And Cowboy Makes Three

“I work in a five-star hotel as part of the dining staff for large, catered events. I’m one of those white-gloved banquet servers you encounter when you go to large meetings at a hotel. We have a lot of major corporations that come through, as well as conventions that meet there.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“Not really. It’s a lot of standing and people can get really snooty. But it pays the bills, and I can’t afford to be picky. I’m not going to have the money to pay anything if I don’t get back there on time. Oh, the joys of living from paycheck to paycheck.”

Rowdy didn’t know about that. He lived from season to season.

“How old is Toby?” Rowdy asked, as what Ange had said earlier suddenly clicked. She had indicated she’d missed Granny Frances’s funeral because she was in the hospital having Toby, but that was only three weeks ago.

“Three weeks,” Ange confirmed.

“Don’t you get maternity leave for twelve weeks?” He had no idea where he’d pulled that information from. A television show, maybe. But it sounded fair enough.

She scoffed softly. “In the best of all worlds. I’m allowed to take twelve weeks, but my checkbook can’t handle the money I’d lose. Now I have Toby to support. I can’t afford to take off a whole twelve weeks. Three was pushing it.”

Rowdy didn’t know if Granny Frances had left Ange any money in her will, but it occurred to him that if they could get this deal done with the real estate, that would give Ange something to ease her load.

“Let’s talk to Jo and see what we can do. The sooner, the better. It’s possible that we will be able to work out some of the details about me buying Granny Frances’s ranch, which would in turn save you the trouble of having to come back to Serendipity.”

Her face reddened. “Pushy, much?”

He scowled and shook his head. He was trying to be nice and she was taking it all the wrong way.

“That’s not what I meant. Am I mistaken? I thought that selling the ranch was what you wanted to do.”

She sighed. “It is. I just don’t like feeling as if you are corralling me out of town. You don’t have to be brash about it. I get the hint.”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry. We’ll just have to set aside the whole Feed My Sheep thing and let Jo know that we aren’t going to continue. Surely, it can’t be so important that we have to drop our entire lives to pursue it.”

“Maybe not,” he admitted.

“Well, like I said, I have to be on a plane tomorrow afternoon anyway, so I can’t keep playing this peculiar game even if I wanted to.”

She smiled, but Rowdy could see the trouble she was having in curling her lips upward. “You’ll be happy to know that I’ll be out of your life tomorrow—and you’ll never have to see me again.”

Chapter Three (#u707c1b19-c88e-552e-ade6-35c85b03ac24)

True to her word, Angelica took Toby and left Serendipity the next day. But by Friday afternoon, she had returned to her hometown without the slightest idea of what she was going to do next.

She had been telling the truth when she’d informed Rowdy that she didn’t plan to pop back up in town anytime soon—or ever—but once in Denver she’d found that she couldn’t set her time in Serendipity and with Rowdy aside as easily as all that.

In her heart of hearts, she wasn’t sure she had done the right thing by returning to the big city and proceeding with selling Granny’s ranch.

Not for herself, and not for Toby.

The whole envelope-deliveries-and-cryptic-messages thing felt like unfinished business. She’d left town without fulfilling Granny’s request, and that really bothered her.

She hadn’t fed any sheep yet.

Instead, she’d run away from the obligation. Just as she’d done before.

When the going got tough, Angelica bolted.

It was her modus operandi.

She hated to think that after all this time and experience, she hadn’t changed. Worse yet, what she did affected Toby.

Was Toby really better off in Denver? Or was she just trying to take the easy way out?

No. She couldn’t repeat her mistakes.

Not again.

Not even knowing Rowdy wouldn’t be thrilled to see her. She’d simply have to explain her reasons for returning and hope he’d understand.

And she didn’t even want to think about how the rest of the town would perceive her return, particularly driving a moving van filled with what little furniture she had, with her car hooked up behind.

Maybe that was part of the reason she had to go back. To prove to herself and the people of Serendipity that she had changed. That she was no longer the rebellious teenager and young adult, but that the Lord had touched her heart and altered her world. And that becoming a mother to Toby had made a substantial difference, as well.

She was putting Toby’s crib together in the guest bedroom, Toby gurgling in the bouncer by her side, when the doorbell rang. She started in surprise.

She wasn’t expecting anyone.

“Guess I’d better get that, yeah, little man?”

She moved Toby, bouncer and all, into the living room and opened the door to find a beaming Jo on the other side, her arms laden with a large box of prepared casserole dishes.

“What is all this?” she asked.

“You should have told me you were coming back,” Jo chided, weaseling through the door and into the house without waiting for an invitation. “I had to hear it from the three old men that sit in their rockers outside Emerson’s Hardware. They said they saw a moving van passing through and I knew it would be you.”

Angelica didn’t ask how she had known.

“I’m sure you have more than enough to do getting your furniture into Frances’s ranch house all on your own. Give me an hour and I can round up some fellows to do the heavy lifting for you.”

“Oh, no. That’s okay. I’ve got most of it already done—or at least what I need for now. I had no use for the furniture I was using in my small apartment in Denver, so I sold it off. I’ve already unloaded everything I need for Toby.”

She relieved Jo of the box of food, which was surprisingly heavy, and placed it on the kitchen counter.

“What is all this?”

Jo chuckled with glee.

“I simply mentioned to some of the ladies of the church that you’d been seen entering town with your moving van, and before I knew it, casseroles were coming in right and left.”

Tears burned in Angelica’s eyes.

“But I—I—” she stammered.