a warm, dry place to stay. Today the space was filled with long tables and folding metal chairs. On the other side of the room was an area set up buffet-style for food and keeping it warm as everyone filed by and helped themselves.
“Let’s find a place to sit before we get plates,” Mallory suggested.
“Maybe Amelia and her mom are here.” Lily looked around, then smiled and pointed to a table. “There’s Caleb. We can go sit with him.”
Bad idea. The thought was followed quickly by surprise that he’d attended church even though he’d told her he sometimes did. She was being uncharitable, which showed how much good the church service had done her. Liking women and having them return the favor didn’t qualify as cause to think the worst of him.
No matter how much she wanted to paint him as a one-dimensional playboy, he always seemed to say or do something that added evidence to support the fact that he had many more layers than she wanted to give him credit for. It also seemed that in the few times she’d been exposed to him, his charm had worked its magic on her, just like it did on other women.
Before she could come up with an alternate seating arrangement, Lily had taken off in Caleb’s direction and Mallory had no choice but to follow.
She stopped behind the little girl, who was standing at his elbow. “Hi, Caleb.”
“Hey there.” He stood up politely. His hair was neatly combed and the cowboy hat was nowhere in sight. He smiled at Mallory. “I figured you wouldn’t be far behind.”
Although his expression was friendly enough, she tried to read deeper, determine whether or not he was glad to see her. She wished it wasn’t so, but she was glad to see him.
“Lily is awfully quick. She’s tough to keep up with sometimes.”
“Can we sit with you?” the little girl asked.
Mallory should be getting used to Lily’s direct, unfiltered comments and questions. Mostly she was except when it came to Caleb. “Lily, he might be saving those seats.”
He shrugged. “Travis and Anderson are around here somewhere, but they can find their own seats.”
“Cool.” Lily took the seat beside his. “You snooze, you lose.”
“I couldn’t have said it better.” He laughed. “How are you, Mallory?”
“Fine.” She was normally fast, funny and pretty good with words. It was kind of a requirement for her job. But being around Caleb stole her wit and sucked the volume out of her vocabulary. “You?”
“Never better.” He indicated the chair next to Lily. “Why don’t you have a seat? If you let me have your tickets, I’ll get your plates.”
The chivalrous offer made it impossible to keep the stutter out of her heartbeat. “Oh, that’s not necessary. I don’t want to trouble you.”
“No trouble.”
“I’ll go, too, Caleb. I can show you what Aunt Mallory likes best.”
“Good idea.” He held out his hand and Lily took it.
“All right, then. Thanks.”
Mallory watched the two of them walk over to the food, Caleb’s big hand holding the little one. He took three plates and handed one to the little girl. At Lily’s direction, he spooned scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon and finally pancakes with syrup onto each of the two plates, then supervised Lily. When she had everything, her niece carefully carried her plate back to the table while he brought the other two.
“Here you go.” He set it in front of her. “I’ll go grab silverware and napkins.”
While she waited, Lily took a bite of her bacon strip. “This is good.”
The food maybe, not so much the situation. It seemed as if every time she turned around Caleb was there and he was nice. Nice made her nervous because it could lead to feelings she didn’t want. Nice could be dangerous, but at least Lily was between them.
“Here you go, ladies.” He handed out forks and knives, then sat down.
“I’m kind of surprised to see you here,” she said to him.
“What? You thought I was a heathen?”
“No. But you said on a ranch there are always chores to do, even on Sunday.” Mallory took a bite of the eggs. “And sometimes you can’t attend.”
“There are things that have to be done every day, but others can be put off to give us free time for the important things. This fund-raiser is important enough for a cowboy to take a break.”
Lily looked up at him. “Why do they call you a cowboy when you’re a man?”
“Good question.” He thought for a moment. “It’s a name that’s been around over a hundred years for men who herd cows.”
“What else do you do?” Lily cut off a piece of pancake and stuffed it into her mouth.
“Take care of horses.” He finished chewing. “We get up early to do that.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re hungry. And then we muck out the stalls,” he explained.
“What’s a stall? And how do you muck it?” the little girl asked.
“Well,” he said thoughtfully, “every horse has a space in the barn separated by a sort of fence and it’s covered with hay to make it soft and cozy. The hay gets dirty and we have to shovel it out, to clean up after them.”
“How does it get dirty?”
Mallory grinned at him. “I can’t wait to hear the answer to that, too.”
“You’re enjoying this way too much.” But his blue eyes twinkled with amusement. He said to Lily, “Do you know what horse droppings are?”
She thought for a second, then said, “Poop.”
“That’s right.”
The little girl wrinkled her nose. “In the Fourth of July parade one of the horses did it. Amelia’s mom told us what it was and that it was all natural, but we just went ‘ew.’ Doesn’t it gross you out?”
He laughed. “No. I’m used to it.”
“I bet it stinks,” she persisted.
“Maybe if you’re a city slicker.” He scooped up the last of his eggs, then chewed and swallowed.
“What’s a city slicker?” Lily wanted to know.
Mallory met his gaze. “Surely you were ready for that one.”
“Yeah.” He looked at the little girl. “It’s someone who’s never been around cows and horses before.”
“Like me,” she said.
