No Place Like Home

They were a good excuse not to look at Brady and she was thankful for the distraction.

“I saw you exercising earlier. When I pulled into town, I glanced down that way and you were getting after some crunches. It looked like a scene from the movie G.I. Jane.”

“It’s part of my rehab.” Mental and physical, but she didn’t say that.

“At that rate you ought to be strong by tomorrow.”

She wished. “That would be just fine with me. I never have been weak and I can’t stand it. It makes me crazy.”

In more ways than one—

Suddenly the swinging door to the back of the store flew open and a small wrinkled man burst through carrying a plate of bacon and eggs.

“How-do,” he said as he plopped the plate down in front of the sheriff. “I heard what you said about being weak—you have a plate of this and you’ll be as strong as an ox in two weeks’ time. I promise.”

Dottie laughed—but the little man wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t joking. Oops. The last thing she wanted was to hurt his feelings.

“Sam takes his breakfast serious,” Sheriff Brady said, his eyes twinkling as he held back a chuckle of his own.

Sam crossed his wiry arms and locked eyes with her. “Eggs and bacon make a body strong. I don’t care what these reports say nowadays. It’s all that refined sugar that’ll kill you. From the looks of ya, you ain’t been eatin’ much of anythang.”

So much for thinking she was starting to get her figure back.

“Sam, this is Dottie Hart. She’s the one I was telling you about. Dottie, this is Sam. And those two over there are Applegate Thornton and Stanley Orr.”

She recognized all the names from Cassie. “Glad to meet all of you gentlemen.” The two checker players nodded and grunted something she couldn’t quite make out. Sam held out his hand and she slipped hers into his and nearly fell out of the seat when he pumped it up and down so hard she felt as if it would come out of its socket. “My goodness, those eggs and bacon must work.”

He beamed and dropped her hand, just in the nick of time.

“I’ll have you a plate in a jiffy. Mean whilst, how ’bout some coffee?”

“Oh, yes, please.”

Feeling a bit more relaxed, she watched him amble away.

“Is your arm okay?” Sheriff Brady asked, leaning across the table so that only she could hear the question.

“Yes, thanks. But boy, he’s rather vigorous.”

“Sam has a tendency to be violent when he shakes hands. I don’t know why, but it’s always the same.”

Dottie started to chuckle but bit it back as Sam reappeared with a cup of coffee. She thanked him and watched as he headed toward the kitchen with the promise that he’d be back in a few minutes.

She was about to say something more, when one of the checker players, Applegate, she thought it was, slapped his hand on the table and grunted loudly.

“Why’d you make that move?”

“’Cause I wanted to. It was the move to make, you old goat.”

“I didn’t see that checker there a minute ago.”

“You sayin’ I cheated?”

“I’m sayin’ that that checker wasn’t there a while ago.”

“App, I ain’t never had to beat you by cheatin’, so why should I have to do it now?”

Not certain if she should be alarmed, or if this went on all the time, Dottie glanced from the two men back over at Sheriff Brady. He seemed not even to notice what was going on. Instead, he was eating his eggs.

Taking her cue from him, she took a sip of her coffee and tried to ignore the men. It was a little hard when the one stood up and stormed out the door. She met Brady’s eyes over the rim of her cup and he winked. “It happens all the time.”

Okay. So maybe she wouldn’t have breakfast here again. Or maybe there was something she could do for the two men. She noticed that the one man, Stanley, continued to sit in his seat, contentedly eating sunflower seeds and spitting the husks into a bucket. Yuck! But at least it wasn’t that tobacco stuff.

Sam brought her eggs and bacon and a refill of coffee for her and the sheriff. “Stanley, when you ever going to quit doing that to the man?”

“What was that?”

“You heard me. I saw you turn up your hearin’ aid when Miss Dottie walked in.”

Stanley frowned. His entire face dipping in a cascade of wrinkles, he punctuated the frown by spitting out another husk. “App needs his blood pressure raised once a year. Keeps him kickin’.”

“Yeah, well, when he comes in here one day and kicks your—well, I ain’t goin’ there ’cause we have a lady in our presence, but you know what I’m talkin’ about. I ain’t gonna feel sorry for you at-tal.”

