Page 47 of The Soldier and the Cowboy

She shook her head. “He’s been quiet today. I think it’s all bottlenecked in there.”

“That sounds about right,” Cam said. “Does he know what you have planned for tomorrow?”

“No, sir,” she replied.

He grinned. “You know you outrank me, Major.”

“Force of habit,” she said.

“I know. What are we going to do about him when it’s time?” he asked.

“I’ll handle him.”

“You know how?” he asked, tipping his head questioningly.

She shrugged, avoiding his gaze.

“Cam, can you bring in the coffee cake?” Maggie called from inside the house.

“Yes,” he replied. “Maggie believes food cures everything,”he explained to Bailey. “As soon as she got off the phone with you, she started baking.”

“I’m inclined to agree with her,” Bailey replied.

He picked up the bags at his feet. “Coming in?”

“You all need some family time. I’ll stay out here, thank you,” she said, settling back into the glider.

“If you change your mind, you’re more than welcome,” he said.

“Thank you,” Bailey said.

He shouldered his bags and made his way inside.

Cal felt like a tenacious bandage had been ripped off everything internal. He was bruised, sore, shaken. The last thing he wanted to do was try and play host, to prop himself up and pretend everything was okay. And the easy, gentle adoration between Maggie and Cam was making it worse. What he really wanted was to go back onto the porch with Bailey, to hold her hand and stare silently into the warm, dark night.

“The place looks good,” Cam said to try and cover the stilted, awkward silence.

“Thanks,” Cal said, smiling slightly at Maggie as she set a mug of coffee and a plate of cookies before him. He reached for a cookie and then set it back down, standing. “I need some air, excuse me.”

He stalked through the house, onto the porch, and kept going, suddenly claustrophobic and unable to breathe. Bailey stood and watched as he sprinted to the barn and took off. A second later, Cam bolted onto the porch.

“Which way did he go?” he asked.

“He took off on his horse.”

Cam took a step as if to go after him, but Bailey stood. “I’ll go, if you don’t mind.”

“No, I…okay.” He remained rooted to the spot while she sped to the barn and tore out, barebacked. When he couldn’t see her in the distance anymore, he turned and went back to the kitchen.

“Did you find him?” Maggie asked.

“Bailey went after him. That’s kind of odd, don’t you think?” He settled into a chair. Maggie slid into his lap, resting her head on his shoulder.

“She’s in love with him.”

“You saw her for thirty seconds. How could you possibly know that?”

“I have this thing called intuition,” she said.

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