A Cowboy for Mom (3 page)

Chapter Three

Washing up in the barn after the day’s work,
Carson
’s mind was still
on Monica whatever-her-name-was. There was something about her that was tugging
at his brain. Something in the way she moved and, most especially, that comment
about the stick up his ass.

Oh, that had definitely gotten his attention. Smart-alecky
comments usually did. But it had been another tug on his memory.
One that he’d been mulling over all day long, and basically trying
to drive himself insane with, apparently.

Carson
headed outside, leaving the guys to finish cleaning up
before they came to dinner. He really wanted a shower but knew there was no
time for it. Besides, if Monica was going to be there for three weeks, she’d
better get used to him and the hands as they were—more than a little rough
around the edges, and not particularly caring about who they offended, some
more than others.

Stepping into the house, he inhaled…mmm…Esther had made her
famous pot roast. Hanging his Stetson on the coatrack, he shoved a hand through
his hair and headed into the kitchen. “Something smells good,” he commented as
he came in. She would deck him with a spoon if he snuck up on her. He’d learned
that the hard way, more than once.

She turned, eyed him up and down, and then nodded. Grinning
that he’d apparently passed muster,
Carson
went to the fridge to grab a beer. Twisting the cap off, he shot it into the
garbage with a double bank that had Esther giving him the evil eye. Okay, so he
did that just to get on her nerves, but it was fun too.

Monica and Carrie both came into the kitchen, Monica giving
Carrie a look as she took a seat at her side. “It smells wonderful. Again, I
insist that Carrie and I do dishes after dinner.” She spoke to Esther and
ignored
Carson
.
She was praying that Carrie’s decision to color her hair purple and have it
spiked with the faux nose rings would keep his eyes off the fact that she looked
just like his damn mother, God rest her soul. “You should at least wash your
hands,” she shot to
Carson
,
however. “It would take all of two minutes,” she muttered. It was the
disrespect to Esther that he came to the table with dirty hands that bothered her
more than anything else. Damn her and her big mouth though.

“I did, with a scrub brush even,” he said, cocking a brow
at her. “Esther doesn’t let anyone in her kitchen that doesn’t pass muster. It
might be my house and property, but she runs this room with an iron fist. But
if you’re worried, you can inspect my hands if you want,” he offered, a small
grin on his lips.

“That’s perfectly fine, thanks so much,” she grumbled and
settled in beside Carrie once more. “Will you at least take the earbuds out, for
the love of God?” she grumbled. She tugged one free and gave Carrie the eye
.

“Sure, Monica.”

Deep and calming breath
.
Monica closed her eyes, counted to ten, and then through
ground teeth,
said
 
“
Mom.”

The girl just grinned and shot
Carson
another dirty look and a one-finger
salute when Esther’s back was turned.

Now
Carson
’s
attention was solely on her daughter, his eyes focused and sharp. And that
little furrow began to appear between his brows as he started to frown slightly
in concentration. She could practically hear the wheels turning in his head,
not slow in the least, no,
Carson
always had a sharp mind. Thankfully though, his attention was yanked away as
the hands all started to pile into the kitchen. Each stopped to kiss Esther on
the cheek and show her their hands before stepping around her to grab a beer
from the fridge.

Monica leaned into Carrie and said, “Quit pulling a wolf’s
tail. I mean it. Stop it, Carrie.” Then she smiled at the men as they began to
pile into the kitchen. She shook a few hands, took a few pics, and then finally
turned her head. “Just sit down. Esther has cooked this meal for us so we
should enjoy it, right?” she asked with a smile.

“Aw, come on, Mom, maybe it’s time to get a date,” Carrie
grumbled.

“Shut. It,” was all that Monica could say.

Thankfully,
Carson
had missed her daughter’s words, since his head was bent as he listened to
something Esther was saying. Nodding, he pressed a kiss to the woman’s cheek
and then stepped away from her. “Dig in everyone,” he said before leaving the
room.

Esther brought over the meat and set the platter down
amongst the other bits and pieces of the huge meal she’d prepared. Pressing her
hands to two of the farmhand’s shoulders, they all bowed their heads for a
moment before the woman announced, “Eat!” in an imperious tone.

Monica grinned and shook her head. She ignored the fact
that
Carson
had
left the room, and instead simply got a plate ready for Carrie and herself.
When they had their plates, she began to eat and talk quietly with the men that
were all more than willing and ready to share a tale of living on a ranch.

“Es, where’d boss man get to?” one of the hands asked as
dishes were passed around at near-dizzying speeds.

“His sister called and wanted him to check in with her
after the doctor’s appointment he had yesterday, but he of course got busy and
forgot. The message she left today made him
decide
to
call her, and as he so quaintly puts it, get her off his back,” the older woman
said. The men on either side of her were filling her plate as she sat back for
a moment to relax.

There were a few muttered comments in regard to
Carson
’s sister that were
actually a little shocking to hear. Apparently, the hands didn’t hold her in
very high regard.

“What’s wrong with him?” Monica heard herself asking. “He
looks fit enough.” Maybe it was to remove the stick from his ass. No wonder he
hadn’t wanted shit to do with her when she came to tell him she was pregnant.
He didn’t want
kids, that
much was pretty obvious, or
he would be married with a little one by now.

Carrie looked up at her mom and grinned, “Care, Mom?”

Deep and calming breaths
.
“And?
He’s our trainer for the
next three weeks so of course I care.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Mom,” Carrie grumbled, “You
just keep on lying to yourself, good thing I know the truth.”

