Page 59 of Cowboy Heat
Then I make my way to the bedroom and shut the door tight behind me.
If I didn’t fall asleep the second my head hit the pillow, I might’ve taken a moment to wonder why I’m so upset.
But I’m asleep, the melting bag of vegetable medley beside me on the bedspread.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Beau
I sleepa few hours but am making coffee just after five-thirty. The sun is coming up; apparently Micah has beaten it. I see the boy through the front windows, standing against the partially destroyed wooden fence just past the car. He’s looking out at the land. Not much to see but grass and trees out there.
I take my coffee and join him.
“And here I thought I was an early riser,” I say in greeting.
I’m glad Kissy has already vouched for me—and that her word means so much to him—because Micah jumps a little but stays his ground. He’s not threatened by me anymore. At least, not scared.
“I like that it’s quiet here,” he says, matter-of-factly. “And everyone gets up early where I live.”
I take a long pull from my coffee and nod. I can appreciate the sentiment of enjoying the quiet. And he is right. It’s quiet. Sure, there are birds and bugs and some wind singing through the ranch, but that’s where it stops. No city howling. No house filled with kids and adults rattling around. No distant sirens.
Just a bit of peace as the sun rises.
“What are you going to do with this place?”
Micah’s question catches me somewhat off guard. Mainly because I don’t know yet. All I can do is say as much. “I’m not sure,” I answer. “I hear Blue Lolita can be a lot of different things, but I’m not the only one who owns it now. I actually only own about ten acres of it. To tell you the truth, I’m not even sure which ten acres are mine. The rest is split between my brothers.”
Micah doesn’t seem surprised. I figure word about the Montgomery boys and their inheritance has made the rounds. Six men inheriting one ranch in the middle of Louisiana sounds a lot more sensational than it is.
The boy points out ahead and to the right. “I hope you own the ten acres that way. The big barn is there, and the horse stables are next to it. But I’d take the barn and the field with it then just visit the stables. I like that field a lot.”
I incline my head with real interest. “What’s so special about it?”
Micah zips his mouth shut. His entire body broadcasts tension.
I backtrack quick. “I only ask because I’ve never really been on a ranch before. I’ve been to a farm, but it was mostly chickens. Smelled like poop and made one of my brothers almost throw up. Have you ever smelled a bunch of chicken poop?”
Micah laughs, falling back out of whatever he’d just fallen in. “No, but one time Kissy and I went to a petting zoo, and the goat pen smelled awful. We held our shirts over our noses.” He lifts the collar of the one he’s wearing now to show me. I laugh picturing it.
“Well, I’m not sure if we’ll make this a cattle ranch or a horse ranch or something else, but I’ll see about that land.” I remember the map Kissy gave me. On our tour, I saw the barn in question, but we hadn’t toured every inch of it. I wonder how Ryan used it.Ifhe used it.
“I’d get some horses.” Micah’s voice is definitive.
“Have you ridden before?”
He shakes his head. “But I heard you were a cowboy, so you’ll need some horses at some point, right?” Normally, I’d roll that comment off, but Micah lives with Guidry, the only person to talk about cowboys at length to me since I came to Robin’s Tree. I take a drink of my coffee and make sure I choose my words carefully. “I’m not a cowboy, but I heard Blue Lolita had some back in the day. That true?”
Micah nods. “The Bayou Cowboys. They fought the bad guys when the good guys wouldn’t. They saved the day a lot like that. Like superheroes, but, well, with horses.” Micah’s tone is all admiration now. It doesn’t match with Guidry’s obvious wariness about the cowboys coming back. I wonder who told him about them. I don’t have to wonder long. “May told me she knows someone who fell in love with one of the cowboys when she was a teenager and that he rode into town on a big black horse and saved her from the bad guys. The lady gave May a picture of him in secret. She didn’t tell me who the lady was, but I’ve seen the picture.” He lowers her voice. “Not everyone likes what the cowboys did, so her showing it to me was a big deal.”
There’s pride that comes through with a puffed-out chest.
“May must like you a lot to trust you then,” I offer.
He nods, clearly very smitten. “We’re a team.”
I smile. “It’s always nice to have one of those.”
The conversation goes easier for the next little bit. I drink my coffee, and Micah talks about the ranch more. He asks me about myself, and I tell him about my brothers, and how I used to live in the city as a detective. I notice he stays away from the sensitive topics like my scar, something his eyes go to several times, and the nitty-gritty of what being a detective was like. I don’t think it’s because of Guidry’s hand in raising him but instead know it’s all Kissy.
