14. Dallas
14
DALLAS
I hear the music before I even set foot on the porch. It’s so loud I’m sure the whole house is vibrating.
I kick off my boots and step into the front hallway. I don’t normally enter Violet’s house unannounced, but there’s no way anyone is going to hear me knocking.
Shrieking echoes down the hall from the kitchen and my body goes on immediate alert. Then I realise it’s joyful shrieking and my daughter isn’t in peril. It’s such a visceral response I need to take a moment to calm myself again before I head down the hall.
It’s like that now. The slightest hint of fear in Sadie sends me into over-protective mode. I’m never not going to be worried about her. I don’t think it used to be this bad, but who’s really to know if it’s to do with the events of her life, or if the growing anxiety I have is normal in all parents. I don’t exactly have a lot of parent friends to ask.
I shake off that fear now, especially when I reach the kitchen. I lean against the doorframe and take in the utter chaos before me.
Sadie is clinging to Katie’s back, as she piggybacks her around the room, alternating skips for bad dance moves. Both of them are giggling hysterically. They aren’t even half the chaos though.
The rest of it is Flynn, who’s piggybacking Olivia.
“Joust!” Flynn yells as he reaches the other side of the room to Katie and Sadie. The two with feet on the floor spin to face each other and paw at the ground like bulls about to charge.
“Giddy up,” Sadie squeals and Katie charges across the room at the same time Flynn launches in their direction.
Sadie and Olivia have their arms held out, like jousting poles and at the last moment, as Katie and Flynn slide past each other, they reach out and slap a high five. Olivia flinches like she’s been taken out and Flynn stumbles to a stop while Katie and Sadie celebrate their ‘victory’.
“Welcome to the mad house,” Violet says beside me, her voice indulgent as she watches the three adults behaving like bigger children than my daughter.
I laugh softly but continue watching as Katie swings Sadie down from her back and begins to twirl her around the room.
I should be watching Sadie and enjoying this moment of pure happiness for her. But my gaze keeps drawing back to Katie. She’s like a magnet.
Her hair is tied in it’s usual braid, but half of it has pulled loose around her face. She’s wearing jeans and a ratty old t-shirt, like she does pretty much every day on the farm. What I’m seeing isn’t anything out of the ordinary, and yet, I can’t help but feeling that something here is remarkable.
I can’t believe no one has noticed me standing here yet. Clearly they’re having way too much fun.
I try to remember the last time Sadie and I danced in the kitchen. When the memories don’t come, I realise it’s been way too long. Emotion hits me square in the chest. I should be doing better.
“Heya, cowboy,” Katie calls across the room, finally catching sight of me and snapping me out of my moment of melancholy before I have a chance to really wallow in it. “Come to join us?”
“Daddy!” Sadie shrieks when she spots me. She sprints across the room and leaps straight into my arms. Her confidence in my ability to catch her unwavering. I squeeze her to my chest. “Hey, Sadie girl,” I murmur into her hair.
She kisses me on the cheek. “Did you have a good day? Flynn said there’s a new horse. He brought it back with him.”
“That’s right. There is a new horse. Her name is Aurora,” I say and feel a flutter I most definitely shouldn’t when Katie shoots me a sly smile.
She’s started dancing around the kitchen with Olivia, while Flynn begs Violet to join them. Eventually Violet drops the potato she’s been peeling and lets Flynn lead her into the middle of the room where he begins to waltz.
“This is not the right music for waltzing,” Violet says through a laugh.
“Shh,” Flynn scolds. “You’ll mess up my counting.”
Sadie wriggles down and goes back to join Olivia while Katie leans on the wall beside me .
“I feel like I’ve missed something,” I say.
“What do you mean?” She’s looking up at me with those stunning grey eyes, confusion evident on her face.
I gesture at the room. “All this chaos. I feel like I missed the memo.”
“But … isn’t this normal?”
“Nooo,” I say, regretting it as soon as I see the confusion turn to concern. “I mean, maybe. But I haven’t witnessed it before.”
“It used to always be like this,” Katie whispers, her voice so low I’m not sure I’m supposed to hear it.
“I probably just miss it. They probably do it when I’m home with Sadie.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she says, but she doesn’t sound convinced.
After two songs, Violet escapes Flynn and he joins us by the wall. Olivia turns the music down and Sadie collapses into a chair, her smile huge and relaxed.
I love this job. This place. This family.
“You’re coming out with us, right Dallas?” Flynn asks after catching his breath.
“Ah, nah, not tonight,” I say.
“Aw, come on,” Olivia whines. “Live a little.”
“I’ve got Sadie,” I say, gesturing to where she’s now helping Violet peel the potatoes.
“Don’t worry about Sadie. She can stay with me,” Violet calls over her shoulder.
“But—”
“No buts,” Violet says. “We’ll have a great time. Won’t we, Sadie? ”
Sadie grins up at her and nods vigorously. She doesn’t even need to open her mouth to argue the point before I concede, because now the offer of a sleepover with Violet has been made, I’m not getting out of it.
“Alright, as long as that’s okay with you, Violet.”
