Color flooded back into his face, which was now tinged with red. “You should’ve reminded me.”
“How?” she asked, before turning for the door.
“Called to remind me, maybe?”
She walked to the table next to the sofa and picked up something from the floor, then returned to stand in front of him. “I tried that,” she said, handing him his cell phone. Then she continued to the door.
“I didn’t do this on purpose.”
She didn’t bother to turn around. She’d learned the hard way from Nathan that there were men who thought their careers were more important than any woman’s. She’d hoped Luke was different. Apparently she’d been wrong.
“Of course you didn’t,” she replied. “I never thought you did. But one thing I’ve learned is that some men can be inconsiderate of women’s schedules, if they don’t agree with or like what they’re doing.”
“Now wait just a minute—”
“I don’t have a minute,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. But even though she didn’t have the time to explain, she couldn’t stop herself. At the door that led to the garage, she turned to face him. “You don’t seem to understand how much my education means to me. And it’s possible that no matter what I say, you never will. I’ve worked long and hard to get as far as I have, and nothing is going to stop me.”
“Did I say I wanted to?”
Ignoring what she believed was a question used only to bring attention to him and his feelings, she continued. “This job is helping me finish the last step in a dream I’ve had for several years. That dream is to be a licensed physician’s assistant. That’s what I’ve been working toward, and it’s finally within my reach. College is expensive. For that reason, I don’t want to lose this job, and I sure don’t want to have to quit. But if it’s going to be a problem for me to get to my classes on time each week, then maybe it would be better if you find someone else to care for Brayden.”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” he insisted. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re on your way in plenty of time to get to your class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”
She didn’t doubt his sincerity, but she couldn’t risk being late for another class or, heaven forbid, missing one. The thought of doing so sent terror through her. All her work and study would be for nothing. If she failed this class this semester, she would have to retake it. In addition to having to set aside another semester of time, there was the financial factor. She just couldn’t afford to take the class again.
“I’m finishing my clinicals,” she explained. “I can’t make up this time. So I just don’t think I can risk it.”
She turned for the door and was opening it, but he’d reached around and closed it. “You can’t quit.”
All she wanted to do was climb in her car and drive away so she could get to her class, even if she was going to be late. “Please let go of the door.”
He hesitated, but the moment he did remove his hand from the door, Brayden’s loud wail filled the small space and bounced off the walls, causing Hayley’s ears to ring.
He’d heard her. He might not understand what she’d said, but he did understand the tone of her voice.
“Brayden, honey,” she began, but Luke pushed her through the door he’d opened.
“Go!” he told her. “Get to your class. I’ll take care of Brayden.”
“But—”
“Don’t say anything else. It’ll only make it worse. Go on. Get out. We’ll talk about this later.”
Once she was through the door and standing on the cement floor of the garage, the door slammed shut. Beyond it, she could hear Brayden’s wailing, and imagined the tears that were falling. Of course she couldn’t leave him. But there would have to be some changes made, and they would be on her terms.
Chapter Five
Luke didn’t close the door until he was sure Hayley had backed out of the garage and he could hear the car turn onto the road. Only then did he let himself think.
Behind him, the house was quiet. He wasn’t sure when the wailing had stopped, but at some point it had been replaced by Brayden’s tearful sniffs. Looking down, he saw his son staring up at him with huge, round eyes. Small but chubby arms held his legs in a tight grip. Luke leaned down and picked up his son, holding him close. “It’s okay, Brayden. It’ll be all right.”
But the boy struggled in his arms, and Luke realized he was reaching for the door. “No,” Brayden said, hitting the door with his hand. “No go.”
“She’ll be back later.” At least Luke hoped she would. There was no telling how much damage he’d caused by not being home on time and making her late for her class. He hadn’t exactly been nice, either. She had every right to be angry.
Glancing at his watch, he was reminded that he had a long evening ahead, waiting and wondering what would happen. Would she return? Or would she decide he and his son weren’t worth the trouble?
Brayden squirmed in his arms as he carried him to the family room, and when Luke put him down, Brayden headed straight for his toys. Watching his son play, Luke was relieved that the little guy had finally calmed down. All he wanted was for his son to have a life without turmoil. And now he might have done something that created exactly that.
In the kitchen, there was little evidence that Brayden had eaten supper, but Luke didn’t doubt Hayley had made sure he did. After heating the plate of leftovers he found, he was soon settled at the counter, wondering how to apologize to her when she returned from her class. Before he could think of words that wouldn’t make him look like a bigger fool than he already was, Brayden came to stand beside the tall stool where he sat.
Luke moved his empty plate aside and pulled his son onto his lap. “You look tired, buddy. Want to go to bed?”
