When Austin hires Cowboy Wanted to get him a cowboy cover model, he never expects the man on his books to be his son’s new best friend’s dad. And when Kyler does a photo shoot to pay some bills, he never expects to meet the author when his daughter champions a little boy who’s being bullied. Will they find more in common than a job and their kids?
Chapter 1
“Wait, did I hear you correctly?” Tom tilted his head, trying his damnedest to parse what the drawl on the other end of the phone line could be saying.
Tom’s little side hustle website was becoming quite a business, and he knew it. Cowboy Wanted was very popular — both on the side of the folks wanting help and the cowboys hunting work.
He got help for ranchers. He found drovers for gentleman farmers. He hired cowboys for bailing hay and rounding up horses.
He had a contact with a passion for helping with wild mustangs. He had a little section in the ads for handyman work and babysitting.
He’d even managed to get someone a date who saved a crumbling marriage.
But this was new.
“You wanna take naked pictures of a cowboy?”
“What?” That was pure-D shock. “No, not naked — just kind of shirtless maybe. You see, I write romance novels. In fact I write gay romance novels, and I need a cover model. Everybody’s used everybody. I feel like there’s no new faces in the world. And we don’t, you know, we don’t even have to show faces. It can just be like a chin and down. But I need somebody with a decent belly. I need somebody that can wear a pair of Wranglers that looks like he was actually meant to wear them. I don’t need some sort of a bulked up bodybuilder. I just need a nice looking man, possibly with a tan and a six pack, who can wear a cowboy hat and has great hands. You know, that is the big thing I need. Great hands. Great hands on a belly. Great hands on a belt buckle. Great hands shoved into a pocket of their jeans. I need great hands.”
Wow. Okay. So, writers obviously were chatty. Cool.
“Do you have a photographer?” This was the weirdest thing he’d ever heard of, but cool.
He was totally not the right type, but he would totally be willing to get naked and stand for a photographer. Koby would love that.
“Of course I have a photographer. She’s having trouble finding the right cover model, and I happened to come across your site. I’m local, you see, and I thought I’d give it a try. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to waste your time.”
“No, no, no, Mr.—”
“Williams. My name is Austin Williams.”
Tom hooted. “That is a kick ass name.”
“Thanks, I use it for my books too. I—yeah…”
“So, Mr. Williams, you didn’t waste my time. I can do it.” He wasn’t really sure how he could do it, but God knew he could do it. It might require a spray tan, but he could do it.
“Call me Austin. And you think so? It would save my life. I’ve got a whole series that I’m recovering, and we’re going to put them out. I’m trying to relaunch before my new series starts, and I just — I think I can make it work. I have money in the budget for the photographer and model fees.”
Lord have mercy. “Well, okay. Let’s make this happen. So how does this work exactly? I’ve never done this.”
“I’m not the professional, but I can e-mail you my photographer’s information, and she’ll be able to talk to you whoever about cover model releases. And, you know, locations and all of that stuff. I don’t even have to ever meet the guy. It’s not skeezy, and it’s a no contact thing. I’m just trying to help the photographer and myself out. I’d love to have a cover model who’s just mine.”
Okay, dude. Breathe. “Fair enough. I mean, seriously. I can do this.”
“If you can do this, it would just really make my year, man. I appreciate it. I’ll e-mail you all the contact info, budget, everything like that.”
They finally said their goodbyes, and Tom hung up the phone and started thinking hard. Who did he know who was sexy?
Someone that wasn’t his lover, because he didn’t want his husband on the cover of sexy books. He wanted his husband to himself.
Whoa. That sounded like an awful possessive thought. Tom grinned to himself. He’d have to go tell Kody. It would so turn him on.
Then they could figure out who the second hottest cowboy was in Aspen and start from there.
Chapter 2
Kyler Hale needed a side hustle.
He had land. He had the money to build a house. What he didn’t have was the money to pay the rent in Aspen while he waited for the house to be built.
He couldn’t just live in a horse trailer on the property these days. That might have worked when he was on his own, but he had Paige now, and while she’d lived with him in said trailer and in hotels on the road for her first years, she was fixing to start school.
“Daddy! I want to wear my boots tomorrow.”
“Hmm?” He looked up from the site he was scrolling through. It was called Cowboy Wanted, which seemed like it had to be a joke, but it was legit, according to the Better Business thing and the Chamber of Commerce.
“My boots. I need you to help me polish them.”
“Okay, baby girl. I’ll buff them up for you.” He clicked the call me form thingee. “You got your outfit all picked out?”
They’d met Paige’s teacher, even though they’d registered late enough that they missed the big welcome day. Now she just had to show up on time for her first day.
Not easy for a kid who’d done pre-school with a bunch of barrel racer moms and roughstock rider’s wives as teachers.
“Uh-huh. My pink Panhandle shirt with the fringe and my silver belt buckle.”
“Smart choices.” He wondered how long it would take for someone to tell her it wasn’t Halloween. But his girl was a cowgirl, and she wasn’t going to change that for any fancy new school.
“Do you think they’ll like me?”
“Of course they’ll like you. You’re amazing.” Why wouldn’t they like her? She was down to earth, friendly, cute as a button, one hell of a rider, and a not half bad roper for being five.
“Right. And pretty soon we’re going to have horses and cows and goats and chickens and ducks and llamas and buffalo and zebras and ostriches.” She spun in a circle.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “Breathe, girlfriend. Let’s just start with horses. Maybe a couple cattle.”
“And chickens, Daddy, you promised chickens.”
Note to self do not promise anything involving buffalo, zebra, or those fucking mean dinosaur birds. “All right, we can have some chickens, but you have to take care of them.”
“Okay. I want to name them.” Completely unafraid, completely unconcerned — this was a child who had grown up around animals and cowboys — who were basically animals. She was completely unafraid.
She was going to eat the other kindergarteners alive.
“Should I wear my hair down, or should I have it in braids?”
“I think you should have it however you feel like on the day, my love.” Her thick blonde hair was going to be the envy of all the girls when she got to be a teenager, but right now? Just trying to tame it was about all he could do. Thank goodness he’d learned to braid, and Henley was one hell of a teacher.
Hell, Henley was one hell of a mom. The problem was she was a better barrel racer, and she just couldn’t settle down with a little girl.
Kyler got it. It wasn’t like they were some big love match. They were just two people who had hooked up because they didn’t really have anything better to do, and folks were starting to wonder.
Of course, then they somehow caught pregnant.
That had been the best thing ever happened to him. His Paige was the light of his life. She was the light of Henley’s life, too.
It was just that it was really hard to see that light past all the glitter and sequins.
And he had to be honest. Her rodeo career was going to last for decades longer than his possibly could. Saddle bronc riders had expiration dates.
So Henley took Paige whenever she could. She had a little condo in Dallas, she was always welcome to stay with them when she was in the area, and she called Paige every single day to see how she was doing.
“Yeah. I’ll decide the night before, because if you’re going to do braids I have to get up fifteen minutes earlier because it takes you forever…” Her tease was so familiar.
“I will beat you, girl,” he mock growled, making her giggle.
“I’m so scared, Daddy.” She rolled her eyes and grinned at him, then came over for a hard hug. “They are going to love me at school.”
Good Lord and butter, she looked just like her mama when she said stuff like that, and he was scared for those kids.
Because they better like her or she was gonna eat them like he thought. His girl was a cowgirl through and through.
A chime sounded on his phone, and he checked it even though it wasn’t Henley’s text tone, which was the stabbing sound effect from Psycho…
It was an email from Cowboy Wanted.
Thank you for your interest in Cowboy Wanted. I’ve sent you a QR code to the forms I’d like you to fill out for the necessary work information and background check. There’s also a place for you to upload a few pictures if that works for you. Once I have the relevant information in hand, I’ll be happy to contact you for an interview.
Thanks!
Thomas Foster, Owner, Cowboy Wanted
“Is everything okay, Daddy?”
“Yep. I’m just looking to get a little bit of extra work while you’re in school to help build the house.” He’d learned to never lie to her but to always put things in the simplest terms.
“Ew. Can I go watch The British Baking Show Junior?”
“Sure, kiddo. I’ll be there in a few.” He did love to watch kids bake. It made him smile.
“Okay.” She skipped off, and he shrugged.
What the hell. He might as well fill out the forms.
What could it possibly hurt?
Chapter 3
Austin parked the Acadia, closed his eyes, and counted to ten.
Then he counted to ten again.
Then he counted to ten one more time. All right.
He wasn’t sure why the school had called him up again about Dallas.
But he knew what it couldn’t be.
He knew his son hadn’t gotten into a schoolyard fight. He knew the chance of his son having gotten hurt playing on any playground equipment was incredibly small. His son was not apt to talking back. He wasn’t really into talking at all.
So this was either some asshole kid had beat his son up again. Maybe Dallas had an asthma attack in PE class again. Or possibly he’d simply refused to speak when the teacher called on him.
Maybe Austin should homeschool.
He really didn’t have time to homeschool.
He had books to write, and it was really hard to write books while home schooling your awkward yet brilliant six year old.
God, how had he ended up with a six year old? Seemed like yesterday that he’d picked Dallas up from the hospital, the surrogate having already left after her delivery. Dallas had been such a tiny little thing. So frail and riddled with lung problems, even then it hadn’t mattered.
Not for a single second.
Austin had been in love on sight, and that hadn’t changed.
However, all the love in the world didn’t make him want to homeschool.
He got out of the car , straightened his t-shirt and headed across the still warm parking lot like he was storming a castle.
Austin waited at the door of the school for to be allowed in. And then he wandered in toward the office with a patently false smile on his face.
“Mr. Williams. Please come in. Principal Waters will see you in just a few minutes.”
He gave Kari Ann, who was sitting behind the desk, a conspiratorial grin. “So what happened?”
“Well…we’re waiting for another parent.”
“So did somebody hit him? Push him? Is he Okay?” Jesus, how did he end up with the kid who nobody came to his birthday party?
Seriously, he knew why he was sort of that guy. He hadn’t been tough and outgoing, but then he had a brother and sisters, not to mention his mom and dad with these huge personalities.
So even if he hadn’t been the most sociable, socially acceptable kid on Earth, nobody had noticed. He was just one in the sea of Williams’s.
And he’d always had a book. That was something else he and Dallas had in common.
Her smile widened. “He’s perfectly fine. Seriously? You’re never going to believe this one.”
“Uh-oh.” Okay, curiosity was going to kill him. He was a writer. He could come up with half a dozen impossible scenarios without even breathing hard…
“Yeah, a little oh, but mostly aww.” She grinned at him. “Just remember that you still love him.”
“Right. Now I’m really scared.”
“Please, just have a seat.”
He start tapping his Birks on the floor, amusing himself with possibilities he waited.
Maybe Dallas had been abducted by aliens.
Maybe Dallas had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Maybe Dallas had developed amazing superpowers — invisibility, super strength, the ability to shoot anti-bully rays from his eyes…
Just about the time he’d convinced himself that Dallas was going to be overlord of the universe, a tall son of a bitch walked in, wearing dirty jeans, a button down shirt that had seen better days, and a cowboy hat that had been beat to hell and shadowed his face.
Lord, it was like pig pen. He walked right up to Kari Ann and said, “Pardon me, ma’am. The rumor is that you have my little girl here in the principal’s office.”
Kari Ann just smiled. “Hello, Mr. Hale. Yes. Have a seat. We’re waiting on another parent.”
Austin blinked at this. Mr. Hale. Then up at Kari Ann “What? They ganged up on him? You telling me there was more than one? This is kindergarten. How is this fair or reasonable?”
“I guarantee you my little girl didn’t gang up on anybody?” Pig Pen snapped, and Austin gave him his best eyebrow, while still looking at Kari Ann.
Kari Ann opened her mouth to answer, when a woman in a suit and heels so high that she had to have be begging to get an ankle broke stormed in the door.
Ah, Elizabeth Franklin. Lawyer, head of her HOA, and mother to Wayne Franklin, the little shit who had broken Dallas’s glasses twice.
Her ever so carefully quaffed hair reminded him of growing up in Texas, the mass of highlights not even moving a bit in the breeze. He couldn’t imagine how much super glue it took to stick a hair on a head like that, but it had to take quite a bit.
“You give me Charlene Waters, and you get her from me right now!” Franklin said. “I will not have anyone accusing my son of bullying anyone.”
She met Austin’s eyes, and pointed one finger at him and man, that fingernail looked long and sharp. Good thing he knew that they ended up being dull most of the time, those acrylics. His mom wore them all the time. “This is your fault. Your son is a snively crybaby. And possibly needs to be in a Special Ed class. There’s something not right about him.”
Pure ice hit Austin’s veins like he’d been dunked, and he stood up.
And up.
And up.
There wasn’t a whole lot about him that was intimidating, but being six six didn’t hurt a God damn thing. “Pardon me? Am I to assume that your son is one of the troglodytes terrorizing mine? Again?”
“Troglodyte?” she screeched.
“Yes, dear. Troglodyte. You know. Cave dweller? Comes from the Greek root trōglē, which means hole or cave. The adjective form is troglodytic, and somehow I don’t have the slightest doubt you understand what it’s like to be a wee bit troglodytic yourself. You know, a hole?” He let those words come out in his very, very best sneer.
Rule number one. Never fuck with an author. Rule number two. Never fuck with an author’s child. These were rules to live by. Austin was convinced of it.
The cowboy chuckled a little, and he glared over, but he just got a bland smile.
“Ah, looks like we’re all here.” The principal came out of her office. “Please join me, all of you. Thank you, Kari Ann.”
They followed her, Franklin marching, him and the cowboy sauntering.
“Please sit down,” Principal Waters said.
“Daddy! Daddy, the boy was being mean to Dallas. He pushed him down, stole his glasses, and he was going to poop on him. He said so. And so I kicked his butt, and I’m not sorry.” That little girl’s eyes were lit up with pure fury, her shirt was ripped, and one of her braids was all askew.
