Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Mason
S hit, shit, shit.
My head was going a hundred miles an hour as I stormed out of my room, rushing to meet Jess before she could put two and two together. She was a smart girl, and it had been a long, long time since I had to worry about being caught with a woman. The thought of her walking in or even just hearing us was enough to make me stop.
Not to mention, talk about the ultimate turn off.
“What’s wrong with you, Dad?” Jess gave me a funny look as I stepped into the living room, halfway out of breath and halfway embarrassed as hell. “You look… weird. Are you sick or something?” She scrunched up her nose, and I wondered if she had missed the silver SUV parked outside.
Someone clearing their throat behind me caught my attention, and Jess’s eyes went wider, a flash of surprise crossing her face as she stared at Emma. For a second, I thought she might freak out—but then she smiled .
“Oh my god, you were about to get it on,” she burst into laughter, her face full of amusement. “How disgusting !”
I ignored the teenage comment, gesturing back to Emma. “Jess, this is Emma Fisher, my friend. ”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Okay, Dad, whatever you say.” She leaned past me, giving Emma a small wave. “Hi.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Emma said, her tone painfully pleasant. I didn’t want to see the look on her face—especially after the low blow of calling a woman I was about to fuck my friend. I knew it was a burn…
But having a kid is complicated.
“You’re home early,” I commented, shifting my weight into my heels. “I thought you were spending the night with Dara.”
“Uh…” Her voice trailed off in a way that made me uneasy. I kept trying to push away the idea that she might be lying, but honestly, I was pretty sure she was.
And as much as it pissed me off, it worried me even more.
I’ll ask Lily about it tomorrow.
Right now, I just needed to focus on the situation at hand—my teenage daughter showing up in the middle of a date… One that I hadn’t told her about.
“I can tell you two have a lot to chat about,” Emma spoke up, interrupting the silence settling in the room. “I think I’m going to go ahead and get out of your hair.”
“No,” Jess and I both said in unison, stopping her in her tracks as she tried to slink by.
“Dara talks about you all the time,” Jess said, her attention staying on Emma. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to avoid talking to me about what she had been up to this evening, or if she really was curious about Emma. Either way, I let it play out. I wasn’t going to force Emma to stay …
“Does she?” Emma lit up, her shoulders relaxing as she hovered by the front door, where her boots were. “I’ve always been fairly close to her, but ever since I moved here, things have gotten even better.”
“Yeah, she says you’re like her second mom or something.” Jess smiled, and for some reason, I thought I might have caught a hint of sadness in her eyes… But it quickly faded. “Were you gonna watch a movie?” Jess gestured to the TV; the screen had settled on some suspense movie I’d never seen before.
“We were…” Emma said, a little hesitant. Her eyes met mine, expecting me to give an answer, and I felt stuck—should I shoo Emma out and end our date or ask her to stay and watch a movie with my teenage daughter? I had no idea, not wanting to pressure her one way or the other.
Emma must’ve confused my silence with my not wanting her to stay. “I actually should really get home for the evening. I have a lot of prep for tomorrow. I, uh, am working on some new recipes and whatnot.”
Jess frowned. “Okay.”
“I’ll walk you out,” I said, giving in to the awkwardness of the situation. “We can have you over for dinner sometime again—all three of us.”
“Yeah, that would be nice,” she smiled back at me, but it didn’t reach her eyes. In fact, it was incredibly half-hearted. “I can walk myself to the car, thanks.” She held up her hand, stopping me as I stepped toward her. “There’s no need to walk me out.”
I furrowed my brow. “Are you sure? I don’t mind…”
“Absolutely,” she said, forcing her smile a little more. “I’ll see you around sometime soon.”
I nodded, hating the way that sounded but before I could say anything more about it, she was already out the door. It slammed shut behind her, and I let out a sigh of defeat. That did not go the way I wanted it to.
“You totally blew that, Dad,” Jess said, her tone flat as she said what I was already thinking. “I don’t know why you always think you should hide people from me.”
I ripped my eyes from the door to my daughter’s face, which strangely mirrored my own defeat. “What? I don’t hide people from you.”
“You’re hiding Emma.”
“I’m just trying to get to know her.”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Dad. You clearly like her—I’m sixteen years old, I’m not an idiot. I know that you like her. I don’t understand why you won’t just tell me about stuff like that.”
“I’ve always been careful dating,” I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Jess. It’s important to protect your heart just as much as it is mine.”
