“You’ll do no such a thing.” Chester gave her a stern look. “You have no business driving with a broken collarbone.”
“But—”
“No buts, missy.” Lucas herded Sawyer and Maisy toward the house like a herding dog. “Both of you inside now. I have some chili on the stove and some apple pie cooling in the windowsill.”
Sawyer really didn’t want Maisy to stay. Especially when he was having trouble keeping the shower images out of his head. But he didn’t like the thought of her driving back to town alone either.
“You might as well stay,” he said. “I’m sure Lucas made enough food to feed an army.”
Lucas laughed. “Not an army. But there’s enough for two old farts and a banged-up rodeo cowboy and cowgirl.”
Chapter Four
The sun pushed its way above the horizon with rays of pink and tangerine, reflecting off the dew-drenched wild grass that grew everywhere on the Double Diamond ranch.
Maisy leaned back in the wooden rocker and stared out at the soothing scenery. But she didn’t feel soothed. Somewhere on this land, her father was buried. Sheriff Willaby knew where, but he wasn’t talking. No doubt because he knew if they didn’t find a body, the prosecutor didn’t have much of a case. The one bone that had been found couldn’t be identified as Sam Sweeney’s. Lincoln had sent it to a specialized forensic lab in Washington D.C. in hopes that they could identify it. Until they did, or until they found Sam’s body, Maisy was having trouble getting closure.
Which was ridiculous.
She didn’t even know Sam. He had left her mama right after Maisy was born and had never come back. Or even called or written. So why couldn’t she let him go? Especially when everyone who knew him said he’d been a horrible human being. It was a million dollar question. One she had no answer for. All she knew was that her father haunted her thoughts during the day and her dreams at night.
Which was why she had come back to Simple. If she had to recuperate from her injury, she planned to search for her father’s body while she did. She needed proof Sam Sweeney was gone. Until she had it, she knew she couldn’t find peace.
The front door squeaked. She glanced over to see Chester stepping out to the porch. He reminded her of her grandpa. His face was weathered and his blue eyes kind. He shuffled over with two cups and held one out to her. “I thought you might like a cup of coffee. But I’ll warn you. I make it strong enough to put hair on your chest.”
She smiled as she took the cup. “I like it strong. I hope I didn’t wake you. I’m a bit of an early bird.”
“Me too. Lucas has taken to sleeping in—especially after his late nights of courting Miss Gertie. But me, I still wake with the roosters.” He sat down in the rocker next to her. Horses whinnied from the barn and he smiled. “That would be Cookie and Doris wanting their breakfast. They must’ve heard the porch door squeak.”
“I already fed them,” Maisy said. “I hope that’s okay. The two young mares put up quite a fuss when I walked into the barn to check on the horse we found last night, so I gave them some hay. And I fed the sweet old mare too. Although she patiently waited her turn.”
“That would be Misty. She’s old enough to know that patience is a virtue.”
Maisy took a sip of her coffee and burned her tongue. When she glanced over at Chester, she found him grinning beneath his gray handlebar mustache. She laughed. “As you can tell, I’m more like Doris and Cookie. According to my mama, I came out of the womb three weeks early and haven’t waited for anything since.”
“It’s hard to wait in your youth. You want everything now. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to grab life with both hands.” He blew on his coffee. “But as you get older you realize more isn’t always better. You stop grabbing and just enjoy what you have.” He glanced at her. “So what are you grabbing for?”
She didn’t hesitate to answer. “I want to be the best saddle bronc rider in the world—male or female. And I want a ranch just like this one with plenty of horses to keep me company.”
“That’s a pretty big grab.”
“I can do it. I know I can. It looks like you and Lucas did. I heard you were damn good bronc riders.”
“I was fair. Lucas was better. He could stay on anything. I used to get so mad when he beat me because I worked twice as hard as he did. Winning meant everything to me and Lucas didn’t seem to care if he won or lost.”
“Like Sawyer. He doesn’t seem to care either.”
“He cares. That boy cares a lot. He just hides it well behind a carefree smile.” He took a sip of his coffee and she figured hers was finally cool enough that she could join him. Chester hadn’t been lying. The coffee was strong, but it was also exactly what she needed after her restless night. “Lincoln says you’ve been winning a lot,” Chester continued. “That boy is darn proud of you. Although I think he wishes you had chosen a different profession. He worries.”
“Join the club. Everyone worries about me.”
He squinted at her. “It’s better than no one worrying about you.”
“True. But sometimes I’d just like people to support me without trying to get me to quit. Bronc riding is in me. It’s what I want to do. People can accept that from a man. Why can’t they accept it from a woman?”
“I have to admit the idea of a woman bronc rider takes some getting used to. But give people a good ride and they’ll get used to it. People love to be entertained.” Chester set his coffee cup down on the small table between the rockers and got to his feet. “I better go check on that horse. He wouldn’t let me put some salve on his wounds last night, but maybe he will today.” He started to leave, but she stopped him.
“Thank you for taking care of him, Chester. And for all your hospitality to me.”
Chester nodded. “You are welcome to stay as long as you like.”
“Thank you, but I think I’ll be heading out this morning.” She paused. “But I was wondering if it would be okay if I came back and looked around a little. I mean I know you didn’t really like my daddy, but I just need to . . .” She couldn’t finish because she didn’t know what she needed to do. Thankfully, Chester seemed to understand.
“You need to close the book. I’d be happy to let you look around, but most of this land isn’t Lucas’s and mine any more. We gave it to our boys. And the land most likely to have your daddy’s body is Sawyer’s. That’s where Holden’s dog Boomer found the bone and where that ass Willaby took Dixie and planned to kill her. But I’m sure Sawyer won’t mind you looking around.”
The screen door squeaked open. “Looking around for what?”
Maisy turned to see Sawyer stepping on the porch. At just the sight of him, guilt filled her. Guilt that had kept her up most the night.
She’d just wanted to get back at him for hurting her feelings. She hadn’t planned on keeping up the lie. She’d planned on telling him the truth as soon as her ride was over. But then she’d been bucked off and Sawyer had jumped in to save her, and in the process gotten a concussion that would take him out of rodeo for the rest of the season—or maybe the rest of his life if the doctor she had overheard in the emergency room was right. She had listened intently as the doctor had talked on and on about how Sawyer could possibly suffer from degenerative brain disease if he continued in bronc riding.