“Nope.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“Olivia Swift, where the hell did you go?” A shrill female voice penetrates the evening air, saving me from having to answer my sister.
“Your fan club is calling.”
“I’ll be right there,” Livvy shouts back toward the other barn. She flicks my hat and walks backward toward her party. “Cal will understand. Besides, his brothers are both with Daisy’s friends. He can’t say much.”
My phone rings, and poetically, Cal’s name appears.
“Cal, what’s up, man?”
Livvy’s mouth pops open when she hears it’s her boss on the phone. “Just tell him! He won’t stay mad forever,” she whispers, waving goodbye.
“Dude, I hate to bother you, but my wife kicked me out and insists I go down to the bar for a beer. You free, or am I gonna drink alone?”
“Be there in ten.”
“Thanks, brother.”
“Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing wrong? I get up with them in the middle of the night. I change diapers. I clean the house. All while trying to run the business and the ranch. Yet, somehow, she still wants to strangle me.”
“Cal, she just gave birth. Do you know what that does to a woman? Her hormones are all over the place, and you may get up with her in the middle of the night, but it’s her body producing the milk. She’s an exhausted first-time mom who likely feels like she isn’t doing everything right, and you’re Mr. Perfect.”
“What he said,” Laurie, tonight’s bartender and shift manager at The House, says from behind the bar as she walks away to help another customer.
Cal runs his hands through his hair, leaving it almost as much of a mess as his feelings. “I hear you. I do. But I can’tnothelp.”
“Of course not. But you need to back off when she tells you to.”
“I know, but it’s hard, man. You have no idea. All I want to do is take care of them. To protect them. Being a dad is crazy. It changes you to your very core.”
“I can only imagine,” I say, trying not to wallow in my envy.
Most in this town wouldn’t believe me, but I want a family more than anything. And I want it with my best friend's little sister. The first woman he was ever protective of.
“Dude, I hope you eventually find the one you want to settle down with. You aren’t getting any younger.”
“Thanks for that factoid, dickhead. As if I wasn’t aware my life was flying by at warp speed, and I haven’t even started it yet.” My voice has an unexpected edge to it. That will happen when you’ve just spent the evening watching the sunset on horseback withthe onehe’s talking about. Especially when you’ve been holding her in your arms and dancing in the dark.
Tonight was nearly perfect, because I was with the person I want a family with. But I’m stuck. Waiting for her to figure shit out.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just worry about you. You play a lot. I worry you’ve letthe onepass you by because you weren’t ready to settle down.”
I’m so fucking sick of this. I don’t want to play with anyone but Daisy. And I refuse to let her pass me by. But she’s taking a lifetime to get her damn head and heart in alignment. I’m tiredof keeping something so important to myself. So, I tell my secret without breaking her trust.
“If you must know, I met her years ago. I know who I’m meant to be with, but the timing hasn’t been right. I refuse to settle because I know what it’s supposed to feel like. How can I get serious with anyone else if I know the one for me is out there?”
“Well, shit. You never said anything. Who the hell is it?”
“Cal, nothing personal, but I prefer to keep her to myself. I don’t want to jinx things by putting it out into the ether.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me. You’re gonna drop a bomb like that and not tell me?”
“Listen, when it becomes a real thing, you’ll be the first to know.”
Cal stares at me like I’m a two-headed alien who’s come down from space. “How long have you been keeping this to yourself?”
