“How are you getting along with Audy Briscoe?” Kelly kept on tapping. “How is he doing with Joy?”
“We are getting along just fine,” she answered, snipping away. “He’s learning. He can’t feed her without making a mess and it takes him so long to bathe her that I have to turn the heater on so she won’t catch a chill, but he’s getting there.”
Kelly chuckled. “That’s good, Brooke.”
Brooke nodded. It was good. He’ll be fine. They’re fine. She believed that, for the most part. But she was still checking the time every ten or fifteen minutes and scanning her phone for any texts or messages. Just in case he needs anything.
“It’s hard,” Kelly said.
“What?” Brooke asked, glancing up from her phone.
“Leaving them that first time.” Kelly pointed one freshly painted nail at the phone. “You’ve checked it, oh, at least three times since you finished washing my hair.”
“I have?” Brooke frowned, flipped the phone over and focused on finishing Kelly’s cut. “They did fine yesterday but...Joy was asleep for most of that. I guess I am a bit anxious. I’m sorry, Kelly.”
“Don’t be. I get it.” Kelly smiled. “The first few times I left Dickie alone with Alice, I was a mess. I’d left him a whole checklist of what to do, things to watch for, when to call me—all that. Poor man was a nervous wreck, and this was on child two. Of course, they both survived—”
“Survived?” Brooke frowned. “That’s not exactly reassuring, Kelly.”
“They were both fine. More than fine.” Kelly laughed. “So much for being a comfort.” She paused then, her nails tapping once more. “How is Tess doing with all of this?”
Maybe it was her tone of voice, but something had Brooke looking up. “Why?”
“Oh, it’s probably nothing but I wondered if she’d mentioned anything about Beau Briscoe? At all?” Kelly went on. “Alice came home from school talking about how she’d heard Beau was planning on asking Tess to prom. I didn’t think much of it until Stephen came home and said the same thing, more or less.” She shrugged. “You know boys never say all that much.”
Prom? Tess and Beau? “Oh.”
“Tess hasn’t said anything?” Kelly asked.
Brooke set the scissors down. “Did he already ask her? Or there is a rumor he is going to ask her?” Tess had never kept secrets from her before.
“No, no.” Kelly reached up and took Brooke’s hand. “He hasn’t asked. I just assumed, since Alice and Stephen knew, she might have heard something.”
Because Alice and Tess were best friends and best friends tell each other everything. Brooke chewed on the inside of her lip. “If she has, she hasn’t told me.”
“I’m not saying it’s true, either—you know how these things get started.” Kelly lowered her voice. “I know how protective you are of Tess, is all.”
She was. Of course she was. It was her job. But now she was beginning to wonder if she was being too protective. There was no question about Tess’s feelings for Beau. It wasn’t Beau that Brooke was worried about so much as Tess. She was so young and sweet—just like their mother had been when their loser of a father had wandered into her life. Tess didn’t need any distractions, she needed to focus on her future and the limitless possibilities ahead of her. It was Brooke’s job to remind her of that.
She eyed the ends of Kelly’s hair, decided it was straight and started blow-drying, but she couldn’t let go of the whole Tess-and-Beau thing.
Beau hadn’t asked Tess to prom—yet. But if Alice and Stephen had heard similar stories it was only a matter of time before he did ask. And then what? It was prom. Part of the whole high school experience. I don’t want her to miss any of that.
And yet, she’d seen the whole Tess-staring-at-Beau-staring-back-at-Tess thing and the two of them being all red-faced in her kitchen... That was the problem. Not that Tess was going to prom, but that she’d be going with Beau and Beau was the only boy who had ever made her sister red-faced and frazzled.
She set the blow-dryer aside, sprayed some heat treatment onto Kelly’s hair and reached for her straight-iron.
“I didn’t mean to worry you.” Kelly was watching Brooke’s reflection. “She’s a teenager, Brooke. She’s growing up. And, as far as teenage boys go, Beau is a good kid. I’ll go so far as to vouch for him. He and Stephen have been friends for years. I’ve watched him grow up. Good manners, soft-spoken, smart and favoring Forrest way more than Audy.”
