No Getting Over A Cowboy

Nicky smiled. “And here I didn’t think you were a rose-colored-glasses kind of guy.”

Her smile quickly faded. Probably because she remembered there wasn’t much to be happy about. But while it lasted, he got a glimpse of the cute flute player she’d once been. In those days, she’d been a looker. Still was. And Garrett hated to notice that the years had settled nicely on her.

It was definitely time for him to get the heck away from her.

He stepped around her to do just that, but Nicky blocked his path again. “Please don’t fight the lease,” she repeated. “I sold my house to pay for the rent and expenses on this place.”

“You sold your house?” he questioned.

She nodded. “It really wasn’t a home where I wanted to stay. I’d planned on selling it anyway, but I need to give this a try first. I made a promise to these women that they’d have a retreat here on the ranch. I just hadn’t counted on the retreat coming with so many...obstacles.”

She looked him straight in the eye when she spoke that last word. Yes, he was an obstacle to her, but he wasn’t the only one.

“You should know that my mom is playing matchmaker,” he informed her. “That’s the real reason she agreed to lease the place to you.”

Nicky didn’t hesitate in nodding. “I know. That’s also why she hired me to do some legal work for her.”

Garrett frowned. Again, this was news to him. And confusing since they already had a family lawyer. “What kind of legal work?

“She’s redoing her will. Not a standard will, either. It’s complete with elaborate funeral details and her obituary. She says it’ll take weeks, maybe even months to finalize.”

Yeah, definitely matchmaking. He could add another chat with his mom to his to-do list. He had to nip this in the bud before it bit him in the ass. He didn’t want his mother throwing him together with Nicky—and Kaylee.

Nicky lifted the suitcase onto the bottom step, and Garrett didn’t miss the slight grunting sound she made. The grunt got louder when she hoisted it to the next step. With eight more steps to go, she was going to give herself a hernia before she made it to the back door.

Of course, he helped by carrying it up all the steps and onto the porch. Thankfully, the suitcase had wheels so she shouldn’t have any trouble getting it inside. After that, though, she was on her own.

“You’re leaving?” she asked, tipping her head at the clothes he had draped over his arm.

“Moving to the guesthouse. I figure the house will get pretty crowded what with Mom, our housekeeper, a toddler and six widows.”

Nicky got a strange look. A cross between “deer in the headlights” and “oh, crap.”

“About that...” she said.

But that was all she managed before he heard sounds he darn sure didn’t want to hear. Car engines. And they were all converging on the house like some kind of funeral procession. Garrett watched as they drove in one by one, and they just seemed to keep on coming. Trucks, cars and SUVs. Someone even drove up on a motorcycle.

“About that,” Nicky repeated. She opened the back door, pushed in her suitcase. “There are more than six of us.” And she ducked inside.

For a few seconds Garrett was stunned into silence. “How many more?”

“Twelve. Maybe thirteen. Fourteen, tops.” Nicky walked away, repeating the biggest lie of all. “You’ll never even notice we’re here.”

CHAPTER FIVE

IT WAS LIKE a metaphorical intestinal disorder. The widows just kept coming.

When Nicky had first thought of this idea, she’d envisioned a The World According to Garp type of haven for women like her who needed mending. Peace, quiet, space. She had none of those things. And even in a house as big as the Grangers’, it was hard to find a place where she could go and silently scream.

Like now, for instance.

“Two bathroom toilets are clogged,” Loretta reported, reading from a list like the town crier. The woman had a canvas bag filled with heaven knew what looped over her wrist and a small box tucked beneath her arm. “And the Ellery sisters and Lizzie bought the wrong kind of groceries. Did you know they were all vegan when you sent them to the store?”

No idea, but Nicky did have an idea that someone, probably her, would be making another grocery run first thing in the morning. Not that she had time. Apparently, she had toilets to unclog, room assignments to finish not just for here but for the Widows’ House once they had the all-clear to return. She also no doubt needed to smooth things over with the housekeeper, Alice, because someone had almost certainly managed to piss her off by now.

“Lizzie’s little boy, Liam, was running through the house, playing ninja, and he broke some stuff,” Loretta continued.

