their gazes connected. And then she seemed to realize it. She backed away, giving his arm a pat that was more motherly than anything else.
“I know you’ll be fine with them,” he said.
“I’ll go up right now and check on them if that makes you feel better,” she added.
Carson headed for the stable; the chocolate Lab that had followed Kylie chased after him but then ran back to the house to bark at the back door. He glanced back and saw that she no longer stood at the door. Fool that he was, he thought she might stand there and watch him walk away.
“She’s not watching you walk away.” Isaac came out of the barn wearing that same cheesy grin he’d been wearing since yesterday.
Carson saw behind the facade. He saw the occasional flicker of pain, sometimes a flash of anger. Isaac wasn’t all smiles. Far from it.
“Do you ever take that thing off and wash it?” Carson asked as he stepped inside the stable.
“My hat?” Isaac looked disturbed by the question. He tapped the brim of the black cowboy hat. “Why would I wash it?”
“I meant that goofy grin you wear all the time.”
Isaac laughed. “Who knew you’d be so funny? And who knew you’d be like every other man that landed here. Might as well get over it. We all fall a little in love with Kylie, and then we realize her heart isn’t open for business. She loves everyone. But she doesn’t fall in love with anyone.”
“I’m not looking for love any more than she is,” he reassured the other man. And then he noticed activity at a large metal shop a short distance away. “What are they doing over there?”
Isaac pulled a toothpick from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth. He pulled out another, wrapped in plastic, and offered it to Carson. “Cinnamon, you want one?”
“No, thanks.”
“That’s the crew heading to the Lakeside Retreat and Boat Dock. It’s one of the projects we’re working on. The place sat empty for ten years and Jack bought it to remodel. There’s another crew that heads to town. Jack bought a few of the old stores and he’s remodeling and offering free rent for a year if people will start businesses that could help the community.”
“He’s an optimist if he thinks he can turn this town around.”
“He’s giving people jobs,” Isaac said, the toothpick in the corner of his mouth. “I guess it’s more about faith. And if that’s the case, I’m an optimist, too. The others are saddled up and ready to go.”
“How many of us?”
“Four are riding. Matt is on an ATV. He doesn’t care for animals too much.”
They headed through the stable to a back door and a small corral. Two horses were saddled and tied to the fence. Two people were already on their horses and a third was outside the corral on a four-wheeler. He waved a prosthetic arm and grinned.
“Matt on the ATV.” Isaac nodded in Matt’s direction. “Jules is on the Appaloosa.”
“Hi, Jules.” Carson walked up to them. Jules extended a hand to shake his. She had burn scars down the side of her face.
“Tyler on the road,” Isaac said as he mounted the horse tied near the gate. Carson shook hands with the younger man, and then he started for the gray that had obviously been left for him.
“You remember how to make that thing go, right?”
Carson untied the gray and ignored the question. As if it hadn’t been years, he swung himself into the saddle and reined the horse in the direction of the men who were waiting. Unfortunately, the horse had other plans.
Carson barely had time to gather up the reins before the horse started to snort and raise its rump in a halfhearted attempt at bucking him off. He clamped his legs around the animal’s middle and the horse gave a good buck, twisting as he did.
He soon became somewhat aware that the other men stopped to watch. He heard a few chuckles, then he clearly heard Isaac yell, “Ride ’em, cowboy!”
Carson held on, talking quietly as the horse began to settle beneath him. The quest to throw him from the saddle ended with a big shuddering shake that started at the horse’s head and went all the way to its tail. After that, the animal took a few halting steps and began to walk.
“Was it entertaining for you?” he called back to Isaac.
Isaac rode up next to him, still laughing. “Yeah, but I honestly didn’t think you’d be able to hold on. Spud is always kind of a beast when you first get on him.”
“Payback,” Carson warned him.
“Yeah, I reckon I’ll get mine. I deserve that.” Isaac glanced back at the house. “I was just trying to help you out. Kylie would have been all upset and tended to your wounds if you’d actually gotten thrown. I’m taking it the two of you knew each other, before.”
“Yeah, we knew each other. How long have you known her?” Carson gave Isaac a quick look but he didn’t quite trust the horse enough to let down his guard.
“Four years. Since she moved to the ranch. I know she lived down the road twenty years ago. That was a couple of years before my time.”
Carson relaxed a bit in the saddle as he and the horse got used to each other. “How long have you been here?”
Isaac nudged his horse in to a trot. “Got here the first time about seventeen years ago. And I came back about five years ago.”
The conversation fizzled as the men started through a gate and rode toward a herd of cattle. It gave Carson something to think about. He felt as if his life, Jack’s and Isaac’s were all part of the same puzzle but with pieces missing. And Kylie belonged in there somewhere. He just wasn’t sure what part she played.
He aimed to find out. And soon.
* * *
Kylie led Andy and Maggie down the stairs. They were dressed, hair brushed and ready for the day. Well, Andy’s hair wasn’t really brushed. The dark strands stood a little on end, but she’d done her best.
“Daddy is at work?” Andy asked, not looking at her as he did.
“No,” Kylie assured him. “He went outside, but he’ll be back soon. I’m going to fix you breakfast. Do you like biscuits?”
Maggie clapped her hands and jabbered about gravy, the words all running together. Andy bit down on his bottom lip and walked to the door.
“You have to stay inside, buddy,” Kylie told him.
He nodded but she saw his hand fidgeting at his side, as if given a chance he would open the door and leave. The house phone rang and as she answered it she kept a close eye on Andy. She wouldn’t lose him again. As she ended the call, she took the little boy by the hand and led him to the table. “Let’s sit right here, Andy.”
Maggie had already crawled up and sat down in another chair.
The door opened and Kylie’s roommate Eve Vincent entered, her gaze immediately going to the children. She waved a gloved hand at them.
“What’s for breakfast?” Eve stopped next to the children. “This must be Maggie and Andy. Wow, you can see the family resemblance. I saw their daddy getting on a horse earlier.”
Eve grinned. From the flicker of amusement in her eyes, Kylie didn’t have to ask which horse they’d given Carson.
“Please tell me it wasn’t Spud,” Kylie groaned as she dished out eggs, sausage and biscuits smeared with butter and jelly. She set a small plate in front of Andy and one in front of Maggie.
“Yeah, Spud. But he handled him fine.”
Andy shook his head no as he looked at the plate of food.
“Picky