Jesse opened up the saddlebag and took out a bottle of water, carried it over to where Mia was sitting, and sat down beside her. “You ever think about living anywhere other than here in Honey Grove?”
“I did, and you see where that got me,” Mia said. “I’m just now finding out that Poppa and Nana are really mine. I would never leave them. Why are you asking?”
“I just had a pretty big offer for a job, but it would mean moving to Miami, Florida,” he answered.
“You can’t do that!” Mia gasped.
“Why not?” Jesse downed half of his bottle of water.
“Because it would break Nana and Poppa’s hearts. All they talked about for six months before you came home was if they could just hang on until you got here, everything would be just fine, and you’re going to be the boss in a few weeks when Henry moves to Colorado, and…” She stopped to take a breath. “And because the ranch needs you.”
“Any other reasons?” Jesse asked.
“Mama is happier than I’ve ever seen her, and you need to give her another chance. She would be devastated if you left her again, but she would never say a word about it because she wouldn’t want to ruin your dreams.” She finally turned up her water bottle and drained the rest of it.
“Is that all?” Jesse asked.
“I don’t want you to go,” Mia said. “I’ve gone almost twenty years without a father, and we’re just now really getting to know each other.”
Jesse didn’t realize he was holding his breath until it all came out in a whoosh. He swallowed hard three times to get past the lump in his throat that formed when Mia said she didn’t want him to leave. “You don’t think you and your mama would like Miami? There’s beaches and lots of things to do, and the money is great.”
“Sure,” Mia said. “We would love to go there for a vacation, but this is home, and you need to put down roots and help us make a family. Maybe you and Mama will get back together. Maybe you won’t, but the three of us can be a family, whichever way it goes.”
“So how would you feel if I asked Addy out on a date?” Jesse asked.
Mia whipped around and glared at him. “You better be sure you’re settled down and not wanting to run off to some military thing before you ask her. If you break her heart, I’ll have to get even, and I hold a grudge forever.”
“What if I talk to her about this new job, and she thinks it’s a great idea and wants to move away from here for a fresh start?” Jesse asked. “Maybe she’d like to go back to full-time nursing where she works a shift and then comes home without having to do fill-in ranch stuff.”
Mia shook her head. “Mama is happy here on Sunflower Ranch. She gets to be a nurse to Poppa, and that’s enough. Don’t make her choose. That’s not fair to her. You make up your own mind, and either leave us behind again or stay. But I’ll tell you right now”—she pointed her finger right at him—“I’m not leaving again, and even crossing the Red River into Oklahoma is going to be like going to a foreign country to me from now on. I’ve learned my lesson about testing out the grass on the other side of the fence. It’s not greener, and it tastes bitter.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Jesse admitted.
“Well, why in the hell are we having this stupid conversation then?” Mia hopped up and got back on her four-wheeler. “I was worried that you were serious.”
“I was testing you.” Jesse removed his hat, resettled it on his head, and smiled up at her.
“Did your old Army buddy even call you? Or was that Poppa telling you to check on something?” Mia eyed him suspiciously.
“Air Force, not Army, and yes, it really was my friend. His name is Frankie.” Jesse settled into the seat of his four-wheeler. “I turned him down, but he’s going to give me until the end of the week to think about all that money, and then try to talk me into it again.”
Mia did a head wiggle. “Army, Air Force, Marines, whatever. It’s all men in uniforms.”
“You’d better not let a veteran hear you say that,” Jesse said. “And there are women, too, you know.”
“Did you tell him about me?” Mia asked.
Jesse nodded. “I sure did, and he knows that my dad isn’t well, and Mama needs me, so no matter what he says, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Does that decision make you sad?” She had to raise her voice over the noise of the engine.
Jesse shook his head. “Not in the least, and Mia, I would never hurt your mother.”
“I’m holding you to that,” she declared as she sped off ahead of him.
Had Mia given him permission to date Addy? And with their past, how did they even begin to date? Would it feel strange, he wondered, or would going out with her be as natural as the kisses had been?
* * *
After supper that evening, Addy helped Sonny get out to the back porch so he could watch the alpacas. She popped up his folding chaise lounge and set a glass of sweet tea on the table beside it. Then she pulled a rocking chair over beside him and sat down.
“You ever get bored out here on the ranch?” Sonny asked.
“Nope,” she answered.
“I’m glad, but I wanted to ask. Jesse is a medic, and he could monitor my meds and do what you do. I wouldn’t want to hold you back if you wanted to work in a hospital or nursing home, again,” Sonny said.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” she asked.
“Not in the least. I hope you stay here even after me and Pearl are gone on to eternity. You and Mia make this place complete, but I don’t want you to ever have regrets like Jesse would have had if we hadn’t supported his decision to join the Air Force.”
Addy patted him on the arm. “No regrets. I’m happy right here, doing what I do. I just hope Jesse and Mia can find some kind of middle ground and have a friendship if not a father and daughter relationship.”
“And what about you and Jesse?” Sonny turned his head and looked right at her.
She couldn’t keep from blushing. God! At thirty-eight years old, I shouldn’t get red cheeks at the mention of his name.
