The Rancher Next Door

Hopefully things were going better in the house than they had been for him outside. The girls wouldn’t be expecting him until later this evening for supper, but he couldn’t keep doing his chores for the remainder of the afternoon until he brushed his teeth and changed shirts.

Brady strode into the house, the back door banging shut behind him harder than he meant to let it. Ava and Caley looked up with a start from the kitchen counter, where a mass of something that might be cookie dough clung to a greased sheet in tiny, uneven mounds. Ava had flour smeared on her cheeks, and a speckle of dough clung to the apron Caley had donned over her top and jeans. They both looked at him, then at their own mess, and laughed.

“I didn’t know it was flouring outside, too.” Caley clapped her hands together and a puff of white powder flurried into the air.

Brady couldn’t stay frustrated about his current condition, or even Max—not with the three of them looking the way they all did. He cracked a smile and brushed at his jeans. Dirt showered onto the floor. “Something like that.”

“Hey, Caley just swept that.” Ava’s indignant defense lost its merit when she was covered in flour. She handed her dad the broom leaning against the kitchen wall.

Caley snatched it back before Brady could figure out how to get to his room to change without tracking more dirt everywhere. “No worries. We should have waited until after the cookies were done, anyway. This was a bigger mess than I thought.”

“Those are cookies?” Brady raised an eyebrow. Who’d have thought? His stomach rumbled with protest. It might turn out that Mary and Caley were opposites in more ways than he’d expected.

Caley snorted. “Supposed to be. We’ll see when they get out of the oven. It’s a recipe my grandmother made for me my entire childhood, but...I think I forgot something.” She poked at one of the mounds with a spoon—it didn’t budge. She wrinkled her nose. “Or maybe we just should start over.”

“I think I’ll take a dirt storm over a flour storm any day.” Brady shook his head with a smile. Funny how just being around Caley brightened his mood. He and Max were going to be in more trouble than he originally thought. “I’m going to go change.” And hopefully remind himself while he was gone of all the reasons why he couldn’t think of the woman slinging dough in his kitchen as anything other than a temporary employee.

“You don’t want to stay and help?” Ava’s hopeful expression cast a shadow on his brightening mood. Brady sighed. Here he went, about to disappoint his daughter once again. He hated keeping score, but he couldn’t help but feel as if the board would read Brady: 0, Caley: 2. Or was she up to 3 by now? Either way, he was far behind in the game of good graces. He still smarted from Ava’s comment in her room earlier that morning.

But the ranch wouldn’t run itself, and Ava should be old enough to understand that by now. If he stayed in the kitchen and made cookies all afternoon, who would feed the animals? Who would fix the broken barbed-wire fence in the south pasture? Who would clean the rest of the stalls he’d started that morning and check on the pregnant mare? Not to mention the stack of invoices he needed to mail for the hay he’d sold last week. Max helped out, but the ranch was more than enough work for two men.

In fact, if he thought about it long enough, he’d go insane from the pressure. He was stuck and couldn’t please everyone. He had to support them, and as much as he’d like to play with Ava all day, he just couldn’t. That’s what Mary was for—and now, Caley. One day, he’d get caught up and be more available. One day.

Brady stepped gingerly toward the kitchen door leading into the living room, aware of his dusty tracks. “I’m sorry, honey. I’ve got a lot more to do outside. That storm just caught me off guard, is all. Need to change and get back to it.” He tried to overlook Ava’s crestfallen expression and Caley’s pursed lips, and lifted his tone in an effort to lighten the suddenly somber mood. “I’ll see you for supper, though.”

They ignored him, except for Ava’s bottom lip poking farther out.

He attempted a joke. “Hopefully supper turns out better than those cookies.”

Two sets of eyes simultaneously flicked his direction and narrowed. Not the time for humor, obviously.

“If you can’t stay in here, then can I come help you outside?” Ava’s timid voice held zero hope, as if she already knew the answer. And she did.

Brady shook his head slowly. “You know the rules. Your chores are in the house, not with the animals. It’s too dangerous.”

“But, Dad—” Ava broke off as Caley nudged her in the side. She sighed. “Yes, sir.”

He was proud of her for remembering her manners, but couldn’t find the words to say so. It wouldn’t matter, anyway. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Brady slipped upstairs without another comment, wondering how on earth he’d even be able to eat dinner that night with the solid rock of guilt taking up his entire stomach.

He wrenched his dirty clothes into the hamper and changed into a fresh shirt, then brushed his teeth with more aggression than necessary. He wasn’t sure what was more unsettlingly, the fact that he couldn’t seem to do anything right in his daughter’s eyes...

Or how much he’d enjoyed seeing Caley in his kitchen after a long day of work.

Chapter Four

She’d missed the smell of the bay.

Caley breathed in the familiar scent of motor oil, exhaust and lemon cleaner. It must have been a bay day on the chores schedule, by the looks of the squeaky-clean concrete beneath her boots. She didn’t particularly miss pushing a mop over the floor or scrubbing down trucks, but she missed the activity. The excitement. The adrenaline rush that flowed through her veins with the knowledge that any minute, the alarm could chime and they’d be off to save lives.

