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“A lifetime, Heath. That’s how long ago it was.”
“Listen, you did me a favor today, and I’m grateful.”
“And yet, oddly, your tone of voice belies your words.”
His frown deepened. “Zeke’s my son. We play by my rules. If you’re going to be here for a year—”
“Not if, Heath. I am here for a year, and probably longer because not only am I good at working horses—” she drew a little closer just to underscore her point “—I love working them. And I’ve got the business degree and acumen to make it work. And if you question my judgment about what I do with Zeke, then you need to find someone else to help watch him because no one—” she stepped forward again “—sets my rules except me. I’ve made it on my own for a long time and I’ll continue to do so long after this initial year is up. So this is what you need to think about. If you leave that sweet boy in my care, I’ll do as I think best. If that means riding into the hills and cantering through the grass, I’ll do it again.” She started to pivot but stopped when he said her name.
“You’d do it again?” She hadn’t thought he could stand any taller, but he did. And then he folded his arms. “Over my dead body.”
“Whatever it takes, Heath.” She lifted her gaze and locked eyes with him in the fading light. “What form of torture is it to raise a boy on a beautiful ranch like Pine Ridge and deny him the chance to run a horse?” She met his anger with a steady voice. An even countenance. “There’s almost nothing as wonderful as being up top a horse, Heath Caufield, and a cowboy like you should know that.” She reached out and tapped his chest, just once. “Unless you’ve forgotten that, too.”
And then she walked away.
CHAPTER NINE
The church bell began to toll a five-minute reminder the next morning, an old Shepherd’s Crossing tradition. When folks lived in town, the tolling bell reminded them to step lively. Heath had just stepped out of the pickup truck when the bells began to chime.
“Yay!” Zeke threw his arms into the air. “We’re here for the bells, Dad! I get so happy hearing the bells ring. And Cookie’s chocolate cake makes me happy, too. But not as happy as riding with Miss Lizzie.” Zeke amended his statement with a glance back, over his shoulder. “That was like the best ever.”
“Ezekiel—” Talking about this now wouldn’t be a good idea. He’d already decided to quietly let the subject go and make sure Justine understood the rules when she stepped in to watch Zeke the coming week.
But Zeke was on a roll and the caution in Heath’s voice added no restraint. “She snuggled me so tight, and it was like having a mom, laughing and holding on to me so nothing would ever happen to me. And she said it was okay to miss my mom, because she misses her mom, too.”
Holding him so tight? Missing his mom?
Heath’s throat went tight. Zeke never talked about Anna. He never referred to missing his mother, but he’d shared that emotion yesterday. With Lizzie.
Zeke had started up the church steps but Heath called him back. “You had fun with Lizzie? Miss Lizzie,” he corrected himself.
“It was awesome.” Blue-gray eyes in a dusky face held his gaze and his heart. “When I go to school I’m going to tell all the kids about riding Honey’s Money with Miss Lizzie.”
Great. He’d spent five years raising the boy on his own, losing sleep and balancing things like a tightrope walker. And Lizzie breezed into town and won the kid’s heart in less than two weeks.
It was like that for you, too. Back in the day. Remember? It took no time at all for you to lose your heart to her. “I expect they’ll like hearing it.”
“Me, too.” Zeke reached for Heath’s hand and held it. “But first I’ll tell them that my dad is the best cowboy ever. Okay?”
Oh, man…
The boy’s trust and devotion were wonderful things, but had Heath earned them? Did he deserve them?
Some days, yes. Others…not so much. And now he’d lambasted Lizzie for something he probably should have been doing with Zeke all along. Not racing the boy across fields, of course, but letting him experience the joy of being in the saddle, safe and secure, going faster than an old plodding horse would take him. “Very okay. And next time we go riding, I’ll go a little faster. All right?”
“Yes!”
He owed Lizzie an apology. Another one. And it didn’t take a math whiz to understand that if he needed to apologize this often, he was the common denominator in the problems.
