The Cowboy Upstairs

True to his word, Sawyer had been gone when she got up this morning. She had no idea when to expect him back—or if she’d even encounter him, given his private access to the attic. The big problem was that she hadn’t informed the other two women of his presence. Earlier, she’d almost told them that she’d rented the room, but realized they’d ask to whom. She’d balked at admitting it was Hadley’s “hot cowboy in the tight jeans.”

Better get it over with it. This was Cupid’s Bow. She was lucky they hadn’t heard about Sawyer already.

Sierra laughed. “She’s probably just listening for Marc to come home and you’ve found some way to turn it into a mystery.”

“Actually, I was listening for my new tenant.” Becca stood, giving the explanation casually as she carried their empty snack tray toward the kitchen. “I finally rented out that attic apartment. I told him he was welcome to use my kitchen for dinner, but I’m not sure when—or if—he’ll be in tonight.”

Both women were right on her heels as she refilled the platter with cheese, crackers and grapes.

“He?” Sierra asked. “Somehow I always imagined you with a female roommate.”

Me and you both, sister. “Maybe I’ll rent to a woman next. He won’t be here long.” Just a few weeks...although if she stayed this antsy the entire time, it was going to feel like a lot more.

“Who is he?” Hadley asked.

“A friend of Brody Davenport’s. He’s going to help with the centennial trail ride, and in the meantime he’s writing some travel articles about—”

“Whoa!” Hadley’s dark eyes were huge. “You don’t mean the guy who was with Brody yesterday at The Smoky Pig?”

“Um, yeah.” Becca cleared her throat. “That’s him. Sawyer.”

“I can’t believe your luck!” Hadley said.

Frowning, Sierra leaned on the kitchen counter. “I’m not sure if this is good luck.”

“Are you kidding me?” Hadley demanded. “She’s got the hottest cowboy since your man living under her roof.”

Sierra smiled faintly at the reference to her boyfriend, Jarrett, but her tone remained wary. “You guys know I love my adopted hometown.” She’d moved to Cupid’s Bow from Dallas almost a year ago. “But people here can be a little...old-fashioned in their thinking. The worst of them question whether a woman can do the job of mayor—which, hell, yes—and even the well-meaning worry about her juggling the demands with being a single mom. How is it going to look that said single mom is shacking up with—”

“Hey!” Becca objected.

Sierra waved her hand in an impatient gesture. “I’m not implying a damn thing. But you know how gossip flows in this town.”

Faster than champagne at an open-bar wedding.

“Well, then you should introduce him to me,” Hadley suggested with a cheeky grin. “If he and I are dating, it removes you from any speculation.”

Sierra snorted. “Way to take one for the team.”

“Okay, I’m not subtle,” Hadley admitted, “but we don’t all have gorgeous ranchers in our lives.”

Sierra grinned. “Jarrett is gorgeous. And sweet. And more sensitive than he wants anyone to know.” Her expression glowed. Witnesses would be able to tell from twenty paces that she was in love.

Had Becca looked like that in the early years of her marriage? When she was the happiest she’d ever been and fully expected that happiness to last the rest of her life? She drained her glass, trying not to feel bitter as she listened to Sierra joke about Jarrett’s latest attempts to get her to try camping.

“He knows I’m not outdoorsy,” Sierra was saying, “but the idea of cuddling in a sleeping bag with him does have merit.”

“Aren’t you going on the centennial trail ride?” Hadley asked.

“Nope. I’m all for celebrating the town’s big anniversary, but I’m not a native. I’ll celebrate from indoors with cake. And air-conditioning.” She checked her watch. “Speaking of Jarrett... I told him I might be home early enough for us to watch a movie.”

“A movie, huh?” Hadley smirked. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

“Smart-ass.” Sierra lightly shoved the other woman’s shoulder. “How would I know what the kids are calling it? I’m older than you are.”

As the only woman over thirty in the room, Becca rolled her eyes. “Neither of you are allowed to use the word old.”

“You’re not much older than we are, but you’re definitely wiser,” Sierra said. “One of many reasons why you’ll make a great mayor. Do you want to work on revamping the celebration budget? I can text Jarrett that I’ll be late.”

“Thanks, but no. You go home to your rancher, and let me crunch the numbers.” The funny thing about Truitt trying to rattle her with a reduced budget was that nothing he threw at her could be as big a shock as her husband leaving and Becca suddenly finding herself the head of a single-income family. Before that were the years she’d tried to cobble together a grocery budget for a large family out of spare change from the sofa cushions and her brother’s lawn-mowing money. Making do with less was her entire wheelhouse. “I’ll call you guys this week after I’ve done some math.”

