Page 190 of Cowboy Daddies

“For what?” he asked. “Now, be quiet. I can’t drive with lots of noise. It’s distracting.”

Oh god.

Was this it? Was this her turning point? Was this town and the people in it going to send her running back to Connecticut and her asshole father?

Maybe she should call one of her brothers. Have them put some money into her account so she could fix her car.

Please let everything be inside it in the morning.

Jeb’s phone rang as he was headed out the door to get to work. He frowned as he saw that it was Tex.

“I’m just headed to work,” Jeb said.

“Hello to you too,” Tex replied easily.

“What do you want?” Jeb asked.

“You’re only going to work now? That’s late.”

“I had to get Wyatt off to school. Had to walk him to the bus to make sure he got on.”

“Ahh, still having trouble finding a new nanny?” Tex asked.

“The last one ran off in tears,” Jeb muttered. “And the agency said they wouldn’t send anymore until Wyatt could behave himself better. I even offered to pay double!”

“What was it? Spider in the shoe? Snake in the bed?”

“Worse. Rat in the shower,” Jeb said with a grimace.

Tex burst into laughter. “Oh god. That’s truly awful. Can’t blame her for running after that.”

But Jeb did blame her. It wasn’t that bad. Just a small rat. And she’d acted like it was going to eat her.

In hindsight, perhaps she hadn’t been the best fit for their family. But he’d been desperate.

And maybe you shouldn’t choose a nanny based on desperation.

“Why are you calling, Tex?” he snapped.

“Wow. Can’t a man call to chat with the guy he considers a brother?”

“Get on with it,” Jeb said. “Some of us have things to do.”

“Hey, I’m already at work, asshole. Going through the paperwork for your issue.”

“My issue? What do you mean, my issue?” Jeb frowned.

“I mean the girl that you messaged me about yesterday.”

“Oh, you mean the one that you didn’t bother to come and deal with? Instead you sent that idiot, Happy.”

“I was busy dealing with real issues and Happy isn’t an idiot. He’s just . . . overly enthusiastic.”

That was one way to put it. Another was that he was an incompetent idiot. Which was Jeb’s preferred way to describe him.

“Well, what about the girl?” Jeb asked, sick of this conversation. He was already behind in his work and he didn’t have time for this.

Why would Tex be calling about her? As soon as Jeb had left the playground, he’d put Casey out of his mind.