Clay didn’t disagree. “What about your kinks. They loosening up?”
Trish snapped her eyes to his and unwilling to spoil the relaxed mood, she asked simply, “What kinks?”
“You had a hard time with Callie taking Meggie for a walk.”
There was no accusation in his tone, and Trish couldn’t deny his claim. The entire time Trish walked the perimeter with Clay, she was looking over her shoulder, hoping to get a glimpse of Meggie and make sure she was all right. She’d only half listened to Clay’s explanations and commentaries as they toured the facility and she had hoped she wasn’t too obvious. “We haven’t been separated much,” she admitted in earnest.
“She did fine,” Clay pointed out.
“But I was a wreck? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I wouldn’t say wreck exactly.”
She would have taken offense, but Clay shot her a killer smile, the kind that would normally have buckled her knees. Good thing she was sitting. Now, she could pretend the smile didn’t devastate her. “Concerned is a better description.”
She glanced at Meggie again, catching a glimpse of her at an angle in the rear-facing car seat. The baby had her head slumped against one shoulder, her rosy cheeks even more ruddy now and the tiny curls atop her head catching the fading glow of sunlight.
“I shouldn’t keep you,” she said softly.
“Will she wake up if we tried to get out?”
“No telling,” Trish said honestly. “Meggie always surprises me.”
“I’m fine here for a while.”
“Babies have the ability to ignore stimuli. They can sleep with environmental sounds and tune them out. She might not wake up. I really should get her inside.”
“You’ve been doing your homework.” Again, Clay made the statement without tossing blame her way. He could have been a real hard-ass about her showing up here with a baby in tow and made life difficult for her. But so far, the Worth clan, Helen included, had been understanding, at least about the baby.
“One minute, I’m working on a client’s ad campaign for sexy underwear and the next, I’m a brand-new mom, with months of catching up to do. I had to learn fast and I’m barely getting a passing grade.”
Clay sucked oxygen into his lungs. “The irony is…”
“Don’t say it, Clay.” Bringing up the past wouldn’t do them any good. She was ready to move on with her life. Meggie was her first priority and that meant shedding the old, even if the old was a drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a man who could turn her inside out without breaking a sweat. Trish hated that they’d come to this.
Clay’s cell phone rang and he quickly answered it, mindful of the sleeping baby. Trish heard the sound of a woman’s voice on the other end as he carried on a brief, discreet conversation, ending with, “Okay, thanks. I’ll stop by later.”
She didn’t ask about the phone call and he didn’t offer to explain, but she’d bet her favorite pair of Justin cowgirl boots that Suzy Johnson would be getting a visit from Clay tonight.
When they got out of the car, Clay took the stroller out of the back end of the truck and Trish unfastened Meggie carefully from the car seat straps. She lifted her and Clay walked beside them in silence as they approached the front door, him pushing an empty stroller.
She let herself in and he followed. He set the stroller inside the entrance and Trish moved to the master bedroom to lay the baby in her crib.
“I’ll get the rest of the equipment out of the truck,” he said.
Before they’d left Penny’s Song, Callie had given her a play yard and a high chair to use as well. The items were still in their boxes. “Want some help?”
Clay shook his head. “I’ve got it.”
When he returned lugging an oblong cardboard box she showed him where she wanted the play yard to go. He followed her into the other bedroom. “This is going to help a lot. While I’m working, Meggie will have a place to play.”
“I thought you took time off?” he asked, examining the box, standing it on end.
“There’s always some minor crisis or other to deal with. Jodi is good at screening out the potential disasters.” Her part-time assistant kept her sane most of the time. The woman was in her mid-forties and had been a single mom, having raised a son on her own. Jodi had had a hard life and never married again. She lived for visits from her now-grown son and since Meggie had come into her life, Trish wondered if she would wind up like Jodi one day.
“Jodi, huh? That woman never liked me.”
“What are you talking about? You charmed her socks off from day one.”