Dottie watched Sam retreat behind the swinging doors. She was beginning to worry about the two gentlemen; she certainly couldn’t eat. And then suddenly the door opened and Applegate strode back in, sat back down and grabbed a handful of seeds like nothing had happened.

“You old fool,” he said. “I was halfway to my truck when I remembered what day it was.”

“I get you every year.” Stanley chuckled and rubbed his hands together.

Applegate frowned. Dottie couldn’t help but think the man looked like a prune. Poor man. “You just wait till next April Fools’ day. I’m gonna git you next year.”

“Ain’t happened yet.”

April Fools’! Dottie couldn’t believe she’d forgotten today was the first day of April. Sheriff Brady was smiling when she looked back at him.

“Whew, I thought they were really breaking up a longtime friendship,” she said. This time she was the one leaning over the table.

“It happens every year. Keeps them alive, anyway. You better eat those eggs before they get cold and Sam gets upset with you.”

Dottie grimaced, said a quick silent prayer then lifted her fork and dug in. Mule Hollow was truly starting out as an interesting place to spend a few days.

And she’d been here less than twelve hours.

“So, you were on your way to California before you picked Cassie up?”

“That’s right. My brother is a pastor in Los Angeles and he’s involved with a foundation for women at risk—battered women, unwed mothers. I spent two weeks at the place and now I’m moving out there to be kind of a housemother to them.” Just thinking about it always made a happy face in her heart, not that it was a mother’s role she would be playing, but more that of a survivor and mentor. Someone who’d been down a similar road. “I’m going to keep the place up and teach the ladies some business skills. The plan is for me to reopen my candy business there and employ the women on a rotating basis. I can’t wait.”

Sheriff Brady placed his elbows on the table, linked his hands and rested his chin on his thumbs. “That’s a great plan. You have a great heart.”

Dottie shook her head. “When you’ve looked death in the face like I have and God brings you through…let me tell you, it’d be weird not to want to give back. I’m just making good on a promise I made to Him.”

“Like I said, you have a good heart. Thousands of people make that same promise when faced with trying times. But as soon as they’re back on their feet, they forget about it.”

Thinking back to those dark hours before she was rescued, Dottie shuddered. “I’ll never forget about what God delivered me from. Never. I look at life in an entirely new light. And I’m trying my hardest to live life in a new light.” And she was. No looking back. Only up. Even the nightmare’s return couldn’t change that.

When she left the diner, Brady walked with her. As they approached the RV she was surprised to see cowboys everywhere working on different projects. It looked like a scene from Lonesome Dove.

And Cassie was right in the big middle of it. The kid was flitting from one group to the next, introducing herself and offering her hand in introduction. It looked suspiciously like speed dating.

“I wonder if any of those guys know what she’s up to?”

“Oh, most of these guys are ready to settle down. Maybe not the younger ones, but for the most part all of them are thrilled with this campaign to get women out here to them. The odds of finding a wife out in this town looked pretty dismal after a while. Many of the guys actually had to move on to other places because they refused to live alone. Or shall we say they refused to live bunked up with a bunch of other rowdy bachelors for the rest of their lives.”

Dottie couldn’t blame them. But still, watching the serious look in Cassie’s eyes, she couldn’t help feeling the girl was looking at this as if she was picking out a pair of shoes or something. And that just wasn’t right.

Dottie had never been in love, but she wanted the man God intended for her to marry. That would be the most important thing she could look for but undeniably there would have to be chemistry between them. One didn’t just stand the men up in a line and say that’s him. There had to be more to it than that and she hoped Cassie would realize this and take her time looking for Mr. Right.

Sheriff Brady came to a halt in front of her RV. He placed his hands on his hips, emphasizing his broad shoulders and lean, muscular build. Dottie found herself studying his profile.

Why wasn’t this guy married?

He was good-looking, nice, seemed great on the outside…and, well…

Oh, come on, Dottie! Get honest here.

All right already, she grumbled to herself. The man had chemistry coming out his ears. His name was probably listed under the word in the dictionary.

He seemed to have it all, and yet he was still single. What did that mean?

