She wasn't much use rounding up the cattle without a vehicle, but she did know how to mend fence. She headed for the barn, hoping he had the right tools.
4
Iris Tatum was pushing Cord’s cattle. She'd parked her truck across the road to block them from heading north and was out of the truck, out in the pelting ice, waving her hat and shouting them through the gate and onto his property as he drove them slowly in her direction.
It'd been ten years since he'd last seen her a couple weeks after graduation.
Even now, with him in his truck and her standing out in the ice, her presence hit him like a physical blow.
Maybe she'd leave.
Of course she didn't.
After he'd followed the cattle in, he watched in his rearview as she loaded up in her truck and followed him up the drive.
Just great.
Maybe he could get rid of her while he fixed the fence. The weather was spitting nasty, and she wouldn't want to stand out there and watch while he fixed it.
Except when he'd secured the gate behind the cattle and got back in his truck, he found Molly wrenching the wire with a stretcher. All three lines of rusted barbed wire had been strung tight.
She was wearing the same denim jacket from yesterday and was bareheaded. Was she trying to catch hypothermia?
He jumped out of the truck and stalked up to her.
"What're you doing?"
She gave him a wide grin, a flash of white teeth against her skin. "I told you I'm good at fixing things."
He wanted to shake her. He shouldered in beside her, and she surrendered the tool—not that there was much left to do. A couple of clicks, and he was done. He didn't want to snap the rusty old lines.
"Get in the truck," he said. "You're shivering."
She didn't lose her grin. "Didn't have time to fetch my hat. I've got ice all down the collar of my coat."
To his consternation, she didn't go immediately to his truck, even though he'd left it running. She sauntered over to Iris's truck where she'd pulled up behind him.
Iris rolled down the driver's side window.
And their voices carried, bringing him their conversation even without him turning his head.
"Thanks for your help," Molly said.
"Nice job," Iris returned.
"Come up to the house and have a cup of coffee," Molly said. "Cord would love a chance to thank you in person."
He grunted, pinching his thumb in the wire as he disengaged the tool from the fencing. He had a clear view of Iris looking at him over the top of Molly's head.
They both knew exactly how he felt about catching up.
One corner of his former friend's mouth kicked up. "Sure," she said.
Molly was beaming as she trudged to his truck. He met her there. "What do you think you're doing?" he muttered as he pulled open the door.
"Being neighborly." She didn't round the truck, just got in on his side and slid through to the passenger seat. She took off her leather gloves, holding her hands in front of the heating vent. "She saved you at least an hour of tracking down and herding your cattle back down the road."
Molly was right, but his gut was still churning.
Molly thought the rancher would've been happier that they'd gotten the cattle back with little fuss. And that the fence was patched.
But he had a burr under his saddle as he stomped into the ranch house, all the way through the kitchen, and up the stairs. She heard his cell phone ring, and then his voice rumbled in conversation, though she couldn't make anything out with the ceiling between them.
Well.
She couldn't force the man to be sociable. The coffee in the pot was cold, so she dumped it and put a new pot on to brew, then pushed open the back door for Iris.
The other woman brushed past her, and Molly gave a quick whistle to the dog, who'd been left on the porch.
She left the mudroom door open, the dog's padded blanket right in the doorway, and gave the animal some serious eye contact to know she meant business. The dog lay on the cushion with its head on its paws.
When she turned back to the kitchen, Iris was watching her with raised brows.
"It's cold out." Sure, it wasn't her house or her dog, but Cord wasn't a monster. He'd see that the dog should be inside.
"Mackie never let the dog in," Iris said. "Even when Cord and West were boys." The woman's gaze flicked around the room, lingered on the tree just visible in the living room. "This place hasn't changed at all."
Molly had found it strange that there were no pictures in the living areas. Not high school graduation or school pictures or even a family portrait. Nothing.
When she'd rushed out after Cord, she'd left her plate of eggs and bacon on the back of the stove. Not warm, but not gross.
"I didn't finish breakfast before the cattle got out," Molly said. "I can reheat this. Happy to share."
"I can always eat," Iris said.
Iris was maybe a little too thin. The fine lines around her eyes could've been from exhaustion or being in the sun too much. But her eyes were kind.
Molly reassembled the eggs and bacon on tortillas and stuck them in the microwave.
"So are you... Cord's girlfriend?"
There was no veil to Iris's curiosity in the question.
Molly glanced at the other woman, and when she saw the smile twitching at the corners of her mouth, Molly let her own smile spread. "No. How'd you know? Too young?"
Iris's smile grew. "Too chipper."
Footsteps hit the stairs, and Molly released a sigh she hadn't realized she'd been holding. He was coming back.
Through the door, she saw he'd changed his shirt, now wore a knit sweater with his jeans and sock feet.
For a moment, she flashed back to the seconds when he'd rushed downstairs with his chest bare.
That she'd
