Page 61 of Christmas with the Cowboy
“I’m serious,” Lex said gruffly.
Later, when Lex was working on her lessons, Reed’s mom tracked him down in the barn where he was inventorying parts and making a list of essentials for his next trip to town.
“I shamelessly eavesdropped this morning from the laundry room, and you did good with Lex. She seems more relaxed.”
“I sent Candice a text to call us tonight so we can talk to her together.”
“Good plan.” His mom pushed her hands into her coat pockets, and since she seemed in no hurry to go, Reed put down the clipboard his list was attached to.
“I feel bad about not being there and not picking up when Lex called.”
“I can tell. I can also tell you that you can’t be there all the time for your kids. It took me two kids to realize that if I continued on the course I was on, I’d never make it through four. You, in particular, tried me.”
“Spence was no angel.”
“But he was so darned quiet about it.”
Reed smiled, but it faded almost as soon as it formed. “I have one kid, Mom. She’ll be out of the house in four years.” He cleared his throat. “Housebeing a figurative term.”
His mom gave him a patient look. “If you think all this stuff ends at eighteen, then you have another think coming. It gets worse.”
Reed frowned. “How?”
“You’ll see.”
“That’s comforting.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Until this thing with Gregg is done, I think my focus needs to be on Lex.”
“This thing may drag on for years.”
“True. And I’ll be there.”
“You’re a good dad, Reed.”
He was trying and he was about to say so, when his mother added, “But be careful of unrealistic expectations for yourself. Please.”
“I will.” The answer was automatic, and not all that truthful. He was going to follow instinct and protect his child. Be there when she needed him and not mess up her life by allowing her to get attached to people whom she may never see again.
In other words, he needed to clarify a few things with Trenna before he reached the point of no return, which he was inching ever closer to.
He was falling in love with the woman again—although, truthfully, he’d probably never stopped loving her—and he needed to consider what was fair for all of them.
*
Trenna’s selection ofsoiree-worthy dresses was limited, but she’d decided for the sake of family relations, and just in case she needed to get onto her father’s good side at some point in the future, attending was not a bad idea. She’d all but promised Dawn she would go, and it was for a worthy cause. Worthier than most of her father’s causes in her opinion.
She stepped out of the red satin fit and flare that was classic enough that no one would guess it was five years old, unless they were familiar with the label. And who would care, anyway?
Her dad. Appearances were important. More than once as a teen accompanying him on some public outing, she’d been asked to change before they left the house.
She hung the red satin and decided to give the black shiny tube thing a quick try on when Bruno began his stranger danger roar. Trenna nearly jumped out of her skin before grabbing her robe, shoving her arms into it as she headed down the hall from her bedroom to the front door. Through the still open curtains of the front windows, she saw Reed’s truck and a wave of relief washed over her, followed by another sensation that could only be classified as unbridled lust.
Trenna held her kimono closed at the neck as she opened the door, more against the cold that followed Reed into the house than for modesty’s sake.
“Hey,” she said once the door was closed, but her smile faded when she saw the expression on his face.
Shit.The idyll was over.
“Come to a decision, have we?”