That didn’t surprise Nicky. She’d only caught glimpses of the four-year-old, but Liam always seemed to be running. Lizzie needed to try to get him under control or there were going to be even more problems. “Keep a list of the broken items, and I’ll replace them,” Nicky said.

The only bright spot in this day was that Kaylee was napping and hadn’t wandered off to pester Garrett. But even that silver lining was tarnished. Since it was 6:00 p.m., it was too late for a nap and too early for her normal bedtime, which meant she’d be up half the night. That meant no sleep for Nicky at a time when she desperately needed it.

No one would certainly accuse Nicky of wearing rose-colored glasses right now.

It didn’t help that she was in Garrett’s office. Even though he wasn’t there, she was still surrounded by his things and could almost feel those things scowling at her. Kaylee hadn’t seemed to mind, and that’s why she’d fallen asleep on the small sofa beneath the window.

“Ruby Billings,” Loretta went on. “Suicide,” she added in a whisper to indicate that it was what had made Ruby a widow. “She’s already complaining about her roommate.”

Nicky checked her list. There were five available bedrooms and a family room with a pullout sofa, which meant people had to triple up in some cases. In Ruby’s case, she was sharing with D. M. Arnison—surgical complications—who’d arrived on a Harley. Nicky didn’t know D.M. that well, but the woman did have Tourette’s which caused her to let curse words fly without warning. That might offend some of the other widows, but someone had to room with her. And it wasn’t as if the woman could help what came out of her mouth.

“Ruby wants you to check with Mrs. Granger to see if we can use her kids’ rooms,” Loretta added. “Since they’re not using them and all.”

Nicky was shaking her head before Loretta even finished. “No. We’ve disrupted the family enough, and those are their own personal spaces.”

Something she didn’t have at the moment, but she would hold her ground on this. They would make do with the six rooms they had. Even if they had to cram sixteen widows and two children into them.

Nicky checked her bed assignment list again and grabbed a pencil to make the changes. She’d given up using a pen because the change requests were coming in on an hourly basis.

“Put Ruby in with Lizzie and her son,” Nicky instructed. “Ask D.M. if we can move a cot for her in the big bedroom with the Ellery sisters. The sisters have said they’ll share the king-size bed that’s in there. If that doesn’t meet their approval, then I’ll start calling hotels.”

It was something Belle had insisted she not do, but Garrett’s mom maybe hadn’t realized the logistical and plumbing issues involved with having eighteen houseguests.

She gave Loretta the revised list, and Loretta handed Nicky the list of things yet to be done. Some needed help getting luggage upstairs, dinner had to be fixed, and there’d be cleaning up after that.

“You’re not on the bedroom list,” Loretta pointed out.

“Kaylee and I will sleep in here. Garrett moved his office to the guesthouse.”

Loretta eyed the sofa, which was smaller than a twin bed, and there wasn’t exactly a lot of floor space, either. It didn’t matter. As exhausted as Nicky was, she could sleep on the desk. But exhaustion would have to wait.

“Oh, and this came for you,” Loretta said just as she was about to leave. She took the box from beneath her arm and gave it to Nicky.

There was a white satin ribbon wrapped around it, making it look like some kind of gift. But Nicky instantly got a bad feeling about it. “I’ll open it later,” she told Loretta, mainly to get the woman moving.

Loretta did, but only after Nicky started mumbling to herself as she looked over the new to-do list. The moment Loretta was gone, however, Nicky slipped off the ribbon, lifted the lid a fraction and looked inside.

Oh, God.

Two yellow roses.

Her stomach went into a spin, and for a couple of seconds, it felt as if someone had sucked all the air from the planet. But the oxygen was there, and Nicky took several deep breaths, hoping they would steady her. That was asking a lot of mere air, but it helped some. It helped even more when she tossed the box in the trash bag that she’d been using as a garbage can.

The roses were nothing, she reminded herself.

Nothing.

It took a couple more repeats of that mantra, more deep breaths, too, but Nicky finally gathered some composure. She didn’t have time for games like this.

She glanced at Kaylee to make sure she was still asleep and then went in search of a plunger. She only got a few steps before she saw a familiar face headed her way. Gina Simpson, car accident. But this was one additional widow Nicky actually wanted to see. Gina was not only Kaylee’s nanny, but she was also Nicky’s best friend.

