The Cowboy Who Caught Her Eye by Lauri Robinson

to lock up early.”
    Molly should be irritated by that. He had no right, but the fight was slipping out of her. “There’s no use keeping the doors open when there aren’t any customers.”
    “Glory be,” Karleen said, reaching out and wrapping both arms around Molly’s shoulders. “I do believe my sister still is in there somewhere.”
    The hug felt good, too good to ignore, and Molly returned it with one just as solid. “I’m sorry,” she said while they were still arm in arm. The apology was real, she was sorry for so many things. “I guess the workload has been getting to me lately.” Knowing just how hard her sister worked, too, she added, “Getting to both of us.”
    “And Carter has lightened it,” Karleen said. “For both of us.”
    Molly remained silent. He had done a lot of work lately, but that hadn’t made things easier. She was still pregnant. The railroad still wanted the store.
    They parted, but Karleen kept one arm looped around Molly’s shoulders. “Now if I can just get you to wear some of your old clothes.”
    “I like my dresses,” Molly lied. “They are much more comfortable than—” she waved a hand at the tight waist and fitted bodice of Karleen’s lavender dress “—all those buttons and stays.”
    “I don’t doubt that,” Karleen said, “but they make you look so frumpy. Like you stuck your head through an old sheet hanging on the line and then threw an apron over it.”
    The two of them used to giggle and laugh a lot, several times a day no matter how bleak things had looked, and Molly didn’t realize until this very moment how much she missed it. Her laughter died as abruptly as it had formed, leaving her overly weepy inside. “I love you,” she whispered.
    “I love you, too,” Karleen said, still smiling brightly. “And always will, no matter how frumpy you look.” Her sister spun around then, grabbing both of Molly’s upper arms. “Do you want to know a secret?”
    No, she had enough to last a lifetime. But trying her best to wear a smile, she nodded.
    “I hope Carter never leaves.”
    Ice crystals formed in Molly’s veins. She no longer worried about Carter’s interest in her sister, but hadn’t spent much time worrying about the opposite. “Karleen, you—” she had to swallow “—you aren’t...”
    “Falling in love with him?”
    The massive smile on Karleen’s face was like a butcher knife, yet Molly managed to nod, though she was bleeding to death. She couldn’t handle one more twist of fate.
    “No.” Karleen laughed extra loud. “But I do like him. He reminds me so much of Papa. Which is why I hope he stays.”
    A small amount of relief had Molly’s blood flowing as it should, her heart back to beating regularly.
    “Surely you’ve noticed how organized he is, not to mention how authoritative. He’s rearranged the store and he has all the things men are looking for right where they can see them instead of having us point them out. He makes everyone pay full price no matter how much complaining they do—and they don’t complain to him. Why, he even had Mr. Wilcox guarantee our shipments will arrive on time. Papa hadn’t even managed that. If anyone can, Carter will be the one to stop the railroad from putting us out of business.” Karleen spun around and walked to a cupboard where she hid the money, now somewhat crumpled, inside an extra pitcher.
    When her sister turned back around, she sighed dreamily. “Think about it, Molly. With Carter running the mercantile, we can have a life of leisure. The kind we used to know.” Walking forward, still smiling, eyes somewhat glassy, Karleen continued, “You can go riding again, I can read until I’m blurry-eyed and we will both have time to try our hand at courting.”
    The baby chose that moment to move, making Molly freeze. Karleen had stopped walking, and she too looked starched stiff, as if she’d said something she hadn’t meant to. Molly willed herself to breathe, not let