Chapter Twelve #2
“Not the most romantic kiss I’ve ever seen.” Roddy’s grin revealed gaps in his teeth. “But I think you gave the gossips a lifetime supply of feed.”
Mom came over to sit next to Roddy. “I love having you home, Eve. I can’t get enough of my adorable granddaughter. Look at this.” She turned her cell phone screen toward Eve, revealing a photograph of Katie grinning at the camera, face framed by those silver fairy wings.
“She’s more photogenic than I was.” Eve reached for her coffee cup, intending to take a sip. But it was empty. She frowned at Hayden. “Really?”
“What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours,” he said, shrugging adorably. “Besides, you were a very photogenic teen. I’ve seen the evidence in real time.”
That statement was so unexpected, Eve’s jaw dropped.
“That’s sweet of you to say, Hayden,” Mom said into the void.
“Hay-Hay, can you buy me a kitty cat cake pop?” Katie squirmed her way in between Eve and Hayden on the bench, banging her large, silver fairy wings against their shoulders. “You’re my favorite cowboy ever, Hay-Hay.”
“That’s not what you told me recently,” Hayden reminded her.
“That was when you weren’t nice to Poppy.” Katie raised her stubborn chin. “But you fell in love with her. And she purred for you. That means you’re my favorite cowboy again.”
“And your mama’s favorite cowboy too?” Hayden teased, sneaking a glance at Eve over Katie’s head.
Katie nodded. “You’re our favorite cowboy, forever and ever.”
Eve held back a sigh.
In this case, forever was going to expire in six months.
*
“He’s as big as me!” Katie cried upon seeing the orphaned calf when Hayden carried him out of the horse trailer at the ranch later. She looked out of place in the ranch yard in her sparkly purple dress, even though she’d left her silvery wings in Evie’s car. “What’s his name?”
“This calf doesn’t have a name.” Hayden stopped next to little Katie, letting her pet the calf, which seemed to have no fear of humans.
Hayden knew from experience that a calf like that would make a good show animal for a kid.
Not that Katie was going to be around long enough to do that.
He caught his stepdaughter’s eye. “We don’t name ranch stock. ”
Because we eat them.
“But every animal has a name.” Katie stroked the calf’s ears. “There’s Nugget, Red, Poppy. And he is…” She kissed the calf on top of the head. “I’m going to call him Mike. He looks like a Mike, doesn’t he?”
Uh-oh.
“What say you, Mama?” Hayden sought out Evie. She was the only other adult in the ranch yard. Roddy had taken the horses into the barn, and Gran sat on the top porch step talking to herself. “Does he look like a ‘Mike’?”
“Careful now,” Evie told Hayden. She came closer to pet the calf, her blond hair billowing in the late afternoon breeze. “You’ve clearly forgotten one of the rules of parenting.”
Too late, he remembered those rules. “I shouldn’t let a kid pet an animal unless I plan to adopt it.” Hayden cleared his throat. “Katie, this calf needs to return to the range when he’s old enough.”
Katie gasped. “No, Hay-Hay. Mike is family. That means we have to love him and help him live a happy life. Here. With us.”
The way my heart wants to keep you and Evie here. With me.
Hayden swallowed back that thought, wondering where it had come from. “I guess it’s decided. Mike is staying with us.” At least, for the next six months.
“Yay! Can I feed him, Hay-Hay?” Katie turned those big blue eyes his way. “Roddy said he needs to be fed a bottle.”
Mike bellowed, perhaps expecting his mama to answer.
“Poor baby,” Katie cooed. “I’ll take care of you. Wait until you meet Poppy and Nugget. They’re family too.”
“Temporarily,” Evie murmured, too softly for Katie to hear.
Even though he’d had the same thought, Evie’s comment got under Hayden’s skin. Was she counting the days until their marriage ended?
“I’ve got a stall cleared out for that calf,” Roddy called from the barn door, his cowboy hat tipped back and that broad, gap-toothed grin on his face. “Bring him over, Katie. I’ll let you feed him dinner.”
Before Hayden knew what was happening, Katie was leading the spindly-legged calf to the barn in her sparkly purple fairy dress. And Hayden… He was unexpectedly smiling. He stopped fighting it, turning that smile Evie’s way. “That’s something I never thought I’d see—a fairy leading a bull.”
Evie patted his shoulder, sharing his smile. Her long blond hair fell in tangled waves. “Parenthood is full of sights you never imagined you’d see.”
Hayden stared at Evie, thoughts scattering in his head like dandelion fluff in an indecisive breeze.
The past few days had been full of highs and lows where his relationship with Evie was concerned.
Since Violet had left him at the altar, he’d given up on being a father.
He’d told himself he wasn’t missing out on much.
But Katie was turning that belief on its head.
The same way Evie’s turning the appeal of a fake marriage upside down.
“What’s on your mind?” Evie’s hand dropped to her side.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Hayden propped his hands at his waist to try to keep himself from pulling Evie close. “Everything all right?”
She took in his stance without a smile or a frown. “I asked you first.”
Danger. Treacherous current ahead.
Hayden removed his cowboy hat, ran a hand through his hair, and then plopped his hat back in place.
Not that any of those moves provided much in the way of answers.
But it bought him time to locate where to begin.
“It’s just that everything is new to me, Evie.
Running the ranch. Being married. Being a…
a favorite cowboy.” He couldn’t bring himself to say dad.
“And given our agreement, sometimes I’m not sure how to react. ”
“That’s a lot to unpack. Let’s start with being married,” Evie said with a poker face. “We made this bargain for a reason. Are you having second thoughts?”
“Second thoughts…plural? Are you asking me if my thoughts are looping around ideas regarding how to divorce you?” Hayden’s toes felt cold inside his boots, despite the warm afternoon sunshine. “Or how to make six months go by quicker?” If anything, he foolishly wanted time to slow.
Evie stood as still as a statue. “I suppose it’s normal to have so-called buyer’s remorse.”
“I’m not having regrets.” That came out louder than he’d intended. A gust of wind tested the fit of his cowboy hat. Evie’s stare tested the truth of his statement. He doubled down. “I’m happy with the way things turned out. We made a deal and—”
“Mama! Come watch me feed Mike!”
Evie sighed. “I get it, Hayden. Every day seems to bring a new set of challenges we didn’t plan for. I didn’t think through all the repercussions our marriage had for Katie or Irene. If you want to back out of our deal, you can.”
Hayden placed his hands on her hips. Her hips, not his. He needed Evie to face him so he could see every nuance in her expression. “We’ve only been married a short time, Evie. I’m not a quitter. And I didn’t take you for one either.”
“I don’t think you considered how your life would change with a little girl as part of the deal. You need to raise money and that calf she’s claimed as hers can’t be cheap.”
“That may be true, but—”
“Mama! Come see!”
“—I can’t break Katie’s heart.” Or my own.
And there it was. The root of his problem. He wasn’t just falling for Evie; he was falling for her precocious little girl.
Evie’s gaze searched his, so long that he thought she might admit her heart was becoming involved too. “You’ll let me know if you change your mind?” She stepped free of his hold, her expression carefully neutral. “I’ll understand if you do.”
Her words slid under his skin like a sharp splinter, stinging without quit. “I won’t change my mind.”
After a moment, Evie nodded and hurried off into the barn.
Hayden watched her go, unable to unravel the feelings swirling inside of him.
But one thing he did know…
This is what it’ll be like in six months.
He’d be watching Evie walk away and kicking himself because he felt so empty inside.