Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

“ D addy, do I hafta go with Momma this week?”

Kyler glanced at Paige in surprise, eyebrows rising. “You don’t want to go?” Henley was due any damn minute. She was taking Paige to Texas to see her folks for Thanksgiving.

“No. I want to have turkey with Dal and play video games.”

“Well, we can do that for the next holiday, kiddo. Dal will be here and so will the games. But your momma is almost here.” He kept it light and easy.

“Can’t Momma stay here this one time? Dal says she can come over…”

“Oh, honey, her momma and daddy want to see you. You don’t see Granny and Grampy very often now, huh? They love you so much.” He hated to guilt her into things, but dammit, her grandparents needed time with her too.

She sighed. “He’ll remember me, though? Right?”

“Of course he will. How about we ask Mr. Austin if he can do a video call while you’re gone?” Whew. She was caving .

“Oh. Can you? Would you? I could introduce them to Mommy and Granny and Grampa?”

“I will ask, baby girl. I know how much it means to you to let them meet your friend.” He itched to reach out and stroke her hair like he had when she was a baby. She would just duck.

“Okay. Okay, but you’re going over, right? Dallas said you could. He said you could spend the night, even.”

“I will. And I’ll send pictures if you do.” He grinned at her, because he could hear Henley’s rig driving in.

“Okay. I want to show her my new room and stuff, though?”

“Yes. She’s going to want to come in and see the house and maybe go to the barn, kiddo. I bet y’all leave out after supper, and you can sleep.” He needed to warn Henley about all the stuff with the new bestie.

“Yeah. I’m going to miss you. You’ll call me every day?”

This had never been hard before.

Paige ran for her room, so Kyler headed out onto the big old front porch he’d borrowed from all those long, low Texas ranch houses. The boards were still so new they squeaked.

Henley swung out of her cherry red Ford duallie, her bright blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was wearing a Rangers tee over a long-sleeved shirt, a pair of ancient jeans that loved every curve of her body, and sparkly flip-flops, of course.

Even though it was Thanksgiving and snowing, she was wearing fucking flip-flops.

She always—always—made him smile.

“Lord have mercy this weather,” she hollered over. “Did you do this on purpose?”

“I know! It’s like, what, ten thousand degrees in Dallas right now?” he shot back.

She winked at him. “Possibly. I had the good Lord to turn it up so that Mama wouldn’t have to cook the turkey inside. She could put it out on the front porch to roast.”

He had to grin as Henley ran up and hugged him hard, kissing his cheek.

“I’ve missed y’all. You look amazing.”

“So do you, honey.” Henley had been the worst lover on earth, but she was a damn good friend and one hell of a mama.

She grinned, kind of looking around a little, taking it all in, and he swelled with pride.

The house was beautiful, and he knew it. With the snow on the ground, the A-frame was a picture-perfect Colorado log cabin.

“I like the porch. I like it a lot. Where’s my girl?”

He chuckled and shook his head. He’d pretend to be disappointed that Henley was more interested in their daughter than the house, but it was a lie. He loved how Henley loved Paige. “She’s getting her stuff together. She wants you to see her bedroom.”

“She excited to be coming out to the ranch?”

“Well—” He didn’t want to have to do this part because it felt weird. Paige had never not wanted to go with Henley. He wasn’t even a hundred percent sure now she didn’t want to go with Henley.

As it was, she didn’t want to miss her new friends.

She blinked at him, those huge fake lashes causing wind. “What’s wrong?”

He sighed, shook his head. “She’s sort of mad about missing Thanksgiving with her friend Dallas in Dallas. I mean, Dallas isn’t in Dallas. Paige will be in Dallas, but Dallas will be here and…yeah.”

One perfectly coiffed eyebrow lifted to her forehead. “All right. Well, that’s to be expected, I guess. That’s gonna get worse. It’s good that she has friends. ”

“Oh, I know, I know.” He didn’t want Henley to think that he was at fault for any of this, that he was encouraging her to not want to go or something. Shit, he didn’t know. “There’s so much to talk about.”

“So I want to meet this Dallas kid when I come back. He sounds very important. I heard a lot about his father too. Austin?”

Kyler shook his head. “Yeah, Austin’s the dad. Dallas is a sweetheart. Kind of a nerdy little boy, but he and Paige get along like a house afire.”

“She told me he does gymnastics, and he’s really good at it. I told her I’d start paying for gymnastics lessons if she wanted to do it.”

Oh, that little shit. He’d told her he couldn’t swing it. “Well, that would be a kindness, but you know, you don’t have to. She’s already swimming and trampolining and 4-H-ing and Girl Scouting.”

Henley cracked up. “It’s good for her to learn to do things. I think she is a little desperate to be a normal kid for a little while. That’s okay.” Henley chuckled, the sound low, sure. “She’s a rodeo kid, top to bottom. Eventually, she’ll be out racing and staying in a trailer and worrying the shit out of both of us.”

“Well, she could ride with you for the first twenty years or so of her career. Maybe thirty?”

Henley answered, not a bit of doubt in her voice. “Maybe forty. Well come on, show me the inside of your house. My goddamn toes are freezing.”

“You need better boots up here, Texas,” he teased. “Come on, and don’t you dare give me shit about the kitchen.” He was still hanging cabinets and all.

“You ain’t Thanksgiving-ing in here are you? You want to come home with us? ”

“No. No, I’ll go to Austin’s.” His cheeks heated, and he damned those freaking blood vessels. That was all he needed.

“That’s sweet. He’s a single dad too, huh?”

“Yeah.”

She stared at him, and her lips parted to ask questions he didn’t want to answer, when Paige came running in.

“Momma! Momma, I’ve missed you. Come see my new room! It’s as big as a trailer !”

