Page 28 of Cowboy Falling Hard

He thought of his mother’s immaculate house growing up. There had been no dirt allowed inside, no pets either. He had allergies as a child, although he’d outgrown them. But it made him think.

Still, his entire career in baseball had been outside, so it wasn’t like he hadn’t been exposed to some dirt.

“I suppose I’m well on my way. I feel like I swallowed a gallon of dust today.”

“Dust is better than manure,” she said as she unscrewed the cap on the ointment.

“Where’s Powell?”

“Lavender took her. We have another person who wanted a kitten, and while Powell hates to see them go, she also likes to be involved.”

“I see.” He remembered what Charlene had said about listening to her talk and not trying to push himself. He didn’t want to ask anything too personal, but he wanted to know everything there was to know about her, and so he said, “Have you ever gotten infected from a pig bite? Coleman talked like he’d seen it before.”

“No. Not that I know of. None of us have. But we’ve all heard stories.”

She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world, so he had to say, “Maybe that’s just because of what you do for a living, because that’s not exactly common knowledge in the real world.”

“Real world? Like I live in a story world, and baseball is the real world?”

“Sure. Everyone knows baseball is where it’s at. That’s where all the hunks are.” He hoped there was enough humor in his voice for her to know that he was absolutely joking. And just to put an exclamation point on that, he said, “I actually like it here. I’ve had a good time tonight. Your family is pretty great.”

She had some ointment on her finger and paused to look up at him as she leaned over. “Thanks. I definitely agree with you on that one. I have the best family. Even Coleman.”

“Especially Coleman. He’s a great guy.”

“Yeah, I was teasing. He held the family together after Dad died.”

He wanted to ask more about that, but she looked back down, and she dabbed at his knee.

He held his breath, not because it hurt, but because she was touching him.

“This kind of ointment shouldn’t sting at all. It never does for me, anyway.”

“It doesn’t.”

“Oh. I thought you tensed. I was afraid that I’d grabbed the wrong stuff, but I didn’t want to panic and start reading the tube with you sitting there thinking that I thought I might have put some kind of skin-eating acid on you.”

“The thought never crossed my mind. Plus, you have it on your finger.”

“That’s true, and I’d like to keep my fingers if I can.”

He almost made a comment about how slim and graceful her fingers were, but not only did that seem like something a junior high boy would say, it also seemed too far out of the friend zone that they’d agreed to stay in.

For now.

He had no intention of staying in it forever. Or at least not attempting to break free.

“There. That should do it.”

He reached to pull his pant leg down.

“Be careful. Don’t wipe it off when you pull it down.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She pursed her lips, hearing a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You need to take this seriously. I really think you’re going to be fine, but I don’t want to see it causing any problems for you.”