He searched out his little boy who was sitting there next to little girl with one black eye, glasses gone, and that rage hit him again. “Seriously?”
The man sitting beside him muttered, “How troglodytic.”
“What nonsense. You know full well that my Wayne wouldn’t do anything like this.”
“‘m not a liar. I do not lie. That Wayne is a bully. He pushed Dallas down. He shoved him onto the ground. He took his glasses, and he has them in his backpack. And then he said if if Dallas told he was going to squat down and poop in his mouth. I don’t lie.”
“Well, that’s just nonsense. He wouldn’t.”
Austin looked at Dallas. “Son? Is your friend there telling the truth?”
Dallas nodded without saying a word.
“I waited until you got here to do the backpack search,” Principal Waters said. “And I had Miss Grange here watch them while I came to get you so no one could cry foul play.”
“So, do it. Dallas needs his glasses.”
“You do not have my permission to search it,” Franklin stated.
“I don’t need it. There’s a definite reason to suspect, and I am only looking for the glasses in his backpack.”
“My girl doesn’t lie, lady,” Cowboy Hale drawled. “They’ll be in there, and if they are, your son is all the bad things they say and more.” He gave her a pointed look. “I can see where he gets it from.”
Oh, nice one. He fought the urge to fist bump the guy. That would be frowned on, Austin thought. But if that guy’s kid had defended Dallas, he was grateful.
“And who, exactly, do you think you are?”
“That is my daddy, Kyler Justin Hale, the bronc rider.” That little girl was a firecracker. “Don’t you be mean to him!”
The lawyer’s lip curled. “Or what?”
“Mrs. Franklin, that’s quite enough.” Principal Waters’ voice was cold as ice. “Paige, please sit down. Wayne, your backpack now.”
If he was straight, he’d so be into her.
The glasses were in there. Broken again, of course, but in the backpack.
“I bet they were planted.”
The principal, the cowboy, and Austin stared at her. “Come again?” Austin spat.
“One of them planted them so they could get Wayne in trouble, and then she probably hit him so that there would be bruises.”
“I did not! You liar!” Paige stood, little face screwed up, and her daddy shook his head, raised one hand.
“You know full well that that’s not what happened.”
“Nonsense, Wayne is…”
“This is enough,” Austin snapped. “I want to press charges.”
“What?” The shock in Mrs. Franklin’s voice was delicious.
“This is the third pair of glasses. He’s going to have to go to the doctor for that eye. I want to press charges, and I want her out of my son’s class. Immediately.”
“I’ll call the police, then.”
“You will not. I’ll sue you.”
“For?” He couldn’t wait to hear this one.
“For— for harassment.”
That was weak, and they both knew it.
“You will not. It’s well-documented that your child is a terrorist.”
Wayne, who had been oddly silent, grunted, wrapping his arms around his waist. And Austin would have felt bad for him, but he’d had ample opportunity to amend his behavior already in this very short school year.
And he hadn’t.
“I’m taking Wayne out of this shitty school.” Franklin slapped her hand down on the principal’s desk.
“That doesn’t change the fact that Mr. Williams wishes to have the police called.” She hit the intercom button on her desk. “Kari, Mr. Williams would like to press charges.” She was just cool as a cucumber.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now, if you would like to go sit in another room with a teacher present while we wait, you’re welcome to,” Waters told Franklin.
“I want to talk to my son.”
“Naturally. Miss Grange, take them to the lounge? I believe Mr. Diaz is in there.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Once they were gone, the principal turned to him and Hale. “I’m very sorry about all this. Would you like Paige and Dallas to go out and wait with Kari Ann while we discuss things?”
“Kari Ann appeared at the door. “I made the call. Paige, Dallas, would you like some juice and a cookie?”
“I love juice.” The little girl jumped to her feet, holding out a hand for Dallas. “Come on, Dal. We’ll go have something yummy and let the adults do adulty.”
Dallas looked at him, and he nodded. “Sure, son. Go have a cookie. I’ll be out in a few.”
“Okay, Pop.” Dallas slid off his chair and followed Kari Ann and the little girl out of the office.
“So.” The cowboy leaned back in his chair and crossed his feet at the ankle. “Can you tell me exactly what happened?”
“Of course.” Principal Waters sighed. “Wayne is a bully. It’s a situation we’ve been dealing with since the start of the school year. As you can see, his mother is not at all helpful. His father is… distant. He travels for work.”
“And this is the third time he’s attacked my son,” Austin snapped.
“Yes. We had already set the wheels in motion to switch Wayne’s class, but frankly, we’re a small school with just over four-hundred students. We don’t have that many classes.” She folded her hands. “Wayne has already been in detention, so our next course of action is suspension. Which, if you press charges, Mr. Williams, will be the only option.”
He stared at her. “Am I supposed to feel bad for him?” His kid was sporting a black eye.
“No, of course not. I just wanted to apprise you of the situation.” She switched her gaze to Hale. “Now, as for Paige, what she did was completely understandable. In fact, we encourage students to step forward if they witness bullying behavior.”
Hale grinned a little. “Well, that’s sure what she’s been taught.”
Williams smiled faintly in response. “Yes. But we also suggest that, if the behavior persists, that students go and get the closest adult rather than taking matters into their own hands.”
“Uh-huh.” Hale crossed his arms now too. “You telling me my kid is going to get detention?”
“No, sir. But I will have to file an incident report.”
“You gotta be kidding.”
“It’s protocol.”
“Look, I want to file a police report, even if I don’t actually get any action on this. But I do want him moved out of my son’s class sooner rather than later. Agreed?” Austin was really starting to get peeved.
“Yes.” Principal Waters nodded. She recounted the incident as she filled out the forms. Wayne accosted Dallas. Threatened to shit on him. Little Paige cleaned his clock. And then a teacher stepped in.
She handed them the report to review just as the police showed up.
When Hale stood and took off his hat for the officers, Austin stared.
Oh.
Oh no fucking way.
He knew that cowboy. Sort of weirdly intimately.
Kyler Hale was on the cover of his best-selling series…
Chapter 4
When it was all said and done, it was damn near time for school to be out, the cops had left, and Kyler was in a shit mood.
Paige hadn’t done a thing wrong, but she’d gotten written up anyway. And that poor kid with the black eye…
He walked outside with the kids and the other dad, looking at the sky, which was clouding up. “You gonna take him in to urgent care?” he asked.
“No. I’ll take him to his regular doctor tomorrow. She always has a few appointments to squeeze people into just for things like this.”
He looked at Paige, who was still holding the little boy’s hand. “Y’all want to go to lunch?” Kyler wasn’t sure why the hell he’d asked that, but he wasn’t going to take it back. Paige’s face lit up like Christmas, dammit, and he thought she’d found a fast friend.
“You want to, Dal? You didn’t get to eat your sammich. We can both get something different and share!”
“Can we, Pop? Please?” the little boy asked. “Paige is my best friend. She can ride horses, and she wants to play T-ball.”
The other dad inhaled, then smiled. “Yeah? T-ball is great.”
“I’m up for it if you are.” He stuck out a hand. “Kyler Hale.” He grinned, because the guy looked a little constipated, but he also kept glancing at his son like he’d never seen the kid before.
Paige had that effect on people.
“Austin Williams. Pleased.” The man had a firm, solid, no-bullshit handshake. He approved.
“Good to meet you. So, where do y’all like to eat? Paige and I are just settling here, and we don’t know the area yet.”
“There’s a great diner — burgers, sandwiches, milkshakes, soup.”
“Chicken nuggets?” Paige asked.
That child was made of chicken nuggets.
“Oh, yes. And they have crispy french fries.”
“Oh, yum.” She beamed at Mr. Williams. “I love those.”
“Me too!” Little Dallas bounced, looking much happier.
“Come on, you bunch of hooligans,” Kyler said. “Food.” A milkshake would make his day better.
“Yes, and your spare pair of glasses are in the car, okay son?”
Dallas nodded and glanced up at his dad. “I’m sorry, Pop. Honest.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Williams said firmly. He liked that. “And you have a very good new friend who had your back. How cool is that?”
“Really cool, Pop.” Dallas gave Paige an adoring look.
Oh man. He bit back another grin. “I’m in the silver Dodge. We can follow you?”
“Sure. I’m in the gold Acadia.”
“Nice.”
He got Paige loaded up, and she started up as soon as he got in the truck.
“Daddy! Did you hear that lady? She called me a liar! That Wayne boy is so mean! He was going to poop on Dallas!”
“You did good, baby girl. I’m proud of you for standing up for Dallas.” He would talk to her later about the rules here. Once she’d calmed down.
“He was all alone and everyone said mean things about him. Uncle Wacky says that those are the people you have to love the hardest.”
“Uncle Wacky is right.” Wacey Beame was his best friend, albeit old enough to be his uncle, not Paige’s. Still, he gave good advice. “You did a good job, sweetheart. You ought to be proud.”
“Yes, sir. I like him. He’s real smart. He reads all the time. He gave me a book of my own.”
“What did he give you?” He realized he’d been so busy with shit the last few weeks, he hadn’t sat down at dinner and just talked with Paige like he usually did. He had no idea what was going on with her.
“It’s called the Dinosaurs Before Dark. It’s a whole bunch of books called Magic Treehouse, and he said they are a second grade books and he told me the words I didn’t know and said I was smart!” She bounced in her car seat. “Did you hear? He thinks I’m smart!”
“You are, baby girl.” But that meant next to nothing in the rodeo. Book smart. His girl was a hand, and she knew horses and goats and cows and trailer hitches. Books were a new frontier. “I’m proud.”
“Thank you! Do you think Dallas likes chicken nuggets?”
“I’ve never met a kid who didn’t. And if not, I bet he likes spaghetti and garlic bread.” A diner favorite of his girl’s.
“Cool. Or mac and cheese. He eats peanut butter jelly for lunch, just like me!”
“Does he? That’s good.” No peanut allergy then. That boded well.
“Uh-huh. He has purple jelly, not red, but that’s it.”
“Grape, I bet.”
“I like strawberries.”
“I hear you.” He followed Williams to the diner, then coasted to a stop.
“It smells good. Can I have Coke?”
“Nope.”
“Durn.”
“Milk, lemonade, or orange juice, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.” She took his hand after she hopped out of the car. “And you hafta have water with whatever you get too.”
“That’s the bargain.” He loved a Coke or a cup of coffee, but she’d decided he needed to not be dehydrated.
“I love you. You got to meet Dallas! Finally!”
Had he really not been paying attention?
“I’m so glad. We need to start sitting at supper again so you can tell me things.”
“I would love that, Daddy!” She beamed at him, bouncing on her way to the door.
God, he needed to slow down and remember what was good and right in his life. She was his light.
“Come on, Paige! We can sit in my favorite booth!”
Williams smiled at him as they met at the entrance. “I had no idea he had a favorite booth.”
“Right? She just told me she’s been waiting for me to meet Dallas for-ev-ar.”
“They’ve known each other for twenty days of school, you know. Two. Zero.” The guy rolled his eyes.
“That’s an eon at their age.” Time had no meaning in kindergarten.
“Maybe more. He wanted to give her a copy of his favorite book. I hope you didn’t mind.”
“Not one bit. She was so excited. She’s not used to folks calling her smart.” He twisted his lips wryly. “Not that she isn’t wicked smart. She’s just been a rodeo kid, and this is her first experience at formal schooling.”
“Sure. Sure. My boy grew up surrounded with books and not a lot else.”
They joined the kids at the big, round booth, and he grinned. This would have been his favorite too.
“Hey, Dallas! Austin. How are you guys?” The server came over, handing out menus. “Welcome, all. Is this your first time, honey?” she asked Paige.
“Yes, ma’am. Do you have chicken fingers?”
“Do we? They’re only the crispiest.”
“Oh, yay! What’s your favorite Dal?”
“I love the mac and cheese best. Do you like mac and cheese?”
“I do!” They high-fived, and he shared another grin with Dallas’s dad.
“I recommend the fried chicken sandwich and the patty melt.”
“Damn. I like both.” He eyed Austin Williams. “We could pull a kindergartner and split two things.”
“Works for me. You into fries, slaw?” Okay, that was easy-peasy. He liked that about the man.
“I love a fry, but a side of slaw is not amiss. We’ll just graze.” Okay, maybe he was making him a new friend too. Or at least a dad he could deal with. That would be great.
Paige had rodeo friends for the summer. Cousins in Texas. But a school friend was like gold.
The kids were talking a million miles a minute, and Kyler stared a second, trying to figure out how his tomboy little girl ended up being friends with this skinny, kind of nebbishy little boy.
Dallas and his father looked just alike — tall and beanpole skinny, with great big dark eyes with black eyelashes that folks would pay to have. They both had a mass of wild, ebony curls that were just a little bit too long for hat wearing.
They both had glasses, and where the guy had grown into his features and was now bordering on being pretty, the little boy was just all elbows and eyes. Just elbows and eyes that were all swollen from that bruise,
Jesus Christ, kids were assholes, and he knew it, but nobody should get beat up that bad at school.
“So what do you do for a living?” he asked because that was what a polite guy did. He made small talk, knowing that some of it didn’t apply to him. Hell here, most of it didn’t apply to him.
He couldn’t figure out why the guy’s cheeks went bright dark red, and why all of a sudden he couldn’t look at him. “I’m a writer.”
“Oh that’s cool.” And intimidating. Shit. “You write books?”
“Yes, I do. I write books. I’m a…novelist.”
“That’s cool.” Kyler swallowed a little. He was totally not going to bring up the fact that he was a guy who periodically let a photographer take pictures of his belly real close for romance novels because, well, no one needed that kind of reputation, and this guy was a novelist.
That was different than romance books, right?
“What about you?” Austin asked, and Kyler shrugged.
“I’m a cowboy. I have a little ranch, but my money-maker is in leather work.”
The guy’s blush went damn near purple, and he just didn’t get it. “Leather?”