“Oh, wow. Then you’ll be so comfy.” Henley let Paige haul her out of the kitchen.

He went to pour Henley a cup of coffee, heavy on the cream, light on the sugar. He could hear Henley’s voice, low and soft, praising Paige.

This was good. This was great. In fact, this gave him a moment to breathe. To try to figure out what he was gonna tell Henley about Austin. Because she was gonna ask. He’d seen it in her eyes. He knew her too damn well.

What was there to tell about Austin? That the guy had his picture up in his office? That he was the star of some kind of fictional fantasy? That he really liked that idea?

Should he tell her that sometimes late at night, when he and Austin were dozing on the couch after the kids had gone to bed and were having a sleepover, he wanted to kiss the guy?

Was that something a guy told his ex? Maybe it was something he should tell his ex.

He just didn’t know.

But he probably needed to get that straight in his head before he talked to anybody about it. Henley or Paige or Austin or anyone else.

One way or the other, he was more than a little fond of the guy, and spending Thanksgiving with him and his son seemed like a fine idea. Even if Austin called it Friendsgiving.

He still wasn’t exactly sure why Austin wasn’t taking Dallas down to New Mexico to spend the holiday there, but he didn’t want to ask, either. Family stuff was hard, and if Austin wanted to talk about it, well, he would no doubt explain it all on Thursday.

He was heading over early Thursday after feeding and then coming back for movie night on Friday. He thought Austin was lonely.

He had a feeling he would be too. Maybe he would take an overnight bag in his truck. He could drive to his own place to feed and be back before anyone woke up.

There was an amazing sofa in Austin’s office, in fact, and the sectional had three recliners on it. So there was always room for him. And Austin had the softest damn pillows…

Every so often he’d end up in the bathroom upstairs and catch a glimpse of Austin’s messy bed through the open door and think totally inappropriate thoughts.

“Why’s your face all red?” Henley asked.

Kyler jumped half a foot, and Henley hooted.

“Boo!”

“You are not funny.”

“Are you kidding? I’m hilarious. You did a great job on her room. She’s really happy.”

“Thanks. She picked it out, and I toned it, uh, down.” He’d made it a room she could grow into.

“Yeah, she’s got a lot of energy, and she’s really starting to read a little better. That’s amazing.”

“It is.” School-school was doing her some good. He handed Henley her coffee. “So how are you doing? Do you need anything?”

“Shit, you know me, Ky. I am footloose and fancy-free and good to go.”

“Well, I’m glad. Your folks excited?” He was ignoring her hot cheek comment .

“Tickled to death. Momma is going to take her shopping for Christmas. Expect many sparkles.”

“I always do. Just no haircuts. She was hysterical last time, and now she’s in school.”

“No haircuts. You have my word. You promised her she can videochat her boyfriend?”

“Dallas. She’s almost six. She has a friend .”

“Ah. So it’s you with the boyfriend?”

“Wha-aa-t?” His voice rose on the word, and he clamped his lips together to keep from babbling.

“You know the dad. What’s up with him?” She chuckled, soft as all get out. “Seriously, you are going to spend Thanksgiving with him. Is he cute?”

No. No, he was hot. And Austin was really intense and a bit geeky and fun to hang out with. “Not cute. He’s just a dude. He was nice enough to invite me over for Thanksgiving.”

“Huh. Okay. Wasn’t he going to his family’s?”

“I have no idea. That’s none of my business.”

“Paige says you’ll spend time together. That you spent the weekends over there, sometimes coming home here to feed. That’s not weird?” She gave him one perfectly arched eyebrow.

“It’s not weird. We’re two single dads.” And he was feeling more than a touch defensive. He kind of needed her to hush up.

“Well, but what do you have in common?”

He blew out a breath, then held up a hand, ticking things off. “Our kids. Our lack of relatives here. Jobs that make it hard to get to know people. Movies. Books.”

She squinted. “Paige says he likes hard books.”

He rolled his eyes. “Like classics? Yes. But he writes romance novels and calls them mind candy. And he loves Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey. ”

“And Lord of the Rings . Paige was telling me all about The Hobbit …”

“Yep.” They were all reading it aloud and then they were going to watch the movie. The 1970s animated one first…

“That seems…odd for a little cowgirl.”

“Why? It’s all heroes and swashbuckling, really.” He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his chin. “You got something to say, Henley? Because I feel like I’m walking on eggshells for some reason, and that isn’t like us.”

“I—no! No, I feel like she’s building a life without me. It makes me a little sad, that’s all.”

“Oh, honey, you’re her hero. When you were in the All-American last month, we all sat and watched your every ride, and she told us what you did to be so good. She’s just in the first flush of a new thing.”

Henley smiled for him, kissed his cheek. “Thanks. I know this is right. I don’t want to lose her, you know?”

“I do know.” He’d been horrified at the thought that Henley’s folks might try to fight him for his baby, but they’d been so generous. And they could come see her anytime. “You’re her momma. I wouldn’t mess that up. She needs you.”

Henley stroked his arm. “She needs stability and friends and Girl Scouts, but I’m glad she’s my girl.”

He gave her a hug, and for the first time it didn’t feel awkward. There was no remnant of chemistry there, nothing but the love for someone who was family. Thank God. This was what he needed to be able to co-parent with her.

Co-parent.

He’d literally just thought co-parent. Wow.

“Okay, so what’s for dinner? No turkey. We’re going to be inundated with turkey.”

He snorted. “No, Paige requested my spaghetti. Apparently your mom doesn’t do it right.”

Henley cracked up. “No one but Daddy does that right. ”

“You got that shit straight.” He was the king of spaghetti sauce, or at least his little girl thought so, and that was really what was important.

He knew it was only four days, but God, he was going to miss her.