stop it, Sarah. There’s nothing going on.”
“Knowing Jon, I don’t doubt that. Still, he did bring his brood over for breakfast. That’s got to mean something.”
“Means they were hungry. Any luck on getting a restorer for the house?”
“No,” Sarah said, the frustration evident in her voice as she resumed filing. “Nobody wants to touch it. I’ve put ads in papers as far away as Denver, but no bites. But, thanks for this job. The extra money means I can move faster.”
“Then it works for both of us. Full-time help’s out of the question until I get more business. And don’t worry about the restoration. Somebody will come along. Just the right person at the right time. You’ll see. What all did you get done tonight?”
As she finished her work, Sarah rattled on about her favorite subject. By the time Sarah left, Kaycee decided it was too late to call Jon. She went to bed, but lay awake a long time thinking about his predicament. She fell asleep wondering what more she could do to help.
CHAPTER FOUR
“THERE’S THE BUS, everybody out!”
Jon watched the last of the girls’ backpacks disappear into the yellow bus, then turned the SUV around and headed down the long lane to the house with the three boys. The twins normally attended preschool half the day, but for today, they would stay home because Jon didn’t want to lose the time driving them to town only to have to pick them up a few hours later.
Glancing in his rearview mirror, Jon smiled broadly, his day already better. His pretend fiancée barreled down the gravel road behind him in her red pickup truck. At the house, Kaycee pulled up and parked, hopped out and was around the front of the SUV by the time Jon opened the door, so full of life Jon felt sluggish in comparison.
“Hi,” she said. “I was out this way and thought I’d check on our little bull and his mama.”
“They’re doing well. We put them outside this morning. He’s gaining weight and frisking around. I hate that you drove all the way out here for that.” The increased thrumming of his heartbeat told him he really didn’t hate it. Not at all.
“I like to see my patients when I can. Besides I was curious whether you resolved your housekeeper problem.”
“Afraid not.”
She peered into the Suburban. “So I see.”
Jon pulled Zach and Tyler out of their toddler seats while Kaycee unfastened Bo’s baby seat and lifted him out. She bounced him on her hip as naturally as if she did it every day, talking to him, making him giggle.
The sunshine brought out the gold in the wispy curls fluttering around her face in the early morning breeze. Her thick ponytail flipped back and forth as she played with Bo. Jon loved ponytails. Had since he pulled Maisey Gibson’s long blond one every day in third grade to hear her squeal.
“You like kids, I see,” Jon observed.
“I do,” she said. “I was an only child, but I always loved babies—cousins, neighbors, strangers, it didn’t matter.”
A sudden longing for the companionship he’d lost hit Jon like a thunderbolt as she entertained his youngest child. Over the past year, he’d been so immersed in grief and the stress of keeping his family going that the thought of being attracted to another woman never entered his mind. So why was he thinking about it now? All he needed was a competent housekeeper, not a replacement for Alison.
And not with this woman who had a fledgling veterinary practice. She certainly wouldn’t have the time to give the children the attention they needed.
“Stop,” Jon snapped.
“What?” Kaycee looked startled. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, nothing. Sorry.” Regaining his composure, he said, “Come on, we’ll check out that heifer so you can get to work.”
Jon reached to take Bo from her. To his surprise, Bo pushed his hand away. “No, no, no!” The toddler clung to Kaycee with his other hand. “I stay here.”
“I guess you’ve made a friend,” Jon said with a laugh.
“Good.” She gave Bo’s round tummy a tickle with her knuckles, doubling him over with laughter. “I like him, too.”
“Come on,” Zach yelled. “We’ll show you where the corrals are.”
He and Tyler, in their clunky cowboy boots, ran ahead to the calf pens. Jon set the twins on the top fence rail on either side of him to watch the solitary heifer with the bull calf by her side. Other spindly legged calves played in an adjacent pen with their mothers. Kaycee agreed that the heifer and calf were thriving and could probably go out with the others soon.
“I can rope them calves, you know,” Zach said, puffing out his chest with pride.
“That so?” Kaycee asked.
“Yep. My brother can, too. But he’s not good as me.”
“Am, too,” Tyler protested.
Zach shook his head, and whispered loudly, “Really, he ain’t, cause he’s younger than me.”
“A big three minutes,” Jon said, with a wink to Tyler. “That’s not a whole lot, is it, buckaroo?”
Tyler shook his head vigorously. “I’m bigger, anyway. And I know how to steer wrassle.”
“Me, too,” Zach shot back.
“Okay, enough. Both of you.” Jon lifted the arguing boys down. “Run along to the house. I’m right behind you.”
“We could show you, Dr. Kaycee,” Zach persisted. “We could rope and wrassle some calves for you right now.”
Kaycee laughed at the eagerness in their ruddy little faces. “Like a rodeo?”
“Yeah, a rodeo! You want us to?”
Kaycee slanted a look at Jon and smiled. “I don’t think this is the best time. Your dad has other things to do and I have to be going shortly. Maybe another day. I’d want to see everything you can do.”
“Oh, boy! Daddy, can we have a rodeo for Dr. Kaycee? Like we used to?”
“Like she said, another day,” Jon responded.
“How about Saturday?” Zach suggested.
“Rachel and Sam can barrel race, and Michele’s a trick rider on her horse, Dusty,” Tyler said.
“And guess who’s the rodeo clown?”
The boys jumped around like little kangaroos, talking at once to her, to Jon, to themselves, to the two herd dogs also getting rowdy at the excitement in the air.
“Bo?” Kaycee guessed.
“No. He’s too little,” Zach said.
“Am not,” squealed Bo, wriggling to get out of Kaycee’s arms and on the ground with his brothers, who seemed to be having more fun than he was.
“Who, then?”
“Wendy,” Zach said.
“Wendy? The shy one?”
“Uh-huh. She’s funny when she’s gots on clown paint.” Zach screwed up his face to mimic his sister’s. “And we dress up Tilly and Chloe like clowns, too.”
“The dogs,” Jon clarified.
“That sounds like lots of fun. I’ll look forward to it.”
“Saturday, Daddy?” Zach pressed.
“We’ll see,” Jon said. “Now get along like I told you.”
The twins took off running for the