Cowboy Creed (Cooper's Hawke Landing Book 1) Page 4

  Creed was glad for the distraction.

  Abby stood and gave Hank a hug. “Hungry, son?”

  “I could eat a horse.” He pulled out the chair across from Creed. “But not that new mare you just bought, bro. I could use her bones as toothpicks. I swear she hissed at me when I got close to her this morning. She refused to eat too. What did the vet say about her health?”

  “Doc won’t be out until later to check her over. I’ll bet it’s more psychosomatic than physical. That bastard who owned her before abused her.” When it had come to Creed’s attention that the horse was being abused, he talked the previous owner into selling the mare for a hefty price. That’s one thing Creed couldn’t tolerate…the abuse of an animal. “Don’t give up on her, Hank. You watch and see. She’s got it in her to make a damn good asset on the farm.”

  Abby set a full plate in front of Hank. “Thanks, Ma.” He plowed through the eggs and bacon, downed it with his coffee, then licked his fingers. “What are your plans today?” He directed his curious, Hawke-renowned-blue eyes on Creed.

  “I have to stop over at Sage Ranch and do a couple things. I’ll be back this afternoon. I need to get moving.” He pushed the chair back and stood.

  “Not so fast, son.” Abby had made another plate and handed it to him. “Go feed your daughter.”

  There was no use in arguing. Grabbing his hat and shoving it on his head, he took the plate and headed upstairs. At Livvy’s closed door, he knocked, and pretty much what he had expected, she yelled, “Go away!”

  “I have breakfast for you.”

  A few long seconds passed. “What is it?”

  “Eggs, bacon and toast.”

  “Do you forget everything? I’m a pescatarian.”

  “A pesca-what?”

  “Pescatarian. I don’t eat meat except for fish.”

  “Since when?”

  “A month ago.”

  With a shrug, he grabbed the slice of bacon off the plate and shoved it into his mouth. “It’s now a pescatarian plate,” he said around his mouth full. “Unless you don’t eat eggs either.”

  Ten seconds lapsed until finally the lock clicked and the door came open. She slanted her gaze through the three-inch crack and shot invisible torpedoes at him. “I eat eggs. And this doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you,” she muttered, opened the door wide and grabbed the plate.

  “I didn’t think so, but can I come in?”

  She went to the bed and sat cross legged on the colorful blanket. Music played from the speaker on her shelf and a book was open on her nightstand. He picked it up and read the cover. “This any good?”

  “If you like books about teen girls who are being imprisoned in their home. It’s right up your alley.”

  “Okay then.” He set the book aside and sat down on the end of the bed. “Why did you sneak out?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” She scooped up egg onto her toast.

  “It matters.”

  “Does that mean you’ll consider giving me my phone back?” She paused with the fork in the air.

  “No. You’ll still be disciplined.” Her frown returned. “But why would you risk getting into trouble?”

  She set her plate to the side and clasped her hands in her lap. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me.”

  With a nibble at the corner of her lips, she finally said, “I needed to see Alex.”

  The fourteen-year-old was Livvy’s best friend since kindergarten. Creed liked the kid and he had good parents, but that didn’t mean his daughter could sneak out to see him. Feeling a familiar stab in the center of his chest, Creed rubbed his forehead. He understood friendships and the importance of them. “Alex couldn’t come to the house? Did he sneak out too?”

  In that instant he saw her wall come back up. “No, Alex doesn’t have to sneak out because he doesn’t have prison guards as parents.” She grabbed her Air pods, stuck them in her ears and closed her eyes, signifying the end of the conversation.

  “Good talk,” he said and got up, leaving the room. He took the front stairs and stepped outside, inhaling a combination of freshly mowed grass, pine trees and hay.

  Leaning over the porch rail, he stared out into the vastness of Hawke Farm. Once upon a time they owned two hundred acres of prime land until their father fell on hard times and sold all but forty to Rusty Sage next door. Damon Hawke had always wanted to buy back the property, had promised his sons that he would, but years had passed and then it was too late.