Her face softened. “I… I guess that’s true. But sometimes, I wish you’d met someone. It’d be nice to have a mom. Lily is as close to one as I’ll probably ever have.”
I opened my mouth to say something but didn’t know what to say to her. It broke my heart that I hadn’t been able to bring the right person into her life—and it pissed me off that her mother left her the way she did.
“Good night, Dad. Love you,” she said when I didn’t respond as quickly as she’d prefer me to. She slipped out of the room and headed for her bedroom, the door clicking shut behind her.
In a span of just a handful of minutes, I had managed to screw up things with both Emma and Jess.
Women are exhausting.
“So he doesn’t want to report almost fifty head of cattle missing?” Jackson’s expression mirrored the same disbelief that I felt when I first found out. Now, however, my mind was still stuck on the awkward way that Emma had left the house—and my daughter’s sadness about not having a mother.
I just wanted to fix everything.
But Emma wasn’t in the café when I had stopped in that morning, and Jess was back to her usual self, avoiding my questions on the way to school. It was just a typical day with Jess, but I hated the way that I had left things with Emma. Unlike Jess, Emma didn’t have to be around me.
“ Mason ,” Jackson snapped, his tone growing impatient. “What the hell is going on with you? Are you not worried about this rustling?”
I shook my head, clearing my head. “Of course I’m worried about it. But I don’t know what to do if Lucas won’t agree to make a statement. I get that he…” I trailed off as I held back the information about insurance, not sure if it was okay for me to share it. “I don’t know. He’s just a private guy, and I don’t know how to use the county resources on the whole mess if he won’t actually report it.”
“But he said that you could investigate it, right?”
“Yeah,” I said wearily. “I know that, but how are we supposed to do that when I don’t have any statements from him? We’re blowing through resources anyway.”
Jackson’s brow furrowed. “Are you giving up on it? Because there’re thousands of missing cattle—and we ain’t found them.”
“I’m not giving up, but I don’t know what to do at the moment. I’m still mulling it over.” I grabbed up the bagel from the console of the Bronco that I bought from the café from Sarah rather than Emma .
“Well, hopefully, we can figure it out, Mason. I don’t want to see Lucas just keep losing cattle. I’m thinking about patrolling the fences when I’m not on shift.” The grit of my deputy was admirable.
“I won’t stop you from doing that. I was considering doing some night rides myself, but I can’t leave Jess at home alone.”
“Ask Emma to watch her,” Jackson suggested, his tone completely nonchalant—like he wasn’t insane for mentioning it.
“I can’t do that. They barely know each other,” I argued, shaking my head. “I don’t let the women I date around my kids.”
“Jeez, man, she’s sixteen years old, probably dating herself. I’ve seen her around with that Graham kid.”
That caught my attention. “You mean like Graham Hudson’s kid?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. He’s been riding around with Jake out there at the Lowe Ranch, too. I’m surprised you haven’t seen him. I noticed him there the other day when I stopped by to see if Jake wanted to go out this Friday—and bring his sister.”
I normally would’ve rolled my eyes at the mention of the hand’s sister, but I was laser focused on the fact that it was apparently common knowledge my kid was hanging around with that developer’s son. “She hasn’t mentioned him.”
“Well, is that really a surprise?” Jackson chuckled. “Teenage girls don’t tell their dads about that kind of shit—well, most don’t. She probably knows that Brittany is his stepmom, too.”
Too small of a world.
“Anyway, speaking of the Graham family, they were talking about some charity gala being held at their new house. Apparently, all these rich folks get together, and then people come and advocate for their causes. At the end, people donate to the ones they feel worthy—kind of twisted, if you ask me.”
“What kind of causes?” I asked, perking up at the thought… Would these people be willing to support the ranch that holds community events? Surely, Graham would give into the pressure to support his community… He had preached it.
“Here,” Jackson handed his phone over to me, having pulled up the gala information. “I got an invite, because well, you know…”
“Your dad’s a billionaire back in New York City.”
“Details,” he waved me off. “Don’t even talk to the guy. Brad is more like a dad to me than my own dad will ever be.”
“Yep,” I said with a sigh, the wheels already turning in my brain. I had no idea how to mingle with these people… But I had an idea of who might—besides Jackson, that is. He could come along, but I needed someone who was warm, welcoming, and well liked by everyone.
And I knew just the woman for the job.