Chapter Four

It was only eight o’clock in the morning, but after the hour spent at the diner, it felt much later. Now standing beside her RV with Sheriff Brady, Dottie was bewildered by her reactions to the man.

Flustered, she tugged open the RV’s door and grabbed her bag of candy from the dash. Despite the heavy breakfast she’d eaten she needed to settle her nerves and to focus. And that meant sugar!

“Want one?” She held out the half-full bag of colorful gelatin-looking bunnies.

“No, thanks,” Brady said, looking as if she’d offered him a bag of worms.

“Don’t tell Sam,” she whispered, plopping a couple into her mouth and letting the tangy little treats melt away.

“Your secret is safe with me,” he said, dipping his chin. “You do know that kind of stuff will kill you.”

“Mmm, thanks for the warning. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I get the urge to down the entire bag in one sitting.”

His eyebrows met in a V. “Tell me you don’t do that.”

She tried to look ashamed.

She really tried. And maybe she should actually be ashamed.

“Come on, tell me you haven’t eaten an entire bag of those things!”

“Well…” She fidgeted from foot to foot. “Sometimes. But not often,” she said, rapid-fire, gushing, and maybe feeling just a tad ashamed. “I want to live a long life. I just have to have a few of these a day.”

Liar.

He shook his head and the corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly in that cute way of his. Pushing his hat back, he stared up at the top of the RV. It was obviously an attempt to hide the full-blown grin Dottie could see building. “How’d you get all of that up there?” he asked.

She smushed a bunny between her fingers and held it out to him in an audacious attempt to make him break into a full-out smile. He complied instead with a scowl, which was acceptable, too, and she rewarded herself promptly for having achieved said goal by tossing the yellow bunny into her own mouth with learned accuracy. Two points! Yesss!

“Believe me,” she said before chewing. “It was not easy. Thank goodness a couple of friends from church helped me get the heavy stuff up there. I added a few other things after they went home. You should have seen us getting that wicker love seat up there.”

She dipped into the bag again.

“Would you like some help getting it down?”

Dottie halted her foraging. He really needed to go. She was enjoying their conversation a little more than she wanted to. Okay, a whole lot more than she wanted to.

But she did need help. “The ladder is on the back.”

He grinned. “No kidding.”

“Sorry, I guess that would be the obvious place for it to be.”

“Yuuup,” he said with an exaggerated Texas twang.

He was still grinning at her when she looked up at him and their eyes locked. And she could almost hear thunder.

Chemistry!

“I’ll be right down,” he said, his penetrating gaze roaming her face before locking with her eyes again. He grabbed the metal ladder. It looked flimsy beneath his hands.

“Maybe I should go up,” she said, sitting down her bag of bunnies on the bumper and making a move to grab the rungs. Their hands touched briefly and the tension that she’d been trying to ignore zinged to life.

Chemistry! The obnoxious little voice in her head shouted. The voice she’d squish like a Gummi Bunny if she could get hold of it for all of its bouncing back and forth.

“No way are you going up there,” he was saying. “Not while I’m around.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and moved her to the side. “You wait right there.”

Looking like a man who could handle anything, especially an itty-bitty bit of furniture on top of an RV, he climbed up the ladder and stepped onto the roof.

“I used to watch reruns of Trapper John M.D. when I was a kid and they used to climb on top of Gonzo’s RV all the time, but this sure feels shaky.”

That’s putting it mildly, she thought, thinking about how she felt watching him. “There were three of us up there when we packed it up,” she said, finding her voice.

“Then I’ll have to trust you on that.” He took a careful step toward the chaotic pile, then crouched down to loosen the ties.

Dottie watched, unable to not be interested. The man was just too cute when he concentrated. She squinted up at him in the morning sunlight and decided that he could take his time. She was just fine with the view.

He was pulling the rope from the racks when she caught a flash of pink in her peripheral vision. Turning, she saw a pink convertible Caddy bouncing and weaving across the pasture. The smiling blonde behind the wheel was waving one hand above her head and steering with the other as she brought the car to an abrupt halt.