“It’s good to have my friend back in my life. I didn’t realize how much I had missed him, and Sonny, I want to apologize for not telling you and Pearl about Mia. I cheated both of you out of so many memories by keeping that to myself. It wasn’t fair to you,” she said.
“But you brought her back to us when we needed her the most,” Sonny said. “Sure, we would have loved to have been part of her life the whole time, but we’re not complaining. You had your reasons, and they were good ones. If it had been out of spite or anger, it would have been tough to forgive you, but it was done out of love for our boy, so…” He shrugged. “I’d like to see you two be more than friends, Addy. Don’t waste precious time when the two of you could be together. I regret that I didn’t take my sweet Pearl to all the places she wanted to go when we were young enough to enjoy it.”
“We’ve agreed to take everything slow,” Addy said.
“As long as you’re going forward,” Sonny advised.
Pearl came outside and slumped down in the rocker on the other side of Sonny. “I thought, at this age, we would be sitting out here watching our grandkids play in the yard, not baby alpacas romping in the pasture. But I’ve got to admit, I’m glad that Mia wasn’t pregnant. Not that I’m so old-fashioned as to be upset by a single mama, but I wouldn’t want her to have to raise a kid by that wild O’Malley boy.”
“Amen to that,” Addy agreed. “You’ve got to admit, though, that the alpacas are cute, and you don’t have to worry about one of those sweet little girls running off with a worthless guy.”
“Ever wonder what your mama thought when you wouldn’t name the father?” Pearl asked.
“She was upset for a while, but she told me it was my decision, and she would support me in whatever I wanted to do,” Addy answered.
Jesse poked his head out the kitchen door. “Want to go for a ride?”
“Sure.” Addy stood up. “Did you ask Mia?”
>
“Yep, but she’s gone to see Justine. This time I think she really is going there rather than to the drugstore, thank goodness,” Jesse said.
“Not ready to be a grandpa at thirty-nine?” Sonny teased.
“Nope, and certainly not when it would upset her to have to raise Ricky’s child,” Jesse answered. “Y’all want anything from over at Bonham?”
“I’ve got an invitation to a baby shower at the church tomorrow evening. Y’all could go into Walmart and find me a few things to give the new mother. She’s having a girl. I’ve got a fancy gift bag and tissue paper so don’t buy those,” Pearl said.
“Sure thing.” Addy nodded as she made her way into the house. “Just let me get my purse and I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll be waiting in the hallway,” Jesse told her.
Addy took time to brush her hair and apply fresh lipstick, then picked up her purse. Jesse was sitting in one of the ladder-back chairs in the foyer when she arrived and he immediately stood up, settled his cowboy hat on his head, and took her hand in his.
“When I was in tough situations, I used to imagine your smile, and it got me through those hard times,” he said. “I’m a fool for not getting in touch with you, Addy.”
“If you’re a fool, I’m one, too.” Addy’s nerve endings were fairly well humming at nothing more than his touch. She wanted to drag him off to a secluded wooded area and have wild, passionate sex with him in the front seat of his truck. Why, oh why, had she gotten so tied up in life that she hadn’t stopped to consider what was really important to her?
“Thank God, we’ve been given a second chance,” he said.
The noise of him opening the truck door for her brought her back to reality with a jerk. “Sorry, what did you say? I was thinking of something else.”
“Was I involved in that?” he asked and helped her into the passenger seat.
“Yep, you were,” she said.
He leaned into the truck and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. The tingle that traveled through her sent her right back to visualizing how great it would be to satisfy the ache being near him created in her body. He grinned as he closed the door, and then he stopped to scratch Tex’s ears on the way around the vehicle before sliding behind the wheel.
“And?” he asked as he started the engine.
“I want more than friendship,” she said bluntly.
“So do I.” He turned the truck around and started down the lane. “But it seems to get in the way, doesn’t it?”
“Why do we have to have one or the other? Is it possible to have both?” she whispered. “Pearl and Sonny seem to have found a way to make it work all these years.”
“Maybe we’re the kind of people who need both. I need a friend to talk to when I’ve got decisions to make, and I need someone to look forward to sleeping with at night and waking up to in the morning. I think we can have both, Addy,” he answered.
“So tonight are we friends or more?” she asked.
“Both for as long as it takes us to get to Bonham,” he said. “Has Mia talked to you about the phone call I got today?”
“Yes, but…” Addy started.
“No buts,” he said quickly. “What was your first reaction?”
She turned away from him and stared out the side window. “I wanted to run away to the panhandle again. If that’s what you really want, I can’t stand in your way—that’s friendship. But the other part of me wanted to cry, because I don’t want you to leave again—that’s the relationship we’re starting to build.”
He pulled over to the side of the road and parked. Then he reached across the console and cupped Addy’s chin in his hand. “Look at me, Addy,” he said as he gently turned her head around so they could stare into each other’s eyes. “What do you see?”
“I hope I see happiness,” she said.
“Exactly, and like I told Mia, I’m not taking the job in Miami. I would love to have a reunion with my teammates sometime in the future. We were closer than brothers, but I have no desire to work with them again. I’m happy right here, running the ranch and building on what we have. Mia said something about us being a family no matter what happens between me and you. I want that, Addy, but I want a relationship, too.”
