“My son—gentle?” Sophie’s big brown eyes stretched wide. “Davy?”
“Davy,” Tanner affirmed. He liked her honesty about her son. “Maybe that’s an interest you can build on, which is also why this idea of yours could be worthwhile.” His brain whirled with ideas. “If Wranglers helped only Davy it would at least be a step toward making Burt’s dream come true.”
“Doing that means a lot to you?” she said softly.
“It’s the only reason I accepted his legacy of Wranglers. I have less than two years left to turn Burt’s dream into reality. Maybe a day camp is the way to finally start down that path.” Tanner grabbed a pen and pad of paper from near the phone. “For me the biggest issue will be the food. Hey!” He grinned at her. “Could we hire you to cook?”
“I’d need to check dates but I’m sure we could work out something.” Sophie didn’t look at him as she asked, “Maybe I could cook in lieu of Davy’s fee to attend?”
“We could talk about that.” Tanner saw hurt flicker through her eyes when he didn’t immediately accept and mentally kicked himself for causing it. But his strong reactions to this woman scared him. He didn’t want to encourage anything that could be construed as personal with her. Or anyone else. “I need to keep everything businesslike,” he excused quickly.
“Of course. So do I.” The hurt look disappeared as she nodded. “Profit and loss to make it official. Then when you’ve done several camps you’ll have built a résumé that you can use for schools or public agencies so they’ll see you’re not just playing at this. Good idea.”
It hadn’t been his idea at all. It was hers. And a good one at that.
“Thank you for understanding, Sophie. But I would like to have Davy attend the first camp.” He saw her surprise. Don’t say anything about what he did. Don’t get involved, his brain ordered. Too late.
“Why?” Sophie’s gaze narrowed. “Because you feel sorry for him?”
“Sorry?” How could he phrase this without offending her? “No. I see Davy as sort of a guinea pig. Maybe I should say ‘test subject.’” Sophie’s dark eyes narrowed so Tanner hurried to clarify. “If Davy was part of the first ride, I could question him afterward and see from his perspective where we missed a need or should do something differently. I wouldn’t want to ask a guest those kinds of questions. But if Davy was part of my team—” He saw skepticism in her intelligent gaze. “You don’t want that.”
“I think it’s wonderful of you and he’d love it, I’m sure.” The frown furrowing her forehead returned. What a concerned mother she was. “But what if he does something he shouldn’t? What if he messes up?”
He already has.
“Then we’ll learn from that, too.” Tanner smiled at her. Somehow it seemed important to reach this boy. At least he could do that, couldn’t he? “Davy’s a little kid. What could happen?”
“You’d be surprised.” A wry tilt of her lips told Tanner Sophie’s equanimity was returning. “Okay, but I hope you don’t regret this idea. You do realize Davy doesn’t know how to ride.”
“So we’ll teach him.” Tanner shrugged to show her it was no big deal. Suddenly he wanted to know more about Sophie. “Your husband must have been glad of your quick thinking.” Immediately shutters dropped over her eyes, telling him it was the wrong thing to say. “That’s private. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine.” She huffed out a sigh and then sipped her tea. Just when he thought she would get up and leave, Sophie lifted her head and looked him in the eye. “I guess Marty did depend on me. He certainly didn’t have a head for business.”
“Is Davy like him?” Tanner asked, curious about the man this lovely woman had married.
“I hope not.” Sophie smiled at his startled look. “I loved my husband but he wasn’t what you’d call responsible. Marty was like a big kid, carefree, enjoying himself without worrying about the future.”
“Tough on you,” he murmured.
“Yes. I was the heavy, the one who said no to his wilder ideas, and Davy was old enough to see that.” Sophie’s pretty face tightened at the memory. “I’m trying to teach my son that responsibility is part of growing up, that nobody gets out of it.”
“Is that what Marty tried to do, get out of his responsibility?” It was none of Tanner’s business but he had to ask. His stomach knotted when Sophie slowly nodded. What would she think if she knew of his past irresponsibility? “How did Marty die?”
Normally Tanner would have steered far away from such personal questions. But here, in the intimacy of his kitchen, he had a strange feeling that Sophie wanted to share her past and that she needed to talk to someone. He’d guess she didn’t do that often but maybe with her kids asleep and her job finished, she could finally relax. She’d helped him. He wanted to help her.
“I’m a good listener, Sophie,” he assured her quietly. Silence yawned.
“Marty died riding bulls at the rodeo.”
It wasn’t so much those seven words as the way Sophie said them that told Tanner how much her husband’s decision to take that risk had affected her. He made no comment, simply waited for her to continue.
“Beth was three months old and our medical bills were huge. Marty was looking for an easy way to pay them off.” She bowed her head as if ashamed about her debt. “The rodeo purse was a large amount. Marty being Marty never considered it was so large because no one could ride the animal, or that he might get hurt trying. After three seconds, the bull threw him, then trampled him. Marty was unconscious for four days before he died.”
Leaving Sophie with even larger medical bills and no one to help her. Irritation toward the careless husband built with a rush of—what? Not pity. Sympathy? Compassion—that was it. And a wish that he’d been there to help her. But why was that? Tanner was a loner. He barely knew Sophie Armstrong. So why should he feel she needed his help?
“That must have been very hard for you, alone with a newborn and another child.” A thousand questions bubbled inside him. “What did you do?”
“I cried for a while but that was useless so I grabbed control of my life.” Sophie’s voice hardened. “I felt like I’d lost it in high school when I learned I was pregnant with Davy. My parents were furious their daughter had strayed from the Christian path.” Her voice showed the strain of that time. “They insisted Marty and I get married. I obeyed them even though I had a lot of doubts about marriage and motherhood at sixteen.”
“Sixteen? Wow. That is young.” Tanner gulped down the memory of his own life at sixteen and the mistake he was still running from, the thing that made him utterly unworthy of Burt’s trust or anyone’s love. “When Marty died, did you contact your parents?”
“His and mine both, to tell them of his death. I could have used my parents’ support then but I couldn’t take their recriminations.” Sophie’s usually laughing lips tightened. “My parents are big into rules and judgment. I didn’t need the guilt of hearing about how my sins were coming back to roost.”
“His parents couldn’t help, either?” Sophie shook her head. “So you were alone. How did you survive?” Tanner was aghast that this young woman had faced life as the sole support for two very young children.
“Marty had an insurance policy. I got it the day he bought a house that was beyond our means. The policy paid off our mortgage but we couldn’t afford to live there so I sold the place and everything else we didn’t absolutely need.” Sophie’s