  The sound of cattle mooing caught on the breeze. Horses grazed the field inside the white picket fence. The pounding of hammers hitting nails came from the men fixing the leak in the barn roof. Farm business as usual.

  What Creed could use was a long ride to clear his head. He had a some time to spare. Some people took medicine for their ailments, but he rode to keep himself healthy.

  Taking the worn path to the stables, there he saddled up Miss Daisy, climbed on, and led her through the south gate. Once they were in the wide-open field, he clicked his tongue to command her into a trot.

  The weather was nice, still cool from the sun hiding behind the clouds. He rode along the fence that marked the property line between Hawke Farm and Sage Ranch. Further on he came to the ramshackle barn that was being held up by a couple of rusty nails and a few splinters. Rusty and Creed had talked about tearing down the death trap, should have happened years ago, but every time it came to do the project, Creed felt a knock in his ribs. The barn, or rather what was left of it, had history for him.

  This was where he and Mindy had hunkered down during a tornado and he’d made a promise to never let anything happen to her. He knew that day—that very moment—he’d love Mindy Sage for the rest of his life.

  He’d also been young and dumb.

  She’d left Cooper’s Hawk for college and he’d signed up for the Navy. Many times over the years he’d wanted to contact her, just to say…what? How’s the weather? Do you still like to run barefoot in the rain? Do you remember me?

  His chuckle reverberated through the quiet.

  He guessed he could have asked Rusty about Mindy at any time, but Creed didn’t need to know the details. Not really. Didn’t want to know. Hell, truth was he didn’t want to hear about how happy she was with another man. That could make him seem bitter, and maybe he was, but scraping open old wounds didn’t sound like much fun.

  Scanning his gaze over the mountains in the distance, he loved the beauty of this spot. In fact, he and Mindy had come out here often, climbed trees, built forts, or just played chase. Sometimes he enjoyed catching her just to hug her.

  He’d once dreamed of building a house right here in this very spot.

  It wasn’t too late.

  In his head, those years seemed like ages ago. Yet in his heart they felt like yesterday. Spurred over Mindy leaving and finding solace at the bottom of a beer, one night he ran into Melody Rumor at a party and he fell into her soft, warm embrace. They’d had a few good times and then she’d hinted that she wanted to get hitched. South of his sterling silver belt buckle, the idea didn’t seem so bad. He was leaving for boot camp and having someone back home did have its advantages. She’d known all the right moves, had made him forget Mindy, at least for a minute.

  He’d lost his ever-loving mind and asked Mel to marry him, and the plans were locked into place. His brothers had warned him. His mother had warned him. He’d finally come to his senses when he woke up one morning and realized the only thing he and Mel had in common was the way she made him feel between the sheets.

  Calling off the wedding, Mel had thrown a hurricane sized hissy fit and left town. He left for boot camp and spent the next few years proving his love for his country.

  When he came home, he found that he wasn’t quite ready to settle back down at Cooper’s Hawk. He still had some roaming left in his blood and joined the rodeo circuit. He loved the eight second ride, even did well for himself by saving up some money and lining a shelf with shiny award
s, but after a short period he started missing home. He split from the rodeo and headed back to Montana. Mel had been visiting her folks and one thing led to another and they found themselves back at square one.

  And then she got pregnant.

  Creed had done the right thing and asked her to marry him for the second time. He’d ignored his cold feet and put a ring on her finger.

  From the start, he’d known for a relationship to work between him and Mel, they’d have to jump some serious hurdles. She had big dreams of becoming a star and it certainly wasn’t going to happen in Cooper’s Hawk. She wanted to rub elbows and party with socialites and the only party Creed was interested in involved a keg and roasted hot dogs. Mel wanted to travel and although he liked to explore some too, he had responsibilities. And soon they had the responsibility of a daughter.

  Mel always said she liked cowboys, but she didn’t like ones that got his hands dirty. She always complained how long he worked, how much he sweated, and the dirt under his nails after a hard day on the land.

