by Vicki Tharp
“You hungry, Pix?”
“I want hot dogs.”
“We had hot dogs last night. And two nights before that. How about grilled cheese and apples and—”
Clementine squeezed him with her legs the way she did with Chunk, giving him a cluck and an enthusiastic, “Giddy up.”
“I’m going, I’m going.” Levi chuckled.
“Faster, Lebi!”
Levi sped up, adding a bounce in his step. She giggled and laughed, the sound going straight to his heart, making his chest ache. He thought his life has been full before, but he’d had no idea what he’d been missing until Clementine came along. The days were certainly longer, the worry was greater, but watching the way her eyes lit up when she saw him righted his crooked world.
Levi had always imagined that when he had kids, he’d be married, have a place to come home to the wife and kid after the long weeks on the circuit.
He’d never pictured going it alone.
Or living out of a pickup camper with a three-year-old.
Now he couldn’t imagine anything different.
“Faster, faster,” Clementine commanded, one arm flailing behind her as she pretended to whip him.
“Remind me never to buy you spurs,” he said as he broke into a jog. When he got to Ian’s, he hoped to get Olivia alone and find out why the hell she’d been avoiding him.
* * *
At Cora and Ian’s camper, parked in the back lot of the Terrebonne Parish fairgrounds grounds, five rigs over from his own, Levi settled into one of the folding chairs Ian had laid out for the get-together.
Ian and Cora had a camper trailer, complete with a bed in the back and a wraparound kitchen table in the front. It wasn’t huge, but compared to Levi’s cab-over camper, it was positively spacious.
Their camper door had been latched open, the light from the kitchen spilling out. Levi crossed an ankle over his knee and laid a sleeping Clementine, dressed in her new pajamas with the galloping horses print, across his lap. Her head lay on his thigh and her little legs dangling over the side of the chair.
One of these days, he would have to learn to tell his kid no, but one look at those big, blue, beautiful eyes and those pouty lips, and the ‘no’ always turned to a ‘yes.’
If his bulldogging buddies knew the truth, that a little girl could bring him to his knees with one pitiful look, they’d laugh their ever-lovin’ asses off.
“Oh, hey,” Cora called out from the camper in a half-whisper. “You made it.”
“Hey.” Levi used his normal voice. “It’s okay, you don’t have to whisper. I’ve discovered when she’s exhausted like this, she can sleep through a hurricane.”
“Hey, man.” Ian stuck his head out, rather, his camera lens and flash and snapped a quick shot of the sleeping Clementine before putting the camera down. “We’ll be right out.”
“Where is everybody?”
“A few of the others changed their minds and decided to hit the bars. Josephine called it an early night, but I think Olivia is still planning on coming once she’s done with the vet.”
Fine with him. Ever since the kid came along, his hankering for heavy drinking and large, boisterous groups had pretty much died. These days, a quiet hour or two to himself after Clementine crawled into bed seemed like a damn luxury.
Jesus Christ. He was turning into his old man.
At least without a big audience, maybe he’d have a chance to take Olivia aside and find out what was up with her.
Cora clomped down the camper steps with a bottle of beer in each hand. She handed one to him and leaned in for a quick hug and a platonic peck on the cheek. Ian came out a second or two later, with his own beer and a small packed cooler so they wouldn’t have to get up for their second round.
Across from him, Cora and Ian arranged two chairs next to each other, Cora sitting sideways in hers, her legs and bare feet over the arm, her head resting on Ian’s shoulder as she sipped her beer.
He waited for that old pang to hit him. That pinch to his heart that reminded him that he hadn’t completely gotten over her, but for once it didn’t come. The affection remained, but the deep hurt felt like a distant memory. Had he finally accepted that he and Cora were never meant to be, or did that realization come as a certain someone came barreling into his life without so much as an apology?
Glancing down, he took in the sight of his daughter in his lap.
