Page 17 of Sweet Surprise

A few things rushed through her mind. The first, how she desperately wished she’d said anything else so he would still be holding her hand. The other, an unexpected longing to have lived in this small town and seen what Carson Sweet was like back in high school. The small part of her brain shouting at her to use common sense, be practical, behave like an adult, got shoved aside by the longing to hold his hand again. Before she could talk herself out of it, she’d snatched his wrist from his pocket and laced her fingers with his. “Maybe a little teasing won’t hurt.”

The smile that bloomed across his face made her stomach flutter as if invaded by a flock of trapped butterflies. Next thing she knew, they’d practically skipped to the truck and she had no choice but to let go if she was going to climb in and let him drive them back to the ranch.

“I’m sorry.” He looked at her as he snapped his seat belt in place.

“For what?”

“For not thinking.”

“Excuse me?” She wasn’t following his train of thought at all. That realization made her a little sad. Once upon a time she almost always knew what he was thinking. Funny how she never gave that little thing between them any thought. She never knew what Todd was thinking. Not when they were dating, not when they were married, and even less since the divorce. She should have realized just how special what they had was. Too bad that was so long ago. “I’m not following?”

“Well,” he chuckled softly before sighing, “not only did my aunt see us, but so did half the gossips in town.”

“You really have town gossips?”

He blinked at her a moment before returning his gaze to the street and pulling out of the parking space. “We most definitely have town gossips. Most likely, I suspect they were town criers in a previous lifetime. Not only will they tell all their friends and neighbors that they saw me holding hands with a woman, they’ll tell their enemies too. There won’t be a soul in Honeysuckle who hasn’t heard about us by tomorrow morning.”

“Got it.” Which brought them full circle to what the heck were they going to do about the ranch, his dilemma, and the son they shared?

Why did life have to be so hard? As a kid he could hardly wait to grow up and be an adult. To get his license, finish high school, be legal to vote, to drink, and to play with the big boys in the real estate world. Now, not the for the first time, he acknowledged that adulting isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

“Let’s set the Sweet family problems aside.”

“Okay,” she agreed.

“First thing I need to understand, Todd has raised Mason for nine years. They must have a bond of some kind.”

Jess merely rolled her eyes. “Todd never bonded with Mason. He didn’t like babies, wasn’t much happier about a toddler, and remained indifferent as Mason grew.”

“You did mention something about that, but I thought… I don’t know.” If he’d found so much delightful about a little boy he’d known less than twenty-four hours, he had a hard time believing that any man could spend nine years with the boy and not feel something. “He is Mason’s legal father. You were married when he was born. That has to come into play.”

She shook her head again. “He’s already signed away all his parental rights. Basically, he and his mother both told me they wanted nothing to do with another man’s… er.” She cleared her throat. “Son.”

From the way spitting those words out had her squirming in her seat, something told him that the jerk hadn’t been quite so polite about stepping aside. “So, how does Mason feel? Even if the guy would never win a father of the year award, Mason must miss him.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think?”

One shoulder hefted up in a lazy shrug. “Deep down he might, but I’m not seeing any signs. Mason doesn’t ask where his father is, doesn’t ask what he’s doing, doesn’t ask to see Todd. Before I knew the truth, I told him his daddy was very sick, wasn’t himself anymore, and would be going to live in heaven soon.”

“How’d he take it then?”

“Fine. Just said maybe Todd might be happier if he were in heaven.”

“How old is this kid?” Carson couldn’t resist the snarky retort. “Sorry. He seems wiser than his years.”

“Always has been. I remember when he was about three years old, Todd had had a little too much to drink and was grumbling and ranting about leaving a door open and the cost of electricity and he didn’t own an electric company, etc etc. Mason looked up at me from the kitchen table where he was coloring and softly told me;Daddy’s having a hard day.As if that would help me understand.”

So much impressed him about Mason, despite his tender years, but now, now Carson was blown away. “He’s an amazing boy.”

That brought a wide grin to Jess’s face. “I think so.”

“All right. Then what we need to work out is what lies ahead. I’ve asked it before, but I’ll ask again. Do you think you could be happy living in a small town? Because that’s the easiest way for me to be a part of Mason’s every day life.”

“I don’t honestly know. I’m a city girl. If I run out of milk, or eggs, I can get to any number of grocery stores in less than five minutes. If I’m in the mood to shop for something to cheer me up, there are three major malls within a few minutes drive. Same for movies, take your pick which theater you want to go to. I’ve never lived in a town where gossip can spread like wildfire.”

He knew exactly what she was talking about. The hustle and bustle of the bigger cities had both drawn him in, giving him a reason to leave home, and in time, given him a reason to move back to the simpler way of life.

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