“Yeah. You know — saddles, chaps, custom work.”
“Oh?” Those dark eyes focused on him. “Okay, that’s cool. So, you literally make saddles? Like from scratch?”
“I do.” And somehow he felt…cool. Like he was someone fascinating, and it straightened his spine.
Right now he was awful busy building his house and getting his workshop in order, trying to decide if he was going to run a couple head of cattle or just focus on horses and llamas.
Kyler still wasn’t a hundred percent sure how he ended up lucky enough to have land in Aspen.
Thank God that his Uncle Billy’d had two surviving family members — him and Paige.
The parcel of land wasn’t huge — thirteen and a half acres, but it was fenced, it had improvements, they were lucky enough to be on municipal water, and the pastures were green.
It too good just to walk away from. So he was building a house and a workshop. He was gonna raise his baby girl here.
It was going to be amazing.
“I don’t know where I thought saddles came from, but I guess I assumed a factory.”
“Some are. But I do custom work.” And when he got back to work, he would make damn good money on commissions. He did bull ropes and chaps and saddlebags and all sorts of shit…
And he wondered what kind of leather Austin Williams had thought he meant.
“Daddy, can I have a pancake on the side?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You can either have the pancake or you can split a piece of pie with me at the end.”
Paige tilted her head, the expression in her blue eyes one of pure calculation. “What kind of pie?”
The server brought their drinks, smiling. “We have apple, cherry, and chocolate cream today.”
“Chocolate?” Now her eyes widened. “Okay, I’ll have pie.”
“Good choice.” He winked at her, making her laugh.
“I think we’ll share a chocolate covered Rice Krispy treat after, hmm?” Austin offered, and little Dallas perked up.
“Okay, Poppy!”
Paige tilted her head. “Why do you call him Poppy?”
“That’s his name.”
“Oh.” Paige nodded. “My daddy’s name is Kyler Justin Hale, but I get to call him daddy. He calls me Punkin.”
“What do I call him?” Dallas whispered.
“You can call him Mr. Hale, buddy. Is that okay?”
Kyler nodded. “Or Mr. Kyler is fine, too. Whatever works best for you, Dallas.”
Paige looked directly at Austin. “What should I call you, Sir?”
“Mr. Austin?” Austin looked a little surprised by being asked. Maybe little Dallas just didn’t have other kid friends or family around.
Paige beamed at Austin. “Thank you. Do they have coloring pages here, Mr. Austin?”
“I think so. We’ll ask when she comes back, hmm?”
“If not, we can turn these placemat papers over and make our own,” Dallas whispered, like he was afraid that Paige would mock him, but she lit up.
“You are the coolest buddy ever!”
“We have crayons in the car if we need them,” Austin told him.
“Oh, good. I don’t have the bag of tricks with me today.” When he and Paige had been on the road all the time, he’d carried a bag with some puzzles, colors, a couple of books, and one of those tic tac toe games with the pegs and holes for ease of playing.
But he’d cleaned out the damn truck. He’d have to put it back in.
The kids were talking again, and the drinks and coloring pages and crayons came, and the kids were in heaven.
“I really appreciate that she’s being good to Dallas,” Austin murmured under his breath. “School’s been hard, on the social scale.”
“I bet.” He scooted a little closer to Austin. “It has for her too. She’s used to adults, and to being the center of attention, I figure. The other kids don’t get her as much.”
“Well, I know someone who told me on the second day of school that she was his new friend forever.” Austin whispered low. “I thought she was a figment of his imagination.”
“Oh, man.” He glanced at the kids. Yeah, he could see where Paige, with her larger than life western wear, her double braids, and her big blue eyes, could sound like something out of a book, not a real girl.
The server brought more coloring sheets, and eventually their food, which was solid and comforting and tasty. He’d come back here.
“This is a good choice,” he said. “Thank you.”
“This is our go to. I’m not much of a cook, but I try. Unfortunately, what I do like to cook, the kid won’t eat, so we come here more than I would like.”
Interesting. “What do you like to cook?”
“Asian food. Lebanese food. Indian food. Thai food, which I know counts as Asian. I tend toward the sour spicy end of the food spectrum, I guess.” Austin shrugged as the words tumbled out of him. “He falls into the macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, spaghetti, normal kid food end of the food spectrum.”
“Paige could eat chicken nuggets breakfast, lunch and dinner, but she’s not picky.”
“I like oats for breakfast, Daddy, oats and pancakes, bacon, sausage, waffles…” Paige grinned at him. “My mama makes the best waffles. Did you know that Dal here don’t got no Mama.”
“No?”
“Nope. He was hatched from an egg.”
He glanced at page, then at Dallas, then finally at Austin, who was sitting there with a perfectly smooth expression on his face. “An egg?” he finally got out.
Paige beamed, so pleased to tell him something he didn’t know. “Uh-huh. They put a seed in an egg and then? He was hatched. He don’t got no mama. Only. Mr. Austin.”
“I had a surrogate,” Austin explained with a chuckle. “So yes, there was a sperm and an egg and an embryo and then? A surrogate.”
“Oh.”
Austin tapped the rainbow ring on his index finger. “Yeah. Oh. Hopefully that’s not an issue.”
He blinked. “No, sir. Not one bit.” Shit, he’d never met anyone who’d had a baby by themselves. Even he and Henley had tried to make a go of it, and they’d both known that was doomed from the get-go. “That’s pretty brave, having a kid alone.”
Austin chuckled. “Well, it didn’t seem brave at the time. On occasion since then, it has.”
He rolled his eyes, because he was a single dad too. “Yessir. That I do understand.”
Austin grinned at him. “There had been a long term relationship. It simply didn’t last past the few pack of small diapers.”
“Paige’s mom and me… We knew it wasn’t that kind of a thing. But we caught pregnant, so we tried hard. And then we figured out how to be apart and give Paige what she needed. She’s a good… egg,” he teased.
“That’s amazing. Is she local?”
“No. No, she travels. She has a condo in Dallas. We worked it out so little bit will spend some time with her in the summer, and then for now Henley will come here on the big holidays and visit.”
“Momma and I talk every day,” Paige said proudly. “You can borrow her if you need to, Dal.”
“I don’t guess I need a mom, but thank you. Is she nice like you?”
“She’s a racer. She’s tough and pretty. She bought me a horse.”
“Wow.”
“You can come see her. Her name is Patches.”
“Like ‘Patches Awful Day’! Except he’s a puppy…”
“I like puppies too. Daddy says when our house is built, we can have one.”
He glanced at Austin, who was grinning. “Yeah. We’re building a house on some land I inherited. It’s taking a while, let me tell you.”
“Oh, I can only imagine. We have a cat and a condo close to town.”
“Nice.” What else could he say to that? Then it was time for pie, and they got two slices to split with the kids. It was weirdly… domestic.
Still—a cat? Really?
Men had cats?
“Can Paige come over for trampoline, pizza, and movie time tomorrow?” Dallas asked his dad. “Please. My room’s clean.”
“I—Let me talk to her dad. Maybe she has plans.”
“Daddy, can I? I love pizza and movies.”
“Let us adults talk a minute, baby girl.” He would be fine with it, if Williams was, but he wasn’t about to just say yes. This was important, teaching her that parents had the last say. “Are you even having pizza and movies tomorrow, Mr. Austin?”
“Tomorrow is Saturday. Saturday is trampolines at ten thirty, and then pizza and movies at the condo at noon. Paige is more than welcome, as are you, of course.”
“That would be great if it’s not an imposition.” He could check out the guy’s condo, make sure it was safe for any future visits.
“Sure. This is a first time. I think that would be…best. In case she needs you.” That made absolute sense.
“I agree. So if it works for you, we’d love to come. What can we bring? Or should we just cover the pizza this time?” Fair was fair. If you did something at someone else’s house, you brought something.
“How about you bring what you’d both like to drink, and we’ll work it out? Did you want to meet at the trampoline park? I can text you the address.”
“That sounds good.” Neutral ground to start. He approved. This guy thought about things.
“Perfect.” He wrote a phone number on the back of a business card and handed it to Kyler.
“Thanks.” Kyler put it in his shirt pocket, then handed over his debit card when the server came over to ask if they needed anything else.
Williams did the same, and soon they were all standing in the parking lot.
“Okay, baby girl. Say goodbye to Dallas. We’ll see him tomorrow.”
“Bye, Dal! I’m going to read another chapter tonight!”
“Okay. I’ll wear my red dinosaur shirt tomorrow!” Dallas waved and took his father’s hand.
“I’ll text you the addresses, and you’ll have my details. Thanks!” Austin waved and took Dallas over to the SUV, the little boy trying to skip and looking awkward as hell.
This was not a graceful child.
At all.
“I appreciate it.” He took his baby girl’s hand, glad that the catastrophe had brought about something good.
Paige held on to him, jabbering away ninety to nothing, and he did love to hear that excitement.
He needed to remember to listen to it and get out of his own head.
“Oh, Daddy. Daddy, do you like him? Isn’t he nice? He shared his macamaronis and—he invited me to his Saturday!”
“I know! I think he’s very nice, and I can see why you defended him.” And the dad was damn intriguing too, somehow.
“He’s sad, a little, but he is nice, and Uncle Wacky is going to be proud that I listened. And Daddy!” She stared into him. “It worked! I was nice, and he is my friend now.”
“It did.” He grinned. She had a lot of her momma in her. She was a little… hard to get to know, maybe. Goal oriented. Focused. So for her to listen to Wacey about how to make friends and apply it meant she was growing up.
Lord have mercy, he wasn’t sure he was ready for that jelly.
Chapter 5
Dear God, Austin prayed. Please let me get through today without totally geeking out about the fact that my son’s only friend in the world’s dad is the hot as fuck cover model for my hot as fuck books about a hot as fuck cowboy. If you could do this for me I would really appreciate it. And I would promise not to write any more kinky books, but it would totally be a lie because I have to pay my rent. Love Austin.
Dallas was so excited that he’d already had an asthma attack this morning, causing his breakfast to come back up in a rush, and Austin was so tempted to just cancel the whole thing,
When he even suggested it, the tears had started, of course, and they hadn’t been crocodile tears. No, they were real tears with snot.
So Austin figured this really meant something to his little boy.
“Do you think she’ll come, Dad? Do you think she’ll really come?” Dallas gave him a worried look.
“Well, son, she said she was going to be there. So did her daddy, so I would assume so.” How the hell did he know?
He did know that if they didn’t show up, Austin was going to get a tire iron out and say that he needed another cover shoot and then go beat the son of a bitch to death.
Before…after…something with pictures.
There had to be something with pictures first. The pictures had to come first.
God, he had a headache. He stopped and poured himself a big cup of coffee.
“It’s going to be fine, Dallas, don’t stress this. Why don’t you go put on your shirt?”
“I wanted to wear the red one.”
“Well, you threw up on the red one. Don’t you have another red shirt? I’m sure you have one more red shirt somewhere. In your dresser. Do you want help finding it?”
Dallas shook his head, frowned at him. “No, I can do it.”
“Well then do it. We have to leave in like five minutes.”
“We can still have pizza this afternoon, right? You won’t tell about the throwing up part.”
“No, you threw up because you were wheezing. It’s okay. You’re not sick. It’s just your asthma. Everything is fine. Go find your red shirt. Now. Please. Before I have a stroke.”
“Okay, I will. Thanks, Dad. I love you.”
“I love you too, son.” Weird and wonderful and goofy and brilliant and not the most athletic and a little lost in a huge world — Austin adored his little boy.
God, his life had changed in going on six years. He’d been with Christopher, then, and they’d decided to have a baby. Months of planning and hoping and expecting had built up, but it hadn’t taken long — a week?
Not even, maybe a few days, he couldn’t really remember now — before Christopher had seen this tiny, red-faced, struggling to breathe baby that already needed asthma treatments, and had said, “Man, I didn’t sign up for this. I knew about the sleepless nights, but this? I’m not, I’m not into this.”
Austin had thought, into what? Being a father, being a caregiver, being a human being? What exactly aren’t you into, you lousy piece of garbage?
At the time, he hadn’t even said it.
He’d been too tired, too scared, too overwhelmed. Not to mention too fucking pissed off. So he just said, “Get your shit and leave.”
In fact, that’s the only thing that he had ever said to Christopher again.
Every single response he’d given to anything Christopher had said to him from that point on had been ‘get your shit and leave’.
And he’d meant it.
And he’d left, and that had been that. Now they were in a condo in Aspen that was rent controlled by dint of the owner being a fellow author friend. And Dallas had a bestie.
Who had better show up at the trampoline park.
By the time Dallas found the shirt and got his shoes on, they were almost going to be late, so he texted the cowboy, just to make sure it was all really going down.
{On our way. We’re running a few minutes late.}
He got back, {Ditto. Paige wanted to wear her little dress and suede jacket, and I had to explain at length about trampolines and pants.}
Austin snorted. Okay, he liked this guy’s way with words.
“In your car seat, buddy.” He strapped Dallas in and off they went.
It was an easy drive, and Dallas was in an amazing mood now. Ramped up from his inhaler and ready to go. “You excited, bud?”
“Yes, Sir, I’m ready. Did you know that Paige is a cowboy?”
He’d only heard it like 47,000 times. “Really? Does she have a horse of her own?”
“She does, and so does her Mama. Her Mama has lots of horses. They are very fast. Her daddy rides horses that aren’t ride-y horses.”
“Yeah? Do you remember when I took you to the rodeo that one time?” So Mr. Hale was a bronc rider?
“Uh, it was dirty.”
“It was. Do you remember the poop on the bulls?”
He could see his little persnickety boy’s nose wrinkle. “Oh yeah, I don’t like it, Daddy, I don’t like poop.”
“I don’t think anybody does, honey. It’s sort of like a thing.”
“Did you ever want to be a cowboy daddy?”
He shook his head. “No, baby, all I’ve ever wanted to do is be a rider.”
“And that’s what you do. I think I want to make robots.” He could see Dallas waving his arms in the rearview.
