Designs on the Cowboy

“So you think you can do it? In two months?”

Her spirits lifted. “I’m sure I can. You won’t even recognize the place when I’m done.” Her mind raced with ideas. “I’ll work on a few more sketches and make a list of supplies I’ll need to have delivered. There will be a lot of changes, and they won’t be quick. New cabinets and counters in the kitchen—”

“Whatever works.”

Her heart sank again, and she tried to gather her wits. He didn’t care or at least he pretended not to, and she needed to accept that. This wasn’t the way she had imagined her first decorating job would be, but she’d find a way to do it, whether he was involved or not. She needed to be a success, and this was her chance.

“Just how much am I paying you for this?” he asked, breaking into her thoughts. When she named a figure she’d roughed out, his dark, heavy eyebrows drew together over his green eyes. “That much?”

Panic hit, but she squared her shoulders. His sister had assured her that she’d be well paid, no matter what he said or did. Lifting her chin with all the pride and determination she could gather, she said, “If you think it’s too much, maybe we should—”

“Is it?”

For a moment, she was totally taken aback. “No,” she said. “No, it isn’t. Certainly not in today’s market.”

“Will you be here tomorrow?”

“First thing in the morning,” she said. “If that’s all right.”

He looked away. “Whatever works for you. I don’t care.”

When he didn’t say more, she took a step back. “I don’t know exactly what time I’ll be here.”

“It’s always unlocked.” Without saying anything else, he disappeared into the kitchen.

She heard the sound of his boots on the floor and the screen door closing. Although she was a little shaken, she decided she’d handled their little encounter fairly well. She would have to get used to the fact that he obviously didn’t have much to say, unless he thought it was important. That was all right with her. She didn’t need the distraction. Getting involved with someone again was the last thing on her mind, no matter how green his eyes were.

Later, when she’d finished looking over each of the rooms again and making copious notes she probably wouldn’t use, she climbed into her car and drove away. When she pulled out onto the paved road, headed for town, she took her cell phone from her purse and hit an autodial button. “Erin?” she said when a young woman answered. “I wanted to let you know that I’ve begun work on the house.”

“Wonderful!” Dylan’s sister replied. “I know you’ll do a terrific job and I can’t wait to visit the first chance I get. Is he cooperating?”

Glory wasn’t quite sure how to answer. “Well, he didn’t throw me out.”

Erin laughed, and they talked for a few more minutes about what Glory planned to do. When the call was over, she hoped Dylan would be happy with the changes, too. But it was hard to tell much of anything about him.

* * *

“WHO’S THAT?” LUKE ASKED.

Standing in the opening of the big barn, Dylan looked out to see Glory’s car coming up the lane. Before he could answer, a pickup with Mercer’s Hardware painted on the door turned into the lane behind it.

Luke took a step outside. “So you’re really going to do some work on the house?”

Turning to his brother, Dylan shrugged. “I told you that Erin said I needed to do something. Renovate, fix it up, whatever.”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t know that meant you were going to go through with it.” Luke was silent for a moment as they both watched the vehicles come to a stop near the screened-in porch. “Wait a second,” he said when Glory climbed out of her car and walked over to the pickup. “She doesn’t work at Mercer’s.”

“No, she—”

“Hey, that’s Glory Caldwell.”

“Andrews.”

Luke turned to him. “What?”

“Used to be Caldwell. She married Kyle Andrews.”

“Oh, yeah,” Luke said, turning back to watch what was going on. “So they’re back in town?”

“I guess.” But Dylan didn’t know for sure. She still hadn’t mentioned anything about her husband. Not that there was any reason to.

“You’d think we would have heard they were back. From what I remember of Kyle, he wasn’t shy about tooting his own horn.”

“Yeah, that was Kyle.” But Dylan hadn’t been surprised when Glory married the guy. After all, she was the Prom Queen and Kyle had been the King. Everybody said they belonged together. Dylan hadn’t questioned that. He’d just watched her from afar, like all the other guys had. Watching was all he’d done. There’d been no foolish ideas about asking her out. He’d known better, even then.

“Why is she here?”

Dylan wasn’t real happy about having to answer the question, but he couldn’t ignore it, so he hedged. “She has a decorating business.”

Luke looked at him. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“In Desperation?”

Dylan was getting tired of answering questions. “Yeah, in that building her grandmother still owns. The one with her grandfather’s workshop in the back.”

“And she’s doing the decorating stuff here, at your house?”

Not that he wanted to, but Dylan nodded.

Glory had walked around to the back of the pickup with the driver, who was unloading several gallons of paint, along with some boxes. While the driver took the buckets toward the house, she walked in the opposite direction, stopped and lifted her hand to her eyes. She was looking for him.

Dylan had planned to be absent when she arrived. In fact, he’d decided it might be best to stay clear of her as much as possible, considering that he never felt quite like himself when she was around. But when he saw her wave, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do.

“Go on,” Luke said. “I’ll meet you at the house in a minute. I need to fill my water jug.”

“Why should I?”

On his way to grab his jug from the back of his pickup, Luke stopped and looked back. “Because she probably needs to talk to you.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

Luke didn’t move. “It’s your house.”

“Right.”

“You make the decisions about what happens with it.”