Once they got to the park, her daughter seemed more relaxed. She ran to the swings and called, “Push me, Mr. Keys.”
Ethan glanced at Dallas with startled eyes.
She laughed. “Go ahead, Mr. Keys. It’s my turn to rest. I do this all the time.”
He helped the little girl up into the swing and, with a small push, set her moving.
“No. Harder,” Piper said, in a disgusted voice.
The next time, he pushed her a little higher, and Piper was quiet.
Dallas sighed. The poor man. He couldn’t be more out of his element if he were at the bottom of the sea.
Soon, Piper called, “I want to slide.”
Ethan pulled her to a stop.
She slid out of the swing and headed to the playscape.
Ethan turned around, reminding Dallas of a dog, with his soulful, begging eyes. But she wanted to see what the man was made of. With a shooing motion, she said, “Go, go. She needs help. I’ll watch you from here.”
Sighing, he gave her a quick smile and stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking after Piper.
The little girl climbed the wooden fort and twirled the steering wheel, ignoring Ethan.
He stood quietly, watching.
Suddenly, she was at the top of the slide and pushing off, yelling, “Catch me!”
Snatching his hands out of his pockets, he lurched for the bottom of the slide. He was too late.
Landing on her back side, Piper yelled, “Ouch!” and pouted, thrusting out her lip as she glared at Ethan.
He picked her up and dusted off her shorts. “I’m so sorry. Let me take you to your mother.”
Dallas observed it all with narrowed eyes. Her little turkey was playing games. She knew how to land on her feet when she went down the slide.
Piper sat stiffly in Ethan’s arms as he walked toward her mother.
Dallas picked up her purse and sighed. This day hadn’t gone well at all.
AFTER ETHAN DROPPED them at the house, Piper was Dallas’s shadow, following her from room to room until time to go to her grandparents’ house. Dallas had even rocked her while she read her a book.
Piper’s unusual behavior kept coming back to Dallas as she tended bar that night. She wasn’t sure if Piper disliked Ethan or if she was just uncomfortable with him. Maybe she felt he was trying to take Cash’s place. Dallas knew having two men in her life was complicated, but it looked like it might also be disruptive for her daughter. She couldn’t have that. Somehow, some way, she had to choose.
SUNDAY MORNING, CASH slid the steaks into his homemade marinade, sealing the lid before putting them in the fridge. He had a lot riding on today. Dallas and Piper were on their way to spend the day with him, and he was determined to make Dallas his before she went home. He’d thought it all through, and he’d been way too relaxed in his approach to their relationship. He needed to take control and show the woman just how much he cared.
He headed down to the barn where two of his horses stood ready in stalls. Yesterday, to save time this morning, he’d brought them up from the pasture. As he brushed each one down, he went over his strategy. By the time they were saddled, he heard Dallas’s car drive up. Mounting Rambo, he jogged toward the house.
Dallas stepped out of the car as he approached, the sun boldly highlighting her long, blonde hair. His blue heeler cow dog wiggled his butt and begged for attention. As she bent down to pet him, Cash called out, “Say hi to Blue Boy.”
Pulling the horse to a stop in front of her, he said, “Dallas, meet Rambo, your ride for the day.”
Taking a step back, she eyed the animal. “He’s kind of big, isn’t he?”
“Naw, my horse is bigger. Rambo’s just right.”
Piper cried, “I want out, Momma.”
Dallas opened the back door and released her daughter from her car seat. “You stay close to me, honey. I don’t want you to get kicked.”
“Hey, Rambo’s got manners. He won’t kick,” Cash said in a wounded voice.
Piper held her arms up to Cash. “I want a ride. Please, Mr. Cash?”
He raised his brows and looked at Dallas.
“All right, but be careful with my baby.”
Cash pulled the little girl from Dallas’s arms and settled her in front of him. “There are cold drinks in the fridge, and I put a fresh pot of coffee on. Make yourself comfortable while me and my sweetie here take a ride.”
Dallas chewed her lip and nodded.
Nudging Rambo with his heels, they turned toward the barn.
Piper clutched the horn and yelled, “Yippee!”
Cash grinned. She felt so fragile—didn’t weigh more than a bug’s fart. He stroked one of her little pigtails with his finger. Was there anything in the world more precious than this tiny person?
They passed the barn, and he turned down the lane that led to a bunch of old rusty tanks, some as tall as twenty feet. At one time, there’d been oil pumped out of this land. But when the price dropped, his father stopped production and sealed the wells. The ground still had scalds from those days where nothing would grow.
Details he seldom spotted anymore caught Piper’s attention. “What’s that brown stuff on the road?”
He grinned. “That’s cow poop.”
“Yucky. It’s big.”
“Yep.”
“How come Rambo makes that sound when he walks?”
“Because he has hard shoes on his feet.”
“Oh. I don’t want shoes like that.”
“Me neither.”
“I like your butterflies. You have lots of butterflies.”
How come he never noticed that? She was right, though. He looked around and counted three without even trying. “They’re pretty, huh?”
“Yeah.”
And so their ride went. By the time they returned to the house, he was enchanted. How had he lived this long and not realized how much he wanted a child? Tying Rambo to a shady oak tree
