, so don’t wait up for me. And if my phone rings, somebody better be dead.”

“Surely to God you aren’t going on an ice cream date looking and smelling like you do. Don’t you own anything other than camouflage?” Shiloh asked.

“I don’t think I smell bad enough to fog the inside of a tractor cab. The rest is none of your business,” she answered.

Bonnie came out of her room and stopped in her tracks. “Where are you going?”

“She hasn’t had enough of tractors. She’s going to go plow up something until after midnight,” Shiloh answered.

“And I’m taking the leftover fried chicken with me,” Abby said.

“Sounds like a midnight picnic to me.” Bonnie smiled.

“Sounds like a woman who’s lost her mind to me. Not even Cooper Wilson would be able to talk me into getting back into a tractor cab, especially at night,” Shiloh said.

“Maybe I want to get that field ready where we cleared off the mesquite. Or maybe”—she wiggled her eyebrows—“I’m on my way to the bunkhouse to seduce Rusty.”

Shiloh popped her hands on her hips. “I’m not blind. I can see the way Cooper looks at you and you aren’t doing one thing to discourage it. Yes, he’s interested in you, Abby, but have you ever stopped and considered maybe he’s even more interested in this ranch? It would sure be a nice addition to his place, now wouldn’t it?”

“I’m not having this conversation right now. Good night, girls,” Abby said.

Bonnie stepped around them and said, “Take the rest of the cookies if you want to. Tomorrow you have to cook and you can make more.”

Shiloh set her full mouth in a firm line and shook her head slowly, muttering the whole way into her bedroom. “Don’t you dare take all those cookies. I’m having a few for a bedtime snack.”

“Nosy little shits. Can’t even sneak out without telling them,” Abby told Martha as she slipped out the front door.