Page 18 of The Cowboy's Redemption
The sliding door to the main part of the barn rolled easily on its track when Dana pushed. Inside, the barn smelled of horse dung, molasses, and age. A storm lantern, complete with clear oil and a neatly trimmed wick, dangled from a heavy, low beam cracked with age near the door. A box of matches perched above it, on the beam. It was dark and dusty and dry, and a fire hazard at best.
A wooden grain bin in a corner explained the smell of malt and molasses. It also explained the fat, indolent tabby sitting on it, emerald eyes narrowed to slits, its tail swishing idly. Grain bins attracted rodents and most barns kept cats.
“Hey, kitty,” Dana crooned, rubbing its cheek with a cautious knuckle. Cats could be temperamental, but this one leaned into her caress, its body thrumming like an old diesel engine.
Otto kept a clean barn. At some point he’d gone so far as to sweep the cobwebs off the windows and beams and out of the crooks and nannies. But an air of neglect had begun to seep in. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she got the sense that he hadn’t spent much time in here lately. How long had he been sick? How fast had it hit him?
Overall, however, everything appeared in order. She slid the door closed, then eyed the log cabin. She couldn’t put it off any longer. She should check on Otto.
She knocked softly, in case he was asleep, but he wasn’t.
“Come in,” he called out, his voice unexpectedly strong.
She pushed on the door, braced for the worst. She hadn’t taken much note of his home after she’d found him collapsed on the doorstep earlier and helped him to bed. She’d been far too panicked.
But if asked what an old hermit’s living quarters might look like, this was not how she’d have described them. Clever storage spaces, shining windows, neatly swept, polished floor…the cabin was spotless. Even the wood stove shone like new.
And now she knew why she’d gotten the sense of neglect in the barn. The same sense struck her here. There was no clutter. No task in progress to occupy his spare time. He’d puttered and tidied, but nothing appeared to have been used. She couldn’t say in how long.
He looked so frail.
“Can I fix you something to eat?” she asked.
“Not hungry. But I wouldn’t mind if you sat with me a while. No need to talk if you aren’t interested,” he added. “But it’d be nice to have an angel close by. Scares off the devil.”
The sturdy, handcrafted table owned one equally sturdy chair. She kicked off her boots and left them by the door, then dragged the heavy chair to Otto’s bedside and sat down. “I’m happy to talk, if that’s what you want. But not about the devil. I doubt if he even knows you exist,” she said.
That earned her a smile.
“Then let’s talk about Tanoa and get that out of the way.” He gathered his breath. The colorful quilt covering his chest rose and fell a few beats. “I’ll let George know she’s yours. But she comes at a price,” he warned her. “I never give them away.”
“Nor should you,” Dana said, not about to haggle with him. She didn’t know how she’d make the payments, but she’d take that up with the lawyer. “Thank you. You don’t need to worry about how well I’ll treat her. I love her already.”
Otto ran out of steam and closed his eyes. Dana watched until he appeared to have fallen asleep, then rose and searched for something useful to do. She peered around a half-opened door near the head of his bed. At some point, he’d added a tiny extension to the cabin that contained a compostable toilet. It resolved one issue she’d worried about, since an outhouse was out of the question for him.
An oak icebox lurked in a corner behind the front door. She opened it up to find a block of half-melted ice in one side, and an almost-empty container of milk, two loaves of bread, a brick of home-churned butter, a jar of mayonnaise, and some sliced, packaged meat in the other. A drain pan in the bottom of the icebox held enough water that she pulled it out and took it outside to empty, where she dawdled in the warm sunshine, admiring the horses while killing time.
Lady was restless and the penned stallion turned his head in her direction often enough to make Dana think it might be wise if she moved Lady to either the barn or the trailer. She wasn’t in heat yet—most riders were aware of their horses’ cycles—but she would be soon, and a fence wouldn’t stop an intrigued male, no matter how quiet he seemed.
Once Levi returned, she’d load Lady up and they’d be on their way.
She was sliding the cleaned drain pan into place on the icebox when Otto spoke again. “How did you and Tanner come to be together, anyway?”
Dana’s brain froze for a second, along with her motions. Then she checked to make sure the drain pan was secure while she contemplated her answer.The sex was fantasticwas hardly appropriate, even if it was honest.
“We went to a lot of the same PBR-sanctioned rodeos,” she said carefully. Once they’d both made pro, they often ran into each other because his sister Tate had been a barrel racer too.
“There were better bull riders than him, though. What set him apart?”
“He was so sweet and good-natured.” Her heart started to pound. The chemistry had been…too good to be true, and everyone knew the saying about that. She shook it off and continued, choosing a less intimate route for her response. “So full of life. He had tons of self-confidence, but there was no ego to him.” She pretended to tidy the icebox’s sparse tenants, rearranging them in alphabetical order. Anything to keep her hands busy.
“He was good-natured, alright,” Otto said. His weak voice managed to carry a frown. “And full of life—I’ll give you that. Good-looking, too. As for the ego… How long before you figured out the self-confidence was an act?”
Too long.
She closed the icebox and avoided the question. “You’d know more about any insecurities than me. You knew him better.”
“I knew him longer, and in a different way,” Otto corrected her. “Although it didn’t take much to figure out the two of you weren’t gonna last, the first time I met you. He was a good boy and a hard worker. Don’t get me wrong. I was fond of him. Ford and Levi, too. But self-confidence isn’t a problem for you, while Tanner’s was directly related to how successful his parents told him he was. He would have disappointed them sooner or later, and he knew it. The boy was a dreamer who never once thought anything through to the end. Worst decision-maker I ever met. He had to rely on Levi to keep him out of trouble. And Ford and that feisty sister of theirs. He was always jealous of them, even though on the outside looking in, he was the one who seemed to have the most going for him.”