“There’s a really hot cowboy unclogging a toilet.” Gina hitched her thumb in the direction of the other side of the house. “Never thought of that as hot, but he managed to make it look spellbinding. He’s got an audience, too. I think a couple of the women are hoping for a butt-crack showing.”

With that, Gina pulled Nicky into her arms for a too-hard hug. Gina was built like an Amazon warrior and sort of resembled one, too, with that untamed mop of brunette hair and six-foot body. The tattoos helped with that image. She had one on her arm, another on her ankle, and a gold nose ring that always seemed to catch the light just right.

“What’s wrong?” Gina said after looking at Nicky’s eyes.

Nicky dismissed her worry with a wave of her hand. “Just tired, that’s all.” And to get them on a different subject, she added, “Who’s the toilet-cleaning cowboy?” Because she couldn’t imagine Garrett volunteering for that. Of course, she couldn’t see him refusing to do it, either. Beneath all that growl and hiss, she suspected he was a nice guy. He just hadn’t been a nice guy with her.

“Lawson Granger,” Gina provided. “A brother?”

“Cousin. Garrett’s brother doesn’t live here at the ranch.” Actually, Lawson didn’t, either. He had a place in town.

“I got your messages about the dead body and the change of location.” Gina glanced into the office, smiled when she spotted Kaylee. “Thought you could use some help so I picked up fried chicken and pizza. It’s on the counter in the kitchen. Oh, and I hauled my camper trailer here. Figured you could use the extra space. It only has one bed, but I can double up.”

Nicky could have kissed her. And she did. She kissed Gina’s cheek. “Sometimes, I think you have ESP.”

“Oh, I do.” She winked, but it wasn’t exactly a joke.

Gina did have a knack for anticipating problems, which made her an excellent nanny. It also made her a little creepy sometimes, and it was impossible to keep a secret from her. Not from others, though, thank goodness. And Nicky had some she wanted to keep secret. A couple of them she was trying to forget, two that could further complicate what she was trying to do here in Wrangler’s Creek.

And one that could destroy her.

Gina leaned in. “So, how’s it going with the ex-lover boy? Is he helping the women get settled in?”

Nicky was thankful for the question. It got her mind off those secrets, even though the new topic wasn’t an especially happy one. “No. He’s probably staying as far away as possible.” Nicky sighed. “I told him he wouldn’t notice we were here, but he definitely noticed.”

“Poor baby.” There was plenty enough sarcasm in Gina’s voice. “Serves him right after the way he treated you. A teenage girl’s heart is a fragile thing, and breaking it requires some getting even.”

Nicky sighed again, something she’d likely be doing a lot. In hindsight, it hadn’t been a good idea to tell Gina about the deflowering/breakup incident with Garrett. But there’d been margaritas involved, and Nicky usually got blabbery after a couple of those. Of course, Gina had taken her side on this. That’s what friends did, but now that Garrett and Gina would be in each other’s company, Nicky hoped her friend didn’t dig up those old bones with Garrett.

“I think I made a mistake, trying to put all of this together,” Nicky confessed.

She’d wanted a place of respite for women who’d lost their partners. Women who were trying to piece their lives back together. Something Nicky had been trying to do since her husband had died almost eighteen months earlier. Of course, her piecing together wasn’t solely from grief. She’d had plenty of other things to deal with because of Patrick. By giving back to the women, Nicky had hoped she would work things out for herself, too.

“The Widows’ House looked good on paper, but maybe I need to throw in the towel.”

Gina dismissed that with a pshaw. Whatever that meant. “You’re just tired and maybe still a little queasy. Did you throw up when you saw the dead body?”

Nicky nodded. “Three times. But it’s more than the dead body.” Something she thought she’d never hear herself say. “It’s, well, being here around Garrett. I didn’t think it would bother me this much.”

“Again, that’s fatigue.” Gina shrugged. “And maybe leftover lust,” she added in a whisper. “If he looks anything like his cousin, then he’s lust-worthy. But you also know lust leads to crushed hearts.”

Yes, she did know that. But knowing it didn’t make her feel any better. She needed to heal, and it was best not to get broken again while she was trying to do that.

Gina put her arm around her. “Tell you what. Let’s wake up Kaylee, get some pizza in both of you and then Kaylee can sleep with me in the camper. That’ll give you that itty bitty sofa all to yourself.” She paused. “That is where you planned to sleep, right?”

