“My grandfather was a master carpenter,” she said. “He built both of the cabins.”
“Not the barn?” he asked.
“The barn was here before my grandparents bought the homestead.” Lenore nodded to the door. “I’ll let you go in and explore by yourself. It’s two bedrooms, one bath. The idea was that a small family could live here, or two cowboys as hired help.”
Brandon took a couple of steps toward the door and then turned to face her. “Are you hiring two cowboys?”
“No,” she said. “I can only afford to hire one, and only for three months.” She’d made that very clear, hadn’t she?
“Good,” Brandon said. “I’m sick of sharing a cabin with someone.” He muttered something else that Lenore didn’t quite catch as he turned and opened the cabin door. It sailed open smoothly, like melting butter, and Lenore smiled at the truth she’d spoken. Her grandfather had built the cabins to last, and even if they were the only two structures on the homestead that didn’t seem like they were one breath away from collapse, that made Lenore happy.
She sat down on the front step, glad when Susie-Q came up the steps to meet her. Admiral stayed down at the bottom, where he lay in a patch of shade and simply kept watch. She wasn’t sure how long Brandon stayed inside, taking in the mess that was thecabin, but when he returned, he settled onto the top step beside her, a sigh hissing out of his mouth.
“There’s more,” Lenore said without looking at him. “I’ve got piles of tires sitting around that need to be disposed of, and debris and other materials that we need to organize and perhaps use.”
“I’m sure,” Brandon said.
“You’ve probably seen enough to know whether you want to commit yourself to this purgatory or not.” Lenore looked over to him and smiled, something hopeful raising the corners of her mouth. “You don’t have to decide right now, but you’re the only cowboy who’s managed to even find the homestead…so if you want the job, it’s yours.”
He gave a couple of curt nods and then got to his feet with a groan. “I’ll think about it,” he said.
Lenore wanted to ask for more than that, but she actually couldn’t, so she joined him, and they walked in easy silence back to her house and his truck.
“Well, you’ve got my number.” She tried not to let her heart crash to the ground when all he did was grunt, but it did anyway. Something hot and sizzling still passed between them, but Brandon didn’t seem to react to it at all. Perhaps he couldn’t feel it. Maybe he had a girlfriend or even a wife. Lenore’s gaze dropped to his left hand, but she didn’t find a ring.Doesn’t mean anything, she told herself. Lots of cowboys didn’t wear their wedding bands, as they worked so much with their hands and got dirty and banged up.
“I have your number,” he said now. “I’ll be in touch.” With that, he got in his truck, started up the engine, and backed away from the cabin.
Lenore stood there, all the stars in the heavens falling to the ground—and bringing the sky with them. He simplyhadto take the job.
Her desperation lifted on the air like a foul scent. Then Brandon’s brake lights came on, and he brought his truck to an abrupt halt. Lenore’s heart started to pound, but she didn’t dare hope for anything, and besides, Brandon didn’t get out of the truck and stride back to her and tell her he’d take the job.
She folded her arms, trying to keep her emotions stable, as she waited for what he would do next.
3
Brandon rolled his head from side to side, feeling the pull in the back of his neck. And still, the words wouldn’t leave his mind.
“Lord,” he said with plenty of disgust in his voice. “This place needs to be burnt to the ground. It would be better if it did.”
And he wasn’t wrong.
She needs help. You can help her.
“She needs a reality check,” Brandon grumbled. He turned and looked out his window, his eyes catching on the faint, partial reflection there.
I see her. I know her. I sent you to her.
A heavy sigh built in his stomach and rose through his chest and sputtered out of his mouth. “Fine,” he said to the Good Lord Above. “But I want Your Hand in everything I do here.”
He looked up and raised his eyebrows, almost feeling ridiculous talking to himself. He’d had a rocky relationship with God these past several months, but he couldn’t deny he knew the Lord was there. He didn’t always answer Brandon’s prayers and pleadings the way he’d like, but Brandon couldn’t deny His existence.
“You can’t drop this in my lap and abandon me, okay?”
God went silent again, but Brandon’s pulsing heartbeat wouldn’t allow him to ease his foot off the brake. He’d mutter to himself the whole way home if he did that. So, with another sigh, he jammed the truck into park and reached to open his door.
His boots hitting the ground sounded like the end of the world as he knew it, and he took an extra moment to let his gaze linger on the corner of the weathered tarp—color unknown, because it was so faded—that flapped in the breeze. It covered a heap of something Brandon didn’t even want to speculate about.
He then faced Lenore, once again struck with her beauty. As he started toward her, God suddenly found His voice again and started shouting sentences in Brandon’s head.
