“It’s a little overwhelming but it’s also amazing.Two days ago, we didn’t really have a connection at all, and now this little soul is transforming our lives.”
“No connection besides dysfunction, I guess,” he said, though there was a note in his voice that she couldn’t quite decode.
They brought their purchases back to the house, and it felt good to put everything away.They still had to order certain things.There was just a plain dark cherry dresser in the room for now, but some cute, baby-appropriate furniture was on the way—pieces in brighter colors, that were a little bit more whimsical, and a rocking chair.
Marjorie fussed for a while, clearly filled with opinions about how strenuous the day had been.
And Ellie couldn’t blame her.She spent some time getting the baby settled for a nap with their brand-new baby monitor set out so that she could take it down the stairs and not lose touch with her tiny charge.
By the time she went into the kitchen, Clark was cooking.
“Are you making dinner?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I didn’t realize that you … cooked.”
“Funny thing.I eat.So it makes a lot of sense for me to have that skill.”
“Sure,” she said.“But you’re a rodeo cowboy who also claims to have limitless funds.I guess I thought that maybe you … I dunno, didn’t cook for yourself.”
“I’m also a control freak,” he said.He looked at her, and she didn’t think she was imagining that his grin was a little bit wicked.She curled her fingers into fists and ignored her body’s response.Ignored the heat that engulfed her.
Yes.Clark Porter was hot.He always had been.
What he hadn’t always been was her coparent.
During the last fifteen years, he would have been a bad decision for any number of reasons.But now he was much more than a potential bad decision.Now he was off-limits because the stakes were way too high.
Also, she was Ellie Parks.
And the thing about that was … she was boring.In highschool, Clark had always dated flashy girls.She had no idea what kind of women he’d been dating since then, but he was an incredibly hot, wildly successful rodeo cowboy, and that implied a few different things.
He probably had a lot more experience than she, and a lot more skill.
Also, she had no business thinking about it.
“I realize that we know each other superficially.But we don’t know much about each other,” she said.His retirement and the revelation about his wealth had really driven that point home.
“True,” he said.“You know me just well enough to yell at me in parking lots.”
She winced.“I’m sorry about that.”
The room smelled of rosemary, garlic, and butter.And when he placed the steaks in the cast-iron pan, searing them, her stomach growled.
He opened the oven, placed the skillet inside, then leaned against the counter, turning to face her.“I left here, got into the rodeo, lucked into a lot of success there.”
“Were you ever tempted to start using?Like your parents.Like Ty.”
“No, because it’s a dead end.I could see it then, just like I see it now.I always figured that I couldn’t let my parents’ behavior determine how far I was going to get in life.Bottom line, I just really didn’t want to be like them.I thought I could do better, and so I did better.The end.”
“It’s not that simple, though, is it?You have to have drive and direction and confidence to succeed.”
Clark shrugged.“Ty and I are different.We always have been.He was always a risk-taker.And I know that people would look at what I do in the rodeo and assume the same about me.But it’s not the same.I don’t have a death wish.I care about my life.I care about what happens to me.I always had the sense that Ty never liked himself.That if he drove too fast and hit a tree, he would die with an adrenaline rush and that would be good enough for him.I never wanted to die.I also didn’t want to live the way they do.I saw the rodeo as a way out.I didn’t do it because I needed the thrill, but it was something I was good at.I started working at one of the ranches on the outskirts of town when I was … fourteen, I guess, and I did that all the way through school.I learned how to be a cowboy.I think that’s the thing.I had something I cared about.I had an identity.I don’t think Ty had that.Which meant he was happy to surrender himself to drugs and hope they’d make him into somebody.But that was just never me.It was never what I wanted.”
“That’s incredible,” she said.And she meant it.“I’d love to have you come and talk to the kids in my class.”
“Me?”