Yes. His daughter. He’d received the confirmation on Friday. He hadn’t passed the news on. It had been something he’d wanted to keep to himself at least for a few days, not because he had to come to terms with it, but because it was something special he wanted to live between the two of them, even if for only a day or two.
He stared at the blond ringlets that he’d finally been able to detangle, and the pale, long lashes against clean cheeks that were finally filling out. He brushed his knuckle across her soft skin. He had another little lady in his life.
His heart pinched and his chest got tight as his heart swelled with love and pride for this perfect little girl.
“Oh my God,” Cora said as she sat up. “You are so gone for that kid.”
Levi waited for the flush of heat to rush up his neck, for embarrassment to hit him, but it never came. He glanced up, his gaze going from Cora’s shocked expression to Ian’s sly, knowing grin. “Can you blame me?”
“No, buddy,” Ian said, taking a quick swig, “I can’t.”
Cora’s eyes went soft, and she cupped Ian’s cheek. “Our time will come,” she told him. “Just not yet.”
Ian kissed her palm and linked his hand with hers. “I’m not in any hurry, Sunshine. One of you is about all I can handle right now.”
Cora gave him a playful swat on the arm. “You are such an ass—”
“Language,” Levi said.
Ian chuckled. Cora let out an exasperated huff, and hissed, “She’s asleep.”
“She still hears everything. Trust me, you finish that word, and that’s what she’ll be calling everybody tomorrow.”
“But it was so cute when she called Maynard Rowe a little s-h-i-t the other day,” Cora said.
“She wasn’t wrong,” Ian allowed. “She gets extra points for using bad words in the correct context.”
“That’s beside the point.” Levi couldn’t help his grin. The rodeo manager hadn’t thought it was as cute or funny as the rest of them had. “You guys laughed, and that’s the only thing she said for the next hour.”
Cora settled back against Ian and bobbed her chin toward Clementine. “So how is fatherhood? Really?”
The grin slipped from Levi’s face. Ian and Cora had come to be his closest friends. Besides Olivia, those two had helped him the most since Clementine had stormed into his life. If he couldn’t tell them the truth...
“Complicated,” was the word he settled on. “Trying. Exhausting,” he added with a light laugh. “But also challenging, fun, and rewarding. I mean, I’ve always enjoyed other people’s kids, but when they’re your kid...”
Levi’s throat got tight, and he shook his head. Cora and Ian could finish the sentence on their own.
It was Ian who broke the silence. “I guess you heard back from the doctor then?”
“And the lawyer,” Levi said after clearing his throat. “Mae named me as the father on the birth certificate, so according to the law, I’m the father. But the doctor did a blood type test. According to medical records, Mae was A-. I’m B-. Both are found in only five to six percent of the population. Clementine is AB-. Only about one percent of the population has that blood type. It’s not a hundred percent guarantee she’s my kid, but considering the other circumstances, it’s good enough for me.”
Olivia came around the corner of the camper, retrieved a beer from the cooler and popped off the top on the edge of the foldout chair’s arm. “Did I hear that right? She’s really yours?”
“Unless science comes up with a better test that proves otherwise,” Levi said. “Either way, I
’m not giving her up.”
“Here, here,” Olivia said, clacking the bottom of her beer to his. “Congratulations, Dad. It’s a girl.”
Olivia leaned forward and brushed the damp, freshly showered locks from Clementine’s forehead. “You and Mae might have mixed like oil and water, but you two sure made one hell—”
Levi made a watch-it sound.
“—heck of a kid.”
Levi sent her a wink. Olivia looked away, but not before he caught the flush that ran up her cheeks.
“How’s the bull?” Cora asked.
“He’s got a hoof abscess that ruptured. I’m having Rusty take him back to the ranch tomorrow. He’ll swap Dream Crusher out with another bull and meet us in Lufkin later in the week.”
“It’s that serious?” Levi brushed the condensation from his beer onto his jeans.
“Serious enough that I don’t want him standing around in a small, mucky paddock. I need him where I can be sure the wound stays clean while he heals. I’d love to be the one who takes him back. I’m so tired of motels and concession stand food.”