“Yes.” And that wasn’t exactly ESP on Gina’s part. Gina just knew her well enough to know that Nicky wouldn’t take one of the beds. Not when she felt personally responsible for this situation.

“Let me get that doll baby.” Gina hurried in to scoop up Kaylee. The little girl protested, whined, yawned and then smiled when she saw Gina. Lots of hugs ensued as if they hadn’t seen each other for days instead of just hours.

Nicky followed Gina and Kaylee to the kitchen, but before she made it there, her phone dinged with a text message.

Call me soon, the text read, and it wasn’t from just any ol’ somebody.

It was from Meredith, Garrett’s ex-wife.

Nicky frowned. Then frowned some more. Meredith could be another complication that she didn’t need, but sooner or later she was going to have to call the woman back. And tell Garrett all about this.

After another frown and sigh, Nicky opted for later.

* * *

GARRETT HAD FIGURED since it was four in the morning that there’d be no one in the house up and about. He’d figured wrong.

Mrs. Batson, heart attack, was on the back porch steps, and she was smoking a cigarette. She quickly snuffed it out, and as she’d done at Z.T.’s place, she skittered back inside. Well, at least she hadn’t gotten in his way.

Garrett slipped inside, glancing around the kitchen. No one. But there were some pizza boxes on the counter so he helped himself to a cold slice and a Coke before he went up the hall toward his office.

He passed the family room along the way and spotted two women on the sleeper sofa. Heaven knew how many of them were scattered throughout the house by now. Or how long they would be there. But in a couple of hours he could start bugging Clay about getting Z.T.’s place cleared so the women could return to it. It had only been a day since they’d discovered the body, but maybe Clay could work extra fast on this.

By the time Garrett got to his office, he’d nearly finished the pizza, but he clamped the remainder between his teeth so he’d have a free hand to grab some files from his desk drawer. He opened the door.

And froze.

There was enough moonlight coming through the window that he had no trouble seeing the woman lying on his desk. She was curled up in a fetal position and was using a book for a pillow.

What the hell?

It was Nicky.

She lifted her head. In the same motion, she gasped, grabbed a pen and jabbed it at him the way a person would wield a knife. She missed, but a strange garbled sound left her mouth. Maybe trying to choke back a scream.

“Garrett?” Nicky said on a rise of breath. “You scared the bejeebers out of me.”

He didn’t know what a bejeebers was, but she’d given him a scare of sorts, too, because he sure as hell hadn’t expected anyone to be sleeping in his office, let alone on his desk.

“Sorry,” she added. “I’m still on edge.” No doubt because of the body that’d been found.

Groaning and wincing, Nicky climbed off the desk, got to her feet and turned on the reading light. Her gaze met his, and she looked at him funny. Only then did he remember he had what was left of a pizza slice sticking out of his mouth.

Garrett yanked away the pizza so he could talk. “Why are you on my desk?”

“Because the sofa was too small, and I kept falling off.” She made it seem as if that answered his question. It didn’t.

“There wasn’t a bed?” he pressed.

She shook her head and pushed her hands through her hair to move it off her face. He’d seen her face before, of course. Had seen most of her entire body actually. But there was something, well, intimate about having a sleepy-eyed woman just a few inches away.

One who smelled like sex.

That was probably his imagination though.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“I need some files.” And he went to his desk drawer to get those. To do that, he had to walk right past her, and that’s when he noticed what she was wearing. Pj’s. Specifically, his pj’s.

“Oh,” Nicky said, following his gaze. “My luggage seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I didn’t have any clean clothes, and your mom checked Sophie’s room for some, but your sister’s already moved her things to Clay’s. She got these for me instead. She said you don’t ever use them, that you usually sleep in your boxers.”

Well, Nicky had gotten in his pants after all. Which was a stupid thought, of course. Something a teenage boy would think, but that seemed to be the way his mind was going right now. That meant it was time to get out of there.

Garrett finished off the last bite of pizza, grabbed the files and was ready to leave. But Nicky stopped him.

“Uh, can I ask you a question?” She didn’t wait for him to agree, though. “Are you and your ex-wife on good terms these days?”