“I think robots are cool. I think that would be fine.”
“Robot guys and cowboys, can they be friends?” Dallas asked.
“Anybody can be friends with anybody.” He really didn’t have a whole lot of friends who weren’t writers, but he did have friends, theoretically, who weren’t. That photographer friend. And a cover artist friend. Okay, so all of his friends were writers. Fine. But he wasn’t going to tell that to his son.
Dear, Dallas. I’m a giant dork and I live in a fantasy world like ninety-nine-percent of the time, so I need friends who do the same otherwise I feel weird. Also, they understand my need for coffee and pajama pants. And late night therapy sessions involving imposter syndrome. Somehow I doubt that blow Joe Cowboy would be into that.
But he could be wrong. What did he know?
They parked, and he could immediately see the big duallie and the man with the cowboy hat. “Looks like they’re here, son.”
“Oh, yay!” Dallas started to struggle free of his harness.
“Wait for me, bud.”
“Hurry up, Pop!”
He chuckled, this enthusiasm so new. Usually if they went out, Dallas brought a book. Hell, so did he. They read together at the diner. Or they would go to the library.
This is better though. Dallas needed a friend. It didn’t escape him that his son chose the roughest, toughest cowgirl in the West.
But he supposed they called them cliches for a reason.
They met Kyler and Paige in the little entryway, and Austin had to force himself not to ogle again. It wasn’t even that the man was so hot, although he was oh my God so hot.
It was that Austin had seen way more of Kyler than was reasonable.
Not only that, but he knew how hot everything was in a three hundred pixels sort of way.
The simple fact was, in his head, that body belonged to Maverick Johnson, the hero of his series.
Not Kyler Hale, single dad.
The juxtaposition was just too damn weird.
He was just going to have to get over it, but that wasn’t going to happen today. Possibly not even tomorrow. “Hey, guys.”
Dallas ran to Paige. “Hey! You came! Are you ready to jump? We’re gonna jump. I love to jump.”
Austin gave Kyler a nod and kept his eyes above the jawline. “I promise I didn’t give him coffee.”
“You sure about that?”
“Pretty sure. This child and caffeine are not compatible under any circumstance. I also did not give him anything with maple syrup this morning for breakfast, because I am a kind and and thoughtful human being who did not want to unleash his sugar monster onto the world.”
Kyler kind of gave him a look. “Paige had Lucky Charms.”
Dallas stared at Paige. “No fair. You get Lucky Charms? Pop says no sugar cereal for me.”
“Only on special occasions. You know how sugar makes you. Besides, let’s go jump.” He didn’t really want to have a discussion about weird food issues in front of the Marlboro Man.
It wasn’t that he was all oh, let’s be persnickety, it was more that he really had a lot of work to do. And he really, really couldn’t handle Hyper Dallas.
Austin figured if he couldn’t handle that, then who could? Why should the teachers and the public have to deal with Hyper Dallas?
Dallas 2.0?
The Dallasator.
Dallaszilla.
Hmm. He liked it.
Dallas, the Eater of Worlds.
“Pop, where’d you go?”
He chuckled. “Sorry, Dallas.”
“Come on!” The kids ran to the front desk, and he and Kyler followed.
“How’s it going?” Kyler asked. It was very polite and oh so stilted. He got it. They had barely met, and while their kids were buds, they were adult strangers.
“Good. He’s been very excited.”
“Oh my God, so has Paige. She changed clothes a dozen times. We finally settled on her little stretch jeans so she didn’t show her damn underwear to the whole world.”
He broke out laughing. “I never thought of that sort of technical difficulty of having a little girl.”
Kyler handed over a debit card at the desk. “Yeah. It’s a thing. And like, riding a horse in a skirt? Chafing. Especially bareback.”
“Oh, dude…” That would suck.
“Yeah.” He got a wry grin. “But she wants to look good on occasion. I explained that her momma wears leggings under a skirt…”
“She’s close with her mom, you said.”
Kyler nodded. “Yeah. It’s nice. It’s good for all of us, you know. We’re not like….it wasn’t an ugly separation. Everything was on the up and up. We’re all happy.”
Lucky fucker. “That’s exceptional. Seriously. No bullsh—Baloney.” Austin rolled his eyes at himself. “Seriously though. I think that’s cool. I wish I could have had something like that, but that wasn’t in the cards.”
The kids took off their shoes, handed them over and took off like bats out of hell, climbing up and jumping and jumping and jumping.
It was early enough that the bigger kids weren’t there, so there weren’t a lot of bullies. And they could just play around and wear their little butts out.
“So you do this every Saturday?” Kyler asked, and Austin found himself staring into the bluest eyes he thought he’d ever seen.
Honestly, they weren’t just like this generic kind of smoky, someone drew a little blue chalk on a piece of concrete and smudged it out and that’s the color that was left behind blue.
No. Kyler’s eyes were intense — almost as bright as something out of a video game or a science fiction movie. But not scary, not fake. They were real.
And it was unnerving and wonderful and he was going to write this. God, why had he made Maverick’s eyes brown and not blue?
It wasn’t fair. Shit, the man had asked him something.
“Yeah, every Saturday. It’s something physical that doesn’t stress him out. He likes it. The people are very nice. I can get some admin work done if I want to, or chat with people, people watch.” It wasn’t spending time with Dallas, exactly, but he still felt like it was worth it. “As you can tell, my son is not particularly athletic.”
“Oh, he’s fine. I know lots of guys look like him that are plumb famous. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.” Kyler chuckled. “I wanted to say thank you for inviting us today. It means a lot to Paige and me. She was a little bit worried about going to regular school, and apparently — from what I understand — she and her Dal have become the best of friends.” Kyler rolled those gorgeous eyes.
Be good! Pay attention.
“I have to admit, I’ve been so busy building house that she sits and talks at the dinner table, and I just sit there sort of like a lump. Half the time these days, our dinner is whatever I can pick up at the drive through.”
Okay. House
There was an actual subject that they could discuss without him thinking weird thoughts. Yeah.
“Tell me about your house.”
“Well, I was damn lucky to inherit a little plot of land from my great-uncle. He always said he would leave it to me, and damn if he didn’t.” Kyler shook his head. “I’m also lucky that it’s in a horsey area, so no one has developed up around us.”
He nodded, thinking of some of the Roaring Fork areas he knew like that.
“So anyway, I got about twenty-five acres with improvements, so I’m building out a house with a few extra bedrooms and a nice big kitchen and a wraparound porch, and then we’ll have a barn and a workshop for me.” Kyler’s cheeks went dark pink under his tan. “I ramble on about it.”
“Dude! Ramble. I have a rent-controlled condo. It’s literally the definition of nothing special.” No self deprecation, now. He worked for himself.
“Hey, in this valley, that says something.” Kyler grinned. “I don’t suppose they have coffee for very sadly in need dads?”
“They have a fancy coffee shop, even. You want my discount card? You get punches for each coffee.” He loved their hazelnut lattes. That was his Saturday breakfast.
“Sure. What would you like? I’ll grab it for you.” Kyler looked so easy in his skin.
“Just tell him it’s for Austin. They know.” His cheeks were burning as he dug the card out of his wallet and handed it over. “I’m sort of a regular. I’ll get the next one, promise.”
“No worries.” Kyler laughed as he walked away, and that gave him the view of the butt. Fans had written odes to this man’s ass. Literally poems about Kyler’s butt, even though they thought it was Maverick’s butt, or they thought of it as Mavericks butt, and it wasn’t Mavericks butt; it was Kyler’s ass, but it was still pretty fucking intense there in the jeans. Kind of amazing.
This just t fair. He hadn’t been laid in six years. Six years almost. And yet here he was. With Maverick who was Kyler. At a trampoline park with their children. God was evil. And had a sick sense of humor. And personally, Austin did not approve.
Okay, that was a lie.
He approved a lot. There were five covers to the series of books Kyler was on. Butt. Hand holding the buckle. Amazing jawline and in collarbone. Holding the hat with face shadowed. And then one that was a nice slice of the entire backside, top to bottom. Complete with broad shoulders and one firm, tight, little butt cheek.
Five covers, with five different fantasies. It had never occurred to him that he was going to have to interact with this person like a human being and not a fantasy photo.
“Pop, Pop, look at me! I’m jumping. I’m jumping.”
He nodded, actually looking over, tearing his eyes away from said denim covered heiney. “You are doing a good job, bud. Way to go Paige.”
That little girl could jump. And she was damn fearless too, throwing herself up and down and all around like she had absolutely no concern about broken bones or sprained joints or messed up hair or broken glasses.
“Thank you!”
It was unnatural and kind of cool.
Kyler came back a few minutes later with coffees and some kind of bag of pastry. “Here you go. And I hope you’re okay with either an apple fritter or a chocolate croissant.”
“I can happily nom either one.”
“I’ve never met someone who says nom out loud,” Kyler teased, those eyelines crinkling right up.
“Stick with me for more amazing word plays.”
“I’ll do that.” Kyler sat and opened the bag out like a plate, letting him choose which pastry he wanted, which was pretty chivalrous. Or whatever. And he needed to stop thinking that way, because Kyler’s ex was a woman.
Rule number one: do not lust after the straight dude.
Especially not the straight dude who had the cowboy thing going on who could absolutely, one hundred percent kick his butt. Because honestly? Butt kicking? Really not in his list of skills.
Now if someone needed poison pen letters, he was a boss. You need someone to cut you short in a very carefully worded letter to the editor. He was the man.
“You wanna split them half and half?” Kyler asked him.
“Sure why not? I like them both.”
Kyler stared over at the kids while Austin was trying to gracefully mangle the pastries with the plastic knife that had all of the sharpness of the wit of a blustering politician. “She looks like she’s having fun.”
“She does. I think they both are. There is some energy being expended up there. If only we could bottle it…” And there he proved he was just a dyed in the wool, dork single dad.
Because that was something that middle-aged people said to one another when talking about young people. God.
He was going to have to start writing space operas where it didn’t matter that all of his references were meant for another generation.
Space operas or cozy mysteries.
Possibly greeting cards. He could totally rock a greeting card.
“I hear that. I think that about every little beast, animal or man, that I come across. If only they knew how much they were going to want that energy in just a few years’ time, and yet here they are out there just spending it like there were no lean times ahead.” Kyler’s tone was so wry.
“Well, I know it’s silly, but maybe we can hope for no lean times ahead.” Pollyanna much?
“Sure. Sure, why the hell not? I could go for no lean times.” Kyler grinned and winked at him. “I made some money on the rodeo circuit, but there have been…I mean, there were some real lean times back when I was starting out.”
He knew better than to ask if there was actual money to be made in the rodeo, because after all, that was what he did. He wrote about rodeo cowboys. To be fair, they were mostly naked, and usually what they were riding were not bulls or horses, but still, Austin had done his due diligence.
“So, did you ever get to go to the NFR?” See him show his knowledge.
“I did. I mean, I was low man on the totem pole, sitting right on the bubble, but I did. Now, Cheyenne? Denver? The big stock shows. Santa Fe… I did well at those events on a day at a time basis.”
“Those are some big purses, right?”
“Yeah.” Kyler chuckled. “Enough to build a house. I still have to take odd jobs to cover the rent in town though.” Those cheeks went dark again.
“Hey, that’s a lot of cash. I get it. It’s a lot.”
Also, I’m the odd job. Me. Odd job.
“It is. But I’m happy with the progress. We’ll be in before the holidays and the weather gets bad.”
“That sounds lovely.” Trite, but he didn’t wince. He just smiled and stuffed a bit of croissant in his mouth so he would shut up.
“It will be nice to get back to making saddles. That’s where I really want to put my time.”
“You’d said. That is cool as all get out. That’s something that’s crazy unique.”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s a niche market for sure.” Kyler winced. “Careful, Paige! Don’t forget that some kids are smaller than you.”
Like mine, he thought, though Dallas was laughing like a loon.
“Sorry, Daddy!” She helped Dallas back up to standing. “Jump! Jump!”
Dallas bounced, grinning and waving his arms.
“Lord, they’re going to be sweaty.”
“Yes. But after pizza and a good old fashioned Disney film? They be exhausted.” And that was the goal.
“Sounds good. Just not Encanto, please. I have nightmares about that Bruno song.”
“Oh, lord. You know how many times he’s sung that? Right now he’s into Cars and Brave. He wants siblings.” Like he could afford that.
“So does Paige. She keeps saying how cool it would be to have a little sister to dress up.” Kyler rolled his eyes. “Like a doll. I swear, I was not prepared to raise a girl.”
“No? I lucked out — Dallas and I are two peas in a pod. So, barring his asthma and my weak ankles? We match up.”
“Oh, she’s a cowgirl, my daughter. But she’s pink and sparkly and just… She’s wild and wonderful and I wouldn’t give for her.”
He tilted his head. “Give what?”
Kyler blinked. “Anything. I mean, it’s an expression.”
“Oh.” That was a new one on him, and it was so going in a book. “Cool. I love that.”
Dallas came to him, sweat beaded on his face. “Pops, I need a drink, pretty please?”
“You bet, buddy.” He pulled a bottle of water out of his bag. That kept Dallas from trying to get a Coke or something.
“Thanks. Is there one for Paige?”
“Of course. I brought four.” He lifted the second bottle out and held it up.
“I’ll try to remember to bring stuff next time. I wasn’t sure if outside things would be allowed. Thank you.” Kyler took the water, then waved Paige over. “Come get a drink, kiddo.”
“You can bring in things, otherwise it would cost a fortune. No glass bottles. No food or drink on the play floor.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll be sure to fill you in on the rules from now on. I hate to be unprepared, so I don’t want you to have to be.”
“I appreciate it, man. I have a feeling we’ll have our share of play dates.” Kyler nodded to Paige, who was showing Dallas how to gargle words with the water. Then burp.
Dallas was giggling madly, staring at Paige with pure adoration.
