Coming Home to a Cowboy. Sheri WhiteFeather

but not as bad as the entire summer.

      Cody asked her, “If I do my homework first, can I work on the comic afterward? ’Cause I’m going to need to get it done if Dad is only going to be here till July.”

      “That’s fine,” she told him, letting him enjoy the moment.

      While she sat quietly on the sidelines, father and son continued to talk about the time capsule. They also ate the snack, both of them going after the cookies before getting to the apples and cheese.

      Finally, the visit ended, with Kade saying that he needed to go back to the motel and get settled in. He hugged Cody goodbye, and the transfixed ten-year-old smiled up at him.

      Cody asked Bridget if Kade could come back for dinner tomorrow, and she agreed that he could. He accepted the invitation and thanked her. Before she could save her sanity and stop him from embracing her the way he’d done when he’d first arrived, he reached out and wrapped her in the dizzying warmth of his arms all over again.

Chapter Four

      The following morning Bridget’s mom stopped by, but she didn’t come inside. Since she was on her way to work, she preferred to stand in the graveled driveway and have a quick talk.

      Still, Bridget took a moment to study her. If she wanted to see herself twenty-five years from now, all she had to do was look at the woman who’d given her life. Mom was a little heavier than she used to be, with tiny lines around her eyes and threads of gray sneaking into her natural blond hair, but the overall resemblance between them wasn’t hard to miss.

      “What do you think of Kade now that you’ve seen him again?” Mom asked, getting right to the point.

      Bridget answered cautiously, not wanting to include anything too personal. “Cody certainly liked him. They clicked right away.”

      Her mother’s face had a pinched expression. “That’s what Cody told your grandmother. He called her last night before he went to bed, singing his daddy’s praises. But he already idolized the man before he met him, so he’s been enamored from the start. If something goes wrong, he’s going to be crushed. It gives me a knot in the pit of my stomach just thinking about it.”

      “I know. Me, too.” Bridget couldn’t just wash away her fears. “But Kade keeps saying that his interest in Cody won’t fade. That he’ll keep coming back to visit. So I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I promised him that much.”

      “I suppose it’s the right thing to do. But it still worries me.”

      “I know,” Bridget said again. If anyone understood, it was her mom. “But at least they seem to have a lot in common. I didn’t know that Kade took art classes in college. It never occurred to me that was where Cody might’ve gotten his talent. I just thought it was a random gene.”

      “How could you know everything about Kade? You only spent a week with him. And as much as I hate to say this, I can tell that you’re still attracted to him.”

      So much for keeping her feelings hidden. “How can you tell? I’m just standing here.”

      “It’s written all over your face, honey. But I suspected that it might happen. You had a strong crush on him the first time around, and now he’s back, stirring your senses again.”

      “I’m trying to compartmentalize my feelings.” And manage the temptation of being near him. “But I think it’s going to take some time for me to get a handle on it.”

      “I wish Cody would’ve never taken an interest in him.” Mom swigged from the plastic water bottle she’d brought with her. “Now that your grandmother knows how pleased Cody is with Kade, she’s ready to go full steam ahead. She wants to host a barbecue this Saturday, so she and I can meet Kade. But she wants to invite other people, too.”

      “What other people?” Everything was moving at such a breakneck pace, Bridget could hardly keep up.

      “Our friends. Yours, hers, mine, Cody’s. The more the merrier, according to her.”

      “Did she say anything to Cody about it?”

      “Not yet. She wanted me to run it by you first. But she’s certain that he’ll be thrilled.”

      “She’s right. He’s going to love the idea of showing his dad off to everyone. I think Kade will be fine about it, too. He already knows that Grandma is on his side, so he’ll probably appreciate that this was her brainstorm.”

      “How do you feel about introducing Kade to your friends?”

      Bridget was a bit nervous about it, but she tried to keep it in perspective. “They’ve just start asking about him anyway, wondering what he’s like and how it’s going. I’ll have to deal with it sooner or later. So it might as well be sooner. He’s coming for dinner tonight, so I can tell him and Cody about the barbecue then.”

      Mom capped her water. “I hope this isn’t going to seem like a twisted question, considering that I never had the courage to ask you before. But have you ever secretly wanted to search for your dad? Has it ever been a thought in your head?”

      “Honestly?” Bridget made a pattern in the gravel, moving the tiny stones with the tip of her boot. “I used to fantasize about it. I’d picture myself striding up to him somewhere, and when I was close enough for him to figure out that I was the daughter he’d ditched, I would tell him in no uncertain terms how much I hated him. But even in my tough-girl fantasies, I was afraid that I might break down and cry and look like a fool. I even feared that I might discover that he was dead. Then I wouldn’t be able to do anything, except feel even emptier inside.”

      “He could be gone by now, I suppose.” Mom leaned against her truck, looking a bit empty herself. “Or he could be out there, the same as always.”

      Bridget turned the twisted question around. “Have you ever considered looking for him?”

      “Yes, but just to learn what became of him. In the long run, though, I knew it wouldn’t be worth it. With the way I loved your dad, I was afraid I would get sucked back into those feelings again.”

      “I always wondered about Kade, too, but I never even typed his name into the computer. That would have made it too real.”

      “And now here you are, with reality nipping at your heels. But I want you to know that however difficult this gets or however it unfolds, you can come to me.”

      “Thank you.” Her heart tugged in her chest. “But I already know that I can count on you.” She’d gotten shortchanged with her dad. But her mom had always been her soft place to fall.

      * * *

      While Bridget was immersed in making a spaghetti dinner, she glanced at Cody. He sat at the kitchen table, working on his time capsule comic and waiting for Kade to arrive. He’d already rushed through his homework, just as he’d done last night, so that he could make the comic a priority.

      As soon as the doorbell rang, he dropped what he was doing and leaped up like a frog. “I’ll get it!”

      Bridget stayed where she was, at the stove, stirring the sauce. Within seconds, father and son entered the room.

      “Hi,” Kade said to her, his presence creating electric energy.

      “Hi,” she replied, and kept stirring. One simple exchange, one greeting, and he made her feel like an anxious virgin all over again.

      “Check out what I’ve done so far,” Cody said to his dad. “I still have lots more to do to finish it, but I’m going to keep working on it whenever I can.”

      Kade took a seat, openly admiring the pages that had been completed. “Oh, wow. This is amazing.” He glanced up. “Have you seen it, Bridget? His drawings are of the three of us. We’re the stars of his adventure.”

      She