“Sitting around the fire pit, roasting marshmallows, and talking way past midnight on our last night.”
“That was always one of my favorite things to do when I went to Boy Scout camp.”
“Rick told some really scary ghost stories.”
“Rick?” Travis asked.
Kate heard the tension in his voice and bit her lip to keep from smiling. “Rick’s the camp counselor I told you about.”
“Oh.” He sounded even more worried. Poor Travis. She’d warned him that Chelsea’s crushes were fleeting, but given time, he’d learn to navigate the Chelsea waters soon enough. He was doing a great job at asking her open-ended questions, though. Kate could take a few lessons there.
“Rick’s great. So funny. And kinda cute, too. He’s going to be a sophomore at UK and is majoring in recreational studies.” Turning her attention toward Kate, she added, “Hey, Mom. Tony’s going to ask his parents if he can take horseback riding lessons from you. I told him how much fun it is, and he wants to try it.”
Oh, my! Travis had been right about them, for sure. Something had changed between the two while at camp. He’d never been particularly interested in horses before.
“Sounds great,” Kate said. “I’ll wait to hear what the Mongiardos decide, but I have room in my schedule to take on a new student this summer, maybe even two.” The upcoming winter months were her slowest times, but she predicted the boy would lose interest in horses—possibly Chelsea—long before then.
Talk of camp picked up again, and Chelsea entertained them all the way back to the farm with tales of the awful food and which girls snored the loudest in her cabin. Kate parked next to Travis’s truck, and Chelsea asked. “Are you staying in my house?”
Kate’s heart hammered until he answered, “No, in the barn apartment. I’m keeping an eye on things for your mom while Miguel is away.”
Perfect answer, Travis. Kate relaxed, and her shoulder muscles screamed. She didn’t realize how hard she’d been holding onto the steering wheel on the drive home.
“I thought he was coming back tonight,” Chelsea said to Kate.
Kate turned around in the seat, wondering why all the questions. “Well, he was, but his dad isn’t doing well, and he asked for another week off.”
“How long will Travis be here?” Chelsea asked, not directing her words toward Travis. Kate had no clue how to answer that one.
Luckily, Travis chimed in again. “At least a couple more days.”
Before Chelsea asked any more questions, Kate interjected, “Would spaghetti and meatballs be all right for supper?”
“Sure.” Chelsea and Travis answered simultaneously. Chelsea added, “But not too much for me. I gained a ton at camp.”
“Nonsense,” Kate and Travis said. She smiled her appreciation to him. Chelsea, on the other hand, gave him an odd expression as if wondering why he’d have an opinion since he didn’t know her.
“You look fine,” Kate added. She hoped this wouldn’t be the beginning of her daughter becoming obsessed about diets and weight. Chelsea was perfect in every way. Kate’s focus had been on making sure they ate the right things. Perhaps having a father around to reinforce that she was beautiful would benefit Chelsea’s self-esteem. The only body issue Kate cared about was having Chelsea eat healthy foods, hoping she’d avoid developing insulin problems. Not that Kate had gotten diabetes due to bad eating habits. Of course, Kate had no idea what her mother’s family’s genetics were, but why take a chance in case she could prevent Chelsea having to suffer?
What else didn’t she know about her mom? She hadn’t heard anything from Travis’s sisters, but with Chelsea about to officially meet her dad tonight, Kate’s desire to find out more about her mom was surfacing again.
One step at a time, Kate.
Kate and Travis opened their doors to exit, and he smiled as he reached behind his seat to remove Chelsea’s bag at the same time her daughter—their daughter—grabbed it from inside. There was a momentary tug of war that Travis won. While Kate couldn’t read either one’s expression, Chelsea’s giggle was unmistakable.
Having the conversation they needed to over the dinner table might be awkward, but soon the secret she’d kept from Chelsea would be revealed. Given how well they’d hit it off so far, Kate didn’t expect there to be any problems with them forging a strong bond.
Please, Travis, don’t take my baby away.