Lord, that was adorable, and he hoped it didn’t crash and burn too fast. Paige was bright and athletic and chatty. She was bound to make girl friends pretty quick.
Still, Dallas needed practice at making friends, one way or the other. He wasn’t going to stress it too terribly hard.
“Okay, I wanna jump a little more.” Paige gave Dallas a hopeful glance. “We can go slower.”
“I can do that.” Dallas beamed, then took her hand, and off they went.
“She’s a sweetheart.” Such a good little heart, to be so kind. “Thanks for bringing her out.”
“Hey, I just wanted to know where the good pizza was.” Kyler winked.
“Ah. We’re going to order and have it delivered. It’ll be easy for them to chill and relax.” He wished Dallas had a place outside to play, but he didn’t.
“Oh cool.” Kyler tilted his head. “They’re starting to droop.”
“Yeah, well, they’ve only expended like five billion calories.” He winked over it. Kyler. “There’s a method to my madness.” He raised his voice. “Yo Dallas, you got ready to have some pizza and watch movies?”
Dallas was red cheeked and sweaty, and it was good because he was kind of worried that there would have been an asthma attack or something after this morning’s panic attack. But no, he was doing great.
“I’m ready, Pop. Can we have pepperponies? Paige likes pepperponies on her pizza.”
“Sure.” He glanced over at Kyler. “Now that’s love, man, because. Dallas hates pepperoni.”
“Oh, maybe we should get a half cheese and a half pepperoni.”
“I think that that is the absolute wisest decision. You’ll have to think about what you take on your pizza. I figured I’d get one for each of us.” He personally was a chicken, pesto, and jalapeno pizza kind of guy. He would bet all of his pennies that, that was a little too queer for the cowboy. So he’d let the poor guy pick his own pizza.
His character Maverick took alll the meats, no veg. Which was really very, very bad for your intestinal system, but not something one mentioned in romance novels so…
The kids all drank some more water, and then they headed out, the kids, yammering together, just two peas in a pod.
“Come on, let me give you the address to the house, just in case we get separated.”
He texted their address.
“Can I ride with Paige, Pop?”
“Well, buddy, your car seat’s in the car. We’ll go separately, and then she’ll be there in just a second. It’ll be okay.” God help him.
“Yeah, I think that would be best, kiddo.” Kyler chuckled. “I like the barbecue chicken pizza if your place has one, or I’ll take the supreme.”
“You got it.” That was surprisingly veggie accepting. He stuffed a very pouty Dallas into the car seat, waving as he headed out.
Kyler followed him easily, but didn’t ride his ass, which he approved of. In fact, he would feel comfortable with Dallas riding with the guy.
All in all, if Kyler wasn’t his cover model, well, he would be super pleased about this whole situation.
Chapter 6
“Honey, stop bouncing. They’ll be here.” Kyler grinned at Paige, who was wearing a pink T-shirt that read, ‘Be nice to me. My Momma is crazy and not afraid to use it’, a pair sparkly butt jeans, and her pink boots.
Dallas and his dad were coming out to meet Paige’s horse before they headed out to the Ute Trailhead to do a little hiking. So he had her sneakers in the truck.
Pizza had been a real success, with the kids munching pizza and watching Moana while he and Austin chatted. It had been… nice to talk to another adult. It had made him feel real, which these days, with every damn thing in flux, was a good thing.
“I know, Daddy. I just want to dance.”
Yeah, she’d tried to wear a pink tutu over her jeans…
“Well, come here.” He opened up the music program on his phone, and Take it to the Limit by the Eagles started playing. “Waltz with me, kiddo.”
“I love to sing with you, Daddy.” She came right to him, her little feet on top of his. And he danced her around, his heart just full.
This whole thing was hard. Building a house. Trying to make things work, starting a ranch, getting his business back off the ground. But it was worth it. He was doing it for her.
“Do you think that at Dallas will like Penny? Or do you think he’s going to be scared?”
He imagined, with all of his heart actually, that. Dallas was going to be terrified. But he had to give it to that little boy. He was going to bazen this whole thing out. And if Paige liked horses, and he was gonna like horses, damn it.
“I think he’s going to be fine, baby girl. He’s very excited.”
“Me too. I can’t wait for them to meet. And then he could have a horse. He could name his horse Maui. Or Eragon. Or Pebbles. And then we can ride together all the time.” Her blue eyes glittered.
Somehow he doubted that Austin was going to be willing to get a horse. But, hey, you never knew. The guy was actually kind of cool and weirdly fascinating. The condo Austn kept would be…s parse even. Modern and super clean. Except for the fact that obviously the man believed that books were furniture, because they were stacked everywhere. Bookshelves, sofa tables. Coffee tables. Everywhere. It blew his mind.
And it didn’t seem to matter what kind of books. There were westerns, sci-fi, and fantasy. There were nonfiction books. There were the top ten from the New York Times. Manga. Comic books. Kids books, chapter books. It was like a library.
And what was weirder was that the man knew where everything was. Kyler admitted he’d seen a title that he kind of recognized and had asked for it just to see if Austin had any idea, and man, not even a hesitation. He’d walked over to a stack, run his finger down it, and gone bloop, and then offered to let Kyler borrow it.
That was the strangest damn thing he’d ever seen. But also it kind of suited the man who was kind of like something out of some kind of mystical movie that Doug Jones played the main character in. But more sensual than creepy.
He liked the look of Austin.
A lot.
That he probably wasn’t something to be thinking about right now, but it was true. And every so often he caught Austin looking at him a certain way. They way that maybe indicated interest. Like, in a sexy way.
It boosted his ego a bit.
He danced his girl in another circle and ignored the SUV that pulled up until Dallas came running over.
“What are we doing?” Dallas half-shouted.
“Dancing, kiddo. I taught Paige to waltz a bit ago.”
“Poppy dances!” he little one exclaimed, his eyes huge. “He did ball dancing.” Dallas looked at Paige and wrinkled his nose. “The shoes are so funny, and he wore sparkly shirts.”
Paige tilted her head. “My momma wears sparkly shirts to work. Did your dad do that for work?”
Austin nodded. “Uh-huh. When he was a teenager. Then he got very tall. Bald dancers aren’t very tall. And they have to dance with girls. And my Poppy doesn’t dance with girls. My poppy dances with boys.”
Page frowned. Looked confused for a moment. And then before she started asking questions she pointed to the fence. “You wanna go see my horse? Her name’s Penny. She’s very pretty.”
Oh thank God. That was the last thing he wanted to get into right now.
He wasn’t a homophobe at all. In fact, he was sort of more than a little interested in exploring that side of him, but that wasn’t the point. He wasn’t ready to explain this whole thing to his daughter. Whose mother was a barrel racer.
He had a life. He couldn’t deal with that right now. He had enough. Thing was, he couldn’t even like, tell Austin that he didn’t want… What? For Austin to be who he was? That was stupid.
But Dallas wasn’t even being political or shocking. To him, this was just life. And there was nothing wrong with that. But in the circles that Paige lived in, sometimes it was considered bad.
God, he had a headache.
“Hey, man, I brought, um, snacks and backpacks. And water.” He got a smile. “And sunscreen. And hats. Dallas is so excited and a little terrified. But he’s going to do this and…” Austin tilted his head. “Are you OK?”
No, no, he was in the middle of this great big philosophical quandary all of the sudden. He was not okay. “I’m fine. I just have a headache.”
“Oh well, I’ve got Tylenol, Advil, and Motrin in the car. Along with baby aspirin. In the first aid kit just in case someone has a heart attack.”
“I don’t think I’m heart attacky now.” Maybe he’d stroke out, but not a heart attack.
“No, I meant like, we’re walking down the street and someone has a heart attack and the the car is close. You know, it’s just that’s part of the thing. You’re supposed to have them in a nicely done first aid kit.”
“Well, you are a good Boy Scout, aren’t you?”
It must have come out meaner than he had. Anticipated, because Austin’s cheeks turned a dark, embarrassed red. Angry, almost. And he shrugged. “I guess I just went by what the recommendations were. That’s all. So this is your land. It’s charming.”
Well shit, now he’d hurt the guy’s feelings, and he really hadn’t meant to. Christ, Austin hadn’t done anything wrong. And Kyler hated the fact that he was uncomfortable when the man hadn’t done a thing to him.
“It is. Like I said, I’ve inherited it, but I’m really trying to make it something. I appreciate you coming out. Paige is so excited for Dallas to meet Penny. Is he excited too?” Will you forgive me for being an ass? Because I didn’t want to, and I did and, fuck…
“Excited. A little nervous. OK, a lot nervous. But trying very hard to be brave. I told him that. He wasn’t expected to do anything but watch if he didn’t want to. He doesn’t have to interact with the horse if he’s freaked out. I hope that’s all right with you. But I’m not, you know, I’m not going to have him panicking and getting himself or Paige or the horse hurt because he’ scared.”
“That’s totally fair.” They walked toward the barn. It was makeshift, but it worked for now. “Paige is good about that. She helped with a petting zoo on tour this past year.”
That got him a wide-eyed look. “As in worked it?”
“Sure. I mean, she wasn’t child slave labor or anything, but I pick my battles. I wasn’t about to tell her she couldn’t visit the goats and chickens and Daisy the donkey every day.”
“Daisy the donkey, huh?” Austin asked and glanced at him, grinned. “That’s cool. What other kind of animals do you think you want to raise here?”
“Oh, the girl wants big birds and cows. She saw a miniature once and wanted that too.”
“They make miniature cows? For teeny tiny steaks?”
“I think just as pets.” Hell is he knew the whys. He just knew Paige wanted one of everything. “Wait for me, kiddo!”
Paige had taken Dallas into the lean to, which was fine, but he wanted to be there for the meeting.
“Okay, Daddy!” Her tone was more wicked than obedient, but he’d take it.
They followed more slowly. “So is there anything you want to know about the hike today?” He was reaching, but he didn’t want an awkward silence.
“I googled it. It seems like something doable for the kids and me. I brought snacks and water.”
“Cool. I did too this time.” Hiking he knew, and he and Paige had picked out this activity, so it seemed only fair.
“Dallas loves walking and looking for rocks and different things.”
“Oh, good.” Whew. “And you said he’s not allergic to peanut butter.”
“Nope.” Austin chuckled. “We sound stilted. Are you wigged out that I’m gay?”
“No.” He made that very firm and not loud and shocked. “I’m really not. I was just surprised at Dallas. In my circles, no one just comes out with it, so it kinda made me go, huh. And then I was rude.”
“Dallas has no idea that he should be worried, so…” Austin shrugged his shoulders. “He’s innocent, I guess…”
“He is, and that’s great.” He tried a smile. “We good?”
“Yes. Totally. You don’t have to worry. We’re allowed to have friends.” That wink was naughty.
“Oh, hey.” He felt his cheeks heat. “So are cowboys.” God, Henley would give him no end of shit about this.
“I’m glad. It’s fascinating getting to know you.”
“Thanks. I feel the same way. You’re not like anyone I know.”
“No? I can say the same.”
“All my friends are cowboys,” Kyler said wryly. “I was on tour so much…”
“All my friends are writers. I know tons of them from all over.”
“Wow. I mean, I guess your meet all sorts on the internet? I mean, we cowboys meet at rodeos, but I’m the same way. They’re from all over.” They did have things in common, oddly enough.
“Yeah. I have friends all over the world, even a few in Denver, but…it’s challenging, you—”
“Daddy, come on!”
“Coming!”
Austin gave him a smile. “Whoops.”
“They get impatient. She wants to show off so badly.”
“I understand. She needs Dallas to like her life too.”
Hopefully the little boy would.
“She does.” He led the way into the barn. “Okay, Paige. Let me get her halter on.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Paige ushered Dallas away from the stall. “This is Penny. She’s my good horse. My momma bought her for me.”
“She’s real big.”
“She’s nice. I promise. Don’t be scared.”
“Well, honey, he shouldn’t be scared, but he should be cautious. What do I always say?”
“They’re big enough to hurt and smart enough to be trouble.”
“Exactly. Show him how to feed her a carrot.”
“So, you gots to make your hand real flat, okay. And put the carrot in the middle, like this.” Paige showed how to give Penny her treat, no stress.
“Oh. Okay.” Dallas sounded worried, but he did it, and he giggled when Penny’s soft lips brushed over his little hand. “Oh, you’re pretty.”
“She likes when you say that.” Paige stroked her forelock, the star on her forehead.
“She knows a good many words,” Kyler told Austin. “She loves the word carrot, huh, Paige?”
At the word, Penny whinnied and tossed her head, nodding yes.
Dallas’s eyes were the size of saucers.
Paige grinned and held out her own piece of carrot. Penny crunched it right up, way less gentle with her girl, who knew all of her limits. “Good lady. Such a pretty baby.”
“She’s very brave,” Austin whispered.
“She doesn’t know any better,” he murmured back. “She knows as many animals as she does people.”
Hell, maybe more.
She was the progeny of two horsemen. It was in her genes.
“So, this is Dallas’s first chance. Especially not with anything that’s not a cat or a dog. My mom has a poodle, but she doesn’t—she’s old. The poodle. Not my mom.”
Austin made him chuckle. “Where does she live?”
“She and my dad live in Northern New Mexico, right over the border. They bought a big piece of land up there, and they live with one of my sisters.”
Somehow, Kyler hadn’t imagined that Austin had family, weirdly. “Do you have a big family?”
“Two sisters and a brother, so big enough, you know. They are four of us.” Austin’s mouth twisted. “My sisters and brothers are all very…charismatic. So are mom and dad. Football. Softball. Soccer. Acting. They’re very outgoing and traditionally attractive. I’m the outlier, of course. My brother Houston has two little girls my. Antonia, who mom and dad live with, is married and she has one baby and is working on a second with her husband. Then Wimberley is a stuntwoman in LA.”
“Really? No shit?”
“Really. She’s a hoot. Absolutely fearless.”
Kyler couldn’t hardly imagine it, really. This quiet guy had a stunt woman sister. Go fucking figure.