“You overestimate my appeal.” But he chuckled anyway and then brought the other box containing the high chair inside the house. He set it in the kitchen. “You need help putting this stuff together?”
“Oh, um,” Trish stammered, giving it consideration until images flashed of Clay’s phone conversation with Suzy. He’d admitted to kissing Suzy and heaven knows what else and the goodwill she’d felt for him shrunk in size. She’d always taken care of herself, no sense in thinking she had Clay to rely on for anything. “No, thank you. I’ll deal with it later.” There was also no sense in prolonging the inevitable. “I was thinking…we should probably discuss the divorce soon.”
Clay’s head shot up. He straightened and stared at her. Then he nodded curtly, as if just remembering the reason she’d come to the ranch. The warmth in his eyes faded. “Tomorrow soon enough?”
“Yes, th-that’s fine.”
“I’ll be over at four.”
With that, he left her, closing the door behind him. She stood there listening. A long time passed before the truck’s engine finally roared. She went to the door and opened it wide, watching brick-red dust billow in the Silverado’s wake. Pangs of regret kicked around in her stomach as Clay drove off.
And a question kept popping into her head, begging to be answered.
Had she made a big mistake coming back to Worth Ranch?
Clay drank a big gulp of Jack Daniel’s, aiming to numb his senses. The alcohol scorched sliding down and he relished the quick burn. He was getting everything he wanted, wasn’t he? A divorce from Trish and a willing woman in Suzy Johnson. Suzy wasn’t complicated. She knew exactly what she wanted—him. She hadn’t come right out and said that, but Clay figured as much. Since her divorce from a loser husband, they’d resumed their lifelong friendship and she’d hinted that she wanted to get much closer. Suzy was a woman he could build a life with and raise a family, so why the hell was he holding back?
He sat on the steps of Tagg’s porch, stretching out and swirling the amber liquid in his glass.
“You want to tell me why you popped over here?” Tagg said, sipping Coors from the bottle, sitting right next to him.
“Can’t a guy visit his brother?”
Tagg laughed and Clay grazed him with a look. “Right. Now you’ve taken to coming all the way up to my house for a visit. When you saw me just fine today at Penny’s Song.”
Tagg’s newly built house sat on the original location of Worth Ranch, with a spectacular view of the Red Ridge Mountain range. Clay shrugged a shoulder and took another swig. “I didn’t feel like drinking alone.”
“Uh-huh. You didn’t stay long at the campfire with the kids.”
“I went to Suzy’s. Her dad was visiting and he wanted to talk to me about that old bull, Razor. I think he was craving male company. Suzy’s got her place looking like a flower festival gone bad.”
Tagg laughed. “How’s ole Quinn doing?”
Suzy’s father had been Rory Worth’s best friend. Through the years, the two cronies told some wild stories about their youth. They’d been tossed in jail half a dozen times before they’d wised up and got serious about the cattle business.
“Getting old and repeating the same stories over and over but I never tire of hearing ’em. He’s still cantankerous as ever, though, so he can’t be too bad off.”
“Yeah, well, that’s good. Suzy make pie?”
Tagg asked with longing in his voice.
“Cherry.”
“Oh, man.”
Everybody in Red Ridge knew Suzy made award-winning cherry pie. If they’d been fortunate enough to taste it, they were hooked. She took the prize every year at the county fair.
“You didn’t stay long…at Suzy’s.”
Clay gave Tagg a sidelong look. He lifted his tumbler, looking through the beveled glass to the last gulp of whiskey inside. “She wasn’t serving what I needed.”
Tagg smiled. “You mean to say, she wasn’t Trish. Your wife shows up and all of a sudden Suzy’s pie doesn’t taste so good.”
“I never said that.”
“But Trish is on your mind.”
“I married her, Tagg. Hell, yeah. She’s on my mind. I thought maybe once, something with Trish would be simple. Easy, you know. Talk over terms, sign the divorce papers and move on with our lives. But she shows up here with a kid.”
