The Cougar and the Cowboy

“We need lodging for the night. My truck needs a new fuel pump and Eddie can’t put it on until tomorrow.”

She frowned and looked distraught. “I’m so sorry. I don’t have any rooms available. The men from the highway are renting all of them…which is good for my pocketbook but obviously not good news for you.”

Jace and Dani looked at each other and shook their heads. “I guess we’ll sleep in the truck or the stock trailer. It’s just one night.”

“Oh you two can’t sleep in no stock trailer, for goodness’ sake.” She seemed to be thinking for a bit. “I have an idea. I live right next door and have an extra bedroom. You kids can have that. I put clean sheets on the bed just yesterday.”

Dani opened her mouth to say they needed two rooms but Jace jumped in. “That’s very kind of you. We’ll take your offer. How much will that be?”

Mandy waved her hands. “I don’t know. I’ve never rented it before. How about twenty dollars? Is that fair? And my husband will show you where you can put your horse for the night. We have a small barn with a stall. There’s no animals anymore but there’s still some clean straw out there.”

Dani led Star to Mandy’s barn and got her settled in. They brought hay, a little grain and the water bucket from the trailer.

“You know, Dani, I think I should sleep out here with the horse. That way, you’ll have the room to yourself and I can keep an eye on things in the barn.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan but after driving all day, I know your leg and hip have to hurt, Jace. You are not going to sleep in a barn. Come on, we’ll sleep in our clothes if that makes you feel better. Besides, think what a great story this will be for the ‘regulars’ you talk about at The Branding Iron.”

Mandy asked them to sign the register even though they would be in her house instead of the rental rooms. She turned the register around after they each signed in, frowned a bit and mentioned, “You must be one of those modern women that don’t take the husband’s name when they get married. Y’know, Earl and I have been married for 35 years and I’ve always been proud to have his name.”

Worried she might disapprove enough to change her mind about the room, Dani said quickly, “Oh no, I did it again.” Turning to Jace, she asked, “When do you think I’ll get used to having a new name, Honey?”

Turning back to Mandy, she smiled and said, “We’ve only been married a few months and I keep forgetting I have a new last name. Silly of me, isn’t it?”

Mandy’s smile returned and lit up her face. “Not at all, Dear. I did that at first, too. And you are still practically newlyweds. How cute is that?” She clapped her hands together.

They sat in two rocking chairs on the front porch of the house, and listened to the sounds of the approaching night. “This is serenely peaceful,” Jace commented. “I think I could live in a small town…maybe not quite this small…but small. Get married, have a family, raise them far away from the evils of the big world.”

“Is this the same man who never dates and doesn’t want to get married? And having children…where did that come from?”

“I don’t know. Somewhere in my heart of hearts, I guess I belong to the ‘white picket fence’ group of dreamers.”

“That’s not a bad place to be. I think we all would like the thought of a peaceful home and a peaceful world. My biological clock is ticking, though. One of these days, it will be too late to dream those dreams of marriage and children.”

Jace leaned his head back on the rocker and thought about what a good person Dani was. She would make some man a perfect wife and be the perfect mother of that lucky man’s children.

They stayed and talked for an hour or two longer, touching on many subjects, alternately laughing and being serious. Since the repair wouldn’t be done until midday, they didn’t have to be up at the crack of dawn.

The bed was, of course, a double: it couldn’t be a queen or king, but a double. They both stood and looked at it for a minute. Jace cleared his throat and offered again to sleep on the floor or out in the stable. She shook her head and told him that was ridiculous.

“Don’t be silly, Jace. I’m not afraid to share a bed with you, for heaven’s sake. I’m pretty sure you’re not going to attack me in the middle of the night. Let’s just make the best of a silly and unavoidable situation.”

He agreed and asked which side of the bed she preferred.

“I don’t care which side but tell me, do you snore?” Dani asked as they climbed into bed after removing their boots.

“I don’t think so, but I sleep alone so I have no one to tell me if I do or don’t. If I

find some woman on the dating site, maybe she can answer that question after we spend the night together.”

For some reason, that statement instantly made Dani mad, sad and unreasonably furious.

“You have your name on a dating site?” she asked.

“Well, Maggie and Mitch have my name on a site. In fact I recently found out they have it on two sites. It started as a way to find me a date. Maggie says if I won’t sleep with her, I have to find someone else so I stop being such a morose grouch all the time. Then they reasoned, if they put my profile on a senior dating site, perhaps I could wine and dine an older woman who would be willing to bail me out of the financial mess I’m in.”

“Good luck with that, Jace. Sounds like a wonderful and moral plan…not.”

She rolled over and tried to sleep. ‘What happened to those morals he was talking about when he said he wasn’t into one-night stands?’