Page 111 of Roping Her In

She hadn’t wanted to text or call him while Momma was there, though she’d told her and Daddy what was going on. They had a date tomorrow night at the speakeasy, where he’d finally been able to get a reservation. She could talk to him then.

Right now, she wanted to enjoy her time with her friends, because this group of women felt like another sanctuary for her, and if she and Jake couldn’t figure out how to move forward, Hailey knew she would need to rely on all of them as she tried to figure out how to live with a broken heart.

41

The door’s open, Jake sent to his momma. He’d had to cancel his date with Hailey last night at the speakeasy, and the mere thought of it worsened his mood all over again. They were booked out at least three weeks, which meant he wouldn’t be able to take her there again until next month.

But he’d caught little Gavin’s cold, and Friday had been bad. His head still pounded, and his sinuses felt like someone had stuffed a balloon inside and kept pumping it bigger and bigger and bigger. He’d stayed in bed all day on Saturday as well, medicating himself and sleeping, and he’d missed church this morning, which had alerted his parents.

A knock sounded on the door, and then Momma simply entered. She stopped in the doorway, which further irritated Jake, and blinked a couple of times. “It’s bad, Garth.” A resigned expression fitted itself on her face, and she entered the cabin with Daddy right behind her.

He at least had the good sense to close the door quickly, so Jake wouldn’t be air conditioning the entire ranch. Now that he’d quit his job and had no prospects of a new one, he needed to watch his pennies. Not really, as he’d been single for a long time and practicing veterinary medicine for eight years.

He hadn’t paid for housing here at the ranch, and his only expenses came in the form of utilities and food. He owned his truck, and he supposed since he’d started dating Hailey that his gas bill had definitely increased.

“You look miserable.” Momma moved to the couch near his nest and knelt down. She pushed his hair back off his forehead, and while Jake would be thirty-five years old soon, it sure felt nice to have his mother fuss over him.

Daddy slid something onto the counter, and Jake hoped it was leftovers or something equally delicious to eat. He’d been consuming nothing but microwavable meals and cold cereal, and he really wanted something more than that. The problem was he didn’t have much more strength to actually cook more than pressing a button, though he’d started feeling better today.

He smiled at his mother. “What did you bring for lunch?”

Momma shook her head, her jaw tightening as she got to her feet and perched on the love seat across from him. “Oh, we didn’t bring lunch, baby.”

Jake pushed himself up a little more, which helped his breathing. “You didn’t bring lunch?”

“It’s peach delight,” Daddy said, as he crowded onto the sofa with Momma. “Leftover from the church potluck today.”

They’d gone to the potluck and couldn’t make up a plate for him, wrap it in foil, and bring it with them?

Jake gaped at his parents, and while he’d swallowed quite a bit of cold medication, he was pretty sure he’d asked them to bring him something to eat.

“I don’t—” He cut off, and his eyes flew to the front door as it opened again.

This time, Carson ducked inside, and Jake’s pulse pounded through his body as if he’d just completed a marathon.

“Carson said he’d bring you something,” Momma said, and his brother held up a pale blue box that told Jake exactly what was inside: one of the town’s famous cinnamon rolls.

His mouth watered, but he also wanted real food, and he didn’t understand what was going on.

“Carson said he had something he wanted to talk to us about,” Daddy said. “And since you’d said the same thing, we thought we’d have a little family meeting out here.”

Jake’s eyebrows went up, and he scooted further down on the couch to leave room for his brother on the other end. Carson handed him the cinnamon roll over the back of the couch as he passed by.

“Thank you,” Jake said as sincerely as he could. “Can you grab me a fork?”

Carson detoured into the kitchen to do that, and once Jake had that and Carson had settled onto the couch, silence draped through the living room.

Jake opened the box and forked off a large bite of cinnamon roll. With it hovering just outside his mouth, he said, “I’m not going first. I’m starving. Carson, you talk while I eat.”

His brother let out a long sigh and rolled his head back and forth a couple of times before he leveled his gaze at their mother. “I’ve been dating Denise Walker.” He cleared his throat and clasped his hands together. “We started talking online, actually, before she came here for the Valentine’s dance, but she’s a hospital administrator in Dallas, which, as I’m sure you can imagine, is a pretty good job.”

“I’d say so,” Daddy said, giving nothing away.

Momma sat there blinking rapidly, and not even the siren’s call of cream cheese frosting and cinnamon-sugar butter could distract Jake from whatever Carson might say next.

“Yeah, so I’ve gone to Dallas a couple of times since then.”

“You’ve gone to Dallas?” Momma squeaked, her eyebrows flying toward her hairline.