“Is it very deep?” RaeAnne asked, a note of fear in her voice as she stuck her toes back in the creek.
“Nope. It doesn’t even go to my waist. It definitely won’t be over your head. I usually sit down in it when I want to take a bath.”
“You take a bath in the creek?” RaeAnne asked incredulously, her big blue eyes wide, but there was also some intrigue on her face, like she was thinking she might not mind taking a bath in the creek.
“Before I had a bathtub and shower in my house, that’s where I bathed all the time.”
“I’ve never even been in a creek before.” RaeAnne dipped her toes in again, squealing and jumping out before jumping right back in.
“I like to play in it and make little dams sometimes.” She hadn’t done it much, but that was what she would do if she had time to play.
RaeAnne tilted her head and inched a little further into the creek. “I think my feet are getting used to it now. They’re not as cold.”
“Sometimes it’s just better to go in all at once as much as you can, rather than going little by little, because every step is a new blast of cold.”
RaeAnne’s perfect face and wide mouth scrunched as she considered what Ivory said before she inched a little further in.
It wasn’t hard to see Chandler in the little girl. She had his nose, the shape of it if not the size, and his perfectly angled chin. Right down to the cleft in his chin. She had his blue eyes as well.
Just to prove a point, Ivory sat down in the creek. Her first instinct was to pop back up, because it was cold, shockingly so, but she forced herself to stay, and after a minute or two, she got used to it and the flowing water felt good around her. Meanwhile, RaeAnne inched in a little bit more.
Eventually she got completely wet and stopped just short of ducking her head under. Ivory didn’t encourage her to do that, because that really would be cold, and they hadn’t brought towels.
Still, when RaeAnne asked her to show her how to build a dam, Ivory got up and they worked on moving some rocks and stones and piling them in the creek.
Maybe an hour had slipped by, and it was getting pretty dark, but they were having so much fun and laughing together that Ivory hadn’t even considered quitting. She probably should take time off and do stuff like this more often.
Chapter 14
“I think we can start putting the footers in tomorrow.” Deacon snapped the lid back on the can of fluorescent orange marker spray.
“Great. The sooner the better. I’d like to have RaeAnne here with me.” Chandler could hear the occasional shout and splash from the creek. He wanted Deacon to leave so he could go see what was going on. Tinsley wasn’t with Deacon, since she had been dropped off at their mother’s. Otherwise Chandler would have sent her to the creek to play with RaeAnne and Ivory.
He had kind of expected them to be back at the house before he was finished.
“Hello?” Deacon said.
Chandler whipped his head around, embarrassed. His brother had been speaking, but he didn’t have the slightest idea of what he’d said.
“Sorry. Spaced out.”
“I saw that.” Deacon tilted the can in his hand back and forth. “You and Ivory seem to be getting along pretty well.”
“Huh?” Chandler blinked, trying to figure out if they’d been talking about Ivory and he’d missed it. “What makes you say that?” Had Deacon even seen them together?
“Mom said you two were in town together. Plus, you’ve been distracted all day. The kind of distracted that says your mind’s with someone else.”
“No.” The denial was automatic. But Deacon’s words rang true. He had been thinking about Ivory and wanting to go see her. Talk to her. Be with her. He’d been gone for two days, and it felt like years.
Deacon shrugged. “See ya tomorrow, bright and early.”
“See ya.”
Chandler didn’t wait for Deacon’s truck to leave.
He took off with long strides, more eager than he could admit to see Ivory. He didn’t even really think he liked her that much, but he sure missed her when he was picking up RaeAnne in Nevada. He didn’t even want to think about how much.
Deacon had hit the nail on the head.
As he went down the hill and rounded the bank, the splashing and laughing got louder, and he stopped for a second to watch.
It looked like they were building a dam, because they were lugging stones from the edge of the creek and dropping them in the middle. They’d gotten a bit of the foundation laid, although it didn’t seem like they were aiming to completely stop the creek, just maybe having fun moving rocks and having the water come up a couple of inches.
