Page 2 of Her Cowboy Baby Daddy
“Spence. It’s been a while.”
He smiled and noticed that she didn’t drop her gaze after speaking, like she used to. “It has. I’m home until fall, helping. Dad is having back surgery at the end of the month.”
“So you stopped by to say hello?” she asked.
He felt color creep up his neck. That would have been the neighborly thing to do, considering how she’d done him a solid back in the day, but the truth was that he’d never thought to stop and say hello to his shy neighbor. Once their adventure had ended, Hayley had seemed fine never speaking to him again, putting their relationship back where it had been before she’d saved his ass. A nod in the hallways when they’d passed one another, but only if she couldn’t pretend that she didn’t see him.
Spence was still searching for a suitable reply when Hayley suddenly smiled. “It’s good to see you, Spence.”
He tipped his head to one side. She’d been teasing him? Hayley Parker wasn’t the type who teased. Or at least he hadn’t read her that way back when he’d been a thick-headed teen. He allowed himself a half smile as he met her challenge.
“What if I am here to say hello?”
She pretended to consider, then shook her head. “I don’t see it happening.”
He spread his hands. “Yet here I am.”
She crossed her arms and shifted her weight, a faint smile still playing on her lips as she lifted her eyebrows. “Didyou stop to say hello?”
“I stopped because I found a dog.”
“Really?” She came out from where she’d stood half-shielded by the tractor tire, suddenly interested. “What kind of dog?”
“A small one. Scruffy hair. Wearing a red harness thing.” As he spoke, he knew that he was probably going to have a dog on his hands for a while, because Hayley did not seem to own the animal.
“Do you have the dog with you?”
“I do.” He motioned toward his truck with his head, and together they walked through the open bay door and across the driveway. “Indulging in a little tractor repair?” he asked as they crossed the gravel. He was surprised; not because she was a woman—no brother of Em Keller was going to make that mistake—but because she’d always been so deeply academic.
Perhaps the way she’d gotten you out of the shed should have clued you in to the fact that she had hidden skills.
Indeed, it would have, if he hadn’t been so focused on making the big game.
“Maintained equipment lasts longer.” She glanced up at him as if to ascertain whether he was aware of that life hack.
He was, but he wasn’t familiar with this not-so-shy side of Hayley. Well, it had been over a decade since they’d last spoken, when she’d graduated high school the same year as his younger twin siblings, Cade and Em.
The dog came alive when Hayley leaned into the truck.
“What have you been up to, Greta?” she said to the wiggling terrier, before glancing up at Spence. “I know this dog.”
“No kidding.”
“I fostered her before she found her forever home.”
“I found her beside the road, hiding in the bushes. Any idea who adopted her?”
“Someone on the Hunt Ranch.”
So his least likely scenario—that the little dog had crossed Keller property from the Hunt Ranch—was the correct one. Huh. She didn’t look like she had that many miles in her short legs, but he couldn’t say he faulted her for leaving the Hunt Ranch. He had issues with the management there.
“Do you want me to deliver her home?” he asked.
“Why don’t you leave her with me, and I’ll contact the shelter, and we’ll work it from that angle.”
“You’re sure?”
The dog climbed into her arms. “I am,” she said, rubbing the dog’s ears, before giving him a sideways look. “I’m glad you found her.”
