Page 16 of Unforgettable Cowboy
“You’re still going to town?”
“It’s Friday.I want to get my silver.”
He thought about offering to pick it up, then decided that if she wanted to go herself, so be it.She probably had other things to do on top of stopping at the post office.“Let me grab you something.I have to leave, too.Tractor needs parts.”
“I can handle changing without you.”
He smirked at her, and she smirked right back.“White T-shirt okay?”
“Anything.Thank you.”She fell in step as he headed toward the house.
Hayes went to his room, pulled a shirt out of his yet-to-be-unpacked duffel and then joined Bailey in the laundry room where she was standing at the utility sink, next to the crumpled horse blanket, sponging the mud off her jeans.She’d gotten herself into trouble, then got back out on her own.Something stirred in him that he didn’t care to look at too closely, so he pushed the feeling aside as he laid the shirt on the top of the washer.
“I need to get going,” he said.“Can’t risk having the tractor down.”
“Thanks, Hayes.”
It was the first time she’d said his name with any warmth, and again he felt things stir inside him that were better left dormant.
“You bet.”He gave her a quick nod and headed for the door.
*
Bailey just madeit into the post office in time to collect her parcel.She bypassed the grocery store—a rare event on her equally rare trips to town—but on a whim, slowed when she drove past Edna’s Dog Rescue and the sign outside said, “Open Today.”
Impulse dog shopping.Why not?After spending too much time wallowing in mud that day, she needed a distraction.
When Bailey got out of her truck, she found the place oddly quiet for being a rescue facility.The grassy pen at the side of the building held only two dogs, sleeping in the shade of the lilac bush.She stopped in front of the bulletin board outside the animal shelter as a computer-generatedWantedposter caught her eye.In the center was a zoomed photo of the cutest tri-color collie mix trotting along with something in his teeth.The poster was captioned, “Have You Seen This Dog?”
“A joke from one of the staff,” the woman tending the counter said when Bailey entered the shelter.The woman’s gaze traveled over Bailey’s face in a way that made Bailey wonder if she’d missed some mud spots.At least Hayes’s T-shirt was pristine.It’d been a day.“That’s Rascal.”
“Did he escape?”
“Has yet to be caught.He’s wanted in several robberies.”
“No kidding.”
“He takes things and leaves them elsewhere.Just yesterday he was seen trotting down Main Street with a child’s backpack, which he abandoned outside the Java Café.”
“And you can’t catch him?”
“We’re not trying that hard—yet.Someone is obviously feeding him.We don’t know for sure that he’s homeless, thus the poster and the Facebook alert on the community page.We’re asking for information.He seems healthy and happy other than his tendency toward kleptomania.”
“Do you have any dogs who aren’t kleptomaniacs?”
The woman sucked air between her teeth.“We just had an adoption event, and it was very successful.We have the two older sweethearts sleeping outside, but they are geriatric and require special care.”
“Okay.”Bailey was aware of a deep sense of disappointment at the thought of returning to her lonely home.Maybe she had been meant to have neighbors, even though the neighbors she’d had before selling her house had driven her a little nuts with late-night parties and too much yelling over trivial matters.
“We also have three dogs in the process of rehabilitation with their foster families.Abandoned dogs sometimes have issues.”
“Well, I’m glad the event was successful.I don’t think an older dog will fit my needs.I travel and I don’t know how comfortable they would be on the road.”And she wished she’d known about the adoption event, but that’s what happened when a person lived off the grid, immersed in their own solitary world.
“Would you like to fill out a form?Just in case?At this time next week, we may have all the kennels loaded.There’s no telling.”
Bailey smiled, forgetting her for-the-best platitude.“Sure.”
After finishing the form, on which she indicated she was looking for a companion to travel with for part of the year, she stepped out into the sunlight.In a week and a half, the town would be transformed due to the Copper Mountain Rodeo.The shops would be decorated with rodeo themes and the sales she’d looked forward to every year would commence.There’d be a street dance and dinners and fundraisers.She’d be in her booth alongside other vendors—saddle makers, leather workers, weavers, jewelry makers, artists and various western artisans—on the rodeo grounds until the welcome dinner commenced.At that time the vendors closed up shop and joined the townsfolk and rodeo competitors for some quality party time.