“That’s pretty damn cool. I mean, shit, I think you being an author is really neat. Seriously. How many people actually make a living at that?” He was fascinated at the idea.
Especially recently.
“Not a ton. I’m very lucky that I have loyal readers.” Austin shrugged and offered him an oddly nervous smile. “Seriously, it’s a great job.”
“That’s— Whoops.” Kyler stepped forward and moved the mare sideways. He would bet neither kid even noticed, but that kept them from getting squashed as Penny swung her big butt around.
Austin stared, and Kyler was proud of him for not reaching out and snatching Dallas up and running. Kyler could see by the way Austin’s fingers curled in that it was a huge temptation.
Paige just laughed when she bumped Penny with her shoulder. “Sometimes she’s clumsy like me.” So Paige had noticed and was correcting Penny. Good girl. He breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re not. You’re just…so fast.” Dallas beamed at Paige. “Sometimes your feet outrun your brain.”
“All the time!” She giggled harder. “And you’re always careful where you put yours.”
“Uh-huh. Always. Sometimes it’s no fun.”
“I think you’re fun, Dal! I think you’re great.”
Dallas flushed and grinned. “Thanks.”
Kyler rolled his eyes. Lord save him from new besties. “Come on, Paige. Let’s get Penny out in the paddock for the day, and then we can go hike.”
“Does she just go outside? What if it rains? What if she gets scared?”
“She has access to the inside. See that opening over there in that roof that leans? It’s called a lean-to,” Paige explained. “She can get under there.”
“Lean-to.” Dallas giggled. “I like that. Poppy! It’s a le-ee-ee-ean-to.”
“It is! I like that word too.”
“What’s your favorite word, Mr. Kyler?” Dallas asked.
Did people have favorite words? This looked like a game they played a lot, based on the way Austin and Dallas looked at him, and he didn’t want Austin to think he was a moron, so he cast about. “Latigo.”
“Oh, that’s a good one! Poppy!” Dallas beamed. “What does that mean?”
“It’s the long strap of a western saddle. It’s a Spanish word.”
Okay, that was hotter than advertised. He grinned. “Bingo. What’s yours, Dallas?” He hoped to hell he knew what it was when Dallas said it.
“Labyrinth!” the little boy cheered. “I love that word!”
“Oh that’s a good one. Good movie too.” He winked at Austin, because he heard that little chuckle.
“Oh, yes. One of our favorite oldies but goodies.”
Kyler wasn’t sure Paige was quite ready for Labyrinth…
“I like Appaloosa,” Paige said. “Such a neat sound.”
“Appaloosa? That’s a…” Dallas scrunched his face up. “A…a…a horse! A horse with a spotty butt!”
“Yes!” Paige grabbed him and squeezed him. “How did you know?”
Dallas and Austin spoke together. “Appaloosa Zebra.”
Kyler chuckled along. “Nice one. And what about you, Mr. Austin?” He took off Penny’s halter to let her loose in the small pasture. He wouldn’t leave it on and have her get hung up on something trying to scratch it off.
“Almost. I love the word almost.” No hesitation at all.
“Yeah?” He tilted his head. “Why?” That one didn’t make sense.
“Because it’s the best plot device ever. Something almost happens or almost doesn’t happen. It’s a magical word.”
“Okay, I can see that.” And now he did. “That works. Y’all ready to hike? Sunscreen? Water?”
“Poppy made up a whole backpack!” Dallas was so proud of his dad that it was adorable.
“Did he?”
“Uh-huh. Snacks and water and bug stuff and all.”
Paige grinned. “He’s prepared!”
“Uh-huh. He always is. He reads all the books and on the computer about things.”
Kyler had to wonder if Austin ever did “everything”, or if he just read about it.
Which lead him to wonder what Austin read about late at night, and that was probably a bad thing to think about. He made sure the gate was closed behind Penny, then grabbed Paige’s hand.
“You going to follow us to the trailhead?”
“Sure, or we can go together. I’m easy.”
“Well, let’s move the other car seat to the truck, then.” He was good with driving. That way if the kids got filthy it was his truck that got slimed.
“Sounds great to me. That cool with you, Dallas?”
“Super cool, Poppy.” Dallas grinned at Paige. “I get to ride with you!”
“You do!” The kids sang the whole way, and Kyler was thankful he had the Disney singalong playlist on his phone so he could plug it in.
Austin knew all the songs too, singing along in a lovely tenor that made him grin.
That was adorable, and just made him like the man more.
They all piled out at the trailhead, and he gauged the kids’ energy. “I think we plan on about a quarter to half a mile out.”
“Sounds good to me. The kids can play and have a snack whenever we stop to turn.” Austin chuckled softly, murmured. “I never thought I’d be on a playdate with Dallas.”
“Right?” They had that in common, oddly. “Paige would roughhouse with the other rodeo kids, but they saw each other just enough to breed contempt, not friendship, I think.” Paige had been called bossy more than once…
Dallas, though, he was easy-going and obviously ready to have someone that was a friend.
“Well, I think she’s wonderful,” Austin said. “And so does Dal.”
“Come get a drink, y’all,” he said. “And get your sunblock on.”
“We got spray-on, and it doesn’t smell bad. Yay!” Dallas did a butt-wiggle dance that amused the hell out of him, and when Paige copied him, Kyler cracked up.
Soon enough, they were walking and the kids were running, skipping, singing, and looking at every rock.
“Lord, thank you so much for inviting us. I can’t tell you how much it means.” Austin smiled at him, ambling along like this was the best day ever.
It kind of was, actually. The sun was shining, but there was a nice cool breeze, and just spending time with Austin and the kids made him smile.
Austin fascinated him in ways Kyler had a hard time explaining, even to himself.
He breathed in deep, then let it out, tracking Paige as she almost wandered off the trail.
“Stay with us, kiddo. No going off in your own, okay? And the trail is what?”
“There for a reason. It protects the land around us,” she chanted.
“That’s it.” She was learning her land conservation lessons well. It was kind of a passion of his.
“She sounds like you do this a lot,” Austin said.
“She’s hiked all over the southwest. From Texas and New Mexico to Nevada and Northern California. And now we’re learning about Colorado, right kiddo?” he called.
“Right!” She beamed at him. “I am a mountain girl. I’m going to learn how to snowboard this winter. Do you like skiing, Dal?”
Little Dallas shook his head. “I don’t know how.”
“Oh. Well we should try it together.”
Austin gave his kid a doubtful look, but Kyler knew it was the little ones who blew out the world at the rodeo…
“Do you ski, Austin?”
“I have, yes. I haven’t in six years or so. I’ve been crazy busy.”
“Cool. I did Steamboat once during ski week. BP.” At Austin’s raised eyebrow, Kyler chuckled. “Before Paige.”
“Oh, I like it. Maybe we can all learn together, huh?” Austin smiled at Dallas, who shrugged.
“I’m not good at it.”
“How do you know?” Paige asked.
“I don’t know!”
“Well, see?” Paige chuckled. “If you don’t know, you don’t know.”
“But you don’t know I can. What if I hate it?”
“Then you don’t do it no more.”
“Any,” Austin corrected, then winced and looked at him.
Kyler nodded. “Anymore, kiddo.”
“Okay! Dallas, look at the little bird.”
“Oh…so pretty…”
“Sorry, man. It’s a knee-jerk reaction. I’ll try to not.”
“Not worries. You beat me to it, is all.” Lord, his ex would beat his ass if he let Paige get away with bad grammar. She was all about presenting herself well.
Austin offered him a grateful smile. “I love how she is with him.”
“She’s just her, I reckon.” He laughed. “But thank you. I always hope I’m doing okay, and when she’s making other folks smile, I know she’s doing okay.”
“She’s incredibly brave and charming.”
And he thought little Dallas was smart — serious and smart.
Dallas took a tumble then, tripping over his own feet, and everything froze for a moment while Kyler and Paige waited to see how Dallas and Austin handled those kinds of things.
“You okay, buddy?” Austin asked when Dallas just sat on his butt, blinking.
“Um.” Dallas looked at Paige, who was smiling in an encouraging way. “Uh-huh. I’m not bleeding.”
“Good deal.”
“Here.” Paige stuck out a hand. “I do that all the time.”
Dallas took her hand. “Thanks. I saw a pine cone. A big one.”
“Ooh. Cool. Where? We can put peanut butter on it.”
“Peanut butter?” Dallas dangled for a moment when Paige yanked him up, but then they were off.
And Kyler was relieved that Austin had done a nice bit of let’s see parenting. “He’s pretty brave for a kid who says he can’t ski.”
“He’s scared of anything new, but really, if he tries, he’s pretty athletic. He’s got asthma, but the doctors are pretty sure he’ll outgrow it.”
“I can see that. I know a lot of guys who ride the rodeo who had it when they were young.” He offered that, not sure what Austin would make of it.
“Yeah. I have a friend that’s a competitive diver that did too. It’s more a matter of stress.” Just like it was nothing — no big deal.
Kyler nodded, because he had no idea what to say to that. Paige tended to sock people in the nose when stressed, just like her momma.
“Stress is wild on the body. So I try to keep him easy, but…maybe I do too much.”
“Hey, I don’t judge. People say I let her run wild.” He had to shake his head now instead of nodding. “Maybe we’ll learn from each other.”
“Daddy! I need water.”
“Sure, baby girl.”
He had four bottles of water, and God knew what all Austin had in his pack… Hell, that was half the reason he’d decided to go easy on the trail. That pack had to weigh a ton.
“Oh, me too, Poppy? I’m thirsty.”
“Sure. I have waters, snacks, whatever you need.”
“Can we sit a minute?” Dallas waved at a convenient bench.
“Is that okay with y’all?” Austin asked.
“Sure.” Paige would dance or run or whatever. And maybe have a snack.
They sat, and Austin pulled out hand wipes, a picnic blanket, and a Tupperware box filled with cheese and crackers.
Wow.
That was… wow. It should have seemed so fussy, but it was sweet, somehow. Like Austin would have gone to the trouble anyway, but that he was doing it for him and Paige added something to it.
“Oh, Daddy…” Paige blinked.
“I brought enough for everyone. There are strawberries and grapes too…”
“That’s amazing, huh, baby girl? What do we say?”
“Thank you! Daddy just brought peanut butter cheese crackers and Oatmeal Cream Pies.”
His cheeks heated. “They hold up well if it’s hot.”
“Dallas and I love Oatmeal Cream Pies! We buy them for a treat.”
Even if it was a lie, it was sweet to hear.
“We do too. Hiking is a special thing.” He pulled out his stash to add it in.
They had a little feast, little Dallas perking up after food and taking Paige to play in the Alpine meadow they were sat in.
“Thanks for this,” Kyler said. “It was really nice.”
“Thanks for the invite, man. I appreciate it. He’s so happy.”
“Well, we’ll have to do something again soon, huh?” And hope that Paige and Dallas didn’t break up before they got the chance.
“Sure. Absolutely. Dallas is talking about going to the movies for his birthday in a few weeks, and we always have pizza and trampolining.”
“We do.” He packed away trash. They would take it home. Trail trash cans invited bad animal habits.
“Good deal.”
“You have to show. Daddy! Look! Dallas can do a cartwheel!”
And he’d be damned if that little boy didn’t just do one, no stress.
Kyler clapped. “That was very cool, kiddo! I like it.”
Dallas bowed. “I’m here all day.”
That made him snort. That kid was wicked smart.
Paige frowned. “Okay. So show me. I want to do it.”
“Sure.” Dallas grinned. “You start by putting your hands on the ground like this.” Dallas bent and put his hands flat on the ground. “And you start with just a little jump.” He hopped his feet up and around. “That way you don’t fall down while you learn.”
He bit back the urge to call to her to be careful. He wanted her to stay fearless as long as she could.
“It’s so hard. I leave him at gymnastics class.”
“He takes gymnastics?”
“Since he was two.”
“Wow. That’s great.” Paige would love that, he would bet, but he was also thinking about swimming for her. There was a great community center where she could go.
“The gym is really reasonable and low key. I’ll text you the info, if she wants.”
“Thanks. I would like that. We’ll see which way she leans, right? She wants to do all the things, but I work to get her to pace herself.” He winced when Paige landed on her ass, but she bounced right up.
“Sure. No pressure.”
“Good job!” Dallas cheered. “I’m so proud.”
She beamed, and they all chuckled. “Such an appreciation society.”
“They need it, I guess. Kids are fascinating.”
“They are, and it’s nice to see her with someone who likes her so much.”
“Daddy! Daddy, I did it!”
He applauded. “Way to go, baby! You guys about ready to head back?”
“No, but I know it’s better to go back happy than poopy!”
Dallas cracked up. “Nope. No poop!”
Paige cackled like a giant bird.
Kyler shook his head as they headed back toward the trail head. Lord have mercy.
He’d always imagined that having a girl wouldn’t be as gross as having a boy.
Dallas and Austin were proving him wrong.
Chapter 7
“Poppy!” Dallas came running out of the school, tears on his cheeks. “I want to go home. Now. Right now.”
“Okay, okay, buddy. What’s wrong?” Dallas hadn’t been this upset in eons.
“Paige yelled at me, and said I was a sissy. Am I a sissy because I’m scared to try skiing?”
He bit back all sorts of things that tried to come out of his mouth. Most of them were anti-Paige, so he kept them to himself, because that was just knee-jerk. He took a deep breath. Took Dallas’ hand because his shoe was untied.
Then he spoke. “Of course not, buddy. And it’s not nice to call someone a sissy. Or try to bully them into doing something.”
“She says we’re not friends no more. I want to go home. I don’t want to go to trampoline tomorrow. I want to stay home.”
“Hey, let’s get home and have a little sit and maybe a cookie, and we’ll talk about it, huh?” His job was to find out what had actually happened while having his kid’s back. But he wouldn’t let Dal make snap decisions.
