Chapter 25

Lincoln

“You look like a cowboy with that hat on, Dad,” Lily says with her arms full. She sticks out her tongue to pick a piece of popcorn from the souvenir tub I just spent too much money on.

Smiling, I tip the black suede bill of the hat to thank her for the compliment.

Laney leans her shoulder into me as she starts to say, “I know it’s horsemen and bourbon boys, but especially with those hats on, and inside this stadium, all three of you are?—”

She gets cut off and starts laughing as Grant picks her up by her waist and moves her to the other side of him on the bleachers. “You mind not hitting on my wife for a change?”

“Oh, c’mon,” I shout at him with my arms out. “Laney, you better stop telling me I’m the best looking one and that you settled for Grant—” A fist hits me in the shoulder blade. “Ow, dammit. Fuck you too, Ace.”

“Dad!” Lily shouts over a mouthful of PEZ. “That’s twenty in total just today alone.”

I rub the back of my shoulder. “Where did you get PEZ?”

Rolling her eyes, she shrugs. “Home. My emergency stash for big events. You know I need it when we’re in big crowds.”

“Yeah kid, I know.” I smile. A little something we decided a couple of years ago that would help her feel brave. We said that when you needed it, PEZ could give you superpowers. Or, at the very least, a small time-out to figure out where to find the courage you needed to get through whatever felt hard.

I glance at Lark. I know she’s not sure what to think about this thing between Faye and me. Quite frankly, I don’t know what I should tell her.

Noticing how quiet she is, I study my oldest daughter. She’s been quieter like this for the past week. I know my girls better than I know myself. When she’s quiet, she’s stewing about something. The first year after her mom died, she didn’t do much talking. But I didn’t do much asking either, and that was on me. I’m not going to fail them the way I had Olivia.

“Lark,” I call out.

She turns and gives me a tight-lipped smile. Yup, something’s off. I wave her over.

Ace asks Lily, “Lily how much has your dad paid you for all the bad words?”

She smiles, and her blue lips from the bite of cotton candy she just had hits me right in the gut. She looks happy today. “Welp, we spent a good portion of the curse purse money on Dottie.”

Ace chuckles. “Ah yes, how is Dottie the cow?”

“We’re letting her spend a little more time with Hal until we figure out her barn situation,” I tell him, as Lily moves to the other side of Ace and starts talking about the different type of hay they feed his horses, and if it’s the same kind she should be feeding our new cow.

Movement of blonde hair and a denim jacket that reads: This Ain’t My First Rodeo on the back pulls my attention away. My pulse kicks up a notch as I think about all the ways I’ve enjoyed her body.

Lark’s Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt blocks my line of sight. “What do you want, Dad?” Lark says.

“Wanted to ask you something.” I tip my head to the side, signaling her to sit next to me. “Two things, actually.”

She lifts her feet onto the bleacher in front of us, her Converse sneakers decorated with swirls and drawings of animated food characters.

“I ordered the decorations for the sleepover party. They should get here any day now. You just need to tell me what kinds of snacks I should get, unless you want to come with me?”

She nods as she says, “Sure, I’ll go with you.”

Alright, the butter-her-up question didn’t hit like I hoped it would.

“You’re quiet today.” I knock her knee with mine. “Maybe more than just today. Want to talk to me about anything?”

She leans forward, resting her crossed arms on her knees as she looks out to the crowded rodeo.

“You look at her a lot,” she says, focused on the woman I was just staring at.

I hadn’t planned on Faye being the reason for her being quieter, but I should have considered it. As I glance around our group, everyone is engaged in their own conversations, giving Lark and me a minute to ourselves.

“Does that bother you? Me looking at someone...or liking someone new?” With sudden nerves, I glance at my daughter to gauge her reaction to that and if I have the backbone to say anything more.

“I don’t know,” she says, her eyebrows pinching like she’s really thinking through it. “I think I got used to it just being the three of us. I hadn’t thought about you looking at someone other than Mom before.”

I wrap my arm around her shoulders and slide closer to her. “I can understand that.”

“I mean, I know the women around town like you...” She casually smiles at me and makes a gagging face, which has me chuckling. “But you never look at them. Not like you do when you see Faye.”

Such mature words for someone who can’t possibly be growing at the pace she has been. “You’re right, sweetheart. I have been looking at her.”

“She is very pretty,” Lark says as she watches Faye leaning on the paddock.