Jesus, her kid had a mouth on her. It was all her fault and
she damn well knew it. The kid was hers and
Carson
’s so of course she would have a mouth
on her.

Esther waved a hand, “Just the migraines again. He gets
them now and again ever since the accident he had, oh, when was it, Nate?” She
looked to one of the hands.

“‘Bout fifteen years ago, give or take a few days,” the
hand answered. He squinted up at the ceiling and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds
‘bout right to me.”

“I think you are right, dear,” she said with a smile. “He
was in a coma for a good month and then had to deal with physio and such after
that. The fact that he’s back working everyday and walking is the true miracle.
We all figured he’d be paralyzed, but that boy has always been stubborn and
does pretty much the opposite of whatever he’s told he can’t do.”

“Brought the ranch back from ruins from his hospital bed,”
another hand said. “The whole place was sliding into the hole with his sister
in charge out here. As soon as he was conscious, he was back working as best he
could, even though his brains were more than a little scrambled.”

“Couldn’t talk, could barely move two fingers on his left
hand,” another picked up. “Hell of a thing, that. We all got to see him, those
of us here that were still working the ranch at the time, and not a one of us
thought he’d be back full force.”

“The doctors are worried the migraines are a symptom of
something else leftover from the accident,” Esther said. “I think he’s just
been stressed about this whole thing with your people. He’s not big on
outsiders around here, especially when it’s his and our livelihood at stake.”

“Well, we will do all that we can in order to minimize the
impact we make on your lives. Just treat us as extra hands,” Monica whispered.
Accident.
Her brain couldn’t seem to wrap around that
fact. Fifteen years ago. That’s when she would have come to them to tell him
she was pregnant.

“What happened to him?” It was actually Carrie that asked
that question. “The accident I mean, what happened to him?”

“It was just under a year after he’d lost his mama,” Esther
said. “God rest her soul.” She made the sign of the cross, as did all the men
at the table while they murmured the same words. “He was out breaking a horse when
a rabbit spooked it. The horse went absolutely crazy and the screams could be
heard all over the ranch. I went racing out to see what was going on and saw
the horse jumping and twisting, bucking like nothing else, and
Carson
on his back holding for dear life.
Then…” She stopped and looked away.

The ranch hand to her right put an arm around her shoulders
and gave her a hug. He also picked up where she’d broken off. “He was thrown,
straight into a post. That would have been bad enough, except it was the one
next to the old well pump and gave way. Esther screamed for help and those of
us close enough raced out to find him already in a pool of blood. We knew we
didn’t have a lot of time, not with what he was losing from the head wound, but
also the chunk of broken post through his shoulder. We rigged up a backboard,
tied him down, and hauled ass for the hospital. The doctors told us as they
wheeled him into surgery that if we’d waited for the ambulance or the
helicopter, he would have died. We got him there within seconds, with seconds
left to spare.”

“Jesus,” Monica whispered. “The poor man went through hell.
That he’s still alive and functioning is a miracle,” And all this time she had
believed his sister, believed the venom that the bitch had told her that day.
“It has to be that hard head of his, or the fact that the man has a stubborn
streak a mile and a half wide,” she grumbled.
“Because there
isn’t a more stubborn being in the world.”
She looked at Carrie and
grinned, laughing and shaking her head. “Well, let’s just hope that the doctors
have cleared him to have us, otherwise, I’m sure that they will all have my
studio’s ass.”

“He’s fine,” said another ranch hand, with a grin and a
wink. “The doctor just gave him a few different herbal remedies to help him
with the tension that causes the migraines. As long as he does what he’s told
and you city slickers don’t piss him off too badly, he’ll be fine.”

Carson
came back then and stopped as the entire table looked his
way. “I have this horrible feeling you were all just discussing me. Should I
leave to let you finish?” he asked.

Esther pointed a finger at the only empty seat at the
table. Rolling his eyes, he sat down. “So, is she happy again?” the woman
asked.

“Dunno
,
Bev was out with Collin at
some school thing. So I talked to Mark and told him all was well and to let her
know when she got back.”

Esther’s lips thinned and she looked like she wanted to say
something else. But with amazing restraint the woman resisted, and began to eat
her meal while
Carson
filled his plate.

Carrie looked at
Carson
and asked, “Can I see your scars sometime? I think that the studio gets them
wrong but they don’t listen to me. I’m just a nobody and all that
,
 
I
think that scars
are cool. But the people who try to make them, I swear that they’ve never seen
them before. Mom’s got one, and it’s a weird looking one too from some...” Her
words were trailed off when Monica covered her daughter’s mouth.

“They seriously don’t need to know about my scars,” she
muttered. Not when
Carson
had been there that day she got the scar. It had been a stupid accident—they
were diving into the quarry and she misjudged the rocks. She ended up with a
scar on her ass from that little incident.

Carson
was staring at the two of them with a confused look before
something obviously clicked. His eyes narrowed and he shot a deadly look at all
of the ranch hands and Esther. The older woman was immune but the hands were
all bent over their plates, practically shoveling their food in as fast as they
could manage.

Monica could hear when he popped his jaw and watched as he
took a slow, deep breath, the tension leeching off him. “There’s not much to
see, they’re pretty grisly and all that. Not something anyone should have to
see,” he said to her daughter.

“I still think they’re cool,” Carrie said with a shrug.
“But whatever,
its
chill.” She went back to eating,
effectively ignoring her father.