Chapter 11

11

T ex couldn't believe Abby thought he was "throwing around his money." She looked like she'd come upon an active mine field, and she'd barely taken two bites of food as it was. He sighed when she remained silent and said, "Forget it. It doesn't matter. I don't have to get your permission to fix up the house and ranch the way I want to."

"Tex," she said desperately. "I didn't mean you throw around your money. I just meant you pay for things I would never pay for. Like the mowers. That's all."

"How would you have cleared those fields?" he demanded.

"I'd have plowed them under," she said, some hardness entering her voice too. "I'd have put the nutrients back into the soil, not stripped them from it."

He shook his head. "I asked Wade, and I talked to three guys at the tack and feed. They said for land that hasn't been cultivated properly for years, the best thing to do is to burn it or mow it to the dirt." He couldn't even imagine the grief he'd be taking from her if he'd filled her clear sky with smoke for a week. "And for your information, we then did plow everything under. Thank you so much for loaning us your tractor and plow."

Her face went blank and she blinked.

"Oh, Wade didn't tell you?" Tex hated the poison in his tone. "Right. So you don't know everything then."

"I never said I knew everything."

He sliced off another corner of meatloaf. "Like I said, forget it."

"I'm sorry," she said, and that got him to lift his eyes. "You're right, and I'm sorry. I don't know everything going on next door, and I…don't need to." She nodded like that was that, her auburn waves swinging along the sides of her neck. When he'd picked her up tonight, all he'd been able to think about was touching that hair. Fisting his fingers in it as he brought her closer to kiss her. Sliding his hands through it as they kissed, and kissed, and kissed.

She slid to the end of the bench, and Tex thought she'd excuse herself to the restroom. All thoughts of kissing her on her front porch that evening vanished as he looked up at her. She put her napkin on the table and took two steps to his side. "Can I sit by you?" she asked at the same time she slid into the booth.

He moved over, shock coursing through him, to make room for her. "I—sure."

She linked her arm through his and threaded her fingers on her left hand through those touching him. "Tex, I'm so sorry. I just ruined everything tonight, and I didn't mean to do that."

He looked down at her, but she kept her chin angled down, toward the table. "Abby," he said, his voice somehow throaty and filled with desire. He needed to clear that away quickly. "You've…changed."

"I should hope so," she said, finally looking up at him.

Five inches, and he could kiss her. He swallowed, the fantasy playing through his mind.

"I just meant to say that sometimes Jonas would pay too much for something, because he just wanted it done. The mowers reminded me a little bit of that. You don't throw your money around. That was a stupid thing to say."

He nodded, managed to swallow, and said, "Apology accepted."

"You two doin' okay here?" the waitress chirped, and Abby sat up straighter, her hands leaving his arm and falling to her lap.

"Yes," she said. "Thank you."

The waitress left, and Abby looked at him. "We're doing okay here, right? I didn't mess everything up too terribly?"

Tex leaned toward her, watching her eyes drift closed, a sense of satisfaction driving through him. He brushed his lips against her cheek and whispered in her ear, "We're doing great here, Abs."

She shivered, and Tex's blood turned to liquid lava. He put his arm around her and brought her back into his side. "Will you come over for lunch after church tomorrow? I'll send Bryce to his uncle's, and I'll show you all the progress on the inside of the house, and we can order pizza."

"I'm not eating from The Pipeline," she said, totally serious. "They're the only ones who deliver out as far as us, remember?"

"I'll order from Pie Squared," he said. "You said that was your favorite place in town."

Her eyebrows went up. "When did I tell you that?"

Tex chuckled, about to admit a few things himself. "Well, you didn't tell me, exactly. But I check Bryce's phone too, and he asked you which pizzeria was the best in town, so…." He shrugged one shoulder, which she promptly slugged.

"You have your son setting up our dates," she said, her voice full of accusation.

He laughed, and she got up and returned to her side of the booth, her mock irritation with him adorable and making him too hot all at the same time. "Hey, a man wants to be prepared," he said. "You can't fault me that. I just got your number last week. My son has had it for like, a month."

"You've been in town for a month," she said dryly. "And I can't help it if you're too big of a chicken to ask me for my number." She held her head high, forked up another micro-bite of fish, and ate it.

