Page 33 of Taming the Billionaire Cowboy
“Yeah. He’ll be fine. Transition periods are hard sometimes, but he’ll be happy he’s there. He actually loves this camp.”
“You’re a good mom.”
She studies me as we drive away from the camp.
“Is it weird I keep saying that? I know I don’t have kids, but I have a mother, and you remind me of…” I stop talking, afraid of saying the wrong thing.
“It’s nice. Thank you.”
We’re quiet for a while longer, just the radio murmuring softly, and I wonder if she’s thinking about the same things I am, if she’s planning her next move or figuring me out or deciding if I’m worth having around.
Finally, I speak up. “Does it bother you if I ask about Bradley’s dad?”
She looks at me, surprised, and I can’t tell if it’s because I’m asking, or because it’s taken me this long to get the words out.
“No,” she says after a moment. “It’s fine. He, uh, took off a couple of weeks before Bradley was born. In the middle of the night. Left a note saying he wasn’t ready to be a dad. I haven’t heard from him since.”
She says it to the road, her face rigid, not looking at me. I’m not surprised. What she just told me was revealing and personal, even if it was simply the facts.
“I’m so sorry,” I manage to get out.
“I think I dodged a bullet, actually.” She finally looks at me.
“Yeah.” My throat feels too thick. I pause, unsure of what to say next.
My parents split when I was young, but at least I lived with my father half the time after that. At least the two of us are still close. It makes me sad for Bradley, and for Carly too.
She smiles a little, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Life is full of surprises, isn’t it? I thought he was the one. Turns out I was wrong. But everything happens for a reason. I have Bradley now… and I couldn’t be happier.”
“Sounds like you’re better off without him,” I say.
“Yeah. Bradley’s happy, and that’s what matters most.”
I see it in her face, a fierce determination wrapped up in soft love. She’s resilient and unbreakably strong. It’s not just Bradley who’s better off without his deadbeat dad. It’s Carly too.
“Do you… So it’s just been the two of you since then?” I ask, kicking myself for being so awkward.
“My mom and Ferris and my aunt, her mom, help out, but yeah. Just us living together. I haven’t really dated. I lost a lot of friends… but I have my family, and that’s what matters.”
I nod. Got it. No boyfriend.
That news makes me want to sing, but I don’t know if I have the right to celebrate. Making a move on her would still break the unwritten rules of propriety between boss and employee. Plus, I’m not even sure she’s interested in me — at least not enough to want me to make an advance.
“So you’re headed back to Houston soon, huh?”
I shrug. “I was supposed to go back next week, but…”
“But?”
“I’ve been thinking. I’d like to stay longer. Maybe more permanently.”
It’s more than I intended to say - more than I intended to feel - and it leaves me wondering if it’s enough, if she believes me, if it’s what she wanted to hear.
For maybe the first time since I met her, Carly is speechless. I can see the wheels in her head turning, working through the implications. She looks out the window, watching the dry fields rush past.
“Oh,” she says.
“Yeah. I would have to go back to Houston occasionally. I can do a lot remotely, but not everything.”
