of water but still watching her with serious intent.
“Go on,” he said, and patted her shoulder. “I’ve learned that life has these little moments. I guess we learn from them when we can and we survive.”
She saw something in him she hadn’t noticed before. There was laughter on the surface, but in his dark eyes she saw pain. For a moment it was so intense, that flash of sadness, she wanted to comfort him. She shook free and stepped back. His easy smile was back in place and he winked, making her think she’d imagined it all.
* * *
Alex scrounged around in the shed, found the chicken feed and scooped out a can. As he exited the building, Marissa came out of the camper. She was dressed in his older sister’s—Lucy’s—jeans and a T-shirt she’d tied at the waist. Probably to keep it from hanging to her knees. The jeans were tucked into the boots he’d borrowed from his little sister, Maria.
He wondered if he should comment on her hair. Having been raised with two sisters, he kind of doubted it. Even though it was a little short and uneven, he liked it.
“So, you might not be a country girl, but dressed like that you could fool some people.”
“Because I put on jeans and boots?” She shook her head and kept walking.
If he had to guess, that fast walk of hers was intended to help her outrun an argument with her grandfather. He paused for a few seconds, and sure enough the door of the camper flew open and Dan, in overalls, muck boots and a straw hat, appeared. His gray hair stuck out from beneath the hat and his face was scruffy with a few days’ growth of gray whiskers.
“I don’t need no pity from long lost relatives,” Dan squawked, sounding a lot like that bad-tempered rooster of his. “Now call your folks and tell them to come get you. After all these years...”
He had a coughing fit and didn’t finish. And even with the tongue lashing, his granddaughter hightailed it back to his side and told him to take it easy. She might be a city girl but she had a determined side.
Alex didn’t want to like her too much. In his experience, women like her didn’t last in his world. And they were too expensive for his bank account. It didn’t matter what he told himself about her being a city girl, or his bank account or any of the other mental objections he might have; he liked her.
A woman like her, if she stayed around long enough, could make a guy start thinking about forever. Even if he hadn’t planned on having those thoughts. Ever. “I’m asking you to let me stay because I need a little time before I go back and face the embarrassment.” She looked at her grandfather as determined as that old rooster had been. “Just a week or two. Please.”
Dan reached into his pocket for an inhaler. After a few puffs, he shoved it in the front pocket of his bibs and gave his granddaughter a once-over.
“Nope.” He went on down the steps, holding tight to the rail. “You call your folks and you go on back to Dallas. I don’t need a keeper. And you don’t need to hide from what happened.”
“But...” She followed him. “I could help you out around here.”
Dan shook his head as he took the can of chicken feed from Alex. “I don’t need help. I’m just fine.”
“Dan, just let us feed for you today,” Alex offered. But at this point, if he had any sense, he’d hightail it back to his place and take care of his own life instead of wading knee-deep into Dan’s. “Give your granddaughter the chance to be a farm girl for a few days. She’s all dressed up for the part. Might as well introduce her to country life. Maybe we’ll even take a ride over to Essie’s for lunch. My treat.”
Dan looked skeptical, but even he seemed to know when to give in. He handed over the feed can and gave his granddaughter a sharp look. “Don’t be abusing my rooster. He’ll remember that and he’ll be waiting to get back at you.”
“He’s a rooster,” she said. “I doubt roosters plot vengeance.”
“Just you wait,” was his grumbled response as he headed back to the trailer. “I’m holding you to lunch, Palermo. You’re buying.”
“What do we do now?” the woman at his side asked Alex as they headed for Dan’s old farm truck.
Alex unlocked her door and opened it. “Well, we feed Dan’s cattle. In the summer he had plenty of grass, but this time of year we feed hay and grain. In years past that would have been more of a job than it is now. Dan’s been selling off some cattle recently. I’ve actually been a little worried about him.”
“Do you think he’s okay? I mean...” She hesitated and then got in the truck. “Dementia?”
He got in and turned the key, knowing it would take a few attempts to get the old truck started. Dan had a sedan he kept parked in a carport behind the camper, but he claimed it didn’t have a battery.
“No, I don’t think he has dementia,” he answered as the truck roared to life. “His health isn’t the best but I think it’s more. Something seems off and he won’t say much about it.”
“If he’ll let me stay, maybe I can figure it out.”
Alex thought the best thing she could do was head on back to Dallas. Dan’s old camper suited him but it wasn’t the life she was used to. Not that he knew about her life or what she was used to. But he guessed she didn’t know what it was like to live in an old piece of metal when the wind blew hard from the north.
“I don’t think he’s going to let you stay,” Alex told her as they drove toward the barn.
“Have you always known him?” she asked after he’d opened the gate and they’d driven through.
“All my life. He’s always been here.”
“So you grew up in Bluebonnet?”
He stopped the truck at the feed trough and got out. She followed, watching him, then watching the cattle heading their way. She moved to his side and stayed close as he tossed a feed sack over his shoulder, pulled the string to unseal the bag and poured it out, starting at one end of the trough.
“Did you?” she asked as he went back for the second bag of grain.
“Yeah, I grew up here.”
“You don’t sound happy about that.”
“Because I’m busy and you’re asking a lot of questions.” Questions about growing up were his least favorite. There were too many bad memories attached to his childhood in Bluebonnet. Not because of the town but because his father had tarnished childhood for Alex and his siblings in a way that should have been against the law. It probably was against the law.
“Do you have siblings other than your sister?” she asked.
He pulled off his hat, swiped a hand across his brow and shook his head. “You know a guy for five seconds and suddenly you need his life story.”
She started to protest but he stopped her. Holding his hand up to quiet her, he studied the cattle that were heading across the field. His attention shifted to the slightly damp ground. And tire tracks.
“What’s
