Second-Chance Cowboy

“What horse is this?” Boyce asked as Tabitha poured Morgan his coffee.

“Gillian’s horse,” Morgan put in. “She was training it before...” He paused, glancing over at Nathan.

She quickly spoke up with forced cheer. “So, Nathan, we have chocolate milk, orange juice and pop. What can I get you to drink?”

“Chocolate milk,” he said, looking down at the menu again.

“Be right back.” She scurried off to take care of that. She snagged a coloring book and a pack of crayons, wondering if he was too old for that, but she figured it was worth a try.

When she came back, Boyce and Morgan appeared to still be talking about the horse Nathan was expecting.

“You could get the horse trained?” Boyce said.

“But who could do it?” Morgan asked.

“My mommy was training it already.” As he spoke Nathan looked more animated than he had in the past few minutes. “She loved that horse. Said it would be a real goer.”

“Here’s your chocolate milk,” Tabitha said to Nathan. “And I thought you might enjoy this.”

She set the crayons and coloring book in front of him. To her surprise, he grabbed them and opened up the book.

“Tabitha knows about horses and horse training,” Boyce said suddenly, looking up at her. “She could help you out.”

Tabitha shot him a horrified look. What was he trying to do? Surely he knew the history between her and his son?

“Would you be able to train my mom’s horse?” Nathan chimed in, looking suddenly eager as he leaned past his father. “I so want to be able to ride Stormy.”

Tabitha felt distinctly put on the spot. And from the glower on Morgan’s face, she suspected he felt the same.

“I’m pretty busy,” Tabitha said, and that wasn’t too much of a stretch to say. “Two jobs, and I’m renovating the house.”

“We can find someone else,” Morgan said, giving his father a knowing look.

“Tabitha is capable.”

“She said she was busy.”

Morgan’s dismissive tone shouldn’t bother her. It was better for everyone if they kept their distance. Though his mother, with her relentless disapproval of Tabitha, had passed away many years ago, the shame of what her father had done to his hadn’t.

When Floyd Rennie left town three years ago, he had also left a number of citizens of Cedar Ridge high and dry when he decamped with money they had invested with him for the building of a new arena. It was all part of Cedar Ridge’s great hope to become part of the Milk River Rodeo Association circuit, thereby raising the profile of their local rodeo.

The arena was only half completed when her father left, taking the investors’ money with him.

The most prominent of whom was Boyce Walsh. Morgan’s father.

Her father died a year later, leaving Tabitha the house she was working on now. She had hoped to sell it but the real-estate agent said she could get double for it if she fixed it up.

So she began working on it in her off-hours. But it was taking much longer than she’d hoped.

“There’s not many people close by who can do horse training,” Boyce put in, clearly unwilling to let either Morgan or Tabitha off the hook.

“Amber could,” Morgan said.

“And you know your twin sister is busy with her own life,” Boyce said. “Nor is she living in Cedar Ridge.”

“So, are you ready to order?” Tabitha said, pulling a pad of paper and pen out of her apron. She really needed to change the topic of conversation. Morgan clearly didn’t want her around and she had no intention of spending more time with any member of the Walsh family than she needed to.

They gave her their orders and she hurried off to give them to Sepp.

“You sure were hanging around that table a long time,” he grumbled. “We got other customers, you know.”

She ignored him as she set up the coffeemaker to make a fresh pot of coffee. She knew well enough not to engage with Sepp.

“I don’t pay you to hang around and bug the customers.” He had to get one more jab in before she left.

She wished she could quit, she thought as she cleared a table, trying not to take her anger out on the hapless dishes. She wished she could walk away from Cedar Ridge. Leave it and everything it represented behind her.

But she needed the job to pay for her house renovations. She was going to finish what she had started, and she knew she couldn’t leave town with her father’s debt hanging over her head.

She shot a glance over at the Walsh table just as she caught Morgan looking at her. She flushed and spun away carrying the dirty dishes back to the kitchen. Adana had finally shown up and she was flirting with Sepp, who didn’t seem to be in any rush to get the Walshes’ orders done.

“My last order ready yet?” she asked.

“It’s ready when it’s ready” was all he said. “Scared I’m going to make you look bad in front of your old boyfriend?”

She knew not to say anything more. Sepp was the most passive-aggressive person she knew and the more she pushed him, the worse he would get.

A few more customers came in and Adana took their orders. Finally Sepp was done with Boyce and Morgan and Nathan’s food.

“Service is getting kind of slow around here,” Boyce said as she set their food on the table.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, knowing she couldn’t shift the blame.

“I’d say Sepp needs to hire more waitresses but I know he already has enough,” Boyce continued.

Again, she could only nod as she put Nathan’s burger and fries in front of him.

“Is there anything else I can get you? More coffee? Chocolate milk?”

She looked over at Nathan, who was staring at her. “Grandpa Boyce says that there’s not too many people who can train horses here and that you can. Are you sure you can’t?”

Were they still on that topic?

Tabitha’s resolve wavered as the boy’s eyes pleaded silently with her.

“Miss Rennie has other things she’s busy with,” Morgan said, looking at Nathan, his voice gentle. But she heard a warning in the words.

Stay away from my son.