Tex tipped his head back and laughed, because he had been a little bit afraid to get her number, if only because then he might text her too much and annoy her. He sobered and looked her straight in the eyes. "I can't help it if you're stunning, and smart, and have me wishing I'd never left Coral Canyon." He swallowed, about to push all those chips into the middle of the table again. "Maybe I was nervous. Any man would be nervous to talk to a woman like you."

She scoffed, and he wasn't sure she'd heard him properly. "Don't be ridiculous, Tex."

"All right," he said easily. He'd spoken true, and Abby would analyze everything he'd said at some point. Just because she hadn't heard him right now didn't mean she wouldn't later. "But you can't tell me I'm the only one who's nervous."

She gave him that trademarked eyebrow. "How do you know I'm nervous?"

He stabbed no less than half a dozen green beans. "Because you haven't taken a real bite of food since we got here." He grinned as he shoved all the veggies into his mouth. He didn't have room for all of them, and one fell back to his plate.

Abby shook her head, the corners of her mouth twitching up ever so slightly. "Attractive," she said.

He finished the beans, which so weren't his favorite vegetable, and asked, "So is that a yes or a no to tomorrow?"

She studied him, those eyes doing a real number on his heart. "It's a yes," she said. "But I'm not telling your son any more of my favorite things."

"No problem," Tex said. "From now on, I'll ask you myself." He grinned at her, satisfied when she smiled back, and then finally— finally —took a bite of her food big enough to fill her mouth.

Tex eyed his phone like it was a poisonous snake. Corrie's name sat there, and she'd called three times over the past three days. "I guess I have to talk to your mother," he said to Bryce, who currently held a cordless drill and used it to attach the cupboard door to the new bathroom cabinets. "I'll be right back."

Tex picked up his phone and went down the hall toward his bedroom. "Heya, Corrie."

"Finally," she griped at him.

"Sorry," he said. "I kept meaning to call you back." He entered the bedroom and went over to the new sliding glass doors. They'd eventually lead out onto the new back deck, which he and Bryce would build all along the back of the house. They could get to it from the side steps, or the sliding doors in the dining room. Then, from his bedroom too. One huge outdoor sitting area. "What do you need?"

She'd signed the custody paper his lawyer had sent her. Bryce was in his full custody until he graduated, and Tex didn't have to share him with Corrie. Bryce still spoke with her, of course, though Tex had told him he didn't have to.

"I just paid for Bryce on my health insurance. I thought you were changing him to yours."

"Yeah, I did," Tex said. He'd actually asked Mav to do that, as his brother had handled all of those kinds of tasks for Tex for years. All the band members, actually. He chose their insurance, and the band paid for it for the employees.

"I'm going to need you to send in proof of his other insurance," she said with exhaustion raining through her voice. "Then I can get my money back."

"Okay," he said. "Tell me what to do." He pulled his phone from his ear and tapped to get to his recorder. Stuff like this bored him to death, but if he got it on tape, he could have Mav help him get it done.

Corrie finished quicker than he thought she would, and then she paused. "How's Bryce?" she asked.

"He's great," Tex said brightly. "We're doin' great here." He didn't need to go into details. When he'd asked about their son over the years, he didn't get detailed answers. He'd bought Bryce a phone when the boy was seven, just so he could talk to him more often and get real information right from Bryce.

"I do miss him," Corrie said, a wistful quality in her voice. Tex's fingers tightened around his phone, but he said nothing. He and Bryce were doing great, and if they could finish these cabinets, they could get to church.

Tex didn't want to think about after church with his ex-wife on the line. Thankfully, Bryce called for him, and Tex swung around. "I have to go, Corrie. We're putting cabinets together this morning."

"Okay," she said. "Will you ask him to call me?"

"Sure will," Tex said, and he let her end the call. He returned to the hall bathroom and held up his phone. "You're not talking to your mother?"

Bryce looked up from the half-hung cabinet door. "I am. Sort of."

Tex frowned and went to help with this last thing. Once it was in place, he helped Bryce to his feet, and squared his shoulders at his son. "She's your mother."

