area, he couldn’t help but take note of the freshly painted blue walls that had been adorned with the oddest forms of artwork—the label side of a wooden produce crate that advertised Parnell’s Apple Farm, an old mirror framed with pieces of broken ceramic, a coatrack made out of doorknobs...
She’d placed a whitewashed bookshelf against one wall. Instead of books, it held various knickknacks. A bouquet of bluebonnets in a Mason jar sat on top. The furniture was old, and while the decor was kind of funky, the house had a cozy appeal.
“So you’re running the old Double H Ranch?” Mr. Murdock asked Toby, lasting only a couple of minutes before he broke Angie’s orders to stay quiet. It was hard to take the crotchety old man seriously with the green mud caked onto his face and his lips barely able to move.
“Sure am,” Toby replied, warming up to his favorite subject—his ranch. “We have more than three hundred head of cattle now, and I’ve been doing some breeding.”
“I used to do some roping back before I enlisted, you know. Could probably still out-rope most of you young upstarts. I should swing by your place and we could have a little contest.”
What was it with this old man and contests? Apparently his competitiveness went well beyond the high-school football field.
Before Toby could politely decline the challenge, the door swung open and the girls came out.
Angie had apparently swapped the denim shorts for a yellow floral sundress, yet she was still barefoot, her toenails painted the same pink shade as Kylie’s—minus the horse.
“We had a really good day,” Angie said, her face clean, her eyes bright.
“We did, too,” he said.
“Did you catch anything?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“I used to catch all kinds of stuff out at Cutter’s Pond,” Mr. Murdock chimed in, while the boys continued to stare at the old swamp monster look-alike as if he were a real hero come to life. “Still hold the record for the biggest trout ever caught in Horseback Hollow. Nobody’s beat me yet.”
“Okay, Mr. Murdock, you should be dry.” Angie patted her landlord on his shoulder. “You can probably go home and wash your face now.”
“Roger that,” the old coot replied as he shuffled toward the door and back to the main house. The former marine looked like a strong Texas wind would knock him over, and Toby doubted the man was in any shape to rope a tractor on his ranch, let alone a longhorn steer, although he’d never say so out loud.
Instead, he nodded at the interior of Angie’s little house, at the freshly painted blue walls. “I like what you’ve done with this place. You certainly have a creative side.”
“You think so? Thanks.” She scanned the cramped quarters, too. “The house was empty for nearly twenty years, so it was pretty stuffy and drab when I moved in. I spent a couple of days cleaning and airing it out. I’ve also learned how to decorate on a shoestring budget, which has been fun.”
“I can see that. You’ve done a great job. Where did you find this stuff?”
“Some of it was already here—like the furniture. I picked up the paint on sale when I was in Vicker’s Corners the other day. Someone had ordered the wrong color, so it was practically free. I’ve also been picking up odds and ends at garage sales. Then I figured out a way to make them pretty—or at least, interesting.”
“I’m impressed. You’re quite the homemaker.”
She brightened, and her wholesome beauty stunned him. Not that he hadn’t noticed before, but he’d never seen her blue eyes light up when she smiled like that.
“To tell you the truth,” he added, “I was surprised to hear that you’d moved in here. The windows had been boarded up for ages, and the weeds had grown up so high that most people forgot that there was a little house back here at all.”
“Mr. Murdock and I were talking one day at the Superette, and he mentioned that he needed to hire someone to do some chores for him. I told him I had some free time. And when I spotted the little house, I asked if he’d be interested in renting it to me.”
“I’d think you would have preferred to find a place that wouldn’t have required as much work.”
She shrugged. “Let’s just say that, like Mr. Murdock, I love a challenge. Besides, his sons live out of state, so he’s all alone. Plus, this way, I can look out for him and let him think he’s looking out for me.”
Toby had always thought Angie was a bit shallow, although he couldn’t say why he’d come to that conclusion. Probably because he’d heard a few people say that she was flighty. But apparently, he’d been wrong. There was more to her than he’d given her credit for.
He also owed her for taking care of Kylie today, although something told him she wouldn’t accept any money for doing it. So it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to say, “We’re going to have burgers at The Grill. Would you like to join us?”
And it seemed even more natural for her to respond, “Sure. Why not?”
The Horseback Hollow Grill, which was attached to the Two Moon Saloon, wasn’t much to shout about when it came to eateries. But it was one of the only options in town. Fortunately, they served the juiciest burgers and dogs, fresh-cut fries and a mean grilled-cheese sandwich.
As Angie climbed from Toby’s lifted truck, she couldn’t help but smile. If her mom could see her now, the poor woman would be torn between deep anxiety and despair.
First of all, she’d be dancing on clouds to see Angie enter a restaurant with one of the Fortune Jones men, even if it was only The Grill. Doris assumed all the Fortunes were wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, although local rumor had it that the Horseback Hollow branch of the family hadn’t struck any gold.
According to what Angie had heard, Jeanne Marie Fortune Jones had been adopted. And when her birth brother, James Marshall Fortune, had found her last year, he’d given her a portion of his stock in the family company. But when she found out those shares were supposed to go to his kids, she’d refused it.
Nevertheless, even with a boatload of cash, a man with three kids wasn’t the catch Angie’s mom had been hoping she’d snag.
Of course, this wasn’t a date by any stretch of the word. Toby had only included her in the family plans because he was a nice guy. And Angie had accepted because she’d had nothing better to do and was on an especially tight budget these days.
As they entered the small-town restaurant, where artificial flowers in hammered coffeepots sat on old-style tables with rounded edges encased in silver metal, Angie realized they weren’t the only ones in Horseback Hollow who’d decided to pick up a quick meal tonight. The place was certainly hopping.
Toby nodded toward an empty booth by the window, one of the few places to sit that weren’t taken.
“Can we play in the game room for a while?” Justin asked.
Angie