“I heard you were here! Hello, hello, helllooo,” she laughed, vaulting out of the car and wrapping Dottie in a bear hug. Tightly. “I’d have come last night but I couldn’t…we got tied up delivering the cutest little baby calf you ever laid your eyes on. But I told Clint, first thing this morning I was jumping in the Caddy and zooming right on over here to see about these two gals who decided to check out our little town. I’m hoping you’re going to stay awhile. How are you? Did they get you set up good? Do you need anything?”

The woman paused her chattering, released Dottie and took a step back, hand extended. Dottie took it, staggered by the exuberant greeting. Thankful she hadn’t had a Gummi Bunny in her mouth. She’d probably choke on it.

“Lacy Brown,” the woman started again, then laughed, holding up her left hand and wiggling her wedding-banded finger. “I do that all the time. Lacy Matlock would be my name.”

Lacy giggled and Dottie joined her, breaking her daze. She got the impression that around Lacy, laughter would be unending.

“Lacy, this is Dottie Hart,” Brady said. “Dottie, Lacy has the tendency to talk a person to death if one isn’t careful to escape when given the chance.”

“So, Dottie, I hear Brady rescued you yesterday. That’s our sheriff. Always rescuing someone. Never to be rescued himself.”

“You can go home now, Lacy,” Brady called down.

“Hey, no need to get mean.”

“I just thought Clint might be missing you. That’s all I meant.”

“Uh-huh. And my hair is straight as a board.”

Dottie looked at Lacy’s nearly white hair sticking from her yellow hat in wild loose curls.

“I think he’s pulling your leg,” she said.

“You think?” Lacy asked, plopping a hand to her jutting hip.

“Has to be, because your hair is most definitely not straight.”

Lacy chuckled. “I like you.”

Dottie liked her, too. Who wouldn’t? No wonder the town looked like it did with all its crayon colors. Lacy Matlock epitomized the phrase “colorful character.”

“Ahh-hemmm.”

Dottie looked up to see Brady holding a wicker chair over the edge of the RV for someone to take. “You girls going to stand there bonding all day, or are you going to give a poor fellow a helping hand.”

Dottie looked at Lacy. “I guess we should help him.”

“If you say so,” Lacy sighed. “But I’m all for leaving him up there when we finish and us girls hanging out for a while.”

Dottie agreed, then reached to take the chair and almost dropped it when Brady winked at her.

“I saw that, Brady Cannon,” Lacy said.

Dottie knew she was pinker than the Caddy sitting behind her. A wink. What was that all about? He’d done the same thing in the diner, but she’d ignored it. But this time…she realized he was smiling down at her, almost laughing.

The man was playing with her, which she could take. The trouble was Lacy Brown-Matlock!

She’d witnessed the wink and she was smiling. Big.

And Dottie wasn’t sure what, exactly, that smile meant…

Drawn by the pink Caddy, Cassie came running. Lacy made an instant friend by offering her a spin in her retro car. With the top down. Dottie had visions of Cassie coming back with her hair standing out like a rock star’s.

“Those two will get along like peanut butter and jelly,” Brady said, coming to stand beside her as she watched them driving off. Their arms touched and Dottie stepped away, startled at the sudden warm contact.

“I hope so,” she said. “Cassie’s going to need a friend.”

“Hey, she’s going to be fine. As a matter of fact, the morning’s gotten away from me, so I’m going to head to the office and start sending out some feelers. I’ll let you know the minute I hear something.”

“Thank you, that would be great,” she said, almost forgiving him for the wink and the turmoil he caused her. “Who is that?” she asked, nodding toward the three ladies drawing close across the stretch of grass.

Brady glanced in their direction and smiled, watching their approach. “That’s the heart of Mule Hollow. See you later. Hello, ladies, this is Dottie Hart,” he said, meeting them as he left. “Go easy on her, her RV’s broke down and she has no escape.” With that, he turned back toward her, tipped his hat at her, winked again and strode away.

Watching him leave, Dottie couldn’t help thinking that George Strait had nothing on Brady Cannon. Brady’s swagger was just as good as any cowboy she’d ever seen…George included.

“He’s a cute one, our sheriff,” the short lady with the curly gray hair said, crossing her arms and watching him walk away.

Dottie realized what she’d been doing and turned to the ladies. “Yes, he’s extremely helpful.”

“We know that for certain. Hi, I’m Norma Sue Jenkins.”

