Free The Cowboy's Little Surprise by Barbara White Daille Page B

already left once before. Why don’t you just wait him out? Maybe if you don’t make a big deal over him with Robbie, he’ll disappear again.
If
you want him to disappear, that is... Do you?”
    “I don’t know.” She looked down Canyon Road to the red-tinged mountains in the distance. Except for college classes and licensing exams, she’d rarely gone beyond Cowboy Creek’s town limits. In the past five years, Cole hadn’t ventured back over the line. No matter his situation at the moment, what were the chances he would want to live here permanently? “I have no idea what his plans are.” She sighed. “Part of me hopes he’ll stay for Robbie’s sake. I don’t want my son growing up without a daddy.”
    “Like you did.”
    “Like I did,” she agreed.
    And part of her hoped Cole would stay...for reasons that, as analytical as she might be, she couldn’t seem to figure out. Those reasons were too hazy to explain to Ally. Too complicated even for her to think about right now.
    Deliberately, she changed the subject and told Ally about the arrival of her cousins.
    “Bet your
abuelo
’s happy. It’s been a while. What’s going on with them?”
    “Jane’s busy and out of the country half the time. And Andi’s still with her in-laws in Scottsdale. She’s had the baby, a beautiful little girl.”
    “Did she lose her flat stomach?”
    “No. She’s already back to her prepregnancy shape.”
    “Humph.” Ally race-walked a few feet ahead, then slowed down again. “Skinny little rich brat.”
    “Stop, Ally. Those days are over. You can’t keep calling her that just because we’ve got trouble watching our weight.”
    “
Ha.
The only thing I watch is my mama’s burritos—when I’m eating them.”
    Tina laughed. “Sure. And too many goodies from in
there.
” Ally had slowed again, this time on the sidewalk in front of SugarPie’s. Tina grabbed her by the elbow and propelled her past the bakery.
    “Oh, all right,” Ally said. “Besides, who’s got trouble? You know I like that old saying, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.” And she always did. This afternoon, she wore a tie-dyed leotard with red micro-minishorts—and of course, her purple running shoes. “I’m sorry.”
    She had said the words so solemnly, Tina stared at her in confusion.
    “I feel terrible about Andi losing her husband. You know I do.” Ally shrugged. “But other than that, really, why are you worrying over what I say about those girls? Growing up, they wouldn’t give you the time of day—even when they wore all those fancy watches you liked so much.”
    “One watch each, Ally. It was the fourteen necklaces and bracelets I coveted.”
    “Don’t be such an accountant.”
    Ally smiled to take out the sting. Tina hadn’t felt one. She was used to her friend’s teasing about her job.
    Yet Ally’s comment had also hit a serious note.
    Two years younger, Tina had always looked up to her cousins. When their families came to the ranch for vacations, Andi and Jane had brought the latest clothes, which she had no money of her own to buy back then. They’d worn makeup, which she never used. They had both been so slim, sophisticated and beautiful, Jane with her black hair against milk-white skin and Andi with a princess’s blond hair and blue eyes.
    They had always been closer to each other than they ever had been to her, though she was Jed’s granddaughter, too... The illegitimate daughter of his son and the hotel cook’s daughter. As a result, Jane and Andi had always made her feel second-best.
    Jed, oblivious to all that years ago, now expected her to work with them. And she would. She had grown up and gotten over her childhood feelings, even if uncomfortable memories sometimes resurfaced.
    She had experienced that more than she’d wanted to this week.
    “Look,” Ally said, “don’t let those women get you down. They’ll be gone soon, anyway, won’t they?”
    She nodded. “Yes. They’re only staying a week or two.