Chapter 19 #2
“Camden!” She glanced at Huck, who looked extremely sexy with his wild bed head and the quilt pooling low on his lean hips. “What time is it?”
“A little after two.”
“Oh, no!” She jumped from the air mattress and searched for her clothes. “Why did you let me sleep so long?”
He got up and found her dress, bringing it around to her.
“Maybe because I liked spooning as much as you did.” He slipped the dress over her head and turned her so he could tie the halter.
Once he finished, he brushed a kiss on her shoulder.
“Now stop fretting. Camden isn’t going to be waiting up to lecture you. ”
On the drive back to the ranch, they didn’t talk much.
But they’d never felt the need to fill silence.
They just listened to the radio and held hands while they kept looking at each other with big smiles on their faces.
Once they got to the house, he walked her to the door, cradled her face in his hands, and kissed her.
“I love you, Cadee.”
She covered his hands with hers. “I love you too, Huck.”
His eyes filled with concern. “We’re good, right?”
She smiled. “We’re good.”
He gave her a sweet, loving kiss that made her feel like she’d swallowed a bunch of helium balloons before he released her. “I’ll call you later. We have some things we need to discuss.”
She nodded and watched as he headed back to his truck. Once he pulled away, she went inside. She stopped in the entryway to take off her boots, then turned and stopped short when she saw Cooper sitting in a chair in the living room.
Making sure her hair covered the hickey Huck had given her, she stepped into the room. “You didn’t need to wait up for me, Coop.”
He held up a book. “I was just catching up on a little reading.” She knew it was a lie. Cooper liked to read, but never this late—not when he got up at five every morning. His next question confirmed he’d been worried about her. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” More than fine. She was happier than she’d ever been.
Cooper didn’t look so happy as he stood. “I’m not going to tell you how to live your life, Cadee. But I don’t want you to make the same mistake all over again.”
“I know you don’t, Coop. But Huck’s not the same boy he was. And I’m not the same girl.”
He shook his head. “You haven’t changed, Cadee. You’re the same sweet girl who only sees the good in people.”
“There’s a lot of good in Huck. There always has been. Yes, he and his siblings were a little ornery as kids, but we were ornery too. Well, maybe not you. You were always perfect. But Callum and I got into our fair share of trouble.”
“Callum has always had a wild streak, but Huck was usually the one getting you into trouble. I’m worried that’s going to happen again.”
She tried to ease his mind. “He loves me, Coop. And I love him.”
“I never doubted that Huck loves you and you love him. But that didn’t stop him from hurting you. What makes you so certain he won’t hurt you again?”
It was a good question. It was too bad she didn’t have a good answer.
“Because . . . he told me so.”
She read the sad resignation in her brother’s eyes.
“And he might very well believe this time is different. But actions speak louder than words, Cadee. Huck has always been a quitter. I can’t see that changing.
” He walked over and brushed a kiss on her forehead.
“Turn off the lights before you come to bed.”
When he was gone, she turned off the porch and living room lights before she climbed the stairs to check on Camden.
He was a sprawling back sleeper. One arm and both legs were starfished while the other arm clutched the stuffed raptor Huck had given him.
He had told Huck he was too big for stuffed animals, then slept with Ronny the Raptor every night since Huck gave it to him.
As she stared at her beloved son, the bubbly feeling of happiness she’d arrived home with popped like bubbles in a cold bath.
She wanted to deny Cooper’s words, but she couldn’t.
Huck had always been a quitter. He’d always start off gung-ho about something and convince Cadee to be gung-ho about it too.
But as soon as things got tough, he’d make up some excuse for why he’d been fooled into thinking it was a great idea when it had actually been a bad one.
And every time, she had been gullible enough to go along with him. To believe that his failure had nothing to do with Huck and everything to do with it just being the wrong idea. When he found the right idea, he’d succeed.
Except he had never found the right one.
Now she had to wonder if he ever would. It certainly wouldn’t be making porch swings for the good folks of Promise Springs.
How could making a small amount on carpentry jobs be enough for the boy who had always wanted to strike it rich?
A boy who talked nonstop about living in a big city in a fancy house and owning a Harley motorcycle and driving it all over the country?
How could she believe that boy had changed into a man who could be satisfied living in a small town and driving an old truck . . . and loving a simple country girl?
No wonder Cooper had looked at her as if she was a complete idiot. She had fallen so easily into her old habit of believing everything Huck told her. Even after he’d left her and ghosted her for eight long years. How could she be so foolish when she was a mama? A mama who needed to protect her son.
One of her mama’s favorite sayings popped into her head.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
If Huck fooled her again, she’d have no one to blame but herself.