Faith in the Cowboy (Taming the Cowboy) (13 page)

“Do you like dogs?” Noah asked. “I have a dog, but Mom doesn’t let him come in while we’re eating.”

“I don’t have a dog,” Taylor said. “My stepdad said no.”

“What’s a stepdad?” Noah asked.

“It’s when your dad goes away and you get a new dad.”

Noah’s eyes widened and filed with tears.

“Oh, shit,” Liam said when the kid looked at him. “I’m not going anywhere, Noah. Sometimes moms and dads don’t know how to be in love anymore. They live in different houses and sometimes fall in love with someone else.”

Noah only looked more confused, and Grace reached over to hug him against her.

Liam was looking at West, but West didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He sent a panicked glance to Teresa.

“Tell Taylor your puppy’s name,” she urged Noah, and Noah brightened again, setting off on a tangent about Boomer and his antics.

West smiled at Teresa, who smiled back. But Taylor returned to his sullen mood.

“I’m sorry for Taylor’s behavior,” West said to Liam and Grace, quietly, before he and Taylor headed out. “We’ll go eat in town tomorrow night.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Grace said. “Tomorrow will be better, after he gets some sleep, after he gets used to being around you.”

“I don’t know how to deal with his anger,” West said, defeated.

Grace put her hand on his arm. “With love.”

*****

West slept like shit. He shouldn’t have brought Taylor here. He should have gone to see him in Houston, let the kid have something familiar as they got to know each other again. West could have stayed in a hotel, the kid could have slept in his own bed. West would have been miserable, but Taylor would have been happier. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe he could take the kid back, spend the rest of the week in Houston.

He’d been selfish, wanting Teresa to be part of it, wanting, like Taylor had accused, her to see him be a good father. Only being a good father was damn near impossible when he didn’t know how to talk to his kid.

He was so tempted to call his ex, just for a clue, but didn’t want to be weak, not to her. But damn, he was so close to tears every time Taylor dissed him, it wasn’t funny.

He heard his son shifting on the bed in the next room, and wondered what was going through his head, if he was just as miserable. Finally deciding he was, he crab-walked off the end of the bed and into the hall.

“You awake, buddy?”

A sharply indrawn breath, then, “Yeah.”

West opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk. “Chocolate milk, or straight up?”

The boy sat up in the shadows. “It’s two o’clock in the morning.”

“You’re on vacation, right?”

“I guess.” Taylor slid off the edge of the bed and stood beside West as he dumped chocolate syrup into two glasses.

“I was thinking maybe tomorrow we can see if there are any skateparks nearby.”

Taylor perked up for a moment, then slumped. “I didn’t bring my gear.”

“Yeah? Other than a board, what gear do you need?”

“Mom makes me wear pads and a helmet.”

West gave him a sideways look at the tough tone. “She does, huh? Well, we wouldn’t want to make her mad and not use those.”

“Some skateparks rent them.” Hope tightened Taylor’s voice.

“Good to know. We’ll see if any around here rent equipment. Think I might try?”

Taylor laughed outright. “No! You’re too old.” Before West could take offense, the boy bounced besides him. “Do you have cookies?”

“I do, but we have to eat on your bed.”

Taylor slid him a look.

“What? It’s my table.”

“We could eat on
your
bed.”

“We could,” West accepted, his heart growing light at the idea of a midnight snack with his son. “Cookies are in the pantry.” He stirred up one glass. “Taste this and see if it’s chocolate enough for you.”

Taylor tasted it, then handed it back for more syrup. West grinned and complied, adding more syrup until the glass was almost too full to stir the milk. He stirred it over the sink, then wiped the sides of the glass with a paper towel before heading down the hall back to the bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed while Taylor climbed all the way up by the pillows and tore into the cookies.

“Can we watch TV?” he asked as West passed him the glass of milk and filched some cookies out of the package.

“I don’t know what’s on this time of night.”

Taylor grabbed the remote from the bedside table and clicked the small TV on. West rarely used the thing, so wasn’t even sure it worked, but yep, there was an infomercial for some kind of . He let Taylor scroll through until he found an old Bruce Willis movie. West edged back on the bed so they both sat against the pillows and ate and drank to the accompaniment of squealing tires, bullets and explosions.