Addy took his hand in hers, kissed the palm, and put it back on the steering wheel. “Then we’ll have to work things out and see if we can figure out a way to have both. Are you sure you’re all right with the fact I can’t have more children?”
“Dad and Mama couldn’t have children either, and yet they’ve got three sons.” He wiggled his eyebrows and went back to driving.
“I never thought of that.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about fostering children or about adopting.
“But all of that is another conversation for later. I should get used to one daughter first,” Jesse said as he snagged a parking spot close to the Walmart entry door. “Right now, we need to go buy a baby gift, and then stop by the snow cone stand, pull over at the old barn where we went to party as kids, and eat it slowly.”
“Ohhhh!” Addy gasped. “I haven’t had a snow cone all summer. You still like coconut?”
“Yep.” He grinned. “Do you still like rainbow because you can’t make up your mind for one flavor?”
“Depends on my mood,” she answered.
He held her hand across the parking lot and into the store.
Addy gently touched a cute little pink gingham dress when they got back into the baby section. “The styles are coming back around to what I used to put on Mia. I like this one.” She put it in the cart and moved on to pick out a package of cotton receiving blankets, a towel and washcloth gift set, and another outfit.
“I can’t believe Mia was ever small enough to wear something like that,” Jesse said.
“She was a really big baby, so she didn’t wear this size very long,” Addy said as she picked up a package of tiny socks. “I’m sorry, again, that you missed all the fun of raising her.”
“Me, too.” Jesse shifted his eyes over to the left and nodded.
“What?” she asked.
He grinned and came close enough to whisper, “We have an audience. Vivien and Lylah are around that end and listening to every word we say. I caught them peeking at us a couple of minutes ago.” He kissed her on the cheek and took a step back. “I think Mia is a good mix of both of us, don’t you?”
“Shhh…” Addy put her forefinger over his lips. “We don’t want the whole world to know. They might think you ran when you found out I was pregnant, when in reality, you didn’t even know about Mia until you came home a few weeks ago. Let’s get some pacifiers and check out. That snow cone is calling my name.”
“Did you crave them when you were expecting Mia?” His green eyes twinkled.
“Yep,” she said and then air-slapped his arm. “Shhh…folks might get the wrong idea.”
“I hope so,” he mouthed.
Addy paid for their items and Jesse carried the bag outside. When they were inside the truck, Jesse burst out in laughter. “That was so much fun. We should have taken the cart around the corner and acted all embarrassed.”
“If you lean your head over to the right, you’ll be able to hear the buzz of gossip running through the phone lines right now,” Addy said.
“But now, we don’t have to worry how to let folks know about Mia, do we? And you did so well by saying that about me not even knowing about her. Which one will they think is pregnant? You or Mia?” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes.
“All over a baby shower that they’ll both be at tomorrow night since it’s Vivien’s niece who is expecting a baby next month.” Addy sighed. “The joys of small-town living.”
“Want to move to Miami with me? I’ve got until Friday to give Frankie an answer,” Jesse chuckled again.
“Don’t you think moving in with you is kind of quick since we haven’t even had a real date yet?” she asked.
“Well, darlin’,” he drawled, “we
do have a daughter together so it’s not like we just met yesterday.”
“Don’t tempt me.” She couldn’t think of anything she’d like better than living on Sunflower Ranch with Jesse, but not in Miami.
Does that mean what you feel for him isn’t unconditional? You wouldn’t move to the ends of the world just to be with him? asked the aggravating voice in her head.
“Miami, the bunkhouse, me back in my room with you.” He named off places. “Or we could build a house of our own on the ranch. It’s your decision if you’ll move in with me.”
“I want the whole dating experience before I make a decision like that,” Addy said, putting him off until she had time to figure out if he was serious or just teasing.
“Then you’ll have it. Addison Hall, will you go to dinner with me on Thursday evening?” he asked.
“Why Thursday?”
“Because you have a baby shower tomorrow night after the midweek church service,” he reminded her, “and you’ll have a lot of questions to answer at it, I’m sure. On Thursday, we can go to dinner and talk about all of that.”
“Why can’t we talk about it when I get home, like when I come to the bunkhouse afterwards?” she asked.
“No reason whatsoever because, darlin’, we will always have stuff to talk about,” he answered. “So I can look forward to you coming to see me tomorrow evening? Should I buy another six-pack of Jack Daniel’s Watermelon?”
“That might be a good idea,” she said, smiling, “and yes, I would love to go to dinner with you. Where are we going, so I’ll know how to dress?”
“It’s a surprise, and in my eyes, you would be sexy in a gunny sack, darlin’.” He was actually flirting with her.
Addy’s heart did one of those flip-flop things that she hadn’t felt in years and years. “Is that your best pickup line after all these years?”
“Honey, I don’t need a line. All I have to do is tell the truth.” He pulled his truck up behind three other vehicles at the snow cone stand. “Rainbow with cherry, banana, and grape, right?”
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch Page 20