"It's complicated," Bryce said. "Kind of like you ‘sort of' dating Abby."

"Hey, I graduated into full dating," Tex said. Talking to his nearly grown son about girls and women hadn't been the easiest thing Tex had done. But he and Bryce didn't have secrets from one another, and everyone could see how much Tex liked Abby. "Son, you have to talk to me for this to work."

"Yeah." Bryce sighed and set the drill on the edge of the tub. "The cabinets look great, Dad." He smiled as he surveyed them. They were a bright white, painted in the factory and shipped to Tex to install himself.

Pride stole through him as he scanned down the hall to the kitchen too. With the new appliances—complete with the dishwasher—and the cabinets and the new flooring, the house looked like a million bucks. Tex smiled even though his shoulders hurt from hauling those cabinets up the steps. "They sure do," he said.

"It's just that Mom keeps asking me about college, and I don't know what to tell her."

Tex deliberately didn't look at Bryce. "You should tell her what you told me."

"She doesn't like that answer," Bryce said, moving over to the sink. He flipped on the water and started to wash his hands. "I really like this," he added.

"Define this ," Tex said.

"Construction," Bryce said. "This renovation and remodeling. I like studying the blueprints and floorplans. I like doing installations and ripping out old stuff and putting in new."

Tex had never heard his son talk like that, and he let it all sink into his head. "There are vocational programs for construction," he said. "And college degrees."

"Yeah." Bryce turned off the water and reached for a towel. "I also really like making music." He faced Tex, his smile revealing the perfectly straight teeth Tex had paid for. Bryce really did look so much like him, with his square features and dark eyebrows and hair. He'd been shaving for about a year, but he hadn't bothered this summer, so he wore a pretty decent beard.

"I like the music too," Tex said. "Maybe we should go to Nashville next month. Take a break from all this work and go see Luke and Trace. I can introduce you around to the producers at King Country."

Bryce's face lit up. "Could we, Dad?"

"Sure," Tex said. "I mean, I don't have Mav to book flights for me anymore, but I think I can figure it out for myself."

Bryce chuckled, and Tex stepped over to him and curled his hand around the back of his son's head. He brought their foreheads together and said, "I love you, son. You're a good boy, and you're going to be an amazing man. Better than me, for sure." He pulled away slightly, so Bryce would know how serious he was. "But you have to call your mother. Once a week is what I'm asking you to do. Just check in with her and keep her updated. She raised you almost by herself, and she deserves that."

Bryce nodded, properly chastised. "Yes, sir."

"Good." Tex stepped back and sighed. "I know I haven't been perfect, Bryce. Far from it. Thank you for forgiving me and giving me another chance."

"Dad, of course."

Tex nodded, because he felt like he needed a lot of second chances right now. He realized that was why he was working so dang hard on this ranch—all it needed was a second chance, and he wanted to be the one to provide that to the house, the land, the fences, the outbuildings, all of it.

"You know what we should do?" he asked as he moved toward the back door to go to church. "We should find a rescue operation and get all of our animals from there. Give them a second chance."

"That's a great idea, Dad," Bryce said. "Maybe I'll just stay here and be a farmer-slash-rancher. We could start our own rescue operation. We have plenty of land here."

"A rescue operation," Tex mused, because the idea held plenty of merit for him.

"You'll save me some pizza, right?" Bryce asked as they buckled into the truck. "From your fancy at-home date?"

Tex laughed, because there wasn't much fancy about what he had planned for him and Abby. Pie Squared. He'd show her the progress on the house. Then…he had no idea what the afternoon held for them, and that got his pulse racing faster than it had in a good, long while.

He'd been praying for pleasant weather and divine guidance when it came to the ranch and house. He'd been asking the Lord to help him with Bryce for seventeen long years. His petitions to the Lord about Abby were still somewhat new, but he really didn't want to mess up this time, so as he and Bryce walked into the church a half-hour later, he once again asked the Lord to bless him and help him that afternoon.

He'd never really believed there was "one right person" for him, but as Abby rose from the wingback chair in the lobby at the church, Tex could only see her. He wanted so much more time with her, and he wondered if she was "his one," and he just hadn't been able to see it until now.