The next thing West knew, Taylor had put his glass on the bedside table, curled up on his side, and was snoring softly. West turned down the television and drew a blanket over the boy.

His boy. His son. How had he let things get so bad between them? He had to fix it, had to make more of an effort, no matter how he felt when he encountered his ex. He’d never thought looking at his son sleeping beside him would give him such peace.

He set his own glass on the bedside table and slid down the bed, watching Taylor until he fell asleep himself.

*****

West looked up from the rail he was holding while Taylor hammered the base in place. Boomer bounded up the steps to circle around first Liam, then Taylor, sticking a wet nose between the boy’s arm and body, and earning a laughed, “Gross.” The kid was in a good mood since the trip to the skatepark earlier, and why shouldn’t he be? He had new skateboard, a new helmet and pads, and they’d spent hours at the park. West had to admit, the kid was pretty impressive as he rode up and down those ramps. West had stood on top of one of the decks and decided he didn’t have the balls. But Taylor had dropped in without any fear.

No wonder Holly thought the kid was just like him.

A motion near the back door caught his attention. Teresa fairly vibrated in the doorway, and motioned for him to come to her. He’d never seen her so happy.

Ensuring Taylor had secured the post before he released it, West walked over to her. He felt weird touching her in front of his son, but even weirder not touching her. He cupped her hip in his hand and steered her into the house so he could kiss her without Taylor watching.

Even though they hadn’t touched in more than a day, she couldn’t hold still. She put her hands on his chest and pushed him back. The sparkle in her eyes damn near blinded him.

“Layla said I could take Emily tomorrow. I asked if I could, so Taylor would have someone at least close to his age, you know, and I thought we could take them to the aquarium or something.”

He curved his hand around her cheek, wanting to see that joy on her face for the rest of his life.

“Good. That’s good. Are you sure you want to spend your time with her with us? Not just the two of you?”

She tipped her chin down, some of the light dimming. “I think it’s best for her if we have someone else along.”

He knew that feeling too well, hated that she was experiencing the same fear of not having her child’s love. “That wasn’t the point of you being able to get unsupervised visitation.”

“I know, but for this first time, at least.”

He edged a little closer. “She’s not going to ask us if we’re sleeping together, is she?”

Teresa gave a nervous laugh. “I don’t think so. Even if she did, she doesn’t know what it is.”

He looked over his shoulder at his son, who was playing with Boomer. “Taylor and I may have found some common ground last night.”

“What’s that?”

“Action movies in the middle of the night. He fell asleep in my bed.”

“Yeah?” Her eyes were warm as they met his. “That’s good.”

“We had a few power struggles today, but yeah, it’s good. I think heading out with you and Emily will give him something to look forward to tomorrow.”

“Dad. Are we going to go riding?”

Taylor being so close made West jump guiltily, which made Teresa smile. West dropped his hand from her cheek and turned to his son.

“Sure. Let’s get a couple more posts up, then we’ll go.”

*****

Teresa opened and closed her hands on the steering wheel as she turned onto Layla’s street. She still couldn’t believe the woman had agreed to this, and without argument, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She’d left school early so she could be here right when Emily got home, and then she’d take her to the aquarium, where they’d meet up with West and Taylor.

She bounced the keys in her hand, savoring the bite of metal striking her fingers as she walked up to the house.

“Is Emily ready?” she asked when Layla opened the door. For a moment, she feared the older woman would turn her away, that it had all been an elaborate joke to destroy her.

But no, Layla stepped back, silently inviting Teresa inside. Emily sat on the edge of the couch, her backpack beside her on the floor.

“Ready to go?” Teresa asked, hoping her nerves didn’t make her voice shake.

Emily nodded silently and stood.

“Have her back by seven so she can do her homework,” Layla said.

Teresa’s heart sank a little. She’d known she’d have a timeline, known it was a school night, but seven o’clock wasn’t that far away. Barely time for a quick tour of the aquarium and dinner. But she nodded, determined to follow the rules to the letter so she could do this again.

