Cowboy Dad. Cathy Mcdavid

except a narrow tributary of Bear Creek.

      There were two cars and one pickup truck parked outside the cabin. Natalie eased the golf cart between the vehicles and stopped beside a stone walkway leading to the front porch.

      Aaron glanced over at her. The guilty expression she wore gave her away.

      “Please. I don’t want to walk in there blind.” He impulsively laid a hand over the one she rested on her leg, and curled his fingers around hers. “Tell me what’s going on.”

      She swallowed, and her gaze traveled to their joined hands, reminding him that he’d once again placed her in an unfair position.

      He was about to retract his question when she suddenly blurted, “Jake’s called a family meeting. I don’t know why or what it’s about. He doesn’t tell me these things, and he doesn’t have to.”

      “Thanks.” Aaron gave her hand a brief squeeze.

      He didn’t turn around after climbing out of the golf cart, not even when Natalie started the engine and drove away. At the bottom of the porch steps, he paused to read an engraved brass monument sign. It told a short history of Walter and Ida Tucker and how they started the resort. They were an interesting and colorful couple. Aaron was sorry he never had the opportunity to meet them.

      But as luck would have it, he was about to meet, and go head-to-head with, their offspring.