“She is.” I smile, leaning closer to my daughter. “Smart too. And she thinks you guys are pretty cool.”

She turns to look at me. “Well, obviously, if you said she was smart.” Smiling, I can see so many thoughts passing through her head as her eyes look around my face. “You’re the best person I know, Dad. I’m just trying to figure out how all this works.”

I pull her in tighter to my side, trying to hold in the emotion of hearing her say that I’m the best person she knows. Jesus, sometimes they really can hit you in the chest. “How all of what works?”

She sighs, “Life.”

A laugh pushes past my lips. “If you figure it out, will you give me the details?”

Resting her head against me, we let the joke linger as the rodeo clowns start making their way into the main gates.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, Lark. Life has dealt us some shit, hasn’t it?”

Lily hops forward in her seat, finger pointed right at me. “Curse purse, Dad.”

Lark starts laughing, and I whisper to my oldest, “How did she hear that? Seriously?”

A few girls from Lark’s softball team decide to relocate to the section of bleachers near the bull shoot. I squeeze her shoulder when I say, “You and your sister have my whole heart. Always have and always will. And I promise that whoever I look at won't change that.”

Her eyes water as she nods in response, and mine do the same.

“I’m going to go with my friends. Is that okay?”

“Course it’s okay.” I smile as she stands up to weave her way over.

“And Dad,” she says before she walks any farther. “She looks at you too. When you’re not looking, she smiles when she looks at you.”

I glance toward the paddocks again, and I don’t know why that surprises me. I know Faye’s attracted to me. It’s impossible not to see and feel the chemistry between us, but hearing that observation from Lark hits differently.

A slap on my shoulder has me blinking. “What did I miss? Why do you look like that?” Hadley says as she drops down in the open seat. She snaps her fingers in front of me. “What happened? I thought Ace would stroke out before you, Linc.”

I smoosh my hand on her cheek, and she starts laughing.

“Hadley Jean,” Griz barks out. “You be nice over there.”

In a monotone response, Ace says, “Yeah, Hadley, be nice.”

“Now you want nice?” She tilts her head to the side. “You feeling soft in your old age, Daddy?”

Ace stands up like his ass is on fire and starts down the metal bleachers. “Quit it with the ‘Daddy’ shit, Hadley.”

She smiles, wiggling her eyebrows. “Why? Does it give you a little poke in the panties?”

Griz is practically cackling into his paper coffee cup.

Ace looks down toward the metal gates, and I can see the moment he decides he’s not just going to walk away this time. His gaze flicks to the row of women standing there for a second, ones lovingly referred to as buckle bunnies. Women who want a little fuckery with the rodeo boys. A few of them are watching the exchange as Ace looks back at Hadley.

I shake my head no. He’s going to rile her up—something he rarely does, but right now, I think she’s pushed him too far.

“Hadley,” Ace says. “I’m not feeling much of anything when you say shit like that to me. It’s just embarrassing how hard you try.” I wince as he takes a step down before he adds, “And I might be older than you, sugar, but there isn’t anything soft about me.” He tips his head to the row of women he’s started walking toward. “You can just ask a few of them tomorrow.”

“Ah, fuck,” I exhale. Leaning forward, elbows on my knees, I turn to Hadley.

Her face is bright red, and I’m not sure if she’s on the verge of tears or about ready to scream her face off. “You need to go for a walk?”

She ignores me, staring at him. “Sugar?”

I snort a laugh. “Maybe he’s had enough of your ‘Daddy’ nickname.”

“But sugar ? I mean, I would’ve settled for princess, or even darlin’.” She leans back against the metal bars behind us, completely bewildered. At the top of the bleachers, there’s a view of the entire stadium. “Wasn’t that the name of one of his horses?”

Now that I think of it... “Yeah, his horse as a kid was named Sugar. Yep.”

“Great, a dead horse. That’s what I get, I suppose.”

I nudge her knee. “You okay?”

“I’m always okay. It’s you I’m worried about.”

I look down past the gates and toward the food tents. A curvy blonde with a cowboy hat, barely-there dress, and purple cowgirl boots has my full attention. That and the built police officer next to her.

Hadley follows my line of sight. “I knew it.”

“Knew what?” I ask her, trying to play off that she hasn’t figured it out by now. That I’m a fucking goner for a woman who’s a walking red flag.

