Page 26 of A Rancher's Heart
Next to him, Tamara chuckled. “What would you have done if I hadn’t known how to cook? You never asked.”
“The fact he’s on his third helping means he knows how lucky he is,” Dustin teased, even as he held his plate forward. “I’m lucky too. A few more?”
“Fourth serving,” Caleb pointed out, but he slid the last of the ribs to his brother’s plate.
Dinner done, Dustin took over the dishes again, this time with Sasha drying and Emma putting away.
Tamara motioned to Caleb. “I figured out the washing machine, so if you’ve got clothes you want me to do tomorrow—”
“I’ll do my own wash,” Caleb interrupted.
She folded her arms. “My job, remember?” They stared at each other for a moment before she gave in. “Whatever. If it’s in the laundry room, it’ll get washed. Up to you. You’re a big boy, and I have other battles to fight.”
His gaze drifted to his daughters. “Thanks for taking on the battle. You okay with how things went today?”
Tamara nodded. “Pretty much. Can we chat after the girls are in bed?”
He agreed, then they went different directions for a bit, the evening slipping away until the tooth brushing and other nighttime rituals began.
The quiet time while he tucked the girls in had always been when secrets and questions were shared. Sometimes because they were pushing to stay up late, sometimes he knew it was because the world was buzzing in their brains too fast to be ignored.
Tonight was bound to be a doozey.
He pulled the quilt over Sasha, then reached to turn out the light.
Sure enough, she bounced upright like a rubber ball.
“Is she really going to stay?” Sasha demanded.
Caleb took a deep breath as he settled on the edge of the bed beside her. “Was it nice to get to have supper together tonight?”
Sasha frowned. “We have supper together most nights. I don’t see why she has to be here.”
Speaking carefully, he worked around the problem best he could. “Sometimes Daddy hires new people to come help out when we’ve got a tough job to do, right? Tamara is another worker on the ranch.”
She looked him over suspiciously.
“Pumpkin, I know it’s not easy having your aunties gone, but because they’re big enough to do the next thing in their lives, that means you have to be big enough, too.”
“But I don’tlikeher,” Sasha complained. “We don’t need a nanny at all. We can take care of things on our own. I promise, Daddy.”
Caleb shook his head. “This afternoon, after enjoying a cookie fresh from the oven, I got to go back outside and help your uncles work with the new horses. If Tamara hadn’t been here to get supper ready and help you with your homework, then I would have had to stay inside. That means the guys would have been doing extra work for me. I don’t think that’s fair.”
Sasha made a face.
“Would you like it if you had to do all Emma’s chores?”
She shook her head.
Caleb thought it over. “I know it’s not exactly the same thing, and your uncles would never complain, but I feel responsible to do my share. And I don’t want to have things not get done, whether that’s with the ranch, or with you and Emma. Remember I missed signing you up for swimming lessons because I forgot?”
He was almost scared to bring that one up considering the number of tears his mistake had generated.
Sasha folded her lips into a frown “I don’t need swimming lessons. And I don’t need extra treats, I want you, Daddy. And Emma wants—” She snapped her lips shut, hesitating for a second before continuing, “IthinkEmma feels the same.”
Caleb took another breath. “This is something you’ll just have to be sad about, pumpkin, because I’m the grownup. I need help, and Tamara is who I’ve hired.”
Sasha’s lips quivered for a second, but this time it was honest emotion instead of a warmup to dramatic effect.