Brayden shook his head, but closed his eyes and snuggled against Luke’s chest. Within minutes, he’d fallen asleep, and Luke took him up to his room, where he undressed him and tucked him into bed, hoping that nothing would change by the time Brayden awakened in the morning. They needed Hayley, and Luke silently vowed to do whatever it took to keep her at the ranch for Brayden.
He was putting Brayden’s toys away in the family room, when his phone rang. Pulling it from his pocket, he held his breath, hoping it wasn’t Hayley calling to tell him that she’d decided not to return. He was relieved to see the number was his sister’s, instead.
“So how’s Hayley working out?” Erin asked when he answered.
The last thing Luke wanted her to know was that things weren’t going smoothly because of him, so he tried for a calm, normal voice and hoped she wouldn’t notice anything was wrong. “Just fine,” he answered. “Brayden is crazy about her, and she’s amazing with him. You were right.”
“I won’t say I told you so, but I told you so.”
Luke’s laughter came freely. It was just like his sister, the oldest of the three of them, to make him forget his troubles. When their parents died, she’d been the strong one and kept the three of them together. But as soon as he’d turned eighteen, Erin had been on the road, looking for answers she didn’t even know the questions to. He often wondered if she’d found either.
She kept busy with rodeo, so they didn’t talk often. Even her visits were brief—when she visited—before she hit the road again.
“She’s pretty, too, isn’t she?”
The tone in Erin’s voice dared him to argue, but Luke didn’t rise to the bait. “Very pretty.”
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“So you like her.”
Luke shook his head and chuckled to himself. It hadn’t been a question, but a statement. “We both like her. And before you ask, she’s at her evening class.”
“Well, I just called to see how everything is going. I’m glad it’s all good. How about Dylan? Is he doing okay?”
Luke wasn’t sure if he should mention how much his brother was struggling. Dylan probably wouldn’t appreciate it if Erin learned what was really happening. But since he didn’t have a clue what his older brother might do next, there wasn’t much their sister could do to help.
“Yeah, he’s okay. We had some rain yesterday, but we managed to get caught up on the work today.”
“Send some of that rain down here to New Mexico, will you? The ground is as hard as a rock.”
“I would if I could.”
They talked for a few minutes about the weather and ranching, and then ended the call with a promise to talk again soon. He’d just checked his watch when he heard Hayley’s car, and hoped she’d found a way to forgive him for the trouble he’d caused.
Because he didn’t want her to think he’d been waiting for her return, he switched on the television, grabbed the newspaper and settled on the sofa. When he heard the door from the garage open, he reminded himself that he still needed to apologize for the entire episode. But he didn’t need to grovel to do it.
“How’s Brayden?” Hayley asked when she walked into the family room.
Luke saw her worried frown as she stood looking intently at him. “He’s okay,” he answered.
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, I am.” But he was getting the feeling that she was trying to decide whether to believe him or not. “I put him to bed, and last time I checked, he was sound asleep.”
Her chin dipped in the slightest of nods. “All right, then.”
When she moved to walk away without saying more, he realized he wasn’t ready to let her leave it at that. He knew he was a good father. He’d done everything to be the best he could be. Maybe she didn’t understand that. “I’ve spent the past two years with my son, every day, every night. I know if he’s okay or not.”
She was halfway to her room, but stopped and turned back to look at him. “I never said you didn’t.”
“But—”
“I only wanted to make sure you weren’t saying it because he should be all right, not that he was.” She shook her head and sighed. “Maybe it doesn’t matter.”
A pinch of panic made him uncomfortable, but he wasn’t going to back away from this. “Yeah, it does, and we both know it. Things have been...strained these past few days. It’s been—” But he didn’t know if they should be talking about what had happened or if they should simply let it go.
“You’re right,” she said, surprising him. “It’s like we’ve been walking on eggshells, tiptoeing—”
“That’s it, exactly.” The relief he felt encouraged him to do what needed to be done and that he hadn’t done well earlier. “About the other night in your room...”
She shook her head. “We all do things we shouldn’t. As far as I’m concerned, it never happened.”
He nodded, not sure if that was good or not. But it wasn’t the time to dwell on it. “I’m sorry I forgot about your class tonight and I hope you didn’t have any problems because of it. I swear it won’t happen again. I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep from being late on nights you have class.”
There. He’d said it, and he felt better for it. But she didn’t seem as pleased by it as he’d expected.
“Promises are easy to make but harder to keep.”
“Yeah, I know but—”
“And it’s not as if I don’t think you’ll try to keep your word, but on the other hand, I think this is more important to me than you realize. So here’s what I think we should agree on.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but instead, he asked, “What’s that?”
