“I’ll bring one down from the house,” she said, shutting the door and turning to face me.
“Why do I need a vase?”
Mom pointed to the huge bunch of brightly colored flowers sitting on the sink. “I thought Kellie would like them,” she replied with a shrug.
Since everything had fallen apart with the premature legal-documents debacle, Mom and Kellie had been cordial toward each other, but there was a whole bunch of hurt there. Not that I could blame them, but damn, it makes it hard to navigate. Each was trying to play nice for Cassie’s sake, but I could tell it was taking a toll. I was willing to bet that the flowers were another one of Mom’s gestures.
“You ready for the weekend?” she asked.
“I think so. I’ve got all Cassie’s favorite foods, and all she wants to do is get the eggs and see the rooster.”
“Damn animal chased me out of the pen yesterday,” Mom grumbled.
“He loves her. Will sit in Cassie’s lap for hours.”
“Are you coming up to the house for dinner?” Mom’s words were heavily laced with hope, and my heart hurt. She wanted so much to get to know Cassie but pushing wouldn’t get her anywhere. At least she’d learned that.
“Maybe tomorrow night if that’s okay,” I offered.
“That’s fine. Just let me know. I’ll duck up to the house and get that vase.”
“Okay. I’m going to take a shower. I stink. Bloody Gladiator decided that Sawyer isn’t good enough to fill his feed bin this morning, so I ended up having to deal with him.”
“We’re going to need to get rid of that beast if Cassie’s going to be around. I don’t want him hurting her.”
“It’ll be fine,” I told her, trying not to imagine all of the terrible ways Cassie could get hurt out here. “I’ve told her she needs to keep her distance from him.”
Mom laughed. “Oh, son. You have so much to learn about being a parent,” Mom tossed out as she kissed my cheek and strode out the door, leaving me sitting there wondering what she meant.
After a quick shower, I changed into a clean pair of jeans and was just pulling my T-shirt over my head when the front door was thrown open with a bang, and a bundle of energy with pigtails came barreling toward me and threw her arms around my legs.
“Whoa!” I chuckled as I reached down and ruffled Cassie’s hair. “That’s some kind of hello.”
“Mom said we’re sleeping here tonight,” Cassie told me.
“You’re more than welcome,” I told her.
“But, Jake, where will I sleep?” Cassie asked, looking up at me with worry in her eyes.
Kellie stepped in the door with the ugliest-looking doll I’d ever seen tucked under her arm and a purple backpack slung over her shoulder. When she offered me a smile, I felt bulletproof. This woman could make me fly, and I never wanted to let go. But first, I had to win over her feisty daughter. Our feisty daughter.
“I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise? I love surprises,” Cassie squealed and stepped back.
Sticking my hand out, I waited for her to take it, my heart pounding. When Cassie slid her sticky hand in mine, trusting me, I knew I’d do whatever was needed to make her smile. And hopefully, this was the first step.
“You coming, Mom?” I asked, watching as Kellie set her things down on the counter.
“Right behind you.”
I’d told Kellie I wanted to clean the place up before they stayed. I just accidentally on purpose left out the part that I was going to redo the whole place and turn it into a home. Even if it was only temporary until our house on the hill was finished, another headache I’d have to deal with, but it could wait until Monday. This weekend I wanted nothing more than to spend it making my girls smile, and that started with the big reveal.
Stopping outside the freshly painted white door, I stared at Cassie’s name written in pink paint across the top. Nash wasn’t exactly Michelangelo, but he’d done his best and spelled it right, so I really couldn’t complain.
“Is this my room?” Cassie asked, her eyes bouncing from me to Kellie and back again.
“Yep.”