  Sometimes two people, even if they shared a child together, just couldn’t work things out.

  Maybe it was time he went on a date. There were some available women in Cooper’s Hawk. For instance, Penny Castle had invited him over for dinner a few times. She’d even stopped over at the house one day and brought him cupcakes. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he didn’t much care for cake.

  Turning the horse to start back, his gaze naturally fell on the words engraved on the side of the big oak tree. Mindy + Creed wrapped in a heart. He’d done a lot of things back then that he couldn’t see himself doing now.

  Chapter Three

  THERE WAS A big difference between perception and reality in figure skating. People believed it was an easy sport, but what Mindy had learned over the years, after lots of blood, sweat and tears were left on the ice, competitive skating required a fearlessness—both mentally and physically—that a lot of people didn’t have.

  In her younger years she’d learned triple loops without a care in the world. In her twenties, she’d understood the bravery behind tossing herself into the air and landing perfectly on her skates because if she didn’t she would seriously injure herself. She could be off the ice for weeks or months, or worse, she could do permanent damage and she’d have to hang up her skates. She’d had a few scary scrapes with injuries but had been lucky, if one could call it luck.

  There was an expiration date on the sport and now, in her late thirties, she understood how unbelievably insane it was to still get out on the ice and take risks, but just like being in love, a person must take chances or lose everything.

  Throwing herself thoughtlessly into the air and hoping for the best didn’t feel the same at thirty-seven that it did at twelve. The moves became harder and her bones resisted, especially those parts of her like her ankles and knees that had paid the price of hitting the ice.

  But there was a lioness within Mindy that kept her from giving up what she loved, what made her happy.

  Listening to the blades of her skates slide against the ice was music to her ears. Her body moved from muscle memory. She closed her eyes and counted the steps in her head. Opening them, she jumped into a single loop, came down steady on her skates to hear clapping off to the side.

  “Bravo! Bravo!”

  Her old coach and owner of the rink, Isabella, waved from the sidelines.

  “I didn’t know I had an audience.” Mindy felt her cheeks warm. She hadn’t skated in front of anyone, outside of her students, in years.

  “You deserve one, my dear.” Isabella was still as beautiful as ever. Her long, silver streaked hair was pulled back into a severe bun, showing off high cheekbones, olive complexion with only a trace of wrinkles. At five eight, she had a thin, athletic body and the leotard and skater’s skirt complimented how shapely she still was at sixty.

  “You’re only being nice.” Mindy opened the gate and walked in to sit down on the bench.

  “I’m being truthful. Have you ever known me to be dishonest? You were my best student.” Isabella sat down on the other end of the bench. Skaters came from all over Montana, and sometimes beyond, to have lessons with the Olympic medalist.

  “You were the best coach. This place brings back so many memories.” Mindy felt refreshed, better than she’d felt in a long time. “I’m so glad to see that you’re still here too.”

  “What else would I do?” Although she wore a smile, Mindy could see the concern in Isabella’s soft grey eyes. “How long are you staying in Cooper’s Hawk?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Watching you out on the ice, like the little girl who showed up here with such a strong attitude and full of determination, I too was taken back to a different time,” she said with an accent from her German roots. She’d moved to Cooper’s Hawk with her American husband when she was nineteen who she’d met during the Olympics.

  “I love this place. I haven’t been on the ice in months.” She untied the strings of her worn skates and slipped out of them.

  “That’s a tragedy, my dear. People like you and me, we belong here.” She clapped her hands together, much like she did when Mindy was younger and she’d made a mistake. “I have a proposition for you.”

  Putting on her flats, Mindy also grabbed her jacket and shrugged into it, covering her black leotard. “A proposition?”

  “Come help here at the rink as a coach. I don’t skate like I once did, not since the knee surgery a few years back. You would be perfect.”

