Once Upon a Cowboy. Pamela Tracy

what he’d expected to experience every time he saw an old friend.

      Homecoming.

      With Derek, there was a repeat of that welcome. Still, the most Joel could muster was, “I am tired. Good to see you.”

      “I’m sorry you’re back this way. I expected you to ride into town in a parade.”

      “Yeah, well, my parade’s over and I should have aimed my float home a long time ago. What about you?”

      “I’m doing great.” Derek laughed. “And speaking of floats, I help with the annual Roanoke Rodeo Club Parade now. My work sponsors it.”

      “Work?” Joel shook his head. “You’re not working with your dad?”

      “You do what you got to do, as you well know. I’m vice president of the Roanoke Bank.” Together, the two men scanned the backyard, before Derek finally admitted, “I’d forgotten how it feels to be on the outskirts of town, with plenty of land and animals. Dad sold his place four years ago when he retired. He offered it to me, but I said no. Looking at my kids,” Derek continued, “makes me regret that decision.”

      “Which kids are yours?” Joel asked, not that he needed to. Earlier inside the house, Joel had watched as two black-headed boys, stocky, had already followed Ryan up the stairs to his room and then down the stairs for food and then up the stairs for more playing and then down the stairs for more food.

      “Twins?” Joel asked.

      “Yep, I have the two boys, and my wife’s home with our littlest.” Derek’s eyes lit up, much the way they had back when they’d been winning football games. “Our little girl’s two weeks old today.”

      So far, everyone—well, everyone he’d run into during the last forty-eight hours—from Joel’s past, save Beth and her sister Linda, came with a kid or two in tow. Some were already taller than the fence post.

      “Unca, I want up.” Caleb crashed into Joel’s legs and practically started climbing. Right behind him was a little girl. Caleb didn’t really want up; he wanted to get away from the little girl.

      “Not right now,” Joel said. “Maybe later when everyone’s gone and we go inside.”

      “He’ll be asleep the moment the last partygoer heads out,” Derek predicted, as his cell phone went off and he headed for a quiet area. Joel could hear the beginnings of, “Hey, babe, is everything all right?”

      Derek, unlike Joel’s brother, was willing to start up right where they’d left off: best friends.

      Closer than brothers.

      He didn’t even mention the eight years that had passed without a phone call or visit. He didn’t mention the missing money.

      Joel headed inside to look for Beth. She was wiping frosting from her pants but before Joel could reach her, he spotted Matt standing against the wall. The five-year-old looked miserable and every few seconds he’d raise up on his toes and jiggle a bit.

      The bathroom had a line, and Matt wasn’t in it. Plus, for some reason, the more-than-a-century-old farmhouse still boasted only one full bathroom on the first floor.

      That would have been the first change, had Joel stayed on. He moved toward Matt but stopped when Cindy Turner stepped in front of him. Blond headed, tallest of all the girls he’d run with, she was also the loudest and, yes, the most fun.

      “What I want to know,” she said, “is how you managed to stay single? What’s wrong with all those buckle bunnies?”

      He glanced at her finger. She obviously wasn’t single, so her last name probably was no longer Turner unless she’d added one of those fancy hyphens to her name.

      “I guess I was busy,” Joel quipped for lack of any other response.

      “No.” The word was spoken in a deep, serious voice. The room’s noise faded as if someone had turned down the stereo.

      Joel stood straighter, even though it hurt, and looked at his older brother.

      “No,” Jared repeated. “I’m the one who was busy.” And then, after he dropped the bomb, he left the room.

      “He was busy,” Cindy whispered, “and after Mandy died, he made sure he was so busy that when people stopped by, they’d feel guilty for interrupting him. He’s even stopped coming to church. If it weren’t for the kids …”