Garrett was certain he looked surprised. Because he was. “No. We’re not on any kind of terms because I haven’t spoken to her in months.” And he’d like to keep it that way. “You know about the video that ended up all over the internet?”

Nicky nodded, glanced away. He’d been positive that she knew, and that was why her question was even more puzzling.

“Why would you want to know about my ex?” he asked.

She lifted her shoulder. “I was just wondering. I remember her from high school, of course. She moved to Wrangler’s Creek our senior year.”

This was still confusing. “But you weren’t friends. Were you?” Because if they were, this was the first he was hearing about it. Then again, that not hearing about things was going around.

“No,” she quickly agreed. “She knew about what had happened between us and didn’t especially want me around. Over the years though, I’ve run into her from time to time, and she’s been friendly enough.”

Again, first time hearing this. Meredith had certainly never mentioned it.

“Anyway,” Nicky went on, “no one around here has said anything about Meredith, and I didn’t know if you’d been able to work past what’d happened or not.”

He hadn’t worked past it, but there was no way he’d tell Nicky that. He was about to press her again as to why she had a sudden interest in his ex, but maybe this was part of some kind of therapy. A shared experience sort of thing. Except there was really nothing to share. Meredith was alive, and Nicky’s husband wasn’t.

Her husband, Patrick.

Yeah, he’d looked it up on the internet. There hadn’t been an obituary, but there’d been a mention of him on social media from someone he’d done business with. It was one of those requests for prayers and hugs.

According to what Garrett could glean from that, Patrick had been a lawyer at the same firm where Nicky worked. He’d died from cancer and been gone almost eighteen months now. Not an eternity, but maybe the pain wasn’t still as fresh and raw for Nicky. Of course, the flipside to that was Kaylee had been so young that she wouldn’t even remember her father. That had to be eating away at Nicky, too.

Garrett knew plenty about grief. It was a hungry bitch. And if he could figure out a way to beat it, he would have already done it.

“I’m sorry,” Garrett said before he even knew he was going to say it.

She nodded but seemed ready to ask him to explain that. If she hadn’t also looked like sex, he might have hung around and added more. He headed out, but he nearly smacked right into Loretta.

“Good morning, Garrett,” she said. “It’s so good to see you again.”

Loretta didn’t look anything like sex, but she did seem wide awake. Awake, smiling and also wearing his pj’s.

“Loretta’s luggage got misplaced, too,” Nicky volunteered.

Well, at least he wouldn’t encounter anyone else wearing his limited nightwear because he had only two sets of pajamas.

Garrett mumbled a “good morning” and hurried out. Staying longer and looking at Nicky would only cause this tug in his belly to tug even harder. He wasn’t overly concerned about belly tugs per se, but if that tug lowered to that idiot part of him behind his zipper, he’d be in big trouble.

CHAPTER SIX

NICKY WAITED ON hold for Clay McKinnon while she watched out the window. Kaylee and Gina were in the backyard, playing fetch with a golden retriever, and Kaylee was having a blast. Nicky couldn’t say the same for herself, though. That’s because her daughter and Gina weren’t the only ones in her line of sight.

So was Garrett.

He was in the barn about twenty yards away, and while he wasn’t exactly nearby, Garrett had a way of grabbing her attention.

Damn him.

He was wearing those snug jeans again and looking very much like the hot cowboy he was. A cowboy in charge since he seemed to be doling out orders to several of the hands. Judging from their body language, they were listening but weren’t liking what they were hearing.

Nicky had wanted these old feelings to be gone by now, but instead they’d morphed into adult feelings. Specifically, feelings where she had no trouble noticing how attractive he was.

Would she never learn?

Apparently not. Two heart stompings weren’t enough to teach her a lesson, and she wasn’t sure she could survive a third one.

“You still there, Mrs. Marlow?” Chief Clay McKinnon asked when he finally came on the line.

“Nicky,” she automatically corrected. “I’m here. I hate to bother you because you must be busy, but I just wanted to know if there were any updates on the body?”

Just saying the word body tightened her stomach, and Nicky hoped she wouldn’t feel the need to vomit again. While she was hoping, she added that maybe she could get those images out of her head. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the skeleton. She hoped those images went away soon since she still had plans to live in that house for the next year.