Her Cowboy Dilemma

Maddie’s kitchen was a warm, cozy place. The wooden table and chairs had the sort of “distressed” look that came from decades of being used and not coddled, as did the wooden floors and cabinets. The counters were cluttered, but clean, and the big farm sink gleamed as if it had been disinfected recently.

The focal point of the room was the antique, black, wood-burning cookstove. Warm air drifted from the stove to soothe the sore muscles of Farley’s shoulders and upper back. He fought the urge to close his eyes, knowing that if he succumbed to sleep he might find himself still in this room an hour later.

He crunched down on a couple of crackers and a slab of the cheddar, then followed the food with a swallow of hot, almost scalding, coffee. Maddie made it the old-fashioned way, boiled in a percolator on the stove.

“So what’s up at Coffee Creek?” Maddie asked him.

He hesitated before answering. Everyone in the community of Coffee Creek was aware of the rift between the Turner sisters, though no one knew the exact cause. Some people felt that Olive’s marriage to neighboring rancher Bobby Lambert had been the start of it. One fact was irrefutable: Maddie hadn’t attended their wedding. And despite the size of the wedding—apparently several hundred—the absence had been very conspicuous.

“One of their horses has strangles,” he finally said.

“Sorry to hear that.” Maddie sounded genuinely concerned.

“Hopefully it hasn’t had time to spread. They have the sick horse quarantined and Cassidy is going to be disinfecting the barn.”

“Cassidy? So she’s home from college, is she?”

Maddie seemed to know a lot about her sister’s family. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. Since she’d never married herself or had children, the Lamberts were her closest relations. Which only made the feud between the sisters that much sadder.

“Only for a few weeks, apparently. She’s hoping to get a job with some accounting firm in Billings.”

“Really? I can’t imagine Olive letting her do that.”

“I’m not sure Olive has much say in the matter.”

Maddie’s lips tightened. “Then you don’t know my sister very well.”

“She hasn’t been able to keep B.J. from the rodeo circuit,” he pointed out.

“All the more reason she’s going to fight like hell to keep her daughter close to home.”

“You think? Cassidy’s no pushover.” Tenacity was in her DNA. And growing up with all those brothers had only made her tougher and more resilient.

“You don’t know Olive,” Maddie repeated.

“Not as well as you do, obviously,” he allowed. “But my money’s still on Cassidy.”

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