Hadley grimaced. “Not to be an English-major cliché, but count me out. Slogans and speeches, I’ve got your back. Math? You’re on your own, madam mayor.”

As Sierra, who had a head for numbers, heckled the brunette about passing up an opportunity to improve her skills, they gathered up their purses and put on their previously discarded shoes. Then they said good-night, leaving Becca in the suddenly still house. She stayed so busy with Marc and her community activities that the peace and quiet was almost startling.

And then the phone rang.

My fault for not appreciating the silence while I had it. She picked up the cordless phone from the kitchen counter. “Hello.”

“Rebecca?”

Becca flinched. “Mother?” Had something happened to one of her brothers or sisters? It was difficult to imagine anything short of an emergency prompting Odette to call. Becca could count on her fingers the number of times they’d spoken since she left home. Her dad’s funeral, her sister’s wedding...the wheedling phone calls when Odette realized her late brother-in-law had left Becca all his money. When Becca had been pregnant with Marc, she’d reached out to her mother, but Odette had refused to take her calls, still holding a bitter grudge because her oldest child had eloped. “What’s wrong?”

Her mother sniffed. “Does something have to be wrong for me to miss my firstborn?”

Concern for her siblings dissipated, suspicion filling the vacancy. Her mother had alternately relied on her and resented her over the years, but they’d never been close. “The last time you ‘missed’ me, it was because you’d run through the bulk of Daddy’s life insurance settlement and wanted money.”

“Rebecca Ruth, I did not raise you to be disrespectful. And taking care of children is not cheap.”

What children? Everett drove 18-wheelers now, earning a living the same way their father had, Courtney was married in Oklahoma and Becca’s twin brothers, Sean and Shane, ran their own auto body repair and paint shop. Only eighteen-year-old Molly still lived at home. There were moments Becca suffered pangs of guilt for not maintaining a relationship with her little sister, but the age gap between them didn’t leave them with much in common.

Is that the real reason you haven’t made more of an effort? Or are you just selfishly reveling in your freedom? Becca had given so much of herself to her siblings for so long that her relationship with her family had felt parasitic by the time she left home. Was it selfish to distance herself from them, or simply an act of self-preservation?

Even these few moments on the phone with her mother were draining her. She sagged into a kitchen chair. “You’re not much older than we are,” Sierra had said. But sometimes Becca felt ancient. Being forced into a caretaker role at four years old aged a woman before her time.

“I’ve had a long day,” Becca said. “How about we get straight to the reason you called?” She spared a glance at the digital clock above the stainless steel stove. Would she have enough time to squeeze in a bubble bath before the Whittmeyers brought Marc home? But then her mind strayed to Sawyer and when he might return. The idea of being naked except for a layer of scented bubbles with the cowboy in the house made her feel oddly vulnerable. That’s ridiculous. Are you planning not to bathe or change clothes while he’s staying here? Still...

“It’s about your sister,” Odette said with an aggrieved sigh. “Molly’s been out of high school since January, and all she’s managed to do is get fired from three jobs and date two inappropriate men. The one who just dumped her is almost forty! Bet she’ll go running back to him if he calls. She did last time.”

Becca’s stomach clenched, regret burning like an ulcer. Molly had always had good grades, nearly as good as Beccca’s had been, and she’d earned enough credits to graduate a semester early. Maybe if we’d kept in better touch, I could have helped her develop some ambition for college. Or for anything. Knowing Odette, Becca guessed she’d been leaning on her youngest as live-in help, so why would she foster Molly’s desire to leave?

It sounded as if mother and teen weren’t getting along. On the one hand, discord between them might finally motivate Molly to seek greener pastures. But Becca wanted to see her sister in community college or IT courses or dental hygienist school—something productive—not shacked up with a man twice her age because she didn’t have the income to live on her own.

“She’s impossible,” Odette complained. “I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do with her.”

Parent her. But there was no point in saying that. For all that Odette had given birth to six of them, she’d never been overly invested in raising children. In fact, Becca was almost surprised her mother even cared enough to seek guidance over Molly’s behavior. “Have you talked to Courtney to get her input?” Becca’s second-youngest sibling knew Molly a lot better than she did.

“The situation is beyond ‘input.’”