“You and Faye. I thought maybe she was just new and shiny. And well, you’re slut-eriffic. So...” she laughs out as I pinch the skin under her arm. “Ow, you dick!”

“Hadley, that’s five bucks,” Lily shouts from the far end of the row, having moved to sit with her Uncle Grant and Aunt Laney.

“Put it on my tab, Lily.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “You know she does have a tab for you. It’s on the fridge. You owe just over three-hundred dollars.”

“What are they doing with all this money?”

“Fucking financing a small farm. Did I tell you Lark left me a flyer from Hooch’s that was hanging on the bulletin board? Kittens. They want kittens to add to the mix.”

“You try telling them no?” She raises her eyebrows, fully aware that’s not my strong suit.

I give her a leveling glare. “You try telling them no. It’s the one thing aside from the blonde curls that they inherited from Olivia. Couldn’t tell that woman no either. I swear, I’m raising con artists.”

“It tracks.”

A voice crackles over the loudspeaker: LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, WELCOME TO FIASCO’S RODEO PRO-AM NIGHT! ALL PROCEEDS TONIGHT WILL BE DONATED ...

She knocks my knee. “You look like there’s a lot working around in that big head of yours. And maybe it has nothing to do with the woman you can’t stop looking at down there, but I know what a great sex glow looks like, Linc. And there’s definitely some of that billowing off of you.”

I glance at her smiling face, not giving anything away. I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking right now. After that conversation with Lark, and now this one...

“Okay,” Hadley says, lips pursing in thought. “Don’t take this the wrong way.”

“You realize when you say shit like that, it has the opposite effect.”

She pops a piece of popcorn into her mouth. “Lincoln, you’re very good at leading people to believe you’re happy. But you forget that I know you. I remember what you looked like on your wedding day. I remember what you looked like when your girls were born. The same way I know when you’re flirting with someone you’re barely interested in. Years from now, I’ll remember what you looked like when you were looking at Faye Calloway.”

I glance at my best friend, feeling exactly what she means. “I slept with her.”

She smacks my arm. “I knew it. Was it hot? I bet it was ridiculously hot.”

“Shhh. Can you not be so loud right now,” I say through a chuckle. Unable to stop smiling, I wipe my hand over my mouth and give Hadley a side-eye as I answer her question. “Yeah, it was fucking hot. I can’t stop thinking about it. About her.”

My gaze travels to Faye again. What is she up to now? It’s like she senses my eyes on her because she turns her head, looking over her shoulder. It takes a second for her to find me in the crowd. When she does, the beautiful smile that kicks up on the side of her mouth makes my chest thump and my dick kick my thigh.

“I mean, just look at her.”

Hadley hums, nodding with exaggeration. “Oh, I am. I have a big, fat crush on her. Don’t tell Laney.” My best friend has always been great at making me feel better while asking the obvious questions. “So is that all it is? A little crush and just a good time?”

I move my thumb against my empty ring finger. My life is complicated. I have kids and a whole world of love and heartbreak from before Faye ever stumbled into my life, but dammit, I like her in it now. I don’t need to hide that from her. “Might be the best time I’ve ever had. I’m not sure I want to let something like that go.”

Hadley leans into me and smiles, holding out her fist. I bump it, and then we follow with the finger hooks and elbow tap combination.

My attention wanders back to Faye, who’s side-eyeing two women to her right, while Cortez chats with a bull rider. And then Faye snakes her hand toward Cortez’s back pocket and plucks out his cell phone. My mouth drops open. “What is she...” I say quietly to myself. What the hell is she doing? She messes around with his phone for just a moment and then slides it back into his pocket. Cortez is none the wiser. This woman gets more interesting by the moment.

Laney calls out from the far end of the bleachers we’re sitting on, pulling my attention. “Hey, Lincoln, mind if we take the girls for a sleepover tonight? I think Julep is missing Little Miss Kit.”

“You’re taking the dog too?”

She looks up at Grant, and he just kisses the top of her head. He calls out, “Yeah, Kit, too.”

“You’re good with skipping the after party at the distillery, brother?”

Grant waves the question off like it’s obvious. “The second that Lark mentioned something called a candy salad to Laney, I knew our plans were changing tonight.” Then a smile pulls at his mouth. “I’ve got my girl. So yeah, I’m good.”

I like how that sounds— my girl. Looking down the bleachers, I watch the beautiful woman who’s breezed into my life all over again and think... mine .