“Yes, but most of them were yours—the ones that are problematic, all yours.” He winked at Cam. “Those wild beasts are spoiled rotten, you know that, right?”
Cam beamed at him. “I know.”
“The horses look great by the way. They’re happy. Warm. Fed. All is well.”
“And Sarah wasn’t in there?” Cam teased.
“No. No, Sarah was not in there.” Mitch chuckled. “That hurt your feelings, didn’t it?”
“Actually, no. I think she’s going to be our horse girl. I think Copper Penny’s going to be great for her. I love having another cowboy to commiserate with over hooves and saddles.”
Mitch nodded. “Yeah, Bekka doesn’t care about the animals, more than she wants them to be happy and loved, but she doesn’t show any interest in being out there with them. And who knows about Rachel? She’s gonna be who she’s gonna be. She’s still little.”
Cam poured them both a cup of coffee and they wandered to the front room so Mitch could start a fire.
“I don’t know. I knew I was gonna be a cowboy when I was six.”
“Yeah?” Not him. He wasn’t that…sure about anything. “I didn’t think I was gonna own a roofing company, and Iabsolutely didn’t think I would be thinking about becoming a contractor.”
Cam’s eyes rolled like thrown dice. “I didn’t want to be anything else.”
“I wanted to be a pro baseball player.”
Cam’s eyes went wide, and he grinned. “I didn’t know that about you.”
“True story.”
“You should go out and play baseball, man. One of those leagues. I would take the girls out to watch you.”
“Can you imagine the teasing from them?” Mitch wasn’t sure about that. He didn’t want to look like a dipshit in front of his daughters.
“Shit, there’s enough of us to make a team all our own. We could all be terrible together. The Halley-Gonzales-Wright team.”
“Don’t forget Bray. Mark loves baseball.”
Cam’s eyes went wide. “Right. Damn. We’ll have to get Bekka to come up with a name. We’ll get shirts.”
Lord save him, he’d been integrated. “I’m in.”
“Good.” Cam held his gaze. “I am too. This isn’t a game. I’m all in, and?—”
“Daddy! Daddy Cam!” Rachel stood there, her dark eyes huge. “Santa came.”
“Of course he came. You’ve been a good girl all year.” He held his hands open to her, and she ran to him, cuddling in before lifting her face for a kiss from Cam.
“Uh-huh, but Bekka said Santa might be…busy.”
His girl stressed too much. “Well, she didn’t have anything to worry about, did she?”
“No. I hafta go tell her and Sarah!” Rachel ran off, and he knew it was about to be busy time in their house.
“Want me to go get Mark?” Cam asked him.
“No, I want a kiss, first. You and me are going to have a wild morning. I need a second.” Mitch needed a connection.
Cam muscled right up against him again, that arm in the sling much more mobile now. He got the kiss he needed, Cam taking the lead, nipping at his lower lip.
“When we can, I want to ride you like a prized pony, Mr. Halley,” he whispered.
