“Sorry, kid. You were buying mine.”
“I don’t think that’s how it went.”
“Can’t help it if you get confused.” Cord stood. “Howdy, Mack. Been a while.”
Mack held Ashleigh and let go of Holly’s hand long enough to shake Cord’s.
“They’re yours?” Cord asked.
“My sister’s.”
“Oh. I see,” Cord said, but of course he didn’t, and Mack couldn’t explain.
“Sit down,” Mav said.
“You sure I’m not interrupting?” Mack asked.
“No way. Mav and I were just talking about how you guys might be going into business together.”
“Yeah.” Mack put Holly against the wall and Ashleigh beside him.
Patty herself was waitressing, and she came hurrying over with a booster seat. Her flip-flops clicked with each step. Years ago, she’d told Mack she couldn’t waitress in any other kind of footwear, because it killed her feet. “I got this for the little one,” she called out. A few stray wisps of gray hair that had escaped from her bun flew around her head.
“I thought you were bringing it over for Mav,” Cord drawled.
Patty laughed. She wore a necklace of Christmas lights around her neck that were lit up. “One of your little girls want to wear my necklace?”
Mack cringed. He’d been with the girls long enough to know that they’d fight constantly over something like that.
But Patty could read his mind, and she grinned. “I have another one in the back, and I’ll bring that out in a minute.” She reached up to unhook it.
It was still going to be a fight.
“How about I wear it until you get back?” he suggested.
Mav snickered.
Cord outright laughed.
Mack made a mental note to be around when they had children. Not that he had children, for the love of puppies. These girls were his sister’s. He loved them before, but he really hoped she came back soon, because he was falling in love with them, harder and deeper, in a way that would hurt when Robyn took them.
He put the necklace around his neck. Something he wouldn’t do for just anyone.
“That goes good with your eyes.” Mav’s look was dead serious.
“Shut up.”
“Yeah. Shut up,” Holly echoed.
Mack put his elbow on the table and rubbed his forehead with his hand. “I’m sorry, girls,” he said, turning his head but keeping his forehead in his hand. “That’s not a nice thing to say, and I shouldn’t have said it.”
Mav snorted.
Mack bit his tongue.
“I’ve got my ear tag applicator pliers in my pickup. Pretty sure we can figure out a way to make you a set of earrings that’ll look good with that necklace. Your girls okay with blood?” Cord gave a lopsided smile.
“Shut up.”
“Yeah. Shut up,” Holly echoed again.
Mack didn’t bother to correct her. He probably wouldn’t be able to quit saying it for the next hour or so, unless he moved to a different table. Mav was annoying and Cord wasn’t usually a jerk, but they were his friends and he loved them. Plus, if they were giving him a hard time, he wouldn’t be worried about Angela. As much.
Patty came back over with the other necklace and waters and took their orders, bustling away in her flip-flops and skinny jeans.
“Heard you were getting hitched.” Mack fastened the second necklace around Holly’s neck.
“Unless she changes her mind again.” Cord grinned his sideways smile, like he didn’t care one way or the other.
“If she’s smart, she will. You just want a cook and a washerwoman out there, and I think the lady knows it.” Mav took a couple swallows of his water.
“Not true. She can work in the garden if she wants, and I’m gonna share a bedroom with her.”
“Yeah,” Mav said, stretching. “Still haven’t heard anything that would make that offer tempting.”
“Watch your language in front of my children,” Mack said, glancing at the girls. This was probably a really bad idea. Angela would kill him if he brought the girls home and they were talking about sharing bedrooms and saying shut up.
“You guys think you could talk about the weather or something, like real farmers?” he asked irritably.
“How’s the bet going?” Mav asked instead.
“Shut up.”
“Yeah. Shut. Up.” Holly emphasized this by sticking out her tongue. Ashleigh imitated her immediately.
“I’ve been trying to teach her to count to five for a week now, and she misses three every time. Yet you did that tongue thing one time, and she’s got it down perfectly. How did you do that?” Mack asked Holly.
“Like this.” She stuck her tongue out. “You can do it too.”
“Angela is going to kill me.”
“I can do it quicker and faster. For a fee.” Mack knew Cord too well to be fooled by the dead serious look on his face.
“Whatever he’ll do it for, I’ll do it ten bucks cheaper, and I’ll even dispose of the body.” Mav tapped his fingers on the table.
“It’s biodegradable. Don’t worry about it.” Mack glanced over at the girls, hoping they were absorbed in their coloring and wouldn’t add bodies to the list of things they were going to talk to Angela about.
Better bodies than bets.
“So about the bet. Have you charmed her into falling for you yet?”
“I haven’t heard about this,” Cord said with a smirk. “How much are you paying him? I might be interested.”
“If you fall in love with me, I can turn those ear tag applicators into a castration tool pretty darn quick.”
“Ouch,” Mav said. But at least he had the grace to look at the girls as he said it.
Mack was pretty sure that conversation was going over their heads at least.
Patty came with their food, and Mack got the girls settled and eating before digging into his own meal.
Thankfully his tablemates were as serious about their food as he was about his, and they ate in silence.