Kate pushed those old fears to the background. Chelsea was going to love having a father in her life, and he hadn’t given any hint that he intended to take her to court for custody. Nothing of the kind.
If he did, she’d cross that bridge if she came to it, but right now, she wanted to make things go as smoothly as possible for all of them.
Chelsea jumped down from the truck and bolted for the barn. “I’m going to go say hi to Jazz!”
When she was out of earshot, Travis said, “I don’t know how I could have thought my life was complete before today. But there’s no way in hell it ever can be again if she’s not part of it.” He started toward the house with the bag, but made eye contact with Kate and mouthed the words, “Thank you,” as though unable to get the words out.
Her stomach flip-flopped. Embarrassed by the sting in her eyes, she nodded and followed him toward the kitchen door. “Supper will be ready at seven.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Kate’s heart felt as though it were being squeezed in a carpenter’s vise. She should be overjoyed that he wanted to be a part of Chelsea’s growing up. And she was. But she also was terrified that she might lose her daughter to him?
Chapter Nineteen
Nearly half an hour later, Travis steeled himself to head back to the house for dinner. He’d carried Chelsea’s bag as far as the porch before Katie had taken it from him and disappeared inside. He’d given Chelsea her space with her horse and occupied himself with loading up some hay bales from the old barn to bring down to the horse barn tomorrow.
Time crawled despite his having something to do until they ate. He’d called Dad to wish him a Happy Father’s Day, and it had killed him not to tell him the news, but he needed to make sure this was going to turn out okay first. The work in the stalls afterward helped him expend some of his nervous energy, but it hadn’t done a damned thing to help him come to grips with the enormity of the moment when he’d be introduced to his daughter as her father for the first time. Right now, as far as she knew, he was a total stranger.
Whether Danny’s advice had changed his way of thinking or not, he’d been unable to resent Katie for keeping them apart. All he felt was immense gratitude to her for the awesome job she’d done raising Chelsea.
At seven, he knocked on the kitchen door and waited until he heard Katie invite him inside. Upon entering, Katie stood at the sink draining the spaghetti into a colander, and Chelsea was nowhere to be found.
“Anything I can do to help?” he asked.
She didn’t look at him, her back rigid with her lips drawn in a tight line. He’d like to discuss more about the plan for tonight, but not when there was a chance Chelsea could overhear them. He’d hope for the best. “You can call Chelsea down.”
The request was such a simple thing, so why did he suddenly have performance anxiety about doing it right? “Sure thing.” He walked down the hallway and called up the stairs to Chelsea, “Dinner’s ready, Chelsea!” He wasn’t sure if she could hear him over the Luke Bryan music or whether he should wait for her here or in the kitchen. But she came out of her room and bounded down the stairs before he had to decide.
“I’m starved! My mom’s the best cook.”
“That, she is.”
She stopped and looked at him. “How long have you been here?”
“Since Monday.” More or less.
“Hey, if you live in Nashville, do you know any of the famous country music singers there?” Her initial shyness seemed to be wearing off.
“I’m friends with a number of them, act
ually.” Okay, maybe friends was a strong word, but Travis desperately wanted to be seen as a hero in his girl’s eyes. They discussed a few of her favorites, many of whom he knew. Arranging a meet-and-greet with one or two of them shouldn’t be too hard. He’d helped build lavish homes for several stars. While he didn’t hang out with them socially, they’d always given him an open invitation to grab backstage passes whenever he wanted. He’d never had the inclination to take them up on the offers—until now. “Maybe I can arrange for you to go backstage and meet one or two of them sometime.”
The squeal she let out nearly shattered his eardrums in the enclosed area. Katie came running from the kitchen, staring from one to the other. By the glare she gave Travis, no doubt she suspected he’d already revealed his identity. Man, he hoped Chelsea’s response would be that enthusiastic when the time came.
“Is everything okay?”
“Better than okay, Mom!” Chelsea said, rolling her eyes. “Travis knows lots of my favorite singers—and he said he could arrange for me to go backstage at a concert sometime.”