  Mindy hadn’t considered getting a job while in Cooper’s Hawk. She’d planned on working on the ranch, but the offer was very tempting. “Do you have any students right now?”

  “Five, but I know with you here there would be more.”

  “And the schedule would be flexible?”

  “Sure. As much as you like, dear. We could discuss it later in more detail?”

  Why wasn’t Mindy jumping at the opportunity? She felt more alive on the ice than anywhere. “Let’s do that. I’d love to coach.”

  “Great!” the older woman’s eyes twinkled. “When did you get back?”

  “A few days ago. I’ve been sticking around the house, reacclimating myself to ranch life. Working with the horses.”

  “How’s your father doing? We used to run into each other often. Since Benny passed Rusty no longer comes to visit.” Ben was Isabella’s husband. When Mindy had heard the news of his passing she’d called and had spoken to Isabella. What she and Ben had shared had truly been a love story. The sadness remained in Isabella’s gaze.

  “Since Daddy’s heart attack he’s been different. I know it takes time to recover, but he seems, well, depressed. You know how he is. He’s as stubborn as a goat and doesn’t want help from anyone. When he was told he’d have to have surgery to repair the damage in his heart, and I then told him he’d have to come to California for the operation and stay with me while he recovered, I thought he was going to tell me he’d rather meet his maker. In the end, he conceded, and I do think he enjoyed visiting.”

  “You know, my Benny had suffered greatly when he got sick. He changed too. Illness is such a terrible thing for masculine men like my Benny and your father.”

  “He’s definitely grumpy.”

  “Age with all the muscle aches and forgetfulness makes us into, how do my kids put it, sourpusses,” she joked. “When I had my knee surgery, they all tried to make me sit down and relax like an old woman. They soon learned that age didn’t make me old. They even suggested I sell the rink.” She laughed. “They would have seen a sourpuss then.”

  “I couldn’t imagine this place not being here in Cooper’s Hawk. It’s a part of the history.”

  “It’s so nice to have you back in town.” Isabella patted Mindy’s hand. “I’m sure Rusty is happy too. He always kept me up to date on your achievements.”

  “I’m sure he mentioned the divorce?”

  “Yes, yes, he did. I’m sorry. Just remember though,
sometimes the heartbreak builds us into the person we need to be.”

  “Thank you, Isabella. Thank you for everything. When Mom passed away you were there for me. You helped me through, and I can never tell you enough how much it meant to me.”

  Tears filled Isabella’s eyes. She sniffed and stood to pat her hair in nervous energy. “So then I’ll be in touch soon, my dear.”

  Mindy left the rink feeling elated after a skate and a job opportunity.

  Turning onto Sage Ranch later, a sense of home washed through Mindy.

  Clicking off the AC and rolling the window down, she breathed in fresh, country air. She caught a salty combination of straw and cow manure and instead of being repulsed she smiled. What had she ever been thinking when she’d wanted Branch to move here with her? He would have gotten one whiff of poop and vomited.

  Across the grass she saw Bo. The cowboy had been working Sage Ranch for as long as Mindy had been alive. Putting her car into park, she got out and met him halfway. She walked into his open arms for a tight hug.

  “Well, well, well. Let me look at you,” he said when she stepped out of his embrace. His leathered skin had more deep wrinkles and he’d lost weight. “You know things just ain’t the same around here without you, Miss Mindy.”

  She couldn’t remember one memory on Sage Ranch that didn’t include the charming, happy-go-lucky Bo Walters. “It’s been a long time. How’s May?”

  “Wifey is great, even better now that I’m only here a few days a week. If I’d known you were back in town I’d have come sooner.”

  “Daddy told me you weren’t here as often.”

  “May wanted me to retire completely, but you know this old man needs something to keep his bones in shape.”

  “Will you tell her hello from me?”

  “Sure thing, sweet girl. You know she’ll want to see you. And I’m sure she’ll make you one of her rhubarb pies that you used to ask for.”

  “I’ll stop over one day, but she doesn’t have to go to any trouble.”