Missy didn’t even have to be asked to help. She started picking up bags too, and she asked Connor whose birthday it was.
“Mine,” Connor said. “Daddy’s gonna make me a cake, and everyone’s going to come to the beach for a party.”
“Oh, is that what’s happening next weekend?” Ted asked as he picked up a couple of bags too. “At the beach?”
“Yep.” Connor took his single bag with two packages of potato chips and skipped toward the front door.
Ted smiled at him. “He’s going to be five.”
Missy smiled too, and she started for the house as well.
“Does your mom know you’re here?” Ted asked, glancing to the right and down the road. A couple of cabins sat out in the corner of the yard, and he could barely see the front door of the far one.
“I left her a note,” Missy said. “She said I could, Ted. I asked her.”
“I know,” Ted said, because after he’d asked Emma, she’d returned his text. Just one message, but it had introduced hope back into his heart.
Thanks for having Missy over to make cookies.
That was it. She hadn’t asked if she could come. Ted had sat on the edge of his bed for at least ten minutes, staring at his phone, trying to decide if he should invite her. In the end, he wanted everything to be a surprise, so he’d said, No problem. We’ll bring them to you when we’re done.
That way, she wouldn’t come knocking, and he wouldn’t have to try to have everything organized until he was ready.
“Ted,” Spencer called as Ted went through the front door. “Where is he? Ted!”
“I’m right here,” he said as Spencer came striding out of the kitchen. He did not look happy, and Ted knew what had happened.
Spencer frowned and slowed down before he bowled over Missy. “Your pig ate through the bag of popcorn.”
“You have a pig?” Missy asked at the same time Connor burst into giggles in the kitchen.
“I told you to put everything up,” Ted said, nudging Missy to keep going. “Sorry, Spence. She won’t be here much longer.”
He’d found the perfect teacup piglet for Emma, and Nate had taken him to pick her up last night. He’d learned more about small, indoor pigs as pets than he’d thought possible, and he hoped Emma would like the one he’d picked out for her.
In the kitchen, he set down his groceries and watched as Connor held the feeding pellets in his hand for the piglet to eat. He giggled again, and Missy put her bags down too and went to join him.
“Oh, she is so cute,” she cooed. She giggled too as the pink piglet with tawny, light brown hair around her eyes and down her back nosed her. “Can I hold her?”
“Sure,” Connor said. Missy scooped her into her arms, and when Ted finally looked away, he caught the look on Nate’s face.
“What?”
“What? What do you mean what?” Nate kept lifting boxes of granola and protein bars out of the grocery sacks.
“I mean, you’re looking at me like I’m doing something wrong.” Ted took out a couple of bricks of cream cheese and a pound of butter from a bag and turned to put them in the fridge. “I just want her back.”
“Even with the girl?”
“Yes,” Ted said without hesitation. He turned and looked at Missy and the piglet. “She doesn’t change anything for me.”
“I’m just…” Nate exhaled heavily and finally looked at Ted. Concern sat in his eyes, and Ted appreciated it. He really did. “It feels fast, Teddy. That’s all. You’ve been here, what? Five weeks?”
“Six,” Ted said, as he still counted down the days until he’d be truly free. “And I know. I’m not going to ask her to marry me today, Nate. I’m going to ask her for a second chance. That’s a lot different.”
“What if she says no?”
Ted didn’t even want to consider such a possibility. “Then I put my head down and get through the next two months.” He also didn’t know how to do that. The past week had been torture. The dance was painful and exhausting. “Then I’ll go live in that big house your brother left you and figure out my next steps.” He looked steadily back at Nate, who blinked at the mention of his brother’s house.
“I need to go clean out that house,” he murmured. “I just don’t want to.” He too looked to the children on the floor, playing with the piglet. They were so carefree, and Ted envied them.
“I’ll go with you,” Ted said.
“I’m worried about what it’ll do to Connor,” Nate said, returning to the groceries.
“Don’t take him,” Ted said. “You and I will go, and we’ll figure it out.” He put his hand on his best friend’s arm for a beat. Nate stilled and looked at Ted, and he saw the pain there. Fresh and raw, it made Ted’s heart expand for his friend. “Isn’t that we said we’d do? Once we got out, we’d help each other figure everything out.”
Extreme gratitude filled Ted, and his throat narrowed. “You did that for me by getting me here. Let me help you with this.”
Nate swallowed, his jaw so tight. His eyes shone, and he nodded a couple of times. They finished unpacking the groceries before Nate said, “Not next weekend. It’s Connor’s birthday. The weekend after that?”
“Works for me,” Ted said.
“I’ll talk to Ginger. We’re going to need a few days.” He sighed as he folded up the reusable grocery bags. “Someone will have to watch Connor, and I don’t know if she can let us both go at the same time.”
“Just let me know,” Ted said. “I’ll have to talk to Martin.”
Nate nodded, stuffed the bags in the drawer where they kept them, and said, “Come on, Connor. We have chores on the ranch this morning.”
The little boy got up and let Nate help him into a pair of cowboy boots while Missy put down the piglet and looked at Ted.
“All