Mav cleaned his plate first. “Never answered me about our bet. Clay wants an answer about the business.”
“Yeah. I’ve had other things on my mind.”
Mav raised his brows.
Mack ignored his insinuation. “I promised to help with the Christmas festival. Hey,” he said to Cord. “You still have draft horses?”
“Should I be scared?” Cord asked.
“That was a yes,” Mav supplied.
“That’s what I thought.” Mack set his spoon down on his empty plate and picked up Ashleigh’s fork, scooping up a bite of hot dog and feeding it to her. “How would you feel about giving sleigh rides at the festival?”
“I feel like I’d rather harvest my wheat field with a pair of scissors and a pitchfork.”
“It’s December. If your wheat’s not off, you can use the scissors to cut your losses. Now, about the sleigh rides. I think from nine to twelve in the morning and three to six in the evening would work. All three days, except Sunday. I think the service is at nine.”
“You have liability?” Cord asked. With that question about insurance, Mack knew he was considering it.
“I think they do. I’ll check.”
Cord nodded. Mack figured he’d do it and couldn’t believe no one had asked him. But Angela was new to town and might not know about Cord’s Percherons.
“Well, it was great seeing you guys, but I think my girls need to get home.”
“There was some weird car in front of your boardinghouse when we came through,” Cord said as Mack wiped little hands as best he could with the napkins they had.
“Angela’s parents.” Mack didn’t even try to dodge the question. Everyone would know by morning anyway. Just the way small towns worked.
“Oh. That might make things interesting.” Mav’s grin was in place, but there was true concern in his eyes. “They’re not the nicest. Watch yourself.”
“I was more c
oncerned about her.”
“Nah. Her parents might be idiots with some wacked-out ideas, but they wouldn’t hurt their precious angel. Although they probably do want to drag her home. I wouldn’t let them do that if I were you.”
Yeah. Like he’d have much say in that. Angela would have to make that decision. He honestly wasn’t sure what she’d do.
“Maybe they’re just here for a visit,” he suggested, knowing that was just wishful thinking on his part. He picked Ashleigh up out of her booster seat.
“You know, we’ve been ribbing you pretty hard, but I think you really like her.” Cord’s eyes had drawn together, and he contemplated Mack like he’d never seen him before.
While Cord was talking, the bell above the door tinkled, but they all ignored it, the tension between them suddenly thick.
“That would be a stupid thing to do. Just ask Boone.” Mav gave Mack a look of disgust.
“Boone’s happily married, and he’d be the first to say everything worked out for the best.” It wasn’t a solid argument, but it was the best Mack could come up with.
Mav jumped on the weakness immediately. “I’m not talking about how it worked out. Roxie and Boone were made for each other, yes. But that doesn’t negate the fact that Angela was a conniving witch.”
Mack’s teeth ground together. Mav was right. He couldn’t deny it. Angela wouldn’t deny it. But he hated hearing him talk about her like that. “Maybe there were circumstances that you don’t know about. And maybe she’s changed.”
“And maybe she hasn’t. You really want to bet on that?” Mav spit the question out. “There are safer and better bets everywhere. You don’t need the heartache that comes with Angela. She duped two of my brothers. I don’t want to see her do the same thing to you.” Mav grabbed his hat off the hook by the table. “You can’t deny the truth.”
“I know.” Mack said the words softly, but a gasp from the doorway said they’d carried that far at least.
“She’s pretty anyway,” Cord murmured.
“Shut up,” Holly said.
Mack cringed.
“So was the witch in Snow White,” Mav said low.
“Sut up,” Ashleigh said, then stuck her tongue out.
Mack didn’t need to cringe again. He could feel the daggers poking in the back of his head.
“See ya later, man.” Cord smacked him on the back of the shoulder. “Or we’ll look for your body, anyway.”
Mav and he laughed, then walked past.
Mack turned in time to see them tip their hats at Angela as they strode out.
Angela didn’t notice them, because she was staring at him.
There was hurt in her eyes, but she glided forward, her back straight, her head up. “It was taking a long time, I thought you might need help with the children.”
“I need to talk to you about that.”
“You don’t. I have to live with what I’ve done.”
“I couldn’t deny the truth.”
“I know. And we don’t need to talk about this.”
“How’d things go with your parents?”
“Let’s not talk about that, either.”
“Sun’s probably gonna come up tomorrow.”
He didn’t get a laugh out of her, but her lips did twitch.
“I thought we could talk about the words Holly said when I first stepped in.” She pursed her lips. “And the gesture Ashleigh made with her tongue.”
“I’d rather talk about the weather.”
“It’s North Dakota cold outside. Now, if your friends are going to speak like that, I don’t want them around these children.”
“It wasn’t the Stryker boys who said those words.”
She stopped with one of Ashleigh’s arms in the coat and one not. “You said that?” Her brows drew down. “In front of the children?”
“Yeah. It was me.”
She sighed.
He held a hand up. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better.”
She sniffed, then continued to stuff Ashleigh’s hand into her sleeve. “Well, I left because my parents were being my parents, yes. But also because—you’re not going to believe this—your parents showed up.”