“At least with the stoves in the campers, we can attempt to make real food,” Levi said. “Though Clementine would live on stale hot dogs and cotton candy, if I let her.”
And nachos and French fries and funnel cakes.
The way she’d curled her nose up at the first apple he’d sliced for her, he would have thought she’d never seen a piece of fruit before.
Olivia granted him a smile. Her smiles had seemed so few and far between, especially when they’d been directed at him, that it almost seemed like a precious gift. “You’re good for her.”
Coming from the woman who a mere few weeks ago could barely stomach looking at him, he lapped up the compliment like lavish praise.
You’re such a chump for a pretty face.
Yeah, but Olivia Marsh was so much more than a beautiful woman with a tight, toned body that made his dick hard and his brain go places he was convinced she’d never want to go.
But that’s why they were called daydreams, not reality.
“Thanks,” he said, holding her steady, sincere gaze.
His eyes went from hers to the curve of her upper lip and the way they bowed up at the edges when she saw him. The way they were doing now. He couldn’t say that Olivia was his biggest fan, but her disdain had drained away.
When he glanced back up at her eyes, her gaze had shifted lower as well. She was interested.
Ian cleared his throat. “You want us to give you two some privacy?”
“Oh, heck, no.” Cora said, “I’ve always liked a good fireworks show.” Then she held her hands out and rubbed them together as if warming them at a fire. “I can feel the heat from here.”
“Cora.” Ian’s tone held admonishment, but the not-well-fought grin only encouraged her, the same way laughing at Clementine’s use of cuss words only made her say them more.
“Seriously,” Cora said, “I think I got first degree burns.”
“Funny,” Olivia deadpanned.
When the silence got awkward, Olivia drained the last of her beer and said, “I really should get back to the motel. Tomorrow’s going to come early.”
“Now you’ve done it,” Ian said, his tone toward Cora still indulgent.
“Stay,” Cora said. “Please, I didn’t mean anything—”
“No, it’s good.” Olivia stood. “It’s not you, it’s—”
The three of them sat, waiting for her to finish her thought. Maybe she’d finally come out and say what was on her mind. Say what had been eating at her for the last couple weeks. But then she said, “It’s late.”
Levi didn’t know Olivia that well yet, but well enough to tell when she was lying—okay, well not lying, since it was technically late—but omitting the truth. And he wasn’t going to let her get away with it.
He shifted Clementine to his arms. “I’ll walk you back to your truck. I should be putting her to bed anyway.”
Levi stood and almost stumbled.
Ian scrambled to his feet and steadied Levi with a hand on his shoulder. “You okay, man?”
“Yeah, my leg fell asleep.” He hissed in a breath. The pins and needles kicked in as sensation returned.
“Here, let me take her.” Olivia held out her hands. When Levi hesitated, she added, “You never let me hold her anymore.”
“You have her all the time,” Levi corrected.
“I have her when she’s awake and running me ragged, not when she’s asleep and pretending to be an angel.”
It wasn’t that he had a problem letting Olivia hold her, it was that he hated to give Clementine up when she was all loose limbs and sweet sighs.
But if Olivia took her, it would be an excuse to get Olivia back to his place. Olivia, being Olivia, she didn’t wait for him to answer. She took Clementine from his arms and laid his daughter against her shoulder. Clementine stirred but snuggled her face deeper against Olivia’s neck and fell back asleep on that same tender spot on Olivia’s neck Levi wanted to nip and taste.
“I was going to stop by your trailer. I’ve got something I need to talk to you about,” Olivia said to Levi.
Her tone made Levi wary. Whatever she had to say couldn’t be good if she were unwilling to say anything in front of Ian and Cora.
“Sure.” Levi tried his best to sound unaffected and not like someone had poured a gallon of acid down his gullet.
Shaking Ian’s hand, Levi said, “Thanks for the beer.”