No doubt his daughter was enjoying it. She was splashing around soaking wet, laughing, and dropping rocks.
He would’ve expected Ivory to be a bit more subdued, but she seemed like she was having just as much fun as RaeAnne, skipping and laughing and splashing.
RaeAnne had just asked her how many more rocks she thought they would need when Ivory, with a big rock in her hand, looked over at the dam. She didn’t stop walking, though, and tripped, splashing down in the water.
Chandler took a step forward, worried that she might hurt herself, but she popped back up, shoving her hair out of her eyes and laughing. RaeAnne jumped over and splashed down beside her.
They laughed and splashed their hands in the creek, giggling and saying things he couldn’t hear over the bubbling of the water.
He waited until they were both standing again before he walked closer to the creek. “I thought you guys would be back at the house long before this. That water has to be cold.”
Ivory gasped, like she was surprised, and his voice had probably shocked her. But then she crossed her arms over her chest, like she was naked or something, and scrunched down, looking at him with wide eyes before plopping down completely in the water.
She was wearing her clothes and had undergarments on under them; it wasn’t like he’d come upon her naked. But even as he was thinking that, he was remembering what she’d said about her mother, and he thought about how she’d probably lived with that stigma all her life and had done everything in her power to be the opposite of what everyone accused her of.
It struck him then that he was more of what she’d been accused of, and she was anything but.
He hadn’t teased her or made fun of her since high school, but guilt still clogged up his throat. Maybe what she’d lived through then had made her what she was now, a woman of character that he admired and respected, but he didn’t like his part in it.
“Daddy! Look what we’re doing! Look at the dam we’re building!” RaeAnne called out, unaware of Ivory’s discomfort or his guilt.
He forced his lips to turn up. “I see that, baby. Looks good. What are you gonna do, make a pond?”
Her eyes got big. Maybe he shouldn’t have given her that suggestion, because he could tell from the way the expressions rolled over her face she never thought of it.
“Do you think we could? That would be a lot of fun!”
He hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time with his daughter over the years. Not since he and Jessica had split. They’d face-timed and Skyped some, and he’d picked her up for the day. But he’d never seen her this animated or excited.
“Miss Ivory, do you think we could do that?” Her head swiveled back to Chandler. “Miss Ivory used to build dams all the time when she was little, when it rained and the water ran in the alley, and she and her sister would go out and play in the water. She knows all about making dams. And she’s really good at it.”
“Really?” Chandler said, but he wasn’t really looking at his daughter or thinking of a reply, because somehow, it made him really sad to think of Ivory and her little sister that she loved so much and had been a mother to, because her own mother couldn’t, outside in the back alley, playing in the dirty water that ran down the street.
But he didn’t say any of that, and Ivory didn’t look at him, still scrunched d
own in the water, only now her teeth were chattering. Her lips looked a little blue as well.
He figured RaeAnne wouldn’t want to come with him, but he was going to make her, if only to give Ivory a chance to get out of the water and do whatever she felt she needed to do in order to be decent.
He averted his eyes.
“Come on, RaeAnne. We have everything laid out to start the room tomorrow with Uncle Deacon. Maybe he’ll bring Tinsley with him and you two can play. Although not in the creek, unless somebody’s watching you.”
His eyes slid to Ivory just long enough to see her give a short nod. He moved them away, trying to respect her modesty. “Maybe Miss Ivory will have time after she gets some of her work done tomorrow. If not, I’ll make sure you get a little bit of time once we get the cement in the ground and are waiting for it to harden.”
RaeAnne’s lips stuck out, but she turned and started walking out of the creek. It was crazy, but he actually had a wild thought of taking his shoes and socks off and wading in.
It had been years since he played in the creek. Although, it wasn’t the idea of having fun in the creek that made him want to wade in. It just seemed like wherever Ivory was was where he wanted to be. That was a crazy thought, especially since she could barely stand him.
