Page 55 of Home to the Cowboy

“I don’t know if I can stomach that many happy endings, but I’ll try.”

Silence again. “Good night, Dylan.”

“Good night, June. Daisy is not the only one who misses you.”

A low chuckle. “Daisy’s not the only one I miss. Good night, Dylan.”

Before he could answer, the silence in his ear told him she’d ended the call.

Daisy barked again.

“I know. I miss her, too, but she’s not coming back.”

His phone pinged again. It wasn’t from June, though but from Arlene on the Weston family group thread.

“Love to see you all on Sunday.”

Strange. Since he and Carson had moved to The Weston Ranch, having lunch with Arlene on Sundays had become a standing date. Why would she text them?

Sighing, he walked toward his room. He needed a seriously long cold shower before he’d be able to sleep tonight.

*

Saturday late morning June was in front of her laptop. Barry had emailed her the work of a few illustrators he thought they should consider using to do illustrations for her children’s book.

None of them were bad, it was just that she couldn’t get excited about anything she’d seen so far. To be fair, since her return, she couldn’t get excited about anything really. A strange, lethargic kind of feeling had taken hold of her. Hopefully, the night out with Abby would cure her of whatever it was.

She kept thinking about Dylan, about Daisy, about the friends she’d made in Marietta, about how at home she’d felt at the foot of Copper Mountain. Rubbing her face, she groaned. This was not helping.

Her phone rang. It was Barry.

“And?” he asked, clearly enthusiastic about the prospects.

“Hi, Barry. Thank you for these, but I … I don’t know. There isn’t really anything that jumps out.”

“What?” Barry was clearly stunned. “All the illustrations I’ve sent you are work done by some of our top artists and you don’t like any of them?”

Rubbing her neck, June sighed. “Let me have another look, maybe …”

“Do you have something specific in mind?”

“Not really, but I’ll know what it is when I see it.”

Barry was quiet for a while. “Wanna tell me what’s really going on with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just because I’m close to sixty and usually have my nose in a book doesn’t mean I don’t see what’s happening around me. Ever since you’ve returned from wherever you were, you’re … I don’t know how to put it. You don’t look happy.”

Feeling close to tears, June swallowed. Barry was the closest thing to a dad she’d ever known, and he’d always been good to her.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be fine, I promise. Abby is coming over later, I’ll ask her to help me choose.”

Barry cleared his throat. “If you’re in any kind of trouble, you know you can talk to me?”

“Thanks, Barry. I’m okay.”

“I love this story, I really do. It’s something that would resonate with kids. I can feel it. Please let me know as soon as possible.”