“Must’ve been quite a shock.”
Clay shook his head in disbelief. It had been the last thing he’d expected. “What did Dad always say? Could’ve knocked me over with a feather.”
“That baby is really cute,” Tagg said. “Callie went on and on about her today.”
“Yeah, she’s…beautiful.” Clay rubbed the back of his neck. “Truth is, the situation isn’t anybody’s fault. Trish did what needed doing regarding Meggie. I don’t fault her that.”
“Generous of you.”
Clay sent his brother a glare. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re holding a grudge against her…I can see it in your eyes.”
“You don’t know jack.”
Tagg lifted the bottle to his lips. “Clay, no offense, but you’re a bear when you don’t get your way.” He took a swallow, then went on, “The way I see it, Trish was the first woman who didn’t fawn all over you and lay a red carpet at your feet. She didn’t give up everything to be with you. She made you work. It’s probably why you fell so hard for her in the first place.”
Clay pursed his lips. Tagg was forgetting Trish walked out on him. He’d never told his brothers about her accusations, though, how she hadn’t trusted him. How she believed he’d cheated on her with Suzy. “You taking her side?”
Tagg inhaled sharply. “Nope, I’m just trying to put things in perspective.”
“Like I can’t do that myself?” Clay’s annoyance rang in the pitch of his voice.
“I’m just saying.”
“Lay off, okay?”
“Sure thing. I’ll lay off you the way you laid off me when it came to Callie.”
Clay’s mouth twisted with smug certainty. “I was right about Callie.”
Tagg didn’t deny it. “Yeah, you were.”
Satisfaction curved Clay’s lips up until Tagg laid a hand on his shoulder and gave him a look of brotherly concern. “Sometimes, we can’t see what’s right in front of us.”
Clay scowled and finished off his whiskey. He handed his brother the empty glass. “Thanks for the double shot and the sermon.”
He rose and ignored Tagg’s innocent expression. “You’re leaving already?”
Clay lifted his eyes heavenward. “Do me a favor, go inside to your wife.”
“Maybe you should do the same,” Tagg said and before Clay could tear him a new one, Tagg skedaddled into the house, the screen door flapping twice before settling closed.
Clay strung out a line of curses all the way to his truck. When he got in, seeing the empty car seat in the back of the cab knotted his stomach. Meggie’s sweet baby scent permeated the air, a combination of formula and those handy wipes mixed in with the scent of fresh cotton. He’d been aware of the car seat before and made a mental note to have Wes drop it off to Trish in the morning along with the car keys to her old Volvo. But right now, with nothing but a starless lonely night to look forward to, when he allowed himself to feel, a deep hollow ache bruised his gut. His life hadn’t turned out as he’d hoped. By now, he should have had two car seats filled with toddlers and a loving wife by his side. It wasn’t Rory’s wish any longer, it was Clay’s, and it was high time he did something about it.
A man could do worse than hooking up with a friendly woman who could bake her way into heaven’s gates. Hell, Trish had been right today. It was time to finalize their divorce. He needed to get his life rolling again. Make babies. Raise a family.
Start living again.
Trish hadn’t been stood up since her freshman year in high school.
But here she was waiting on a man who hadn’t shown.
Clay missed their appointment. Trish went over the brief conversation they’d had about it yesterday. She was certain Clay said he’d come by at four o’clock today—she hadn’t heard wrong. She glanced at the digital clock on the oven. It was nearly quarter to five.
She paced the kitchen floor and every so often she’d walk over to the front window to peek outside for some sign of him. He hadn’t been thrilled when she’d brought up the divorce, but it had to be done. And frankly, after he’d received the phone call from Suzy, Trish saw no need in waiting. It was a good part of the reason she’d returned to Worth Ranch. Once they came to terms, she could devote her time and skill to the fundraiser and then be gone. She had a business to run, a child to care for and she had to figure out a way to make it all work somehow. Her life was back in Nashville now.
“Where the heck is he?” she asked Meggie.
