Before Marc could answer, there was a click and the door to the diner opened. Aurora walked in along with two toddlers. “Daddy!” The two kids ran to Marc and he scooped them up and whirled them around while they squealed. He planted loud kisses on their cheeks before giving his wife a softer, sweeter kiss.
“You’re early, what’s up?”
“Taking the twins out to Lost Valley Ranch for the kids’ ride,” Aurora said before turning to look at me. “Wow, you look like a Thorne. Has anyone told you that?” She held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Aurora. Youwere having breakfast with Rafael the other morning and you made that smartass comment, right?”
“Yeah, that was me. Cal Pierce.” I shook her hand. I wasn’t sure how much was okay to share since I hadn’t had the chance to talk to Laura about it.
She didn’t say any more about it and managed to scoot the twins back out the door. Once she was gone, Marc leaned against the counter with his arms crossed and stared at me. “You could be a twin to Luke. What’s up with that?”
Dammit. I liked Marc already, but I didn’t want to cause problems for the Thornes if they didn’t want anyone to know about me.
I wiped my mouth with the napkin, hoping to buy myself a few seconds to come up with an answer, but then Marc held up his hand. “You know what? Forget I said anything. When the time comes, if there’s something to share, I’m sure we’ll all hear about it. Now, more coffee?”
I nodded, relieved not to have to say more. We chatted about other things until his servers arrived and the diner opened. I tried to pay for my meal, but Marc wouldn’t hear of it and threatened to ban me from the place if I pushed it. Chastised and full, I left and decided to keep walking around.
I passed the town hall and headed toward a fenced off construction area. There were signs proudly proclaiming that it was the future site for the new community center. Adjacent to it was a park that also looked new. The trees were on the smaller side and all the play equipment looked shiny and clean.
There was also a sign advertising the rodeo, complete with a picture of me astride a chestnut mare. The brim of my hat was pulled down low over my brows and I was mid-swing with my lasso. My manager must have sent them the pic. I had no idea where it’d beentaken. As much as I loved competing, the rodeos all tended to run together.
My phone rang and I was surprised to see it was my sister. “You’re calling early.” In the background, I could hear loud, angry wailing. “Uh-oh, what happened?”
She snorted into the phone. “I told Matty he couldn’t wear his dinosaur costume to school. He’s currently throwing a tantrum on the floor. I’m waiting him out.”
“I know it’s April, but how bad would it be for him to wear it?” My phone pinged, and I looked at the pic Jen texted me and started laughing. It was a picture of my nephew lying on the floor, wearing a blowup T-rex costume. “Ah.”
“Any chance you could talk to him? He listens to you.”
“Sure. Put him on.” There was a pause and then I heard my nephew sniffling into the phone. “Hey, bud. What’s going on?”
“Mommy’s being mean!” And then my nephew launched into all the ways my sister was essentially undermining all the fun in the entire world. It took some doing, but I managed to calm Matty down and then Jen was back on the line.
“Please tell me you got him to agree to change?” she said.
“If all goes well, he’ll be headed to school dressed like me. I figured boots and a hat was a better option than trying to sit in those little-kid chairs dressed as a dinosaur.”
“Thanks, Cal.” I was expecting my sister to wrap up the call at this point, but instead she said, “Talked to Mom. She told me how you got blindsided. How are you doing?”
“Still reeling.” I filled her in on lunch and then told her about the incident with Henry and the horse.
“Calvin Edmund Pierce, don't you dare tell me you told a solo mom what was and wasn't okay for her only child!”
“Well… when you put it like that, I might’ve.” I pulled the phone away from my ear while my sister spent the next couple of minutes berating me for undermining someone else’s parenting and for sticking my nose in where it didn’t belong when it came to what was best for a kid I had only just met.
“Okay, I get it.”
“So, you’ll apologize for being a horse’s ass?”
Once I agreed—and my nephew came out suitably dressed for school—we got off the phone. Since I wasn’t going to see Amy until tomorrow, it would give me enough time to figure out an apology. I hoped.
ELEVEN
AMY
Two days later, I was on my way to pick up Cal for a photoshoot. I’d arranged our meetup via text, avoiding calling him because I wasn’t sure what to say. Should I apologize? Yes, definitely, but the blowup between us hadn’t been entirely my fault. While I shouldn’t have snapped at him like that, he’d he didn’t have the right to judge my parenting choices.
Still, I knew we needed to have an amicable discussion, and I was nervous about that. Escorting him to the photoshoot was a good opportunity to be friendly.
As I cruised down Main Street on the way to Cal’s B&B, I spotted Carly’s Coffee and Treats. A good cup of coffee and a pastry might help to soften any conversation in which I tried to explain why I had, in his words, “overreacted.” I pulled into a spot and headed for the bakery door. Inside, Carly was busy behind the counter. While the two of us weren’t close, we had a friendly relationship. Plus, Carly tended to be front and center when there was gossip floating around town.
