Chapter 3
Chapter Three
L orna Gibbs—she had taken her maiden name, and hopefully some of her dignity, back after the divorce—stared open-mouthed at her son.
Leni and Lorna’s family had been absorbed into the Lassiter clan around the same time Mack had first shown up in town, searching for the half-brothers he’d just found out about. They’d all spent a lot of time together, for family dinners and football games, and she and Mack had shared some flirty moments.
She liked the handsome cowboy. He was kind and thoughtful, and respectful to his grandfather, and to her. She relished his attention and his sweet compliments, but she’d been smack-dab in the middle of a divorce and had a brand-new baby to boot when they’d first met. She’d just broken her ankle and was so tired, she felt like she could barely form a coherent sentence, let alone start up some kind of romance with a hot cowboy, no matter how tall and muscly his broad chest was.
She’d known that her sweet son, Max, had liked the cowboy, too. He liked all the Lassiter men. They treated him so differently than his own father had. Lyle either ignored the boy or chastised him for being too loud or too talkative or for not picking up his toys.
But Duke and Chevy and his brothers all loved Max, taking him along to do chores or for rides on the tractor. And Mack was the first to agree to play a game or build Lego stuff with him, getting down on the floor with the boy, and having real conversations where he actually listened to the stories Max loved to tell. Mack had bought him his first pair of cowboy boots, and Max had practically slept in them.
They had all missed Mack when he’d gotten called back to help at the ranch in Texas where he’d worked before, but he’d said he would only be gone for a few weeks. Then the foreman of the ranch had broken his leg, and then they’d needed him for winter calving, and then something else had happened, and then something else, and suddenly he’d been gone months instead of weeks.
They hadn’t gotten to the point of talking to each other on the phone, but they had been texting and sending each other funny reels. Then once he left, his texts had dwindled from frequent to sporadic to non-existent. Which, she tried to convince herself, was fine with her. She had enough on her plate trying to pay her bills and keep up with the laundry and dishes while running her coffee shop, Mountain Brew, and raising a rambunctious kindergartener and a nine-month-old baby girl who was getting ready to walk.
When Mack had first left, he was all Max talked about, but after several months, the boy had stopped mentioning his name. Lorna wasn’t sure if he’d just forgotten about the cowboy or if he’d assumed Mack had simply left him behind, just like his father had done.
But the way Max had just called his name and gone racing into Mack’s arms told her the boy hadn’t forgotten him. She swallowed, hard, at the burn of emotion clogging her throat from seeing the tall cowboy hug her boy to his chest and laugh as he ruffled his hair.
Mack kept the boy in his arms as he continued down the aisle, stopping to scoop up the dropped ring pillow, then greeting his brothers with hugs and handshakes before taking his place at the end of the line.
He caught her eye and grinned as he nodded to the front row of guests where Mabel Turner, a petite elderly lady who had been one of Duke’s wife’s best friends, was wearing black slacks and a much-too-big-for-her blue shirt, belted with a navy necktie and covered by a large silver vest.
She stifled a giggle. Apparently, they’d just solved the mystery of the culprit whose garment bag had been mixed up with Mack’s.
So, the dress really hadn’t belonged to his date.
And she felt surprisingly happy about that fact.
Then the “Wedding March” began to play, and she let go of her thoughts about the hot cowboy as she turned to watch her beautiful sister, a broad smile on her face and her arm threaded through the elbow of Duke, as Leni walked down the aisle and toward the love of her life.
She’d never seen her older sister so happy.
Leni was getting married, and to the man of her dreams. Tears filled Lorna’s eyes as she listened to them recite their heartfelt vows, and she fulfilled her maid of honor duties, holding the bouquet while they exchanged rings—thankfully the real ones had been in Duke’s pocket instead of being flung along the aisle in her son’s impromptu dance party—but her gaze kept straying to the man on the other side of the aisle who her son was standing next to and staring up at with the rapt devotion of a golden retriever puppy.
