The Cowboy and the Angel | ✓

Chapter Sixteen

A gentle nudging from Shadow's cold, wet nose had Dixie sitting up in bed. She rubbed her puffy eyes. She was tired in more ways than one, but most of all she was tired of crying herself to sleep every night like she had done for the last three days since Jason left her in Dr. Ross's home.

She looked down at Shadow and smoothed the fur on his head, his large brown eyes staring up at her. She knew the stress of the saloon shootings and watching Slick die had to be weighing on Jason, but that wouldn't cause him to stay away from her. Would it? She shook her head at the possibility. There had to be something else. She didn't know what had happened between her and Jason, but there was one thing she did know. She was gonna find out today.

"Dixie? Are you awake?" Tavin asked as he knocked softly on her bedroom door. "I made you breakfast."

Dixie laughed as tears formed in her eyes. "You didn't!"

"I did. And I took care of Daisy and the chickens for you. So come eat."

"I'm comin'." Dixie wiped her tears as she slipped out of bed. After a few minutes she was dressed for the day and heading out to the kitchen.

"Good mornin', lovely," Tavin joked as he took Dixie by the hand. Sitting her down at the table, he brought her a plate of biscuits and gravy and a cup of milk before letting Shadow outside.

Dixie stared down at her food. She blinked, trying to keep the tears at bay. Her brother was so sweet and she was just so tired. I'm such an emotional wreck, she thought as she covered her face.

"Hey now, it's okay," Tavin cooed as he bent down beside her chair. He put his arms around her and pulled her close, murmuring words of prayer into her hair as she sobbed. "I got ya sis."

After her tears had played out, Tavin gave her one last squeeze before heading to the kitchen.

"Has he talked to you lately?" she asked quietly, cutting up the biscuit with her fork.

Tavin paused his cleaning to look back at her. "Yeah, we talked yesterday."

"Did he say anythin' 'bout. . . ?"

"Nope."

Dixie sighed. She drew swirls in the gravy with her fork. "I'm goin' to go talk to him."

Tavin lowered his eyebrows at her. "I knew you would. But, you ain't goin' anywhere until you eat all of that."

Dixie couldn't hold back a laugh. "Are you serious?"

"Very," Tavin answered as he walked back to the table. "Don't make me feed you."

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me, little sister," he dared, reaching for her fork.

Dixie held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! I'll eat it all!"

"You better." Tavin walked back into the kitchen.

Dixie looked down at her plate, and took a deep breath. Here goes nothin'. It didn't take long for her to be scraping the remnants of gravy from her plate. "I'm done, Tavin. Can I go now?"

Tavin sat down in the chair beside her. He picked up the cup and frowned. "Gotta drink all this, too."

Dixie playfully rolled her eyes, taking the cup from Tavin. "You are ridiculous."

"I am ridiculous," he admitted with a shrug. "Ridiculously worried 'bout your health."

She downed the milk in moments, sitting it down and licking her lips. "Are you happy now?"

He grinned, patting her on the head. "Yep. Sundancer is out there waitin' on you."

Dixie stretched as she stood up. She gave a laugh. "Someone must've knew I wanted to go somewhere today."