Funny that there were thousands of women in America who would love to be with him, but he couldn’t get interested in any of those. Of course not. He had to pick the one woman who didn’t want to have anything to do with him.
“We’ll be up at the house.” His eyes flicked over Ivory before he held his hand out for RaeAnne. She clasped it, and they started up toward the house.
IVORY TOOK THE LAST loaf of bread out of the oven and set it on the small counter. Golden brown and domed, it looked picture-perfect.
“I think you might have a knack for making bread, RaeAnne. These are the best loaves I’ve made in a long time.” She smiled down at her little helper, who had turned out to be a pretty good right hand.
RaeAnne beamed. “They smell really good.”
“I’m sure they taste good too.”
“I just might have to test that theory.”
Ivory’s head jerked up. Chandler stood in the doorway, a tool belt around his waist and a cowboy hat on his head. She could see why millions of people flocked to see him in movies. He looked good. She could sit and watch him for two hours, even if the script and plot were awful.
“You’re certainly welcome to have a slice, and Deacon can too if he’s still here.” Ivory closed the oven door and put the mitts in a drawer before turning to face him fully.
“He’s already gone. And I’d love to try it, but I promised my mom I’d meet her in town because she’s gonna take Rae and have a sleepover with her and Huck and Kylie. And then tomorrow night when they come back, we should have a room ready for her here.”
He grinned at RaeAnne who grinned back and jumped up and down.
“I could take her. I needed to pick up the seed I ordered the last time I was in town so I’m ready to start planting tomorrow. It should be ready at the feed store.”
She wasn’t sure why she offered the way she did. Kind of like he wasn’t welcome to come. Maybe she just couldn’t find the words to see if he wanted to go too.
“That’s fine... Do you mind if I tag along? I know RaeAnne has spent quite a bit of time with my mom over the years, but it’s been a few months since she’s seen her.” He gave RaeAnne a reassuring smile and winked at her. “I just want to make sure that everything’s okay before I leave her.”
“I’ll be fine, Daddy. I love Grandma, and we always have a good time when I go there.”
RaeAnne wasn’t shy; Ivory had already figured that out. And just like with being in the creek and with baking the bread, she was pretty open to new experiences and a joy to work with. Even if she was rather headstrong and insisted on her own way at times. What kid didn’t?
“I certainly don’t mind.” She turned the oven off. “The bread is all out, and I’m ready to go. If we go now, we’ll be back in time for me to make supper.”
“I thought we’d just grab it at the diner.” He sounded kind of hesitant and unsure. But it wasn’t like he was asking her on a date. They were just conveniently going to eat at the diner since they would be in town at suppertime.
“Oh.” She hadn’t ever eaten at the diner.
Growing up, she’d lived behind the bars in town and the Mexican restaurant, and she’d had plenty of food from those places, but she’d never eaten in the dining rooms there. If she did get food, she’d taken it back to their apartment to eat.
Still, if RaeAnne could do all these new experiences, Ivory figured it wouldn’t hurt her either.
“That sounds nice. Am I dressed okay?”
Chandler’s lips curved up in that heart-stopping smile he had. Her stomach turned over, and she tried to pull her eyes away unsuccessfully. “Just like a girl to be concerned about what she’s wearing. I’m sure you’ll fit in. I’m wearing this.” His hands indicated the dirty T-shirt and jeans he’d been wearing while they worked on the room. They matched hers. Although somehow it seemed more socially acceptable for a man to not be entirely cleaned up than it was for a woman.
But as long as Chandler wasn’t embarrassed to be seen with her, she’d go the way she was.
“Okay. Let me grab my keys.”
They left, closing the door behind them, and headed toward her pickup. They got in with RaeAnne in the middle, buckling her in her booster seat.
After Ivory had hers buckled, she pressed the clutch in and turned the key. All she heard were clicks.