She’d spent the last seven months trying to convince herself he wasn’t that good-looking, or that tall, or that kind. She’d been wrong.
He was even hotter than she’d remembered.
His muscled chest and jet-black hair had her heart pounding against her chest and her insides tumbling around like towels in a dryer.
When she’d stormed into Ford’s room earlier, her heart had nearly stopped at the sight of Mack, barefoot, in jeans and a white T-shirt clinging to his broad chest, his tousled hair, still wet from the shower and curling at his neck.
She’d set up a million scenarios in her head of when she would see him again, and was beyond thrilled that she’d had makeup on, her hair done and was dressed to the nines versus wearing day old mascara and her usual outfit of yoga pants and a questionably clean shirt that was likely stained with either coffee or some flavor of baby food.
He’d looked at her in a way she hadn’t been looked at in a long time. And he’d said she looked ‘ stunning ’. That one word—a description her ex had never uttered—went straight into her heart and buried itself there like a treasure inside a chest she could pull out later to hold and cherish.
Her attention sprang back to her sister as the minister proclaimed, “By the power vested in me by the state of Colorado, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
She laughed and held back a sob of happiness—and a little grief over remembering her own failed marriage vows—as Chevy grabbed Leni and bent her back in an exaggerated dip before pressing his lips to hers in a passionate kiss.
He pulled her back to standing as he let out a whoop then kissed her again. Joy radiated off both him and Leni, like a campfire giving off warmth and light, and making everyone around them lean in, as if wanting to capture some of that happiness for themselves.
Lorna couldn’t have been happier for her older sister. Leni had stepped in and taken care of her when their father had left and their mother had fallen apart, and Lorna knew that her sister had fallen in love with Chevy Lassiter the moment she’d laid eyes on him.
But there was a tiny feeling, like a small worm in an otherwise delicious apple, that had her glancing over at Mack and wondering if she’d ever get to feel that kind of love. If she’d ever be brave enough to risk getting her heart shattered and stomped on and tossed away like a fast-food wrapper again.
She felt a nudge in her back from Elizabeth, the bridesmaid behind her, and realized Duke was waiting to walk back down the aisle with her. Lunging forward, she smiled at her sister’s new grandfather-in-law and tried to put thoughts of handsome cowboys and shattered hearts behind her.
It was Leni’s day, and the first night she’d been out without Isabel, in months, and she was determined to enjoy it.
Maisie’s neighbor, Gertie Henderson, who was a mother of five, a grandmother to eight, and a great-grandmother to two, had offered to stay overnight at Lorna’s house to watch Izzy, so Lorna could participate in all the wedding festivities.
Gertie had been watching Izzy a few days a week while Lorna worked at the coffee shop. The little girl loved her bonus grandma, and it meant everything to Lorna to know her baby was with someone she could trust.
“Mom,” Max called as he and Mack made it to the end of the aisle runner. He ran to her and threw his arms around her legs as he flashed a huge grin up at her. “Did you see that Mack is back? And he brought me a birthday present. Even though he missed my birthday. But he said he was real sorry he wasn’t back in time to see me and have some of my birthday cake, which I told him had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it so the frosting turned your tongue green and black. And he said that sounded really cool.”
“Okay, slow down, take a breath, buddy,” she told him, used to her son’s mile-a-minute conversation style, and wondering when he and Mack had time to discuss Max’s birthday party and the black and green frosting—which had been more disgusting than cool, in her opinion, but it had made Max happy, and so it had been worth it.
And had Mack really bought Max a birthday gift?
If he had, it would have been more than her ex had done. Lyle had called her a few days after, full of excuses and justifications of why he’d missed his own son’s birthday and asked her to stick a twenty in a card and sign his name to it. Which she’d already done the night of his birthday, not for Lyle, but so Max didn’t have to know what a shit-heel his father was.
Not that Max was short on gifts. The Lassiter clan had held his birthday party at the ranch, offering pony rides and ice cream to the few friends he’d invited, and had showered him with presents and hugs. But still, it sucked that his own father had forgotten.