She reached a hand to Emily, who ignored it and walked past her to the car.

“You need to sit in the back seat,” Teresa corrected when Emily reached for the passenger side door.

“Mom, I’m seven.”

“And you don’t have to have a booster seat anymore, but you’re too small to sit in the passenger seat. If something happened and the airbags deployed, you could get really hurt.”

“Grandma lets me sit in the front.”

Teresa’s stomach tightened. How many times would she hear that argument today? And how could she respond to it without alienating her daughter? “I guess Grandma is not as big of a worrier as I am.”

Emily sighed and climbed into the back seat. Teresa’s shoulders eased a little. She hoped all the arguments would be as easy, knew they wouldn’t be.

“How’s school?” she asked once they were on the road. “I can’t believe your teacher is giving homework so close to the break.”

“We still have a spelling test. I’m not a good speller.”

“No?” Teresa looked at her daughter in the rearview mirror. “What gives you trouble?” She was in second grade, after all. How hard could the spelling words be?

“I get confused when to put ‘sh’ and when to put ‘ch.’ They sound the same to me.”

“I wish you’d brought your spelling words, and we could go over them.” A ridiculous excitement bubbled in her. This was such a normal conversation, the kind most mothers took for granted, or even resented. Teresa didn’t think she’d ever take anything with her daughter for granted again. At least, she hoped she wouldn’t. “Do you remember any of the words?”

So on the drive to the aquarium, they practiced spelling words, and for a moment, life was normal. Perfect.

“We’re meeting my friend West and his son when we get to the aquarium,” she said once they’d exhausted that conversation. “They’re visiting from Texas.”

“Your friend?” Emily’s tone was immediately suspicious.

“Yes, my friend.”

“How do you know someone from Texas?”

“You know how I live with Grace and Liam? He’s a friend of Liam’s.”

“So Liam’s friend, not yours.”

“No, mine, too. And his son is visiting him. We thought since West is taking Taylor to the aquarium, I’d see if Layla would let me bring you, too. We’ll have fun.”

She pulled into the parking lot of the hotel where the aquarium was housed, aware Emily’s mood had shifted, but unable—unwilling—to reassure her further. She was going to have fun today, damn it. She was going to spend it with her favorite people.

Her heart tripped when she caught sight of West in the lobby outside the entrance of the aquarium. God, he made her happy, in a way she never thought she could be again. As they approached  she saw West had his hands full. In addition to Taylor, he’d brought Noah, and was clearly not accustomed to the energy of one so young. He looked up with relief when she saw him. She swung Noah into her arms and looked up at West.

“What possessed you?”

He lifted a shoulder. “He wanted to come. Liam said it was okay. I think I know why.”

She laughed and swung the little man on her hip. “Emily, this is my friend West, his son Taylor, and this is Noah. Gentlemen, my daughter Emily.”

The boys were succinct with their greetings, as expected. Noah was still emulating whatever Taylor did. But West took Emily’s hand and bowed over it like a prince.

“As pretty as your mom,” he said, which charmed Teresa, but she couldn’t be sure about Emily.

He straightened and inclined his head toward the ticket booth.

Teresa took her daughter’s hand as they entered the aquarium. West took Noah from her and tucked his hand firmly in his so he wouldn’t run off.

The boys were fascinated with the dinosaur-like Komodo dragon, which creeped Emily out a little, especially when Taylor started telling the younger kids about a documentary he saw on Komodo dragons, and how the bacteria in their saliva was what killed an animal after days. Emily and Noah squealed in disgust, which gratified Taylor.

The giant groupers fascinated Emily, and she stood before the display mesmerized, before West led them into an acrylic tube with water surrounding them on all sides. Teresa stopped, her hand on Emily’s shoulder as she stared. All around them swam sharks and stingrays, and all kinds of other fish. She couldn’t take it all in. She looked ahead to see West with the boys in the center of the tube, staring up and around. Her heart did a thrub of longing, of love, and she tightened her hand around Emily’s. How wonderful would this be to experience all the time, for this to be a norm instead of an exception?