Her stomach dropped, and her head started to throb. She wanted to lay her forehead on the steering wheel. “I think the battery’s dead.” She sighed. She had the battery charger, but she wasn’t sure she had an extension cord long enough to plug it in and bring it over... It was going to take a while to figure things out.
“Let’s go in my car. I’ll get your truck started tomorrow morning, first thing. Okay?” Chandler unbuckled his belt and put his hand on the door latch.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that. It will only take forty-five minutes or so to get things hooked up and get it charged enough so that it’ll start.”
She probably ought to get a new battery while she was in town.
Chandler looked at his phone. “If you don’t mind, I’d really rather drive. I told Mom I’d meet her in an hour and fifteen minutes. We’ll have enough time to eat supper together if we leave now. Otherwise we’ll be late, and RaeAnne won’t be able to eat with us.”
She almost told him to go ahead and go by himself, but she didn’t want to seem rude or snippy. He’d been so nice to her, and although it made her uncomfortable to accept the room, and now the ride, that wasn’t an excuse to be mean.
“Do you mind putting the seed in the back of your car?”
“Not at all.” His jaw was set, and she believed that he really didn’t mind.
They got in his car, and he drove to town, answering a call from his mother on the way.
After he hung up, he said, “She’s at the feed store now, and she said we could go ahead and drop RaeAnne off. I figured we would pick up your seed there too. We’ll eat afterwards. She said she had supper in the crockpot for the kids.”
Ivory didn’t figure she could argue with his plans, although the idea of eating alone with Chandler made her nervous. As long as RaeAnne was there, it definitely wasn’t a date. Being that it was at the diner, it still really wasn’t a date, except she’d never eaten there. So it was kind of special for her.
Mrs. Hudson stood out on the sidewalk as they pulled up to the feed store. Chandler hugged his mom then said over his shoulder that he was going to help them carry out her seed. Which left Ivory standing on the sidewalk with RaeAnne and Mrs. Hudson.
RaeAnne immediately launched into a blow-by-blow of their time in the creek and making bread and how much fun she’d been having. Mrs. Hudson nodded, her eyes going to Ivory
as she smiled and made appropriate noises to encourage RaeAnne to keep talking.
When there was finally a break in the action, Mrs. Hudson said, “It sounds like you’ve been having a really good time. I think Ivory must love children. It’s been years since I’ve played in the creek. Ivory sounds like a lot of fun.” Her crinkly blue eyes smiled at Ivory, and Ivory couldn’t help but smile back. Mrs. Hudson had never been anything but kind to her and her mother. She couldn’t help it if her son had been a jerk when he was a teenager.
He’d definitely grown out of it.
Mrs. Hudson’s eyes shifted to Chandler as he came out hefting a fifty-pound bag of seed over his shoulder. She tapped her chin with her finger and looked at Ivory. “This coming Monday, we’re having a Memorial Day celebration at our house. I would really love it if you would come with Chandler.”
Ivory opened and closed her mouth. She needed to say no. She wanted to say no. But she couldn’t get any words to come out of her throat.
“It’s in the evening, so even if you do work, you just have to knock off a little early. We’ll probably eat around six or seven, but people start coming around five. Everyone in Cowboy Crossing is always welcome. I’m sure you’ve seen the signs, but I’ve never gotten an opportunity to invite you specifically.” Mrs. Hudson seemed to sense Ivory’s reluctance. “It sounds to me that if you don’t mind, you could bring some of your homemade rolls. They’d be really good.”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly...”
“I think we should go,” Chandler said. He’d come up beside her, and she hadn’t even noticed; she’d been so focused on trying to figure out how to decline.
“You’re certainly welcome to go. I would never make you work through that.” Ivory hoped he’d take the hint and say he’d go without her.
“I couldn’t leave without taking you. Please come. I think you’ll really have a good time.”
Sold! In the Show Me State Page 12