And it meant something that Mack hadn’t. He had texted that day and sent Max a funny GIF of a tiny dog scarfing down a huge birthday cake. Her son had loved it.
“Hey,” Mack said, catching up to Max and obviously hearing the tail end of their conversation. “I hope it’s okay that I got him a gift. I probably should have checked with you first, but he was telling me about his birthday, and it slipped out that I had brought him something back from Texas.”
“It’s fine,” she told him, surprised, and a little curious, about what he’d had the foresight to purchase and bring with him from the Lone Star state. “As long as it isn’t one of those cows you’ve been taking care of.”
Mack’s face fell. “Oh dang. They told me I couldn’t return it.” Then he smiled as he teased her.
She lifted one shoulder in a good-natured shrug. “Well, I guess I will have a spare bedroom now that Leni’s moving out and into the cabin at the lake with Chevy.”
Max jumped up and down, pure glee evident in his grin. “Am I really getting a cow? And I can keep it in Aunt Leni’s room? I promise I’ll feed it every day. And take it for walks. And it can even sleep in my bed, if it wants.”
Oops.
“No, I’m sorry, honey. Mack and I were just teasing each other. He didn’t really bring you a cow back from Texas.” She glanced up at him, a question in her eyes, and dropped her shoulders in relief when he grinned then shook his head.
Max’s body sagged against her as if his bones had all turned to spaghetti. “Aww dang. I would have really liked having my own cow. Can you think about it for when I turn seven?”
“Sure, buddy,” she said, giving his limp body a hug.
“I need to get Zeus back to the barn and take his saddle off. How about you come help me, then we’ll visit some of the cows on our way to my truck to get your gift?” Mack asked, then glanced back at Lorna. “I mean, if that’s okay with your mom.”
Lorna nodded. “Sure. Just don’t take too long. And don’t get dirty . Aunt Leni wants us all for pictures in fifteen minutes. Including you,” she told Mack. “Why don’t I try to track down Mabel Turner and see if I trade her dress for your wedding clothes, so you’ll at least have the right ones for the pictures.”
Ten minutes later, she met Mack and her son in the kitchen of the ranch house, his shirt, tie, and vest hanging over her arm.
“Mom, look at this huge present Mack got for me,” Max told her, gesturing to the rather large box sitting on the kitchen table. “Can I open it now?” he asked, already ripping into the paper almost before she told him he could.
He tore the wrapping paper away—another impressive thing that Mack had the foresight to not only bring a gift, but to wrap it in blue and white paper covered in the Paw Patrol puppies—to reveal a Lego set for a huge pirate ship. “This is sooo cool. I love it just as much as a cow,” Max said, jumping down from the chair and throwing himself into Mack’s arms. “Thank you, Mack. Will you help me build it? Can we do it now?”
“I’m glad you like it,” Mack said. “I always wanted one of these when I was a kid.” Lorna noticed a shadow of sadness darken Mack’s eyes, then it disappeared so quickly, she wondered if she’d seen it at all. “And I’d be happy to help you build it, but tonight is all about your Aunt Leni and your new Uncle Chevy and celebrating their wedding, so we’ll have to make a plan for another day.”
Max’s mouth turned down in a frown then he lifted his eyebrows. “How about tomorrow?”
Mack laughed and the sound of it did something funny to Lorna’s insides. Not just the rich sound of his laughter, but the fact that it was her son who was bringing him genuine joy. She couldn’t remember ever hearing Lyle laugh like that with him.
“We’ll have to check with your mom on that one,” Mack said.
Max’s head whipped toward her, but before she could answer, Mabel Turner came down the hallway wearing the silver dress that had been left on Ford’s bed.
“Well, I must admit,” she said. “This does seem like a more reasonable choice for wedding attire. I wasn’t sure what to do when I opened my garment bag earlier and found those other clothes, but I was already at the ranch and didn’t have anything else to wear, so as they say in my Zumba class, I just went with it and made the best of a bad dance move.”