The Cowboy's Healing Ways (Cooper Creek) Read Online Free PDF

say.”
    “Will you take the job?”
    She nodded. “Yes.”
    The battle with her tears was lost. She swiped at her eyes but tears streamed down her cheeks. Jesse found a napkin in the console between the seats and handed it to her. The most impulsive decision he’d made in years was sitting next to him crying, and he couldn’t take back the offer. Not when a child was involved. Because Laura was a mom who wanted to keep her little girl.
    Jesse started his truck and pulled out of the parking lot of the motel. He told himself he’d done the right thing. He’d let her clean his house. He’d provide her a home. No strings, no attachments. Easy.
    * * *
    Laura wiped her eyes and tried to think through what had just happened. Too good to be true? In her life strings always seemed to be attached. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done anything for her that didn’t require something back.
    She closed her eyes tight and tried to think, which was hard to do in her present condition. First, she had to consider Abigail—not just getting her back, but keeping her safe. She had so much at stake. She couldn’t take chances, not with her future or her daughter’s.
    With a sigh she faced the man who had offered her the opportunity of a lifetime. “Why would you do this for me?”
    He shrugged and pulled out on the road. The truck eased through the traffic and he didn’t answer for a few minutes.
    “Because you deserve a second chance.” He paused to make a left-hand turn. “I want to help you out because your little girl deserves to have you.”
    “How do you know that?”
    He looked at her for a brief second, then refocused on the road. “I’ve seen a lot in my life, Laura. I’ve seen the best and worst of humanity. I think I know when someone is decent and really needs a second chance.”
    She knew there was more to his story. She saw it in the sometimes-lost look in his eyes, as if he might have been a little boy needing a mother. But she had to remind herself that he was a man, not a little boy anymore. And in her experiences with men, limited as they were, there were usually consequences.
    “Where are we going?” She touched the phone in her pocket, reassured by its presence.
    “If you want the job, I thought I’d take you out to the house.” He glanced her way again. “I think we’re both going to have to make a stab at trusting.”
    She nodded, glancing out the window. They were close to Dawson when he turned down a paved road with signs giving directions to different points of interest. A few minutes later he turned into a driveway, hit a remote on the visor of this truck and the gates in front of them opened wide.
    Laura shivered in the blanket wrapped around her shoulders and watched out the window. A few deer jumped from the woods and ran across the road in front of them. Her breath caught as she watched the creatures bound out of sight.
    A few hundred more feet and the woods gave way to grass. And then a tiny house surrounded by a picket fence. Ahead she could see a small stable and barely could make out the exterior of a house surrounded by tall trees.
    “This is the original house.” He pulled in the drive. “It isn’t much, but it’s in good shape, easy to heat and cool. Two bedrooms and it’s furnished.”
    She swallowed the lump of fear that said this couldn’t be real. Things like this didn’t happen, not to her, not in this life. She remembered a prayer that God would help her find faith again—that He would provide a way for her to get Abigail back.
    “We can go in.” Jesse pulled the keys from the ignition and he had his hand on the door.
    Laura looked at him, at the house. She could trust him. He was Myrna Cooper’s grandson. He was a doctor. And she didn’t have a lot of options. She had to take this chance if she meant to get on her feet again.
    She reminded herself that decent men existed. Laura barely remembered her real father, but he’d been one. He’d been