“Of course it is. You deserve a bit of a break. And we’re apparently celebrating the reunion of the three musketeers.”
“Which means,” Flynn says, his smile turning wicked, “we just need Katie Kat to agree.”
She shakes her head firmly. “No.”
“But Katie Kat?—”
“I said no, Flynn. I’m happy to see you, truly. But I don’t want to go into town.”
“Max won’t be there,” Olivia says, her voice quiet. “It’s Tilly’s birthday. They’re having dinner at home. Please come.”
Katie lets out a huge breath. She’s about to admit defeat.
“Yeah, come on,” I say. “If the boring old guy can go, then you can. Plus, the rest of the world really needs to lay eyes on those killer dances moves of yours.”
My comment has the desired effect and her eyes flash before she snaps, “Fine, but we’re stopping at my place to get outfits for me and Livvie.”
“Done,” Flynn crows. He slings an arm around each of the girls’ shoulders and squeezes them tight.
Two hours later and I’m pulling into Katie’s driveway, after pretending I don’t know exactly where she lives. We ate dinner with Violet and Sadie, then cleaned ourselves up after a day on the farm.
We all piled into my ute for the drive into town, because apparently mine has the best stereo. We’ll leave the ute at Katie’s place, the girls will get changed and then we’ll walk to the pub. The plan is to stagger back here at some point later tonight and crash, then head back to the farm in the morning.
All in all, it’s a terrible plan on so many levels, mostly to do with me setting foot inside Katie’s house again.
It’s hard enough keeping the memories of that night at bay as it is. Revisiting the scene isn’t going to help. I didn’t really have a choice though and my only comfort is the feeling that Katie isn’t super keen on this adventure either.
I wish she didn’t feel that way, but her reluctance makes tonight easier for me. I can worry about her having a good time instead of thinking about how I should be at home, spending more time dancing in the kitchen with Sadie, even though she’s asleep right now and it’s all irrelevant anyway.
Flynn leaps out of the ute with the girls, herding them to Katie’s front door. He’s ushering them along, trying to get them to hurry up.
I always knew the guy had more energy than a Labrador puppy, but seeing him with Olivia and Katie is another level altogether. He waves for me to join them and I reluctantly slide out of the ute.
Katie’s house isn’t much different from the last time I saw it, except there’s a few less boxes lying around. It’s still a barely furnished cottage. There’s furniture: a couch, a dining room table, a bed that I know about from experience, but there isn’t much of a personal touch, except for the bookshelves in one corner of the lounge.
“Geez,” Flynn says, taking it in. “Do you even live here?”
“Shut up, I’ve been busy,” Katie snaps, then drags Olivia down the hall where they disappear into the bedroom.
Twenty minutes later, they appear again.
Flynn groans. “No. I can’t take you out like that.”
Katie snorts and rolls her eyes. “Really not concerned about your opinion, Flynnigan.”
“I know, but you’re going to break half the population of Kauri Creek.”
He’s not wrong. This town has probably never seen anything like it.
Olivia, who’ve I’ve seen pretty much permanently in jeans and a worn out hoodie since the day I met her, is wearing a dress. A dress that shows off all of her legs. It’s navy, with little sparkles all over. Loose through the top, it dips low in the back and hugs around her hips, ending barely halfway down her thighs. She looks incredible.
But it’s hard to acknowledge when Katie is standing next to her.
She’s entirely in black. A leather jacket. A super short skirt too, this one not even reaching her mid-thigh, but it doesn’t show off her legs. Because she’s wearing thigh high black suede boots.
I suppress a groan. This girl is killing me.
Then, she slips the jacket down her shoulders and twirls in front of Flynn. That’s when I catch sight of the bare strip of skin around her middle. Coupled with the thin straps of the tight black tank top and a peek of her bra strap, it might make me explode.
“Damn girl,” Flynn says, then reaches for Olivia’s hand and twirls her too. She giggles, clearly more hesitant about her outfit than Katie. “You too,” Flynn says. He turns to me. “They look smokin’, right boss?”
“Yep, let’s get this over with,” I mutter, unable to control my voice and what was supposed to be a sort-of joke, just comes out with me sounding like an asshole. I mean, it’s an accurate representation. The thoughts going through my head are asshole level right now. I don’t want to go to the pub, I want to take Katie into her room and strip that fucking gorgeous outfit right off her body.
Thankfully no one seems to notice my snarky tone.
Olivia and Flynn tumble out into the rapidly cooling night and I do everything I can to avoid staring at Katie’s cleavage, or the stretch of her torso laid bare, or the glimpse of her thighs between the boots and skirt.
I’m not concerned about the population of Kauri Creek anymore. Only me, and it’s already too late for me.
“You alright there, cowboy?”
“Spectacular.” I refuse to look at her. I already know what I’m going to find. Smudgy dark eye makeup, vampy red lips, probably curled into a wicked grin at my obvious discomfort. Lips I’m going to want to kiss and probably never let go.
I thought I was screwed before, the first day I saw her standing in the arena at Wildflower Ridge, but this … this is so much worse than I first realised.