Brooke would almost prefer he was more like Audy—then she’d have a viable reason to keep him and Tess apart. “You think I’m being overprotective.” It wasn’t a question. She wasn’t really asking because she already knew the answer. “It’s just...”
“She’s your little sister,” Kelly finished. “And after your mom and dad...” She shrugged, one of the few people who knew the truth about her parents. “I get it, I do. But Tess has a good head on her shoulders, you know that. Which, I might add, is thanks to you. Don’t worry.”
“I think...I think she really likes him,” she whispered. “Tess. And Beau, I mean.”
“Oh.” Kelly sighed. “That’s why you’re worried.”
“It’d be one thing if they were just going as friends...” But as soon as she’d said the words, she realized that wasn’t true. “Okay, fine, I’m being way overprotective.”
“You have every right to tell me to mind my own business but—” Kelly lowered her voice so no one could overhear their conversation “—I don’t want you to make Tess defensive or for her to stop telling you things because she’s scared of the way you’ll react. You know how hard it is to be a teenager. She needs you.”
Brooke finished smoothing Kelly’s hair into a sleek, flipped-under style before saying, “I hear you.” No, she wasn’t thrilled over the whole crush thing—not at all. But Tess meant everything to her—Tess and Joy. If Tess wanted to go to prom with Beau Briscoe, Brooke would bite her lip, take her dress shopping and take pictures like any parent would do. “If you say he’s a good boy, I believe you.” She’d try, anyway.
“He’s a good boy,” Kelly assured her, reaching up to run a hand over her now-silky-smooth locks. “And I look like a million bucks. Dickie will be all tongue-tied when he sees me.” Kelly and Dickie had one of those rare marriages that actually seemed to be working. They talked and laughed and flirted and generally seemed to be happy together.
“You two.” Brooke shook her head, but she was smiling.
“Are blessed to have one another,” Kelly finished for her. “You’ll find your fella, one day. I just know it.”
That makes one of us. The prospects in Garrison were few and far between. And now, with Tess and Beau and Joy and Audy... The very idea of Audy Briscoe underfoot while she was trying to date? She frowned. Right now, the last thing she needed to worry about was her love life. Or rather, the lack of one. She had too much to deal with already. Why add something else—especially when she could predict the outcome?
* * *
AUDY STOOD, SWAYING, with Joy dozing against his chest. “Thank you, Kelly.” He watched the woman unload the brown paper grocery sack onto the kitchen table. He’d never heard Joy make that sound before and he never wanted to hear it again.
“I’m glad you called,” Kelly said, placing one box of the teething biscuits into the pantry and leaving the other on the kitchen table. “I wasn’t sure which one you’d want, so I got a couple.”
Audy surveyed the box of biscuits and plastic teething toys. “I guess I’ll let her pick.”
“I’ll give them a good washing first.” Kelly pulled off the cardboard labels and carried the teething rings to the sink. “Then we can put them in the refrigerator.”
He nodded, continuing to pat and dance-sway with Joy around the kitchen. She’d started fussing within an hour of his arrival and hadn’t stopped until he’d picked he
r up. Even then, she kept reaching for her face. She’d drooled so much, there was a wet spot on his shoulder. Instead of panicking, he’d done some searches online and consulted the baby book they’d brought back with them from Houston.
Teething. Joy was teething. And it was a horrible, miserable thing.
Worse, they didn’t seem to have a thing for teething in all the supplies they’d brought from Houston. He knew this because he’d gone through every drawer and box and bag hoping for some sort of miracle cure. Even though she hadn’t outright cried, her consistent sniffs and hiccups were taking a toll on his confidence. To make matters worse, she kept flipping her little lip and staring up at him with her big brown eyes. It’d been enough to send his heart rate into overdrive. Even Harvey had vacated the nursery for the kitchen. Tess’s cat, Marzipan, had hidden beneath one of the sofas in the fancy formal rooms that never seemed to be used.
