T.W. winked at her. “Course, that’s my second job.”
“Not with me, it’s not.” Kinsey pressed her lips together.
“You still dating that singer, Brock?” T.W. turned his grin onto his son.
Brock had circled around to the chair by T.W.’s bedside and was lowering himself. “Yep. I’m still datingthat singer.”
Kinsey didn’t have to ask who they were talking about. Brock’s image was splashed all over the internet with the pop-singing sensation Ainsley Rose. They looked beautiful together.
Brock leaned back and tipped up his hat, revealing more of his handsome face. “Since I’m off the market, guess that means Ty’s gonna have to date Kinsey.”
Tyler shook his head at the same time Kinsey released a scoff.
“Don’t forget your bargain with me, son.” T.W. cut in before Tyler could offer a protest.
“I’m not.”
“Bargain?” Brock was watching Tyler again. “What kind of bargain?”
“That he’s gonna get married.”
Brock’s grin inched up higher. “I see.”
“I said I’d consider it.” Tyler spoke hastily. “Because Dad said he’d like to see his children married before he—before he—”
“Dies.” T.W. finished the sentence.
A gravity fell over the room.
Kinsey reached for the blood-pressure cuff on the edge of T.W.’s bed. “Now, stop the talk of dying. You’re doing just fine. It’ll be a long while before you die, which is a good thing because it’ll take Tyler a long while to find someone willing to put up with him.”
The room grew suddenly silent. Too silent.
In the process of unraveling the cuff, she froze. Oh bother. She’d spoken too boldly. It was one thing to lob half-truthful jokes with Pippa and other friends. But she shouldn’t be doing so with her patients and their families. She was out of line.
“I’m sorry…”
Before she could formulate the rest of her apology, laughter burst out behind her.
She spun to find T.W. and Brock both laughing and looking directly at Tyler, who was standing unmoving by the door.
At some point, Leah had arrived in the room and stood in the doorway. Wyatt wasn’t anywhere in sight, probably busy with Anson. Kinsey was relieved the boy hadn’t been there to hear her critical remark about his dad. She would have been mortified.
As it was, she was embarrassed enough.
“She’s good,” Brock said through a chortle. “Real good.”
“Yep.” T.W.’s voice rang out with happy breathlessness.
Tyler had to be spitting mad at all the teasing.
Kinsey chanced a peek up at him. At the twitch of his lips upward into the beginning of a smile, she eased out a breath.
He wasn’t offended. Thankfully. In fact, he seemed to be taking the teasing good-naturedly.
Maybe it was for the best that she was leaving the ranch in two days after all. She might have avoided offending Tyler this time, but with the way they seemed to rub each other the wrong way, the friction was bound to cause problems eventually.
10
