Daisies in the Canyon(75)

“Thanks for coming over, Abby. I’ll walk you out to the truck.” He set the empty bowl on the porch and dusted off the seat of his jeans when he stood up.

She put her hand in his when he held it out and wasn’t a bit surprised at the reaction in her body when his skin touched hers—or that she liked it.

He kissed her on the forehead when they reached the truck. “Abby, I would never hurt you. Trust me.”

“It’s not you I have to trust, Cooper. It’s me, but I’ll figure it all out eventually.”

“I know you will,” he said and waved from the porch as she drove away.

At midnight she was in her own bed. She’d beat the pillow into submission half a dozen times. She’d rolled from one side to the other, disturbing Martha so many times that finally the dog relocated to the chair. When sleep finally came, it was riddled with dreams of little girls, of Cooper walking away from her, of Malloy Ranch burning to the ground. The alarm woke her at the same time it did every morning, but she was more tired than when she went to bed.





Chapter Nineteen

Martha wiggled around in the big velvet rocking chair to catch more of the fading sunlight on her face. Bonnie sat cross-legged on the floor on one side of the chair with Shiloh on the other side.

“There’s a bed right there. Y’all don’t have to sit on the floor,” Abby said.

“I’ve only conquered sitting in Ezra’s chair in the past few days. I’m not ready to sit on his bed,” Bonnie said.

“Your superstition is showing.” Abby leaned closer to the mirror above the chest of drawers and applied mascara.

“I was raised up in the hollers of Kentucky. Superstition is part of our culture. It will surface real often, so get used to it,” Bonnie answered.

“I thought that belonged to folks in Louisiana,” Abby said.

“They don’t get to claim all the rights. Neither does Kentucky. In my family, it’s put into our DNA long before we’re born,” Shiloh said. “How about you, Abby? You superstitious?”

She shook her head. “I’m not so sure I know what I am anymore.”

“Wonder if Ezra was superstitious?” Bonnie asked. “My mama is, so if he was, I got a double dose.”

“So is my mama. She’ll drive around four city blocks to keep from crossing the same road that a black cat has,” Shiloh said.

“So was my mama. She had lucky numbers and she always read her horoscope, but I’ve slept in that bed every night since we arrived on this ranch and lightning hasn’t struck me. I haven’t even dreamed about Ezra. He hasn’t appeared like a hologram in the corner at night, either. If he had, I wouldn’t be here.” Abby laughed.

Bonnie chuckled. “Changing the subject here. How are things with Cooper?”

“Remember that conversation we had about commitment? I’m scared out of my mind at this point when it comes to Cooper.”

“Cooper is a good man,” Bonnie said.

“I know that. My heart knows that, but there’s a little part of me afraid of getting hurt if . . .” Abby left the sentence hanging.

“Ever hear that song, ‘The Dance,’ that Garth Brooks sang years ago? One of the lines says something about ‘you could have missed the pain, but you’d have had to miss the dance,’?” Bonnie said.

“That makes sense. Life don’t come with promises of rainbows without the rain first. You and Cooper belong together. Don’t be afraid,” Shiloh said.

“Coming from the person who has the same issues I do?” Abby asked.

“Yes, I do and when I find someone, I’m going to come whining to you about it being complicated. Don’t you just love that word? It covers a multitude of stuff. What happened between you and Cooper that you haven’t told us?” Shiloh asked.

“Not the sex part.” Bonnie laughed. “You can keep that part secret, but tell us what happened afterward.”

Abby hesitated as she tried to put into words the feelings she’d had the night before.

“Either get out of the water or dive in. You can’t stand on the shore with your toes in the surf,” Shiloh said.

“My advice is to dive, because if you don’t, you will be miserable your whole life. And,” Bonnie said, “you’ll have to go to church tomorrow and pray for a crop failure with all those seeds, won’t you? I do hope you used protection of some kind.”

Abby’s chest tightened up and she had trouble catching her next breath. She hadn’t even thought of protection. The prescription for her birth control had run out several months ago and since she wasn’t seeing anyone, she hadn’t bothered to see a doctor to get a new one. Shutting her eyes so she could think better, she replayed both times she’d had sex with Cooper.

God Almighty, had the canyon wiped out her ability to think straight or did Cooper get that credit? Not once in all her life had she fallen into bed with someone as quickly as she had with Cooper—or been as irresponsible, either.

Before she could form words to answer Bonnie, someone rapped on the front door. Abby checked the clock beside her bed and saw that Cooper was right on time for their date to go to the Sugar Shack.

“Don’t just sit there. Go let him in,” Bonnie said.