Katie’s scowl told him she was none too happy about that, either. In a matter of minutes—hours at most—Chelsea would know who he was. She’d better get used to him making long-overdue promises like these to his daughter. And some of those might include ones that would take Chelsea away from her for a day or two.
Chelsea’s bombarding him with a list of the artists she’d like to meet had him grinning again despite Katie’s dour mood. The two of them walked side-by-side down the hall and followed Katie into the kitchen.
“Can you believe Travis knows so many famous stars, Mom?”
“That’s nice, honey,” she said, dismissively. “Oh, I forgot the rolls. Chelsea, why don’t you go out in the deep freeze and get a bag?” Chelsea sighed dramatically, but did as she was asked and went through a door he hadn’t used yet but that he supposed went to the garage.
When the girl was out of earshot, Katie whispered to him, “How could you get her hopes up like that? As far as she knows, you’re a complete stranger who’s planning to haul her off to Nashville. What worries me even more is that she doesn’t seem to have any qualms about going off with you.”
“Lighten up, Katie! My ‘stranger’ status is about to change. Besides, don’t assume I planned to meet all of them back home. I figure a couple or more will be performing in Louisville, either at the state fair or at the Yum! Center.” They’d only be gone for the day and an evening most likely.
“Oh.” Katie’s shoulders relaxed.
“But when she finds out who I am, if she wants to visit me in Nolensville someday to see where I live, I sure as hell intend to take her there, too.” Katie might as well prepare herself for that eventuality, because he had every intention of making that girl the center of his life from this day on.
Hearing Chelsea approaching as she hummed one of her favorite country tunes, Katie turned around to stir the sauce in the pot. “We’ll discuss this later,” she whispered.
Damn straight—and Katie had better be changing her tune if she wanted this to work.
“Smells wonderful,” Travis said, hoping to ease the tension and not give Chelsea the impression they’d been arguing about anything. His parents had never argued in front of their kids—and possibly at no other time, either. Travis would like to model their behavior in front of his own child.
Katie asked them how many rolls they wanted and put four on a cookie sheet. He supposed those weren’t on her diet, since she only included what he and Chelsea wanted. She then asked Chelsea to get the drinks. After pouring water for her mom and sweet tea for herself, Chelsea asked, “What would you like to drink, Travis?”
“I’ll have sweet tea, too, please. Thanks.” Katie had been making a pot for him, since he preferred that over soda or water, but knowing his daughter drank the same thing added to the growing list of similarities he’d noticed between the two of them.
“Would you rather wait for the bread or just dig in?”
“Dig in! I’m starving!” Chelsea said.
Smiling again, Katie served the spaghetti and meatballs from the stove and brought her daughter’s plate over first, then Travis’s. He waited to see where Chelsea would sit before taking a seat across from her but left the head of the table for Katie.
“Go on and eat while it’s hot,” Katie said as she returned to the stove for her own plate. Chelsea mumbled a quick grace and dove in, but Travis had been taught not to eat until his mother sat. While it wasn’t his place to correct Chelsea’s conduct—yet—he said pointedly, “No, I’ll wait for you.”
Chelsea looked over at him as she chewed slowly and swallowed before setting her fork down as well. Good girl.
Chelsea reminded him of his own sisters when they were that age. He just wished he’d paid more attention to them when it came to their interests and obsessions at any given moment. He had trouble finding things to talk with Chelsea about.
Katie set her plate on the table and bowed her head. He’d gotten out of the habit of praying before eating, but sent up a few words of thanks to God, Danny, and whoever else was responsible for bringing Chelsea into his life. He supposed Katie deserved a great deal of his thanks, too.
Norman Rockwell couldn’t have painted a more wholesome family dinner scene. If only it could last forever. While he doubted he and Katie would be able to mend the hurt her secret had caused, he didn’t want to be bitter about it, either. Danny was right, and Travis pushed away the negative emotions again.
Atta boy.
Shut up, Danny.