He’d figured out the only way he couldn’t see the lip-flip and those tear-filled eyes was by holding her. He’d been holding her for the last two hours and his back was starting to hurt, but putting her down? No, better a sore back than a distraught Joy.
Once he’d figured out what was happening, he’d called Kelly Schneider. She was a mom. Beau thought she was awesome, and she’d always been levelheaded and no-nonsense—both things he was in dire need of. He’d been looking for advice about what things to order to help Joy with her teething. Kelly had gone above and beyond by delivering what she said were surefire teething tools. She’d laughed, saying this was when it helped that she was co-owner of the grocery store in town.
The time between the phone call and Kelly’s arrival was the worst. Joy’s sniffles had turned into real tears. Not shrieking crying, but like sad little muffled sounds of discomfort that had to be ten times worse than a full-blown tantrum.
“She was doing fine when I got here. Guess I broke her?” Audy stared down at the top of Joy’s head, doing his best to find the humor in the situation.
“It looks like you’re doing a terrific job to me.” Kelly patted his arm and smiled at him. “Look at it this way, you had a situation, and you figured out the problem and the way to fix it. I’d say this morning was a success.”
“I’m not sure I would consider this morning a success.” He’d found a washcloth folded neatly in the linen closet, soaked it in cold water, and let Joy suck and gnaw on it, hoping it would help. He wasn’t sure it had done much more than make his shirt and Joy’s pink-and-white-dotted onesie wet but Joy had eventually fussed herself out. Now she dozed, her little cheek resting against Audy’s chest.
“I think you need to give yourself a break.” Kelly kept washing the teething rings as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Figuring out what Joy needs without her being able to tell you? It’s just part of the parenting thing.”
Audy understood that part of it, even if he didn’t like it. But he’d reached his limit when Joy had done the lip-flip. Now that he’d seen it, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to look at a baby the same way. Never in his life had a slight action had such a major impact. But maybe it was just him. It had to be. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be as many babies born every day.
“Thank you for this, Kelly. I didn’t mean to pull you away from work.” Audy sighed.
“You didn’t.” Kelly waved his thanks aside. “I offered. You and Brooke have been thrown in the deep end on this one.”
“She’s swimming. I’m sinking.” He kept gently bouncing Joy.
“Brooke’s good at coming across like she’s got it all together.” Kelly smiled.
Because she did have it all together. If she’d come home to find him pacing the floor and Joy screaming, she’d have gone back to giving him judgy looks and sighing all the time. He didn’t want that. He wasn’t sure how he’d explain the mess he’d made in Joy’s nursery, but he’d figure it out. He’d been desperate, so his search for some sort of teething aid hadn’t exactly been orderly.
“You two just need to give each other some time and space.” Kelly started drying off the teething toys with a clean kitchen towel. “You and Brooke, I mean. Not you and Joy. Believe it or not, I think the two of you are doing pretty well. You and Joy, I mean.”
Audy wasn’t sure what to say to that. He wanted to believe her—she did have firsthand experience with all of this. Even though she said he needed to give himself a break, that today was a success, and he and Joy’s relationship was going pretty well, that didn’t match up with how he saw things. Still, he appreciated her vote of confidence. More than that, he appreciated her coming over.
He knew it was going to take time for Joy and him to get to know each other. And until the whole teething thing happened, he’d felt like they were off to a good start. But she’d done more fussing and lip-flipping in one morning than she had the whole time she’d been in their care. Inasmuch as he didn’t want to feel responsible for it, he felt wholly responsible for it.
“She really does look like a little doll, doesn’t she?” Kelly hung up the kitchen towel and smoothed it into place. “We can only hope she’s not half as rowdy a teenager as you were.”
“Let’s get through teething and walking and talking before we start thinking about her as a teenager, okay?” The idea of Joy being old enough to talk back to him made Audy’s stomach hurt.
This was why he’d never wanted to be a parent. He wasn’t one to think too far into the future. Since he’d always lived each day to its fullest, he didn’t make plans all that far ahead for fear of missing out on unexpected opportunities.