After he got Dal in his seat, he texted Kyler. {Kids had a fight. Fair warning}
{Crap. I’ll come get her. She’s supposed to be helping in the library, but I know she’ll be a mess. Dal ok?}
{Crying hard. Says he dsnt want to go trampoline 2morrow. Call later?}
{Sounds good}
He and Kyler talked quite a bit once the kids were asleep, so they could work out what was going on later. He felt like he had a little parental support there.
Austin sat for a while and gave Dallas time to calm down. Then he made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Strawberry jelly, crust cut off. Sliced into four triangles.
He poured a glass of milk and then headed in to see Dallas and have a talk.
Dallas is sitting in the middle of his bed, his Goosebumps comforter wrapped tight around him. Glaring.
“I brought us a snack to share. Can I sit?”
“You’re the dad. You can do anything you want to.”
“Dude, wouldn’t that be cool? If I could do anything I wanted to? We could time travel together, you and me. I could snap my fingers, and we would be anywhere.”
That almost got a smile, and Dallas, took a piece of the sandwich. “Anywhere. Like where?”
“I think we’d start in the Old West. We could be gunslingers together. And then when we were done doing that, we could go back to medieval times and see if there were dragons. I don’t think I’d really be knight, though. I think that that armor stuff had to get stinky and who wants to walk around clanking like a old rusty tin can.”
He let himself wrinkle his nose. “Anyway, can you imagine the tetanus?”
Dallas’s eyes went wide. “Tetanus. That’s the lockjaw stuff. I wonder if knights got lockjaw.”
Austin shrugged. “Right? Because there weren’t any. But, but we’re just going to visit, and we’re looking for dragons.”
Dallas nodded. “Okay. Also I want to go see a mermaid. What time were mermaids?”
He pondered that. “I’m pretty sure mermaids were medieval too, don’t you think? Or maybe ancient Greek.”
“Vikings. Were Vikings medieval?” Dallas asked.
“Well, Vikings are a people, so they kind of went like the whole time.”
Dallas rolled his eyes. “No, that was cavemans. Neanderthals. Neanderthals were before Vikings.”
“Fair enough, fair enough. Were Vikings before Egyptians?” He loved having these sort of talks with his son, not only because they were fascinating, but because if Dallas was talking to him, Dallas wasn’t crying. He hated when his little boy cried.
“I think the Egyptians came first.” Dallas frowned. “Can we look it up?”
“Sure we can. Can we talk a little bit about what happened at school first?”
His phone buzzed, but he didn’t look at it right now. This was about Dallas.
Dallas sighed. “I knew you would do that.”
“Sorry, kiddo. You know how I feel about having all the information.”
“I know.” Dallas drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. “We were talking about what activities we wanted to do, and this winter they’ll do a ski field trip as soon as there’s snow.”
“Wow. That’s pretty cool.”
Dallas’ lower lip pooched out. “Snow is cold.”
“It is that. But you liked sledding when we did it last year, right?”
“Yes. But that wasn’t standing up on snow.”
“Well, you don’t have to learn all by yourself. I could help you. I mean if you’re scared about falling down.”
“I just don’t wanna. I don’t want everybody to be mad at me because I can’t do it.”
“But you can do things, dude.” Austin hated this because he was afraid that he was a part of this whole ‘I can’t do things’ movement on the Dallas front, and that wasn’t right.
But then he didn’t know what to do.
It was very frustrating.
He did want to yell because it wasn’t Dal’s fault, but he kind of wanted to yell because it was frustrating and… “You do gymnastics, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but gymnastics are easy.”
“Some people don’t think so. I think gymnastics is hard. I can’t even do a…” He waved his hand. “…walk over. And you can do flips and stuff on the trampoline.”
“Nobody watches when I do that, though.”
“I watch. Miss Michelle watches. All the different people at the gym watch.” He gave Dallas a grin. “Why, you even have a little bit of a crowd that watches you on Saturday.”
“Well…” Dallas chewed his lip.
“You don’t have to, though. You don’t want to ski, you don’t have to ski. But it seems kind of silly to decide you don’t want to if you don’t know how to do it yet, because you might want to learn. Did that make sense?”
“No, Poppy, but it’s you. Sometimes you don’t make sense.”
“Ask my editor; I don’t make sense a lot.” He winked at Dallas. “We could learn together.”
“You already know how,” Dallas shot back.
“I already knew how,” he corrected. “It’s been many years. Since before you were born. I’m pretty sure that my body has forgotten how. And I’m old.”
Dallas pursed his lips. “What if I fall down?”
“You fall down all the time. I fall down too. It’s part of skiing. Everybody is going to fall down. You have to be super fancy and to learn to do that swoosh thing that you see on the TV.”
Dallas blinked at him. “Could you do the swoosh thing before you had a baby?”
“Yeah. But I really didn’t have you have you, you know. Like I didn’t lay an egg.”
Dallas threw his hands up. “Ew! Daddy, that’s gross. Don’t talk about eggs. Dragons lay eggs. Chickens lay eggs. Platypi lay eggs.”
“Platypuses,” he corrected automatically. His brain, he was going, is there something wrong with my child that he went to dragons before chickens? He supposed it was better than going to snakes before chickens, but nobody ever said what came first, the dragon or the egg.
“Oh, Poppy.” Dallas sighed. “I just want Paige to like me again.”
“Hey, friends sometimes have words, kiddo. Tomorrow, though, I bet you’re friends again.”
His phone buzzed one more time, and he patted Dallas’ knee. “Want to finish up your snack and then come down and play some Sorry?”
“Okay.” Dallas grinned. “Go talk to Mr. Kyler.”
He chuckled. “I’ll see you downstairs.”
Sometimes his kid was too smart for his own good. When he got downstairs, he heard his phone beep again. So he finally glanced at it and all it said was, {chat?}
So Austin went with it. He grabbed his earbuds off the table and popped one in. He called Kyler as he dug around in the hutch for the Sorry game. He really needed to reorganize this it was insane.
Kyler answered quick as a bunny. “Hey man. This sucks.”
“Yeah, no shit on that. Did you figure out what happened?” He guessed they needed to get it from both sides of the fight. Austin was worried that this is going to end up being more about Paige finding new friends now that she was settling. As much as he hated to admit it, Dallas was not the traditional cool child.
“They got into it over frigging skiing for of all things. Paige is desperate for him to come to this skiing thing that she’s talking about. She doesn’t want him to go just because she likes the idea, but she wants to go really bad. So she got her feelings hurt when he said he wouldn’t try. She just doesn’t understand that not all people like the same things.”
Austin started putting the game out as he nodded. “True that. I told Dallas that we could do some practicing together if he’d like. That way he can see how he does. He’s terrified of yet another set of kids figuring out that he’s not good at something and of them making fun of him.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.” Kyler sighed. “So I’m going to start taking her up to the pool for swimming lessons. I really think that she needs to know how, and I think she’d be good at it.” Then Kyler chuckled. “Lord help me, she wants to do 4H, she wants to go to gymnastics, she wants to do this skiing thing. It’s just a lot, man.”
Austin wasn’t sure what to say, because Kyler sounded kinda grim. He didn’t want to suggest that it was a money thing, but what if it was a money thing? It could be a money thing.
Seriously, Kyler was the one posing for photos for Austin’s covers. Maybe he should get more covers made. That would totally give him the incentive to write a new series about Maverick.
Although, could he write more books about Mav? He had no idea, but regardless he could get more covers. Maybe use them as posters or original art or something for his readers. It was a thing. “Well, there’s no reason that she can’t do all of them, I guess. Is there? Do you need her to have a ride?”
“Yeah, that’s the biggest part. I mean, if she does. trampolining on Saturdays, she does swimming on Wednesdays, and you said gymnastics is Mondays and Thursdays, 4H is on Tuesdays I mean, and then there’s Girl Scouts, there’s skiing lessons there’s—”
“Dude, dude. It’s okay. They don’t have to be busy every second of every day. That’s what I tell myself. And let me tell you, I work at home too. So I get it. Everybody thinks that you have nothing but time and you can drag the kids around to everything. So what you need to do, in my opinion, of course. And you know, I’ve been a dad so much longer than you have, ha ha ha.”
Austin rolled his eyes at himself.
“Yeah.” Kyler blew out a breath, but his tone was more upbeat when he went on. “Yeah. I think that makes a lot of sense.”
“Cool. So sit down with her and make decisions. There can be one social club and two athletic things, or two social things and one athletic thing. That’s what I did with Dallas. He has trampolining, he has gymnastics. That’s three days. He’s not interested in Boy Scouts.”
“Does that mean you’re not going to let him come to swimming with Paige?”
“I tell you what. I’ll drive them to gymnastics. You drive them to swimming. We’ll meet on Saturdays for trampolining. And then? You and Paige have to work out that 4H and or Girl Scouts. What have you think? Dallas is not ready to commit to the ski camp, but I’ll go ahead and get the deposit put down in case he decides he wants to do it. But don’t tell Paige because he might change his mind. He’s little. Boys are younger than little girls, you know that.”
“God, don’t I know that. I think that my little girl is more mature than I am.” Kyler just laughed at that one.
“Well, we won’t get involved in their little spat. They’ll figure it out. They’re they’re good kids. Are we still meeting at the trampoline park tomorrow morning though, do you think?”
“I think Paige would be in hysterics if we didn’t. She’s got her routine. Horseback riding. Trampoline. Pizza, movie, and crashing out at your house is really her jam on Saturday. That’s when she misses her mom the most.”
And bang. Right there, again,was this graphic illustration of how Kyler was not queer. And was not Maverick. And of how he could not look upon his son’s best friend’s father with lust. That was bad.
He got all wrapped up in what felt almost like co-parenting recently and let his fantasies run wild.
Cowboy wanted, and all that…
He took a deep breath. “Well, if we can keep to the routine, it will be good for her, and for Dallas. He really doesn’t want to be at odds with her. So I’ll massage him into coming tomorrow, and we’ll maybe get a big cookie with our pizza.”
“Damn, now that’s near and dear to my heart. Cookies.” Kyler’s chuckle made the hair rise on the back of his neck. It was almost sexual. “Okay. That’s the plan then. If anything changes, I’ll text.”
“And vice versa.” He grinned a little. “See you tomorrow.”
“Yep. Thanks, man. You talked me down out of the tree.”
“I live to serve. Bye.”
“Bye.”
They hung up, and he checked to make sure Dallas wasn’t lurking on the stairs listening. Which he wasn’t. His kid was pretty polite about waiting for adult conversations to be over before coming into the room…
Not to mention that it took him forever to eat a sandwich.
Chapter 8
“Paige, honey, don’t forget your hat!” Paige had chosen Annie Oakley as her costume this year, complete with one of her mom’s old fringed suede jackets, which on her was a coat, and a pair of gauntlet gloves. She had the weird little round cowboy hat too, that was in all of the old pictures of Annie. She had a a little toy rifle for the pictures with Dallas, but she would have to leave that behind for the trunk or treat.
“Got it.” She snagged the hat out of the truck, then skipped up the walk to Dallas and Austin’s condo.
“Good job.” He texted Austin rather than ringing the Ring, because Austin had said he would be upstairs making sure Dallas was in his Sherlock Holmes costume, which was pretty historically accurate, and therefore pretty damn complicated.
“Are you excited for the night, kiddo?”
“Uh-huh! I’ve never had a townie Halloween.”
Oh, God help him if she said shit like that.
“It should be fun. Trunk or Treat, then supper, then trick or treating—”
“Then movies and candy and a sleepover!” Paige jumped up high enough to fly. “Yeehaw!”
“Lord have mercy, girl. Don’t kill yourself acting like a kangaroo.”
“I’m just excited, Daddy.” Her blue eyes flashed when she gave him an over the shoulder under the hat look. Patented by her mom.
“I am too!” He was just tickled as shit that she and Dallas had weathered their first big two fights. The one over skiing, the other over matching costumes. Dal had no intention of going as Buffalo Bill, and Paige had no idea who Irene Adler was…
“Helloooo.” Austin opened the door, his butler costume kind of hilarious. “May I announce you, madame?”
Paige glanced at him, gaze a little panicked. “Daddy?”
“This is Miss Oakley, if you please.” He was totally willing to make the save for her.
“Of course. Of course. Mr. Holmes, you have a Miss Oakley here.”
“Elementary, dear Jeeves. Elementary.” Dallas was absolutely adorable — deerstalker hat, long coat, magnifying glass, and a Meershaum pipe that blew bubbles.
“May I take your hat and gun, Miss Annie?” Austin winked broadly, inviting Paige to share the joke.
“What would Momma do?” he murmured.
Paige lit up like the cowgirl in Toy Story, then took off her hat with a flourish. “You got it, pard.”
“Thank you, m’dear. Please come in and have a seat. Mr. Holmes will see you soon.”
Dallas’s giggles filled the air. “You look great, Paige!”
“Thanks!” She shook out her hair.” Daddy even crimped me so I look like the picture. Show him, Daddy!”
He pulled out his phone to show of the reference picture of Annie Oakley. She was a brunette where Paige was blonde, but he thought it worked.
“Wow! Great job!” Dallas gave her a worried look. “Do you like mine?”
“You’re, like, the best! You’re the best detective ever.”
Dallas simply beamed.
Kyler grinned, watching them compare treat bags. “So what’s your Sherlock?” he asked Austin. “Basil Rathbone? Downey Jr.? Benedict Cumberbatch?”
“Oh-ho. You’re a fan, I can tell.” Austin grinned. “I approve. Who’s yours?”
“Oh, I asked first.”
“I have a shock blanket in the office.”
Oh, very nice. “You do, do you?”
“Yep. I bought it at an online auction.”
“I might have once announced that I’d had a fight with a chip and pin machine.” And no one he’d been with had gotten the reference to the British TV version of Sherlock.
“Oh, very nice. I approve.” Austin bowed again. “My favorite bit is the last episode of season one and the first episode of season two.”
