Page 19 of Beckon

“Hi, I’m Chandler.” When he extended his hand down to her son, tears threatened. She recovered before they could fall. He didn’t baby talk her son, although Chester had the unmistakable diction of a child that was hard not to imitate. Nor did he ruffle his hair or any of the other million things people tended to do when meeting children. Nope, the man she’d met as a rude drunken fare treated her young son like a human, not just a miniature person.

It was little things rather than grand gestures that grew fondness for other people, and Chandler had just done thegrandestofsmallgestures in her opinion.

To Tamitha, the way people responded to children was one of the biggest insights into who they were as a person. Not the person they wanted to be or pretended to be, but something at their core.

Especially how they treated kids when they wanted to get in good with their parents. She witnessed no guile with the way Chandler interacted with her son. If he wanted to get in good with her, at least he wasn’t using her child to do so and that took him up at least four notches on the attract-o-meter.

She may or may not have been daydreaming about the man standing in her doorway when his words not only popped the imaginary bubble above her head but embarrassed her to no end.

“That’s a pretty spiffy jacket you got there, Chester. I used to have one just like it.”

His eyes locked on hers. If it wasn’t for the amusement she saw in them, she would’ve run upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom until he left.

Before she could explain, Chester decided to tell all.

“I found it in the closet. Mom said I can keep it. It smells like daddies so I’m not going to let her wash it.”

“Chester, let’s go play a game. Tell your mother and Chandler bye.” Tami’s mom scooped Chester up before he could spill any other inappropriate information. Tami managed to kiss his cheek over her mother’s shoulder before they disappeared into the living room.

“I can explain, I think.” Tami turned back to her date, who still had a look of amusement dancing in his eyes. But it was his smirk that robbed her words.

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear it. Shall we?”

He dropped his hand to the small of her back as she passed and led her to the car.

Once again, she felt flutters she hadn’t in a very long time.

While a part of her was thrilled to know that side of her hadn’t died with Reese. Another part was terrified it was alive and raring to go.

Once he closed her door, she noticed him typing furiously on his phone as he meandered to the driver’s side of the car. She watched as he brought the phone to his ear and leaned down to smile at her through the driver’s side window before returning to his full height.

She felt a blush creep across her cheeks. Tami hated blushing. She’d always felt it made her look like a child because of her freckles. Chandler took his sweet time getting in, which gave her even more of a chance to obsess about explaining the jacket. But on the bright side, her blush faded.

They backed out of the drive and were headed down the road when the silence got to her.

“I’m sure you’re curious about the jacket.” It took every ounce of restraint she had not to just launch into a long-winded explanation, but she managed. She wanted to get a feel where he was at first and if he was angry. She’d practically stolen his jacket, given it to her child, and that said child told him he smelled like his dad. Well, not his dad, but Chandler didn’t know that. If that was her first thought when Chester had said it to her, then surely it was Chandler’s too.

“I am. Just as I’m sure you’re curious about where we’re going?”

She gasped when he pulled her from her head. Not at his words, although they were gasp worthy, but at the fact she was in her head and not babbling like an idiot.

“Um, yes, I am. You said dress for the adventure I wanted, soooo…” her words trailed off.

“That I did, and by the looks of it, I’d say you are ready to saddle up the horses and hit the old saloon? Well, I think we can manage that. Some of it anyway.”

Wait, what?

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Did you think I wasn’t a man of my word?” Chandler placed one hand over his chest and turned toward her at the red light. “Why, madam, you wound me.”

His mock pain caused her to laugh and when she did, she snorted. Which caused Chandler to laugh. “Dear Lord, if you love me at all, you’ll open up the earth and let me slip through the crack.” She thought she hadn’t mumbled, but apparently not.

“Don’t say that. You haven’t experienced my awkward dinner conversation yet. At least wait for that. Then you can bargain with a higher power to disappear.”

Tami was a nervous Nellie. Always had been, but Chandler put her at ease. His laid-back manner was contagious.

They turned down the road toward The Ranch House as her mother suspected.

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