Page 57 of The Cowgirl's Chosen Love
At all of four days old, Tyler Stone was making ample impact on the dozen or so family members gathered together. For something not much bigger than a Kleenex box, the kid had everyone jumping when he so much as squeaked.
In other words, he was a typical baby—the world revolved around him, and Josiah had zero problems with it.
The parent bit of the equation, aka, Lisa’s dad, took up a whole lot more mental room and, unlike Tyler, nobody seemed to quite know how to deal with the man.
He’d already been in the house when Josiah arrived, and Lisa hurried to introduce them.
George Coleman stepped forward, hand stretched forward in greeting. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, and congratulations on becoming a grandpa. Again,” Josiah added quickly, in light of the girls Tamara had adopted.
George stuttered for a second, as if not quite believing it. A small smile crossed his face. “Appreciate it.”
“Grampa George has already been shortened to Geegee,” Lisa informed him. “I won twenty bucks calling that, by the way.”
“Of course you did.”
She grinned as she relieved him of the bag he held in his left hand. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He glanced at George then at her sisters and brother-in-law, who were milling around the room, not quite certain if he was brave enough to kiss her in front of them all.
Her lips twitched. “Go rescue Ollie. She’s been complaining ever since we closed the door.”
He followed her pointing finger to the laundry room. “Was she acting up?”
Lisa shook her head. “I’ll explain later.”
He gave Ollie a hello and a treat from his pocket before warning her to be good and closing the door again.
Josiah washed his hands, then joined the family, and after they’d all settled at the table, he waited for his friend to follow tradition and serve up the meal.
The little girls chattered, grown-ups shared stories. Tyler got passed around like the football in a rugby match to give everyone a chance to eat.
Josiah found himself frequently being stared at by George Coleman. He couldn’t remember exactly what Lisa had said when she’d introduced him, and now that the moment passed, it seemed awkward to back up and formally announce they were dating.
Awkward. Very awkward.
“Julia wants to know if she can come over tomorrow. She’s got the afternoon off.” Lisa glanced at Karen who had Tyler braced against her chest and was eating one-handed like a pro. “You plan to stick around for a couple of days?”
“Yes.” Karen faced their father. “As long as that’s okay with you.”
George waved a hand. “Of course it’s fine. I’ll take care of things. The Moonshine boys offered to come out and help deal with that pole shed that needs to be shored up.”
Karen’s face tightened, but she nodded firmly. “Good. Then I’m definitely here until the seventh. I can’t wait to see this Julia. I figure the odds of someone like her being here in Heart Falls are like winning the lottery.”
Their father frowned sternly. “Who is this person? Tamara, you’re not letting some total stranger into your home, are you?”
“Yes, Dad. I’ve been taking out advertisements, asking anyone who possibly wanted to come and invade—”
“Julia is part of the emergency team that helped deliver Tyler,” Lisa interjected. It was a smooth move to try to ease the tension that was clearly there between George and his daughters.
Not that Josiah blamed Tamara for getting snarky.
George was bristling, eyeing Caleb as if sitting in judgment. “Well, I guess that’s fine.”
Lisa’s dad was a bit of an ass, but at the same time, it wouldn’t hurt to do whatever Josiah could to try to help ease the situation. “She looks a lot like your family. That’s why the girls find it so interesting.”
“We’re wondering if Uncle Mark has kids he’s never told us about,” Karen said.