Katie smiled in the direction of her—their—daughter, and he shoved all thoughts of his friend to the back burner. “So what else did you do at camp, sweetie?”
The telltale blush answered the question before the girl said a word, whether from what she did or what her mom called her in front of him, he wasn’t sure. “They let us play in the creek more this year. A bunch of us spent a lot of time down there when we weren’t playing those dumb group games. Mostly just wading and talking. I showed Tony how to catch crawdads.”
He hoped that’s all the two of them learned—although there probably were plenty of chaperones keeping an eye on things.
Lordy, I’m never gonna survive Chelsea’s dating years.
But he was happy to hear she wasn’t a girly-girl. If she could handle crawdads, then she’d probably like to go fishing. He didn’t get his boat out on Center Hill Lake nearly enough since Megan’s kids had a new father to do that with them.
Before he could ask more about this Tony kid, Katie asked, “So did you meet any new friends?”
“Not really. Our church’s group was so big that we had two whole cabins to ourselves. But I saw some girls I know from Georgetown’s softball team at the dining hall.”
Travis focused on eating while the two of them discussed camp activities, but he didn’t miss a word. When they seemed to have run out of things to talk about, a buzzer rang, and he practically jumped.
“I’ll get the rolls,” Katie said.
“Tell me, Chelsea, what are you going to be doing this week now that you’re home?”
She blinked at him a couple of times before answering, again probably wondering what business it was of his. But she answered. “Some of my friends are going to the movies tomorrow night.” He was happy to hear she wasn’t going to the movies alone with Tony. As an afterthought, she turned to her mom. “Can I go?”
“Don’t forget that you have some chores to catch up on,” Katie reminded her as she placed two yeast buns on each of their plates.
Chelsea rolled her eyes. “I know, Mom.”
He tried not to shake his head at the dramatic response.
“Do you need a ride?” Katie asked.
“Tony’s dad is taking us.”
“I’d be happy to give you a lift anytime you need one,” Travis said.
Again, she gave him that odd “why should you care” stare. “That’s okay,” Chelsea said, taking a sudd
en interest in spreading butter on her roll.
He supposed it sounded strange for the stranger sleeping in the barn to be offering to run the neighborhood carpool. This farce wouldn’t continue much longer, thank God. He was ready to hit the ground running and become Chelsea’s dad—tonight.
“But maybe you can pick us up later,” she suggested to him, which just about knocked him flat. “Tony’s dad has to go to bed early to get up for his shift at Toyota, but we want to go out for pizza afterwards.”
“I’d be happy to.” He glanced at Katie, realizing he hadn’t consulted with her first.
A muscle spasmed in Katie’s cheek. “Thanks, Travis, but I’ll be finished with my work by then. I’ll pick them up and shuttle everyone home.”
“But, Mom, I want to go in Travis’s truck. It looks totally a-maz-ing!”
He had no clue why his truck was any better than Katie’s, other than it was probably five or six years newer. Good thing he’d hidden the unicorn in the barn apartment before heading to the church earlier. But the disappointment in Katie’s eyes tore at him. “Why don’t we both go to get them?” And to Chelsea, he asked, “How many of you will there be?”
“Four, including me. They can fit in the back and I can sit in the front on the fold-down console seat between you two.”
Not much got past Chelsea. Speaking of which… “How do you know so much about the interior of my truck?”
“Oh, I was looking online for a replacement for Mom’s. It’s getting old, and the Sierra is an awesome truck.”
“Not to mention out of my price range, sweetie,” Katie said. “Besides, this one should be fine for a few more years.”
“Remember, this one gets more of a workout than my truck does,” Travis said. Katie’s shoulders relaxed. She’d been tensed up the whole ride home. “But I don’t mind driving tomorrow night. That okay with you?”
Katie forced a smile. “Sure.”
Dammit, he wouldn’t apologize for wanting to spend every possible minute with Chelsea. While most parents probably hated having to run around dropping off and picking up their kids, it was a new experience for him. Long overdue, actually.
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