Chapter 11
“So, my parents commandeered my room, your parents commandeered your room, and there’s one room left.” Angela was on her knees beside the bathtub, because there was no way after visiting the farm today that she was going to allow the girls to go to bed without a bath.
“And Mr. Swanson is making out like a bandit since we’re all paying for a room.” Mack stood in the doorway holding towels. “Who would have thought that being a boardinghouse owner in the middle of North Dakota would be such a lucrative endeavor?”
“I don’t think he’s looking to make money. I think he’s just lonely since his wife died and his children never visit.” Her parents and his parents were waiting downstairs. Once the children were bathed and put to bed, they wanted to talk. She’d managed to get out of it earlier when she explained she’d been on a farm and needed a shower. Then she’d slipped out of the house and walked to the diner while her parents were greeting Mack’s parents. They couldn’t be anything other than Mack’s parents because the man looked just like Mack, only with gray hair and maybe a couple inches shorter.
They made a great distraction, though.
“He should have had more children. Maybe he’d have been inspired to add another bedroom on.” He shifted the towels.
Angela tried not to look at him. What she’d overheard in the restaurant had hurt. It’d been justifiable, but still. It hurt. Even though there was that embarrassing text that he didn’t answer, that told her as sure as anything how he felt, it still hurt.
She wished she hadn’t heard.
“You can have the extra bedroom,” Mack said. And there again, she was positive that he truly wanted her to have it. He wasn’t a jerk. She’d figured that out pretty early in their relationship. He just wasn’t into her.
“No. That’s what I was trying to say.” She rubbed the no-tears shampoo into Holly’s head. It smelled like summer and apples, and she had a sudden urge, that bordered on need, to bake an apple pie. “I think it’s better for me to share a room with the girls. I can even sleep in the bed, there’s plenty of room on it.” She hesitated with a cup of water, ready to rinse out the shampoo. “You probably can’t. Not only are you too big, but it’s probably not a good idea.”
She shrugged a little. She certainly wasn’t accusing him of anything. It was just the way the world worked today.
“It hardly seems fair that they’re my nieces, but you have to share a room with them.” His voice was pitched low enough that the girls wouldn’t hear it over their chattering and splashing.
Angela finished rinsing the shampoo out of Holly’s hair. “Okay, kiddo. You’re done. Uncle Mack will dry you off and get your kitty jammies on.”
She held Holly’s hand as her slick little body clambered out of the tub. “You smell like sweet apples and clean soap.” And not like cow manure anymore.
Holly giggled as Mack bundled her up in the towel and swept her off her feet.
“I’ll be back for the other munchkin in a few.”
“We’ll wait on you,” Angela called, then looked at Ashleigh, “because we’re not going anywhere with you naked, right?”
Ashleigh giggled. “Napid.”
“Naked,” Angela said, emphasizing the “k” sound while she squirted more shampoo in her hand.
Her parents would probably want her to sit at the table and quietly listen to everything they had to say, paying attention and nodding soberly. Ugh. She wanted to keep her hands busy. Didn’t want to be sat at the table like an errant teen. Made sense since she was closer to thirty than she was to being a teenager.
She blew a hair off her face. Maybe she should take another shower before she went down. If she dawdled long enough, her parents would go to bed. They were of the “early to bed, early to rise” variety.
; So was she, come to think of it. Maybe she could just go to bed.
No. She might as well face them. Get it over with.
She poured a cup of warm water over Ashleigh’s hair, holding her hand on her forehead to keep the water from running down over her face.
Children had been in Angela’s life for as long as she could remember. Even though she was an only child, there had been kids in the church and kids visiting and kids they visited. But she’d not given too many baths in her life.
She enjoyed it.
But it did give her a slightly empty feeling in her chest. A longing that made her lungs feel bottomless and her stomach unsettled.
Because she’d been an only child, she’d always wanted a big family. Lots of kids to play with and work with and live life in happy chaos with.
And of course, she wanted the strong man of character beside her.
Funny how that all seemed like an impossible dream. It wasn’t going to happen here, anyway. She hadn’t known where else to run, but people here knew too much about her past and what she’d done.
Like tonight in the diner.
Mack’s friends hated her.
She couldn’t blame them.
But she couldn’t hope that Mack might develop feelings for her when his friends were constantly reminding him how awful she was.
She might not have grown up in North Dakota, but she knew small towns, and a half a century or so from now, when people stood at her casket, they’d still be talking about it.
She needed to go somewhere where she could start new.
It seemed like the obvious decision, now that she’d thought about it.
After the Christmas festival, she’d find a new place to live. Anywhere. Maybe she’d go east. Not east like Chicago. East as in New York. There were a couple of states in between there, maybe she’d check out one of them.
Her chest felt heavy, like it was coated in mud, but she tried to convince herself she could get excited about that. Maybe she’d go the opposite direction and see the Pacific Ocean. She could work at a little restaurant in some cute bay somewhere along the Oregon coast.
Those people would buy pies and baked goods, and surely there were churches there as well that she could get involved in. She’d want to find a little one. A small-town church—
Cowboys Don't Stand Under the Mistletoe (Sweet Water Ranch Western Cowboy Romance Book 10) Page 9