“Mark my words, Audy, time flies once you have kids.” Kelly patted Joy’s little back. “It still seems like yesterday that I was rocking Stephen through colic. Now he’s bigger than his father, barreling down the football field and looking over college applications.”
By the time Kelly finished talking, Audy was feeling more than a little panicked. Not about the here and now, though. More like the next eighteen years.
“Do you need me to get anything else for you?” Kelly asked. “Dickie can handle things for a while, but it’s getting late and things pick up around lunch. But I’m happy to drop things back here if you need something?”
“I think we’re good. Other than teething, Brooke has most everything covered. Thanks to you, we’re okay on that front.” He winked at her. “We’re rotating half days right now, but I’ll tell Brooke about your offer.”
“Anytime, Audy. Being a first-time parent isn’t easy—even under normal circumstances.”
There was nothing normal about any of this.
“You add teething to the mix...” She broke off, shaking her head.
“Yesterday was fine. And this morning was good, we were good.” He stared down at the top of Joy’s head. “Then little Miss Muffet’s teeth decided to shake things up.” Audy couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt that shaken. “Poor little thing wasn’t any happier about it than I was. She was just louder than me. She’s got good lungs.”
The sound of the front door closing reached him about the same time as Brooke walked into the kitchen. “Kelly? Hi.” Brooke’s light brown gaze bounced from him to Joy to Kelly, concerned. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” He kept patting Joy’s back, his tone calm and soft.
“You had to call in reinforcements?” She shot another look at Kelly.
Brooke’s instant assumption that he needed help put his back up. “I called Kelly for advice, yes.”
Brooke nodded. “It’s fine if you needed help. But why didn’t you call me?” She didn’t sound upset, but the tick in the muscle of her jaw said otherwise.
He tried his hardest to keep the anger from his voice. “You were at work. I had things under control.”
Brooke’s nod said one thing, but the look on her face said the exact opposite.
“Brooke, hold up.” Kelly put her hand on Brooke’s arm. “A
udy didn’t ask—”
“Looks like Brooke’s already made up her mind about what happened today, Kelly.” Audy cut in. “No point arguing with her.”
Kelly glanced between the two of them. “Well, isn’t this a pickle? I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
Audy sighed, shooting Brooke a sidelong look. She could be as snippy as she wanted with him, but Kelly was her friend—and she’d rallied when he needed help. “You didn’t.”
Brooke ran a hand over her head, tension bracketing her mouth. “I’m sorry, Kelly. I am. It’s good to see you and, you know, you’re welcome anytime.”
Kelly accepted Brooke’s hug. “Okay, good, because I am coming back to play with that little angel when she’s up for it.” She patted Brooke’s back. “And I’ll bring some pecan brownies for us.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Brooke smiled. “I can’t wait.”
He waited until Kelly had closed the door behind her before he said, “How about we back things up and start again. You could ask, ‘How was your day, Audy? Did you and Joy get on okay?’ Or even, ‘Let me tell you all about my second day back at work.’” He paused, still dancing with Joy. “Instead of you acting all prickly and jumping to assumptions—like I couldn’t handle things on my own.”
“It was a pretty easy assumption to jump to.” Brooke hung her purse on the hook on the wall. “If you’re not ready for this, then just tell me. It’s not bad or anything. Remember, this halfsies thing was your idea.”
“I know and I’m ready. We were fine yesterday, weren’t we?” Brooke didn’t answer, so he glanced down at Joy. “And since you asked...” He paused, leveling Brooke with an unflinching gaze. “Joy, here, had a rough morning. Teething. I gave her a washcloth to chew on but that only worked for so long. I didn’t want to take her to the store, get her even more out of sorts, so I called Kelly to ask what to order to help Joy—planning on picking up once you got here and dropping it back here before I headed home. Kelly helped me order and then dropped by with the stuff. I didn’t ask her to. She chose to. It was real thoughtful of her. Joy’s been hurting something fierce and I didn’t want her to keep hurting.”
The Rebel Cowboy's Baby--A Clean Romance Page 13