The baby sat upright on a quilt, entertained by a Disney music box that played “It’s a Small World after All” over and over again. The tune was embedded in Trish’s brain, but the toy kept the baby quietly amused, so she endured it.
At the very least, Clay could have called. Fifteen minutes ago, she’d tried his cell and gotten his voice mail. It was dinnertime. She couldn’t put off Meggie’s meal any longer. She opened a box of rice cereal and poured a couple of teaspoons into a plastic bowl and was just about to pour formula into the mix when the doorbell chimed.
“Finally,” she said, wiping her hands on her jeans. She didn’t know if she was annoyed that Clay had shown up late or relieved that he’d shown up at all. “Come with me, sweet baby.” She swept Meggie up in her arms and walked toward the entrance.
She opened the door to find Clay’s housekeeper on her porch. “Oh. Hello, Helen.”
“Hello, Mrs. Worth.” Frown lines arched the older woman’s mouth downward.
“I was expecting Clay,” Trish said, surprised that she wasn’t seeing her soon-to-be ex on the doorstep.
“I know. He sent me over. Clay was in a car accident coming home from Phoenix this afternoon.”
The look on Helen’s face worried her. Trish’s breath froze in her chest as dozens of horrifying images popped in her head. “Is he—”
“He’ll be fine,” Helen said carefully. “I think he’s more irritated than anything else. Someone ran a red light and plowed into his car.”
“Oh, no.”
“He got shaken up a bit. The airbag saved him from serious injury. It’s a good thing his brother Jackson was nearby. He’s with Clay now.”
“Where are they?”
“Jackson’s making him see the doctor in Phoenix.” Helen’s sullen face brightened a little. “He wasn’t happy about it. I haven’t heard such language coming out of that boy’s mouth since his father took his car away when he was sixteen.”
Trish didn’t smile at the notion. “But he’s going to be okay, right?”
Helen nodded slowly, but it was clear that this news had shaken her, too. “He was lucky. So was the driver of the other car. He had minor injuries, too. It could have been a good deal worse. I’m very thankful.”
“Me, too.” She was floored and a little baffled by the news. “Well, I certainly didn’t expect this.”
“No, life has a way of happening all around you.”
The sadness in her tone reminded Trish about the way Helen had lost her husband. He’d died years ago in a major pileup on
the highway, when a semi truck fishtailed off the road. There’d been seven fatalities—seven lives taken and dozens upon dozens of hearts broken that day.
“Clay will be home later. He said he’d call you.” Helen’s eyes drifted to Meggie. “How’s she doing?”
She gave Meggie a squeeze, bringing her closer. “She’s doing better than I… Helen, why don’t you come inside? I was just about to feed her.”
A smile graced the woman’s face and it was obvious she could use some company. She loved the Worth boys like her own, but she’d been closer to Clay than any of them. “Maybe for a minute or two.”
“I’ll make tea. I’ve got lemon chamomile. Good for the nerves.”
Helen followed her into the kitchen. “Don’t let me be a bother. Go ahead and feed the baby first.”
“Oh, well. I haven’t put the high chair together yet.” The box was halfway open on the floor by the sliding glass door in the back. “I usually feed her on my lap. I mean, I just now started giving her something more solid. The pediatrician said her appetite was growing and it was fine to give her a little supplement.”
“You’re making pablum?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s what it’s called. Meggie loves it.”
“Will she come to me?” Helen reached her arms out. “I’ll hold her while you feed her.”
“Thank you.” Cautiously, she set the baby in Helen’s arms. Trish could tell she was a grandmother with loads of experience handling children. The baby took right to her and settled comfortably as she sat at the wrought iron-and-glass table. Helen made funny sounds and gestures to amuse the baby. Meggie looked on with curious awe and her sweet expression calmed Trish’s fragile nerves. Her heart had leaped in her chest when she thought Clay might have been injured. Too many feelings emerged and the weight they carried frightened her.
The Cowboy's Pride Page 5