Hopefully the job at the Broken Bend Fire Department would eventually work out. Because as fun as it’d been babysitting Ava that day, Caley’s heart remained in the action of firefighting. Saving lives. Making a difference.

Making atonement.

Muffled voices and a sharp tapping sounded from the far corner, where a group of blue-uniformed firemen stocked the back of the ambulance. She hated to interrupt if they were counting supplies, but she needed to find Captain O’Donnell to ask about her volunteer gear. If she was going to start doing ride-outs and earning her way into the station, she needed to get set up ASAP.

Caley lifted one hand in a wave to the older man who broke from the group and strode toward her with a curious expression. There was the captain now, judging by the embroidery on his blue polo. “Good evenin’. Can we help you, ma’am?”

The other firemen glanced up with interest, but went back to their stocking after a firm glance from the captain. She held out her hand. “I’m Caley Foster. I’ve come for my volunteer pager and gear.”

The gray-bearded man offered a friendly smile and a firm handshake. “That’s right. Chief Talbot said you’d be by this week. Come on in.” He led the way past the recently washed fire trucks and held the station door open for her. “Nice to meet you.”

Caley smiled her thanks, taking an appreciative note of his sincerity. As a female firefighter, she’d been treated in numerous ways over the years—dealing with everything from jealousy to discrimination to sexual harassment. The captain’s respectful handshake and the way he met her eyes when he talked showed he considered her a capable equal, while his opening the door for her proved he was a gentleman at heart. Exactly the kind of captain she’d like to work for.

Captain picked up a pager from the cluttered desk to the right of the kitchen area, pressed a button and then nodded with satisfaction at the responding beep. “You’re all set.” He handed it to her, along with a BBFD T-shirt and a sheaf of paperwork. “Just sign these forms and we’ll get them filed. I’m sure you’ve seen them before, based on Chief’s report. This ain’t your first rodeo, is it?” He winked beneath silver eyebrows, thicker than his beard.

She liked Captain. “You could say that.” Caley grabbed a pen from the coffee mug on the corner, took a seat at the table and began scribbling her signature in the designated areas. “What about bunker gear?”

“We have extra sets up here that stay in the bay lockers. You’re welcome to those whenever you come meet the trucks.” Captain shrugged, leaning forward to brace his arms on the chair across from her. “Or just swing by and grab them before you meet us in the field. Either way. We’ve had issues in the past about volunteers not returning their gear after quitting, so Chief decided that volunteer gear should stay on-site.”

“Understandable.” Caley scribbled her name on the last document and stacked them neatly before handing them over to Captain. “I’m renting a place only about fifteen miles from here, so I can make it pretty quick in an emergency.”

Captain glanced at the address that had already been typed into her paperwork. “That’s next door to the Double C ranch, isn’t it? McCollough’s place.”

“You know him?”

“Everyone knows McCollough, after the tragedy he went through few years back. He’s a good ol’ boy.” Captain slid Caley’s paperwork inside a green folder. “I see him at church from time to time. He and that kid of his—they’ve had some tough breaks.”

“I’m actually babysitting his daughter for now. They had an emergency come up with their nanny—temporarily, of course.” Caley held up both hands in an effort to clarify and grinned. “I’m sure you know I’m hoping to get hired on here.”

“We’d love to have you. It’s rare getting a volunteer with as much experience as you’ve had.” Captain shrugged, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. “Not my call, but you’d have my vote if it was.”

“I appreciate it.” Caley hesitated, grateful for the confidence Captain had in her, but unsure how to far to push. Still, something he said lingered on the fringes of her brain and demanded details. “You mentioned how Brady and Ava have been through a lot—what exactly happened with Ava’s mom?” She held her breath, hoping a few pieces of the puzzle that was all things Brady McCollough would finally slide into place. She hated to seem nosy, but no one was volunteering the information, and if she wanted to make a difference—for Ava’s sake, of course—then it could only help her to know what they’d overcome.

Or rather, what they were still attempting to overcome.

“It was an accident.” Captain looked toward the bay with a heavy sigh, and Caley suddenly felt as if she was being dismissed. “But that’s a story for McCollough to tell.”

“I see. Well, thank you. I won’t keep you.” She quickly stood and held out her hand for a goodbye shake, mentally kicking herself for coming across as a gossiping, meddling newcomer. She might be a born-and-bred native of Broken Bend, but she’d been gone so long she’d likely crossed the line from family to foreigner long ago. “Thanks for getting me set up. You’ll definitely be seeing me around.” First time that pager buzzed, she’d be on it.

That is, if she wasn’t on babysitting duty. Caley rolled in her lower lip. Balancing her time between making volunteer runs, visiting Nonie and watching Ava might not be as easy as she’d thought.

“I hope so, Ms. Foster.” Captain motioned her to walk out the bay door ahead of him. “And a word to the wise—if you truly want to get hired on here, don’t just show up for the fun stuff.”

Meaning fires. “Got it. Thanks for the tip. I’ll be well-rounded, I promise.” She crossed the bay toward her car, T-shirt tucked under her arm.

“Ms. Foster?”

She turned at the sound of Captain’s deep voice and arched an eyebrow, waiting for more inside advice. “Yes, sir?”