"And Faith?" I asked.
He turned his gelding around so we were facing the same way, then cocked his head for me to walk my horse with his. "The way I see it, I have a few weeks to prove to you that I can be that friend. I'll teach you to ride, saddle, and care for these things. I'll show you everything about the tractor and the equipment it runs." Then he smiled. "I might steal a few kisses, and I can promise I'll lose my shirt too much, but we've got at least two weeks to figure it out, right?"
"And if you don't get custody of Faith?" I asked.
"Then I'll pick her up every other weekend just like I used to and won't have to worry about what bed I sleep in," Luke said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself of that. "But I plan to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. Cy, I want to have my daughter with me, and if I can get full custody of her, I want to be honest. I want to tell her that I'm bisexual, andnotashamed of it. I just have to make sure that's the truth."
"I think it already is," I assured him.
Chapter Seven
We'd come home from church to find a note on the fridge from Cessily that said she and Darnell were going to town for a few hours. The silly smiley face meant that they just wanted a little alone time, and I couldn't say that I blamed them. Cess wasn't exactly a people person, and this house was anything but quiet. Darnell? He just wanted to spend as much time with her as he could.
So when Luke and Cy headed to the barn, I caught Faith and asked if she wanted to talk about school clothes. Ash caught up before we made it to the stairs and asked if he could help. Together, the three of us headed for her room, knowing the guys would be out for a while.
Faith had been given the second largest bedroom on the second floor. Only mine was bigger. We called hers the green room, but it wasn't emerald. The color on the walls was closer to sage, and I couldn't honestly remember the last time I'd been in here. Faith's bed was pushed against the far wall, just inside the door. At the foot of the bed was a long space with a plush rug in earth tones. It was enough room for a girl to dance around and be silly - or for a teen dad to walk his little girl to sleep.
I dropped down on the bed and gestured for Faith to head to the closet. "What kind of look do you want to give this year?" I asked.
"Tough," she decided.
Ash sat on the bed by my hip. "What kind of tough? Too pretty to mess with?" He gestured to me. "Crazy girl? Bodybuilder?"
Faith laughed at the last one. "I'm not a bodybuilder."
"But what are you thinking?" Ash asked her.
Faith shrugged, lifting her shoulders just to let them drop a little too hard. "I dunno. I just don't want the girls to pick on me again."
"And the boys?" I asked.
Again, she did the shrug, but it wasn't as emphatic this time. "Boys don't like me."
Ash just leaned back and smiled at her. "Did you want them to?"
"Yeah," Faith mumbled, "but Dad won't let me date."
"There's a lot of things you can do that aren't as serious as a date," I promised. "Milkshakes at the grill, so you're in public. Or horseback riding here, so Luke can feel better about it."
"Yeah?" The girl waved to her closet. "So how do I remake me into something better when all they know is that I'm the dork?"
"Ripped jeans," Ash said.
I made a noise, stopping him. "School dress codes. No distressed clothes, nothing with profane logos, and no skirts that are too short - not that Luke would let us get away with that."
He nodded, thinking about that. "Ok. We want tough." So he eased himself off the bed and headed for the clothes. "I'm thinking a little post-apocalyptic warrior queen, right?" He flashed Faith a smile before he began flipping through the hangers.
"And I can help you with makeup that morning," I offered. "Hair, too. If you want to make an impression, we can do it."
"Yeah?" The smile that kid gave me made the idea of waking up early so worth it. "Thank you! I know they'll laugh at me anyway, but Cy said he wants to know what real school is like, so I'm going to tough it out."
"He never got to go," Ash admitted. "He got kicked out, so he missed that year, and then came here. All the teen movies about high school? He always wondered if it really was like that. Said he probably would've been good at football."
Faith giggled. "Probably, but then he would've been one of the cool guys."
"What kind of guys are you into?" I asked. "The bad boys in the black clothes? The smart ones? The shy ones? The sports guys, music guys, or something else?"
"I dunno," she mumbled. "I think I like the ones that talk to me."