“I appreciate the invite,” Olivia said, shifting her arms under Clementine’s rump. “Jesus, Banks, what have you been feeding this kid? Concrete blocks?”
“Don’t worry,” Levi said. “I grind them up. It’s easier on her teeth that way.”
Olivia rolled her eyes, but he detected a hint of a smile. “Night, y’all.”
“Night,” Cora and Ian said as they started gathering up the chairs.
Levi followed Olivia and Clementine back to his camper, as the acid building in his gut ate at his stomach lining layer by layer. At this rate, by the time they made it back to his camper, he’d have a bleeding ulcer.
4
Levi’s footfalls fell heavy on the asphalt parking lot. He practically breathed down Olivia’s neck the whole way back to his truck.
She couldn’t blame the Louisiana humidity for the thin layer of sweat moistening her hairline and dripping down between her breasts because it had everything to do with the news she had to tell him.
He held the camper door open for her and put a stabilizing hand on her arm as she climbed the steps. Giving the sleeping Clementine one last hug, she buried her nose in the little girl’s hair and soaked up her scent before laying her down on her makeshift bed.
With no available space to sit in the camper, she stepped back and closed the screen door to keep the mosquitoes out.
The light from the camper spilled into the parking lot. Levi stood in front of her, arms across his chest, and a glower across his brow.
“Why does your daughter smell like Mane ‘n Tail horse shampoo?”
Levi got a sheepish grin. “It’s the only thing I could find that helped keep her hair from getting tangled during the day.” Then his glance got assessing as if he knew something else was bothering her. He rubbed at the base of his neck. “This isn’t about my shampoo choices. What’s going on?”
Maybe she was making a bigger deal out of this than she needed to, maybe it was nothing to worry about at all.
“I talked to my grandfather this afternoon. Mae’s parents called and left a message for him to pass along to me.”
Levi’s head came up, and his eyes narrowed. “What’s the message?”
“They’re coming to see Clementine next weekend when the rodeo swings through Lufkin.”
Levi shrugged, and the tension left his body. “That’s it? That’s what’s got you worked up?”
“I’m not worked up, I’m just...”
Levi raised a brow waiting for her to
finish the sentence.
Instead, she said, “You’ve never met them. You don’t know how they can be.”
“I have an idea,” Levi said. “Mae didn’t have many good things to say about them from what I can remember. But Clementine’s their granddaughter, their only link to the child they’ve lost. I can’t refuse to let them see her.”
“You can. You’re her father. You—” She cut herself off. He really had no idea how bad Mae’s parents could be. Her own parents had done their best to protect her from Mae’s mother’s toxicity, but sometimes you couldn’t escape family. Especially since her mother and Mae’s mother were sisters.
Olivia had a bad feeling. The kind of bad that made her stomach knot, her heart feel heavy, and left the bitter taste of bile sitting at the back of her throat.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Levi closed the gap between them and peeled one of her hands free from where she’d wrapped it around herself. “It’s okay. I’m not letting anything happen to Clementine. Trust me.”
Shaking her head, Olivia said, “They destroyed Mae’s life. They’re wrecking balls wrapped up in Seersucker suits and double-knit polyester.”
He trapped her palm against his chest right over his heart, the beat steady, strong, and true. “I protect what’s mine, Olivia Marsh.” He dropped his voice low, and she had to pay extra close attention to his words when he spoke. “You don’t have to worry about us.”
Then the rat bastard lifted her hand and pressed a scorching kiss to the palm. It was like he knew how much even his stray touches affected her. His voice went gruff when he said, “I appreciate you worrying about us. I assure you it’s unnecessary.”
She took her hand back and stuffed it into the front pocket of her jeans so he wouldn’t notice her mild tremor. Her mouth had gone dry and her throat made an audible click when she swallowed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
When she turned to walk away, he stopped her with a hand on her forearm. “You said that you talked to your grandfather today.”
She faced him. “Yeah, this afternoon. Why?”
“Then having Clementine’s grandparents come to visit doesn’t explain why you’ve been avoiding me.”