Wilder’s a good partner, but there were times he’d had one foot out the door. He didn’t live and breathe it like Dad and I did.
But he sure proved me wrong this summer when he held the fort on his own.
Technically, he hadsomehelp—from Rose. His best friend’s sister from New York who agreed to lend a hand for the summer while working through personal demons of her own.
Didn’t take those two long to fall head over boots for each other.
Another reason I should go and finish that house. Rose moved in with Wilder at the end of the summer. And now that Cole and Maya are staying in Florida until her next treatment, I’ve got Ellie living with me full-time.
She knows about the new house. I’ve taken her over there a few times. Mostly showing her the outside. The views, the new barn I built to house my horses. The upstairs wasn’t quite ready for a child to walk around safely, but she got a good enough peek at the living space.
Now Ellie slides back into the room Jerry Maguire-style and I laugh, crouching down again to her height. “How ’bout I find you something nice for your new room at the house?”
She frowns and my world stops for a moment. The nagging fear she might be afraid to live alone with me—someone who’s still a stranger in many ways—surfaces.
There’s no “Rose” in our new house. A friendly, quirky female to be a buffer when I have no idea what I’m doing. To right my wrongs when Ellie’s walking around talking all nasally and I don’t think to get a tissue and make her blow.
She doesn’t answer—in fact, disappointment settles into her features.
“You think you might be OK with that? Living in that big ol’ house with me? We can still come have dinner with Aunt Rose and Uncle Wild some nights. Or .?.?. I can make some grilled cheeses, and it could just be you and me.”
She considers it for a moment. “OK, but I don’t want to wait that long. So if you get me something, I can just put it in my room here.”
I don’t know what’s the bigger gut punch. My daughter being afraid to live with me in that house—or her losing faith that I’d ever finish it.
I smooth the hair on her head. “It’s almost there, I promise.”
She nods again, but even for a seven-year-old, there’s doubt in her eyes.
I push a stray curl away from her face. “Want me to put this up for you?”
She pulls the scrunchie off her wrist, flings it to me and flips around. “Not too tight.”
“OK.” I straighten as I gather the loose curls before wrapping the bunch into a knot. “How’s that?”
She flicks her eyes upward. “This won’t survive monkeys on the bed.”
I chuckle and pull her toward me again. “Well, if you get the urge, Rose is right downstairs to fix it for you.”
“Thanks, Dallas.”
I swallow hard. “You bet, kid.”
“There they are,” Wesley calls out as Ellie and I make our way down for breakfast.
A longtime friend of Wilder’s and the ranch’s head chef, Wes is practically part of the family. He’s also Rose’s brother. The same one who twisted her arm into helping Wilder out this summer during my absence.
I can’t help but wonder how much he regrets that decision now, seeing his best friend and kid sister in a romcom with no off button.
“What you got cookin’?” I ask, noticing Ellie still holding my hand like I’m a flight risk.
I want nothing more than to assure her I’m not going anywhere. Not for long anyway. But I’m pretty certain her mother and grandparents thought they’d never have to leave her either.
I squeeze her hand right back.
“Rose and I made pancakes theEvansway,” he says, giving Ellie a wink and bumping hips with his sister.
Rose waves her spatula around. “Ellie, want to help me flip? Wes thinks a first-grader could do better than I can.”
