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Her voice faded away as for the first time in her life she understood. Why he was so obsessed. And when he turned back to his laptop without another word, she wondered why he’d told her. Why he hadn’t just blown her off, saying it was none of her business. As the Cody of old would have done.
Something had changed. Something major. She didn’t know what, and she didn’t know why.
But most of all, she didn’t know why she liked it.
And it held. The next day he showed up early in the morning. And the next day, and the day after that. He did her chores, the things she would normally have done, and more. He worked her horses, even Ghost, although she suspected from the dirt on the shoulder of his jacket that she’d tossed him at least once. He didn’t say anything about it, and she was torn about asking. Because the horse needed the work, and he was the only one willing to take that on. Her father or a couple of the hands had been willing to work her on the lunge line, but nobody on the Roth ranch wanted to try to ride the spooky grullo.
But Cody was. Yet another fact that was shifting her perception of him. And on another level, of herself; she should have known a boy raised on the Rafferty ranch, mostly by Maggie Rafferty, would be both tough and more than competent. And so he rode the horse no one else but her even dared mount.
Yet, strangely, she didn’t want him to get hurt doing it. There had been a time when she probably would have gloated over it, but not now.
And she didn’t know why.
Maybe it was just this new and unpleasant experience with serious pain. The doctor had insisted she keep up with the meds, but she hated how groggy they made her and wanted off them as soon as possible. So maybe that was why she didn’t like thinking about anybody, even Cody, in that kind of pain.
He spent time in the house every day too, as if to keep tabs on her. And if her parents had to go somewhere—funny, she hadn’t realized they had so much planned for this week, requiring them both to be gone—he stayed with her. And they even talked, civilly. More than civilly, they talked almost like friends.
He asked about her plans in a way that surprised her; she hadn’t realized he was so aware of the rodeo circuit, from when his brother Keller had been competing. She found out more things she’d never known, which she mentally filed away next to the revelation he’d made about his drones. Somehow that in particular had changed her entire way of thinking about the pesky things.
And that third afternoon, when he was hunched over the laptop again—after fulfilling her embarrassing vision by helping her to the bathroom, in a rather businesslike way that actually made it much less uncomfortable than she’d feared—she brought it up again. “Even if you succeed, it won’t bring him back,” she said quietly.
He didn’t even look up. “But it might save someone else.”
So. Cody the Coder saw beyond himself and his own pain. But then, hadn’t he proved that this week? By showing up every day to help out? She’d known the other Raffertys would help out if needed, because that’s the kind of friends, neighbors, and people they were. She’d just never expected the mainstay of that effort to be this Rafferty.
“Maybe you should be working on better batteries, then.”
He did look up then. “Smarter people than me are doing that.”
She was surprised he admitted there were smarter people than him, when it came to that kind of thing. But then a lot of things had surprised her this week. And it was only half over.
Then, abruptly, he said, “I want to see that 3D cast procedure, so I’m going along on Friday.” That didn’t surprise her. And she could hardly say no, given he’d had the idea in the first place, and arranged it all. Then he added, “Unless you don’t want me to.”
She stared at him. Since when did he give a hoot about what she wanted or didn’t want?
Since this happened. That’s obvious.
But why? Of all the whys she’d been batting around in her mind these past few days, that was still the biggest. The one she didn’t understand, didn’t have a clue about.
Why he was doing all of this.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cody reined Trey in at the front of the small, sturdy cabin. He noticed the stakes and twine strung out on the west side, where Chance was planning the expansion. With Ariel now living there full time, his brother had decided they needed more space. Ariel insisted she was content with the way things were, but Chance wanted the best for the woman who had changed his life, and every one of the Raffertys would pitch in to see he got it.
He dismounted and threw the reins over the hitching rail just as Chance came around the corner of the building. Cody saw his brother glance at Trey.
“Somebody tell you to cowboy up?” his brother asked, telling him he’d noticed the shift from driving to riding lately.
“Nah,” he said. “Just appreciating what a great horse Trey is.”
Chance nodded. “Heard about your rescue from Mom. How’s Britt doing?”
“Hurting,” he said with a smothered wince. Then, because he wasn’t quite ready yet, he asked, “You guys still leaving today?” He knew they planned to head for San Antonio, to pick up another dog from the base there.
Chance nodded. “As soon as Ariel gets back. We’re scheduled for the meetup tomorrow morning. Then a couple of days of assessing the dog, and we’ll head back early Sunday morning. Hopefully with two instead of one.”
Cody knew they took Tri with them on these trips, both to show him off as the amazing success he was, and because the animal seemed to understand the purpose, and was great at calming the nervous newcomers.