“Yeah?” He could see that. They were fun ones. “I love season one. And most of two…”
“Three had its moments,” Austin murmured.
“We don’t talk about four,” they said in unison, then cracked up.
“Daddy! Are you almost ready?”
“Yep. Bathroom for all, though.” He had no idea what the situation was at the trunk or treat, and Paige was weird about port a johns.
“Yes. We’ll all go together? I have chili — spicy and not — and cornbread for supper before tricks and treats.”
“Yummo!’ Paige twirled again.
“Sounds great, Austin.” Kyler gave him a warm grin. The man was organized as hell, and he appreciated that. He was also cute as hell in that penguin suit. Like in a way that kind of made Kyler stare.
Why on earth was he fascinated by Austin’s butt? It was ridiculous. He’d looked before. Who didn’t, right? And he’d been surrounded by Wrangler butts, male and female… But Austin was so easy to be around, so warm and human and real. It was bizarre.
Maybe it was the goofy bowtie.
It just made things adorable.
“Okay,” he said after a bathroom break. “To the wagon!”
“Off we go to get our candy!” Paige cheered.
“Candy!”
“Mmmm. Candy.”
His body tightened suddenly, because Austin’s tone was damn sexual. Shit. “What’s your favorite?”
“Peanut butter cups.” Austin grinned back. “I have a bag in the kitchen up high.”
“Mine are Almond Joy.”
“That’s positively medieval of you.”
“I know. It was my Granny’s favorite, and she passed it on,” Kyler said with a shrug.
“I love that. Seriously. What about you, Paige?”
“Green apple Jolly Ranchers!”
“I like Snickers best,” Dallas said very seriously. “Last year I got a whole one!”
“A whole one? Really?” Paige’s eyes were huge. “Whoa.”
“I know, right?”
They chattered about candy and costumes and what they might see tonight all the way, the kids buoyant right now. He kept stealing glances at Austin as the man steered them effortlessly to the rec bus lot that would take them to the rec center. That was why he hadn’t driven; there was no parking at the event and that would drive him nuts.
“Come on, you hooligans. Let’s go see what there is to see!” Austin helped Dallas out, and the kids held hands until it was time to get on the bus.
They boarded with a witch, a rabbit, and a passel of zombies, which made Paige stare, and they debarked to a carnival like atmosphere that made both kids squeal.
“Oh, Daddy! Look! It’s a party!” Paige was going to pass out.
“I know. Wow. So where do we start? Dallas, you’re the expert.”
“At the beginning.”
The library had a bookmobile, a sign up sheet, and a free scary book and a bag. It was adorable, and of course it was a library that started it.
Of course.
They hit all the hot spots, the kids bouncing and almost running, making them work to keep up. But Austin never lost his smile, never got frustrated. He was a good guy.
“Poppy! That truck has Halloween push pop toys!”
Austin chuckled and grinned. “O. M. G.! Go for it!”
Paige glanced at him, gave him a confused little half grin. “Is that cool, Daddy?”
“Uh…” He had no idea. He grinned. “Let’s go see.”
“Right. Let’s see. Dal likes some cool stuff.”
“Paige, I mean, Annie! They have a cowboy! And a pumpkin!”
“Oh! Can I have the pumpkin?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Hey, I get it now.” Kyler had seen those toys with the bubbles that pushed in and out. He just had no idea they had a name.
Paige and Dallas had to choose carefully, and Austin watched them with a fond expression.
“He’s going to be my little collector. I can tell.”
“Paige is very excited about having a room. She wants to be able to fill it with stuff. When you’re on the road all the time, you have to be careful with that, you know?”
“I can’t imagine. I am a bit of a homebody, and I do like my things…”
“I love that the house is in the dry.” They were, in, too, even if it he was still saving money by installing a lot of the finish work by himself. “It’s nice to wake up in the same place.”
“Yes. And to be close to your horses, and not have any rent, right?”
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s helped a ton.”
“Good. Good. That’s great to hear.” Austin’s cheeks went super pink, and he tilted his head. Could be the cold, he reckoned. But he looked almost embarrassed every time they talked about anything that remotely smacked of money.
Kyler wondered if Austin thought he was destitute. Austin never fussed about letting him pay his half, not ever. But he did seem to get flustered when the situation arose.
By the time they were done, the kids were dragging some, and it was time to go refuel. Damn, he hoped Austin’s chili tasted as good as it smelled in the slow cooker.
“Let’s go eat, and then, if y’all want, we can trick or treat, okay?” Austin started moseying them toward the car.
“Okay!” Dallas’ little voice was half volume to what it had been before.
He winked at Austin over the kids’ heads.
“Are you guys excited about movie night and camping in the front room?” Austin asked, and Paige nodded.
“I am. I like chili too. Is it real hot?”
“There’s two kinds. Hot and not,” Dallas explained.
“Okay. I like not too spicy, but I can eat the not hot with some salsa…” So sweet his girl. He could eat shit that would peel paint.
“You can do it up however makes you happy, Paige. Cheese, onion, Fritos, cornbread, salsa, sour cream. You do you.” Austin simply didn’t sound worried.
“Cool! You’re so nice, Mr. Austin. Momma says I can eat it the way she makes it or go to my bunk.”
“Well, I like things to be a certain way, so I can’t fuss if y’all do, right?”
“No, sir.”
Kyler rolled his eyes. She made her momma sound like a mean one. Now, she could be when it came to food, especially if she’d cooked…
And Henley could be fierce, if she was pressed too hard, that was for sure.
“I like all the fixins,” he said, laughing at Paige, who was already counting candy.
“I also like all the fixin’s,” Austin agreed.
“I like just cheese,” Dallas explained. “I found a Jolly Rancher for you.”
“Ooooh. Trade you.” Paige pulled out a fun sized Snickers.
“What do I get, kiddo?” Kyler asked.
“Oh, Daddy. I always give you an Almond Joy.”
“My angel girl. You’re good to me.” He winked at her, and pretty soon, they were pulling into the condo.
“I’m so hungry, Poppy. I love your chili!” Dallas cheered, bouncing in his seat.
“Thanks, kiddo. Come along,” Austin added in his snooty butler voice. “Dinner to be served in the living room, Sirs and Madame.”
Paige giggled madly, because now she was in on the joke. “Yay!”
They trooped inside, and Kyler felt so comfortable just taking off his coat and hat, and even kicking off his boots, which he did to preserve the condo’s floors since it was a rental. It surprised him a little, how he was getting used to being at Austin’s place.
Coats and hats came off the kids, and they settled on the floor to sort candy.
“Make sure Mr. Mistoffelees doesn’t steal your candy. He doesn’t need it.”
“Is he going to come out this time?” Kyler wasn’t sure he’d even seen the kitty, but Paige insisted she had.
“Maybe. But he’s so shy,” Dallas told him seriously. “He really hides when people come over.”
“Maybe he’ll come out from under the couch this time.” Austin winked at him. “He’s a little tuxedo cat, hence the name.”
“The name?” He didn’t follow.
“Mr. Mistoffelees. It’s from TS Eliot and the play Cats. That’s what he looked like. He was a tuxedo cat.”
Kyler liked how Austin didn’t make a big deal out of sharing information and didn’t make him feel stupid. It was just a thing. Just something Austin said.
They scooped up the chili, and he’d been right. It smelled as good as it tasted.
He topped his with onion and cheese and a dollop of sour cream. He also got himself two huge pieces of cornbread. There was precious little finer than cornbread.
Paige got a little bit of everything, Dallas just had cheese, and Austin got cheese and Fritos.
It was—It was easy. Paige knew where they kept their spoons. Then there the little fancy fizzy waters that Austin kept for the kids in cans.
It was a little like being in a family. Kyler was man enough to admit that he liked it.
“So what do you normally do on Halloween?” he asked. “I mean, after the kids go to bed.”
“Oh, I used to watch scary movies and have a couple of beers. You know, enough to where I could be a little toasty, but not in any way impaired if something happened where he needed me. But it’s kind of lonely, so the last few years I’ve just hung out with people online who were lonely too.” Austin winced. “God, that sounds so damn pitiful.”
“No. No…well, maybe a little.” Kyler kind of got it though. He and Henley had been separated for four years, so he’d only had Paige two of those Halloweens. “Still, I have to tell you, it’s not like I was out partying. Most at those times.”
“Oh, I imagine you’ve had some good parties. I’m…I’m kind of staid. You know, I mean I did college, I got my masters. I fell in love. I got married. We had a baby. And then?” Austin shrugged. “It didn’t last.”
“And he’s not?”
Austin shook his head once and said, “No. Not even a sniff, and that wasn’t on me. I’m the sperm donor. He wasn’t interested in being added to the birth certificate, and he wasn’t interested in any of his parental rights if he’d had any. Not an issue.”
“Oh.” There were some hard-cord anger issues there. He got it, but he didn’t. He and Henley weren’t some huge love match or anything, they were good friends. They’d had sex a couple of times, they got pregnant, they had a baby.
But they talked about Paige daily. Haley paid her child support like clockwork. She saw Paige every time she could. It really was a good break up, and they were, in their own little way, kind of still a family.
Not even kind of. They were a family.
Sort of like he and Austin and the kids were forming a family and—
Oh man, he was wigging himself right the hell out. Because that sounded terrifying in his brain.
Suddenly he realized that he had been in his head for a little bit there and Paige was kind of looking at him and Austin was quiet. Dead silent.
Damn it.
“Sorry man. I got my train got derailed.”
“It’s okay, Daddy,” Paige said. “Dallas has his poppy. He doesn’t even know the other guy. It’s not like It’s not like me and Mama, where Mama works, and it’s best that I live with you, but she still loves me. That’s different.”
“It is. It’s very different. Different families happen all the time.”
Austin nodded. “This is true. We choose our families sometimes. That’s a good thing. We surround ourselves with people who love us and care about us and want the best for us. That’s what a family is.”
Dallas beamed at his father, eyes happy, that smile easy. “Daddies and daddies can be family. Mommies and daddies can be family. Mommies and mommies can be families. Sometimes there’s just one person with a kid with a family. Sometimes there’s two people and they’re grown-ups and they’re a family. And sometimes there’s a person and a dog and they’re a little family. And then there’s grannies and all the other things too.”
He could tell Dallas had heard this conversation many times over.
And while many of his cowboy friends would fall over laughing at the very idea, Kyler liked it. “That sounds great, guys. Seriously. I was just sad a minute for anyone who wouldn’t want to know how cool you are, Dal. Right, Paige?”
“Right! He’s an asshole.”
“Paige!” He had to work hard not to laugh his ass off.
Dallas’s eyes went wide. “You said a cuss!”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to. Much.”
“Well, you two keep the cat away and figure out the candy. No more than one piece. Kyler, you want to help with dishes?” Austin asked.
“Sure.” Uh-oh. He hoped he wasn’t in trouble.
Austin brought him into the kitchen, offered him a smile. “I haven’t discouraged Paige from talking about her mom. I think Dallas likes to hear about different family units. She’s good to Paige, right?”
“She is. She’s not… Well, she’s not easy, but she loves her, and she never mistreats her, and she bends over backward to do things with her.”
“Excellent. She worships her, you can tell. She showed us footage of her racing.”
How the hell did Paige know how to do that?
“That’s cool.” He chuckled. “I get a little worried that she’s unhappy, but she never acts like it.”
“She’s a firecracker. She’s going to be wild one day.”
“God, yes. I keep trying to keep her reined in but also confident.” And it was a full-time job.
“I keep trying to keep him confident, but safe, so I hear you.”
He glanced sideways at Austin. “I wasn’t freaked out about him having two dads, just FYI.”
“Oh, good. Not that he did, but one day, I hope to actually get laid again.”
Kyler chuckled, because he heard that. “Yeah, I get that. I’ve been on a serious not roll.”
“Right? It’s tough, when you’re a single dad.”
“It is. Half the folks I meet just want to settle down and let me raise more kids without getting to know me, and the other half don’t want me to have kids.” Kyler raised his eyebrows. “Hazard of the rodeo, I guess.” He wondered if it was the same in the gay Aspen community. Or anywhere for that matter.
“Most everyone I know looks at him and they run. He’s amazing, but he’s not your average little boy.”
“I think he’s great.” They grinned at each other, and he thought some things never changed. You always yearned for what you didn’t have and ignored the challenges it would present.
It was just the way of things.
“I’d be happy to watch scary movies with you, post-sugar crash.”
“Yeah?” Austin’s eyes lit up. “Thanks, man.”
“Hey. I love the idea of not having to drive back out while the drunks are out, and I like the company.” A lot, in fact. He liked it a lot.
“Well, we’ll all have our slumber party, then. It’ll be a lovely time. Your critters are all okay?”
“They’ll be fine. I fed before I left, and I can head out early.” Damn. Okay, cool.
“No, Daddy. We have all our trampolines tomorrow and pizza!”
“I can go get myself showered, changed, and come it back here, baby. Like before breakfast. Is that okay?”
“Oh. Yes! I think it’s the greatest. It’s a special weekend!”
“Yay!” Dallas threw himself down into a handstand.
“Does that work for you, man?” he asked Austin.
“It does! I’ve got tons of pillows and blankets. Sweats too, if you’d like.”
He measured Austin with his eyes. “Yes, that would work. So are we going back out, hooligans? Or are we done?”
“Do you want to go out?”
“We could play games and watch movies in our jammies. Poppy said we could have popcorn and pancakes in the morning.”
Paige chewed her lip, then looked at her candy. “Okay! We have enough loot!”
“Then I can even put out the candy bowl and turn the lights on in case anyone comes.” Austin beamed.
Dallas nodded. “Poppy has candy above the fridge, for if we run out.”
“It’s for trick or treaters, son.”
“Uh-huh. We’re trick or treaters!”
“Never fear, there will be plenty. Come on, kiddo. Let’s get cleaned up and changed, huh? Time for Annie to hang up her rifle.” He was so damn tickled with the evening he could bust.
And he hadn’t had his candy yet.