Karen Templeton - Welcome Home, Cowboy

C ash Cochran hadnt known what to expect, but for damn sure goats in coats hadnt made the list.

His breath clouding his face, he frowned at the half-dozen or so beasts in the wire-fenced pen adjacent to the barn, bright-colored balloons on spindly legs. They squinted back with bemused smiles, droopy ears flicking. One gave him a questioning bleat.

Im not sure, either, Cash thought, his gaze sweeping what had once been a sizable mamas-and-calves operation, sold off in bits and pieces until nothing remained except the house and the ten or so acres his fatherd willed to Lee Manning a few years agoa discovery thatd nearly knocked Cash right off the wagon. Except that was one level of hell he had no wish to revisit, thank you.

Not that hed needed, or wanted, the property, nestled between two mountain ranges in northern New Mexico. Lee and his wife had been welcome to it. But the why behind the bequest had tainted the lapsed friendship with a bitter stink, one time had barely begun to dissipate.

The sun popped out from behind a doughy cloud, bringing changes into sharp reliefthe fair-size, utilitarian greenhouse, the unplowed fields, a young orchard not yet in bloom. Tattered, heavy-duty plastic clinging to one side of the housean abandoned home-improvement project would be his guess. The goats. Even so, the endless sky and pure, weightless air, the winds contented sigh through the pinon windbreakthose were exactly as hed remembered.

What hed missed.

Unlike the house itselfa ranch-style built high enough for a porch but too low for a basement, the exterior a conglomeration of stucco and fake brick and bad sidingwhich he hadnt missed at all. Putrid memories punched through the paneled wood door and fake-shuttered windows, trampling the riot of egg-yolk-yellow daffodils crowding the foundation, the cutesy Welcome sign beside the recently repainted porch

Barking its head off, an avalanche on four enormous, filthy feet roared around the side of the house and straight toward Cash. Bumble! Heel!

Cashs head jerked up, his gaze colliding with blue-green eyes as steady as they were curious. The called-off polar bear of a dog swerved at once, trotting over to plant his butt beside the red-sweatered goat his mistress held on to. A jumble of coppery hair, the bright plaid scarf hanging down her front, both glowed in contrast to the blah-colored, too-large barn coat, faded jeans, muddied boots.

Can I help you?

Sorry, maam, didnt mean to cause a ruckus. Im

I know who you are, the woman said with a bite to her West Texas drawl that made Cash wonder if she kept the dog around just for show. At least shed been smiling in her wedding photo.

I take it youre He scoured his brain for her name. Emma?

Thats me.

Cash couldnt remember the last time a woman didnt go all swoony and tongue-tied in his presence. Longer still since such things had stoked his ego, made a lonesome young cowboy with a fair talent for guitar picking and songwriting feel like hot stuff. Itd surprised him, how fast all the attention got old. Especially when it finally penetrated that the gals were far more interested in Cashs so-called fame than they were in him. Still, Emma Mannings obliviousness to his so-called charms unnerved him. His attention swerved again to the goats, still watching him with squinched-up little faces.

Whyre they dressed?

Had to shear em before they kidded. Then the temperature dropped. Mr. CochranIm sorry, but why are you here? Since I somehow doubt you dropped by to chitchat about my goats.

He glanced back, caught the frown, the fine lines feathering the corners of those cool, calm eyes. Guess youd call that a loaded question. Lee around?

Something flickered across her faceirritation, maybe before she wordlessly led the goat back to the pen. Hot shame licked up Cashs neck, that if he hadnt found that letter a few months agoa letter he hadnt realized hed kepthe might not even be here now. But he was, which was the important thing.

Wasnt it?

Emma gently kneed the goats rump, encouraging her to rejoin her friends. Her silence, however, was anything but gentle. Even her hairscattered across her back, nearly to her waistseemed to crackle with anger. Anger he wasnt totally sure he understood, truth be told.

I know I shouldve called first, he said, but this morningI just found myself heading out this way. And by that point I figured Id better see it through before I lost my nerve. If Lees not here, no problem, I could come back. From inside the pen, puzzled eyes cut to his. I bought a house a few months ago, on the other side of town. Havent been there long, though. Couple, three days