Page 14 of Faith for the Cowboy
Lawson nodded. “That’s true. But on Sundays, we get up and hurry through the most necessary chores. That way we can all get to church together. Sawyer created a schedule for us to be on call, and we rotate through it so I only have one Sunday every seven weeks.”
“That’s nice,” Harper said. “At least, it’s nice to have a day off.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure about the going to church part.”
Lawson picked up his coffee cup and took a long drink as he looked at her. He looked thoughtful when he said, “Are you sure you want to do this today? You don’t have to.”
“I’ll be alright. I know I don’t actually have to, but I feel like I should. Your parents have been so nice to me, and I was a total stranger to them. They didn’t have to do that. I know that this matters to them, and they would really like me to go. So, I’ll do it.” She looked at Lawson. “I’m sure you know what that’s like.” She looked at him with her eyebrows raised. She kept her voice down in case anyone else was around. Especially since it seemed like there was always someone else around the Macklin house.
Lawson lowered his eyes as he stared at the table, but he gave a very short nod. “I know that my parents would be extremely upset if I stopped going to church. So, I go. I liked it when I was a kid, you know? All the Bible stories and the worship songs. It seemed nice back then. I guess I’ve just become more jaded as I've become older and seen more of what the world really is like.”
Harper opened her mouth to agree with him, but she heard the sound of cowboy boots thudding down the hall, so she snapped her mouth shut.
“Hey everybody,” Titus said as he walked in the door. “Smells good in here.”
Harper gestured to the counter. “There’s pancakes on the table. Coffee with cream and sugar is over there.” Lawson looked at her with a crooked smile, and she realized that she had unintentionally made herself the hostess. “Oh, I guess you probably knew that. You’re used to this, aren’t you?”
Lawson and Titus chuckled. “Yeah,” Titus said. “Mom likes to make a special breakfast on Sundays, but she gets everything out and leaves it for us while she goes and gets ready for church. She likes to take her time. I think it comes from when we were growing up, and she always had to get all of us boys ready every morning and be with us. But on Sundays? My dad took over the responsibilities of getting us ready for church, so Mom could have some time to herself.”
Harper said, “Well that’s very nice of him. Must’ve been a lot, managing seven rambunctious boys getting them dressed up for church.”
Titus laughed. “I guess he taught us to get ready ourselves and promised we could watch a TV show when we were ready, so I guess we got really good at getting ready fast.”
“Yeah,” Lawson said. “The first one dressed, ready, and in the living room got to pick the TV show.”
Titus reached over and gave him a playful shove. “Especially if they cheated and buttoned up their shirt while they were standing in front of the TV.”
Lawson shrugged. “I wouldn’t say it was cheating. I would say it was being resourceful.”
Titus grinned. “Not that it mattered much. We were probably all going to pick the same show anyway. It was really just a matter of bragging rights to be the one holding the remote.”
Harper watched the two brothers as they bantered back-and-forth. She could remember fighting over the TV remote with her own brother when they were younger. Usually, a memory of her brother would feel painful. She prepared for the knot in her stomach to form, and she took a deep breath, but it wasn’t there. Somehow it felt nice to remember her brother in that way. Not a memory of the rodeo where he loved to be, but where she knew that things would eventually end badly. Just a nice memory of their childhood together. Something about seeing the Macklin brothers together made her feel like it was nice that there were still siblings in the world, remembering memories of their childhood gone by.
Lawson spoke, pulling her from her thoughts. “Do you want to ride to church with me?”
Harper furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at him. Was there any other option? She took it as an opportunity to tease him. “Actually, I was thinking about walking.”
Lawson chuckled, then shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m sure Titus will be happy to ride shotgun in old Bessie.”
“Bessie?” Harper asked in surprise.
Titus laughed as he pushed back his chair and carried his empty plate to the sink. “Lawson came up with some newfangled idea that he needed to name his truck.”
Harper looked at him and laughed. “Really? You named your truck?”
“Why not? We name our horses. We name the cows. Mom even named some of the chickens. I figure my truck does plenty of work around here too. She deserves a name.”
“She?” Harper asked, tilting her head to the side.
Lawson looked up and met her eyes “Sure.” He paused for a long moment as he held her gaze. He lowered his voice to just above a whisper as he asked, “Are you jealous?”
Harper felt the heat in her cheeks as she looked away. Was she? No, of course she wasn’t jealous of a vehicle. But what if it was another girl? Would she actually be jealous then? She tossed her hair over her shoulder with her hand and looked back at Lawson. “No, of course not. I’m sure you and your truck will be very happy together.”
Lawson looked slightly disappointed at her answer, and she felt a slight tinge of guilt. She reached over and nudged him with her elbow. “But I’ll be happy to ride with you and Bessie to church. That is unless Titus was planning to tag along as the third wheel with you and your girl.”
“Nope, I’m on call today.” Titus said. “You two have fun.”
“I guess it’s just you and me then,” Harper said. “Well, I mean you, me, and Bessie that is.”
Lawson shook his head. “I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?”
