The man stepped into a pool of light, and she found herself staring into Ryan Gallagher’s eyes.
“How easily you seem to forget,” he said coolly. “At least you’re consistent.”
Cody anxiously tugged at her sleeve. “Please, Mom. He says I can have another ride. Please? You said we’d get horses when we moved, and this one is beautiful. Please, Mom!”
Kristin stared down at him, then shifted her attention back to Ryan. “I don’t understand. Why are you here?”
“You city folks might let your kids run, but you can’t do that here. Not with a child who doesn’t know the area or how to get back home.” His tone was excessively patient, as if he was trying to explain something to a person with limited mental capacity. “Your boy was over a half mile into the Four Aces.”
“I’ve been searching for him everywhere. I just came inside to call for help.”
Ryan glanced at the TV, which was on and inexplicably now coming in clear as a bell. He raised a brow as he turned back to her, clearly imagining that she’d simply been sitting in here watching a rerun of Friends. “If I hadn’t been riding this evening, Cody might’ve kept going in the wrong direction, in a remote pasture that holds several hundred unpredictable mother cows and calves. He could’ve been trampled, or developed hypothermia by later tonight.”
Kristin shuddered. “He is never to leave this property. He knows that.”
“We’ve also got hunting leases on that land. A careless hunter might see a sudden movement and shoot before thinking.” Ryan glanced down at the boy and paused. “Keep him home, and make sure you know where he is.”
His obvious assumption of negligence rankled for a split second, but he was right. She shouldn’t have let Cody out of her sight, and she could only feel gratitude and heartfelt relief that Ryan had come to his rescue.
“I can’t thank you enough for bringing Cody back,” she said quietly. “If there’s ever any way I can repay you—”
“Please, Mom,” Cody begged. “Can I ride again?”
Kristin gently took his beloved face in her hands. “The answer is no. Absolutely no. You ran off, and you never said a word. You left the yard, which is against the rules, and this nice man had to interrupt his evening to bring you back.”
She straightened and pointed to the stairs. “One hour, time-out. Now.”
His eyes filled with sudden tears, but he slowly trudged away, his head bowed, looking for all the world like someone headed for death row.
“I’m really sorry for all your trouble,” Kristin said, turning back to Ryan. “I promise—”
But he was already gone.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE MOMENT KRISTIN opened the door of her aunt RaeJean’s beauty salon, she knew it was a mistake to stop by on a busy Saturday morning…especially with Cody in tow.
“Lord almighty!” RaeJean Barker exclaimed, tossing aside her comb and brush. “Aren’t you just as cute as a sack full o’ puppies today?”
Cody cringed against Kristin’s side and tried to wiggle away, but RaeJean was faster.
She barreled up to him, gave his shoulders an affectionate squeeze, then tapped under his chin with one crimson-tipped fingernail. “And aren’t them just the prettiest eyes? Just like your momma’s.” She winked at him as she pulled a shiny fifty-cent piece out of the pocket of her pink uniform jacket. Flipping it high in the air, she caught it and offered it on her outstretched palm. “You look like a cowboy in need of a Coke.”
He stared up at her, his mouth open, and Kristin prayed he wouldn’t comment on RaeJean’s flamered curls or turquoise eye shadow. She was, undoubtedly, the most colorful person he’d ever seen.
“Can you say thanks?” Kristin prodded.
He mumbled something and dropped his gaze to his Nike runners, his ears pink.
RaeJean beamed her approval as she hiked a thumb toward the back of the salon. “Minifridge is back there. Or you can go to the vending machine next door, right in front of the saddle shop. They got more flavors, but it’s not near as cold.”
Cody nodded shyly, then shuffled across the room as if he were crossing enemy territory.
No wonder.
Nothing much had changed here since Kristin’s childhood. Fluffy pink curtains hung at the windows, pink flamingo wallpaper still covered the walls. Ornate, gold-framed mirrors topped the two cluttered workstations, matching the heavy gold wall sconces and frames on the pictures of outdated hairstyles.
The explosion of baroque decorations and bawdy femininity, coupled with the sharp scents of bleach and perm chemicals, nearly took Kristin’s own breath away.
She glanced over the row of women settled under the six dryers at the back of the room, who were watching them with avid interest. Women who, when they walked out the door, would be wearing identical, tightly curled helmets reminiscent of the 1960s. Whatever the request, RaeJean always proceeded to do exactly what she thought best, and that was the one style she did for “women of a certain age.”
Which explained, unfortunately, the number of do-it-yourself haircuts in town and the exodus of the well-to-do to the upscale shops in San Antonio.
“Um…maybe Cody and I should stop back later. I thought you’d be closing about now.”
“Lordy, no. Had a full schedule this morning and Carlita didn’t show up—morning sickness, she says.” RaeJean lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “I figure she decided to sleep late and go off for the day with that fool husband of hers. Ain’t two ways about it, that girl is on her last chance at the Snip and Curl.”
“I think,” Kristin murmured, hiding a smile at the reverent tone RaeJean always used for the name of her shop, “that you were saying the same thing when I was in town for my daddy’s funeral going on two years ago.”
Her hands on her ample hips, RaeJean snorted. “Meant it then, and I mean it now.” Behind her, a timer buzzed, but she waved away the sound as if it were an annoying fly and fixed a stern eye on Kristin’s shoulder-length hair. “Now, what can I do for you? You need a cut? Some style?” She reached out and ran a hand through Kristen’s silky, straight strands that had defied a lifetime of effort to add curls, waves and even the tidiness of a smooth chignon. “A good perm and some color would brighten you right up. Need something more lively than just strawberry blond, I think.”
Cody’s eyes widened with obvious fascination as he came back in with a Coke and glanced between RaeJean’s bouffant, Technicolor Big Texas Hair, and Kristin’s own simple style.
“Um…not today. You’re really busy, and I need to run.” When RaeJean’s appraisal didn’t waiver, Kristin took a step back. “And I’m just a wash-and-wear sort of girl. Really.”
RaeJean cocked her head. “Was there something else? You need help out at that place of yours?” Her face brightened. “I’d be happy
