Page 61 of Her Cowboy Baby Daddy
“He will,” Henry agreed as he stepped away from the hole and tipped back his hat to allow air to hit his damp forehead. “But what will I do to fill my days?”
Hayley considered as she removed the last of the loose dirt from the hole, then stood back to let Henry attack with the bar again. “Maybe you could go to work here.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I think they might need me on the ranch after the surgery.”
Hayley met his gaze, surprised. “Reed, Spence and Cade can probably handle the workload after Daniel is out of commission.”
Henry gave his head a small shake. “Reed will be there for sure. Cade, possibly. But Spence... he won’t be there, so I should be.”
Hayley’s stomach tightened. “Spence is leaving? He didn’t say anything.” Was he doing this because she’d said it was what he did? Was he making a point, or just being Spence?
Being Spence, she decided. He’d seen the truth of what she’d said and accepted it.
“He was on the phone with his boss before he asked me to come over. I’m a shameless eavesdropper.” He smiled, but Hayley read a tinge of concern in his expression. He knew that this was not welcome news. She was going to have to up her visible-reaction game.
“Oh.” It was the only response she could come up with before stabbing the posthole diggers back into the hole.
“Sorry,” Henry said.
She dropped the diggers into the hole and wiped her sleeve across her forehead. “Why?”
The word, meant to be casually dropped, came out on a croak. So not cool.
Henry lifted an eyebrow and gave her a look that clearly said he’d explain if she insisted.
“Never mind,” she said, taking hold of the digger handles again. “The situation is complicated.”
“I can tell. Spence is... distracted.” Henry waved her away from the hole, and Hayley stepped back as he raised the bar and then hammered it down. “But he’ll figure things out.” He gave Hayley a quick look, then addressed the hole. “So will you.”
*
Reed did notshow.
At seven o’clock, Spence officially gave up on his brother, figuring that if anything serious had happened, the family would have driven to the lake, which was only five miles from the ranch, and alerted him. Therefore, whatever had kept his brother from coming was annoying, but not dire.
Spence adjusted his position, leaning back against the granite boulder next to the tent, and tipped back his beer. The air was strangely calm. Heavy, almost. He’d checked the weather before leaving that morning and other than a storm coming in later that week, the skies were supposed to be clear.
He drank again, then froze as a doe poked her head out of the trees. After staring at him for a full minute, she edged her way to the lake. Obviously, she wasn’t one of the fearless ranch deer.
Whether Reed was there or not, Spence was glad his brother had sent him fishing. Yes, his head was clearer. No, he had no ideas as to next moves other than to fall out of love with Hayley.
Was it possible to do that? To tell yourself that you’re not going to care?
He could tell himself not to care, but he didn’t know if he could do that. She’d gotten under his skin but good. The frustrating thing was that he knew—knew—that he was under hers, too, but her baby plan was more important to her than taking a chance on him.
He understood—kind of—but that didn’t make it any easier to live with.
A gust of wind blew over him, seemingly coming from nowhere, rustling the edges of the tent. He’d staked that baby down, thinking about Hayley and Bella not staking theirs and not wanting to repeat their adventure. The wind passed and once again the air felt heavy. Unsettling. He didn’t like the wind, but right now he wished there was more of the stuff to stir the thick air surrounding him.
He also wished he’d asked Henry for a forecast before he’d left the ranch. Henry, unlike the local weather guys, was never wrong.
*
Hayley sat straightup in bed when the branch hit the house, raking its way down the side and landing with a crash.
She ran downstairs, snapping on lights as she went, thankful that, for once, the power hadn’t been knocked out. The wind whipped the edges of her oversized T-shirt as she stepped out onto the front porch and breathed a sigh of relief that the branch had come down the side of the house and missed her fence and Remy’s little shelter.
A crack of thunder nearly lifted her off her feet and she rushed back inside, pushing the door shut against the wind. She’d hate to be out in this... like Spence was.
