Page 107 of Risking it for the Cowboy

“You’re my first date.” He brushed back a curled tendril framing Daisy’s face. “And you sure do look pretty, wing girl.” He pushed to standing. “Let me give your momma something right quick before we hit the road.”

He handed Charlie the plant. She knew the leaf type perfectly and fingered them one at a time, lost for words. No man had ever brought her flowers.

“Du’nt look like much right now, but it’ll bloom when it’s ready,” he said.

She opened the card wedged into the soil in plain type face. I got you. Trouble.

His jaw was tight as she took in his meaningful stare. He’d been worried about the hearing today. She’d heard the relief in his voice when she’d called him from court.

“Leucanthemum of some sort,” she said, still feeling the leaves, tamping down the emotion and fingering the plant.

“The lady said Shasta daisies,” he replied. “And maybe I’m hopin’ there’s room in my girl’s heart for me to be one of her favorites, too.”

She was nodding as she opened her arms and wrapped them around his neck, as his arms came around her waist, as she pressed her cheek into his scent and the soft weave of his black sport coat.

“Thank you for being so wonderful,” she breathed against him, trying and failing to swallow the lump in her throat. “Thanks for letting me play with your band. Thank you for being someone we can trust.”

Silence.

As easily as he’d sagged into her, his posture went rigid.

Then his throat bobbed, and when he didn’t say anything, she cleared her throat and pulled away. “Pictures. Over here, by the lilacs.”

Thad took Daisy’s hand, a strange tick to his jaw, and led her across the porch, the boards creaking, the potted plants bowing down the old planks. She held up her phone. Snapped pictures of them standing hand in hand, of Daisy leaning into his side and his arm around her shoulder.

“Go grab that new book I got you, Daze,” he said, “before we go.”

“What?” Daisy’s face fell. “The one you said your grandma made for you about that song?”

“Yup. And the loveliest of them all, was the unicorn…” That baritone resonated from his chest softly.

What book had his grandma made?

“You’re gonna make me read on the way to the dance?”

He grinned at her. “Mm-hm.”

“Really?” Daisy gasped, disbelief in her voice.

“Yup. Just go grab it for me.”

Daisy stared up at him in disbelief.

He tilted his head toward the front door, unwavering. “Trust me, girlie. I got a surprise for you.”

“You’re as bad as my momma,” the girl muttered as warily, she went back into the house.

Charlie laughed. “Her book? On her date night? Even I’m not that mean.”

Thad chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her hips pinned to his, and planted his lips down to hers. “I think she’ll have fun with what I got. My grams made the book when I was little. My favorite song as a kid. She knew I couldn’t read well, so she made a picture book with big, fat words, and I got a recording of her singing it to play while we drive.”

His beloved grandma, who’d taken a boy struggling to read under her wing to help him. And he was sharing these traditions with Daisy and offering her a place in that legacy.

He kissed her.

“You gonna be okay here alone?” he whispered, that darkness creeping into this newfound light.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve got lots of work to do and still need to do my evening data check on the plants out back.”