“And I’m Esther Mae Wilcox,” said the redhead. “You can like Brady. Really. We’ve been looking for the right woman for him for a while now. We thought it might be Ashby Templeton, but those two ended up knowing that they weren’t a match after spending just one day at the fair together.”

“Esther, don’t push. Dottie has just arrived in Mule Hollow. And we’re glad you’re here. I’m Adela Ledbetter.”

Dottie barely heard the smart-looking woman with the feathery white hair and the brilliant blue eyes. Her head was still spinning from what Ethel—Esther had said.

“Adela, I know she just arrived here,” Esther continued. “But, from what I hear, she’s not staying very long, so we need to move fast. You know, get her while the iron’s on fire.”

“That’s while the iron’s hot,” Norma added dryly.

“Hot, on fire, it’s all the same thing. We just need to get her.”

Dottie was grateful she hadn’t passed out at the onslaught of the conversation. Instead, it was so shockingly comical, she chuckled.

“Why’s that funny?”

Biting back the last of the giggle and feeling like Lucy, she blinked at Esther. “Well, ma’am. I’m not here looking for a husband. I’m just passing out—I mean through.”

“And—what’s your point?”

Dottie looked at the other two ladies, who had given up trying to contain their friend. “Well, I—”

“Me and my Hank, it just took a look and a wink and we were together for life.”

“I thought it was a kiss?” Norma Sue said.

“Well, that, too. But I knew before that.”

“Okay, Esther,” Adela said, smiling. “Let’s do like Brady asked and give the poor girl a little room. If it’s to happen it will.”

“Honestly, I’m leaving,” Dottie blurted. These women were serious about their matchmaking. Give them an inch and wham!

Then it hit her. Again. Brady Cannon had known.

He’d known exactly what he was doing when he’d left her to fend for herself!

And the wink! Winks!

Ohhh, he was devious. The man had set the hounds on her on purpose. But why? What would possess him to do such a thing?

Looking from one pleasant-faced woman to the next, for the life of her she couldn’t understand why he would do this…unless he was just being funny.

Funny, my foot! She’d get him for this.

Back at his office, Brady was hoping something would come up fast and the case would be a snap. A database search was the place to start.

He knew it was too much to hope for that she’d simply run away from home because of something trivial. He knew the odds were against it. On the flip side, he hoped she wasn’t on the run because of something she’d done. It was a logical possibility.

For all involved, the sooner he found out the facts relating to Cassie the better. The last thing he needed was for her to win the hearts of all the townsfolk only to do something to harm them.

And then there was Dottie. It wasn’t like he went around winking at women all the time. It just happened. He had nothing to gain by it.

Besides, for all he knew, Dottie’s story could be false. Hey, she and Cassie could be involved in something together…con artists came in all shapes and ages. And the good women of Mule Hollow would be easy game.

Clenching his jaw Brady picked up a pen from his desk and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. His gut tightened and he told himself he was being ridiculous. He understood where the tendency came from, a man who’d seen it all and heard it all grew cynical.

He gave the pen tip three hard strikes to his desktop.

You’re not that guy anymore. Remember.

For a while, in the city, he’d lived on the excitement. The fast-paced rhythm of the precinct, the city lights, the adrenaline rush that came with every bust…

He closed his eyes, tightening his fingers around the pen…

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Dottie’s words…good, open-hearted Dottie. Just thinking of her prompted a smile. He was a cop. His duty demanded that he check all details. Pick up on all possible angles.

In his old life, everyone was a suspect—he closed his eyes—but not anymore.

Dottie Hart was the real deal. He knew it and he refused to allow his fight with his past taint what he knew was true.

He opened his eyes. So why had he flirted with her? Because you couldn’t help it. Something about her, the inner beauty that radiated from her reached out to him.

Leaning back in his chair, he stared up at the ceiling and refocused on the problem at hand. Cassie.

It was true there could be any assortment of horrible reasons that the girl had been hitchhiking yesterday. But there was still a small ray of hope that everything she’d told Dottie was true. That she’d really come to Mule Hollow because of Molly’s articles.

He prayed that this was the case.

Not to mention how happy it would make the matchmaking posse of Mule Hollow.