“We won’t have to revisit this topic again, and I’ll agree to stay, but with one stipulation.”
“What’s that?” he asked, although he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know.
Her chest rose and fell when she took a deep breath before answering. “I can’t be late again. My education and my future are too important to me. And I know you wouldn’t do it on purpose, but to keep that from happening, I’m asking for two weeks of severance pay, if it should.”
It wasn’t at all what he’d expected, but he couldn’t think of any reason why he shouldn’t go along with her demand. “Okay. Yeah, I can agree with that.”
Relief was written in her eyes, and she blew out a breath. “Good. Thank you.”
He watched as she turned and continued to her room, hoping he’d never have to test the stipulation he’d just agreed to. Maybe he’d been depending on her too much, but with the ranching situation as unstable as it had been, thanks to Dylan, there wasn’t anything else he could do. At least for the time being.
He had to at least admit that he enjoyed her company. She hadn’t been working for him long enough, but that didn’t change the fact that he couldn’t deal with losing her now. And that meant staying on his toes and being the kind of employer she deserved. He just hoped he could do that.
* * *
HAYLEY KEPT AN EYE ON Brayden for signs of even the slightest trauma the next morning, but the little guy seemed to be in good spirits. Not only was he in a happy mood, but he offered no resistance when she put him down for a short, morning nap. As a reward, and because she felt a little guilty for upsetting him the evening before, she was busy working on a surprise outing, when he appeared in the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and yawning after finishing his nap.
“Perfect timing!” She placed him in his seat at the counter and moved the sandwiches she was making out of his reach. Brayden refused to eat bread crust, and she’d decided the first day she’d attempted to coerce him into trying that it wasn’t worth the struggle. He’d grow out of it, she told herself, although one of her grown brothers still tried to ditch the crust whenever he could. And their mother continued to ignore it.
Handing Brayden a cup of juice she had ready and waiting, she watched as he drank it all, without a break or a breath. “Thirsty, huh?” she asked, refilling the cup and setting it in front of him. “Brayden, what do you say?”
His eyes widened as he looked at her, but he said nothing. Although he could be quite vocal when he wanted something, he still needed to work on his manners and vocabulary. He understood most of what he heard—evidenced by his reaction the evening before to her argument with his father. But his own speech wasn’t high on his list. She suspected it was because Luke didn’t spend as much time talking with him as a mother might have. Because of that, she made sure she talked to him about everything.
“I have a surprise for you,” she said, smiling.
“S’pize?”
At the counter, she put a thermos with juice for Brayden and a water bottle for herself in a plastic tote. “Yes! It’s such a nice day, I think we should go to the park. Would you like that?”
“Pawk!”
“You bet! A trip to the park.”
“Go pawk!” he shouted, squirming and bouncing in his seat, until she unbuckled the safety strap restraining him and helped him jump down to the floor. “Wuv pawk!”
She laughed, and bent down to give him a hug. “I know you do. So let’s get our jackets, and I’ll leave your daddy a note so he knows
where we are.”
Brayden took off with a shout, and she heard his footsteps as he pounded up the stairs. Smiling to herself, she grabbed a pen and paper and scribbled a note for Luke.
After the evening before, she wasn’t quite ready to spend a lot of time around him. She’d lucked out that morning, when he’d left before she’d even opened her eyes. Hopefully she’d feel more at ease as the day wore on.
She’d just propped the note on the counter, where Luke would be sure to see it if he came home, when Brayden raced into the room, carrying not only his own jacket, but hers, as well. She thanked him and helped him get his on right side up, then they gathered their things and went to her car.
Hayley filled the trip into Desperation with silly songs and rhymes, and was pleased when Brayden tentatively tried to join in. She’d recognized his shyness the first time she’d seen him, more than likely the result of spending most of his time with his father and uncle. For that reason, and the fact that she didn’t intend to be his nanny for more than a few short months, she hoped Luke would soon get Brayden into day care. The little boy needed to be around others—especially other children—to work on his social skills. One more reason she’d decided to take him to the park, hoping there would be other children there.
She wasn’t disappointed.
“Hayley, hello!”
As she waved to the young redheaded woman who greeted her, Hayley closed the car door and took Brayden’s hand. “Look at the two boys over there,” she said to him, recognizing Kate McPherson and her twin sons from the café. “Do you want to go play with them?”
But Brayden’s grip tightened on her hand, and he took a half step back. Before she had a chance to encourage him, Kate called to him. “Hey, Brayden, you remember Tyler and Travis. You see them in the Chick-a-Lick all the time.”
A Nanny for the Cowboy Page 7