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“Too bad, you’re missing out on the best cupcakes.” I waved mine in front of him.
“Why don’t you offer me a bite of yours?”
“Uh, no way. Did I mention this is the best cupcake ever? Get your own.”
He chuckled before dipping his finger right in my frosting.
My eyes widened. “Excuse me.”
He stuck his finger in his mouth with a wicked grin. Dang that was a tantalizing scene. Visions of me licking frosting off him filled my mind. Holy crap, I needed a pause button, more like a delete button and some ice, stat.
He leaned in only a few inches from my face. “What do you think about that?”
I couldn’t think, but I might tinkle my pants or do something really embarrassing and kiss the frosting lingering on his sensuous lips. I was a nanosecond away from doing it. My body was overriding my mind. I was leaning in.
“What are you two doing?”
It was the only time I had ever been grateful for Josephine’s irritating voice. Sawyer and I jumped apart as if we’d been caught being naughty. If only.
Sawyer grinned at me before addressing his formidable mother who was dressed in black. Her facial features were sharpened by that big hair of hers. “Emma was just sharing her cupcake with me.”
Her dark eyes bore into me, more like my figure. “You might want to go easy on the desserts to save room for dinner.” Her fake concern was transparent through her falsetto voice.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be ready.”
Her thin neck stretched upward, almost as if it was a hydraulic lift. Her tongue clicked as if she was holding back an insult, but she didn’t dare go too far in front of Sawyer. I was sure the first moment she could catch me alone she would mention I should try the Keto diet or something like it, because she only had my wellbeing in mind, of course.
Before the wicked stepmother clicked and clucked her tongue some more, Dad meandered over with a cupcake in his hand.
Like a magnet, Stepmommy Dearest suctioned up to him. “Dane,” she whined, “I thought we were avoiding sugar.”
On purpose? Who would do such a thing? I think a sugar plum fairy just died somewhere.
Dad cleared his throat, not sure how to respond.
I decided to help the guy out. “Dad, I was just talking to Frankie about the food for the Farewell to Summer dance and I got to thinking. Since this is the twenty-fifth anniversary of it and Mom founded it, I thought the theme could be the Lady of Carrington Ranch. What do you—”
Josephine leaned into Dad more, which was hard to do. She was already stuck to him like cling wrap. Her meticulously manicured hand landed on Dad’s chest in a loud slap. “Honey, didn’t you tell Emma that I was in charge of the Farewell to Summer dance this year?”
There suddenly seemed to be no air to breathe. I stared at Dad in disbelief, suffocating and begging him with my eyes to tell me it wasn’t true.
Dad wouldn’t look at me, but his wife was happy to. She hit me with a snake-like smile filled with killer venom. “I know you were in charge of it last year, but there is a new Lady of Carrington Ranch now. I do like that name. Thank you. I think I will use it for the theme. It’s fitting, don’t you think?”
I was only able to catch enough of a breath to say, “Dad?”
His brown eyes pleaded with me before he handed Josephine his cupcake and walked out.
My cupcake fell to the ground before I followed after him. Before I was out of earshot, I heard Sawyer say, “Mom, you know how much that dance means to Emma.”
She knew exactly how much it did, which I had a feeling made this an even sweeter victory for her.
Dad was almost to the stables by the time I caught up to him. “Dad.”
He paused but didn’t turn around.
I stopped and waited for him to face me. The scent of horse manure lingered in the summer air. It was fitting, since that’s how I felt about this new twist in my plot.
I could see his shoulders rise and fall with each deep breath he took. It took him several seconds before he turned around with steel conviction in his eyes.
“Why?” was all I could ask.
“Emma, she’s my wife now.”
“But I’m your daughter.”
“And you always will be.”
“What about Mom? She would want me to do it.”
He shook his head. “She would understand. She knew the roles husbands and wives played in each other’s lives.”
A sheen mist coated my eyes. “Something I don’t understand, right?”
He ran a hand through his thick hair, sighing. “No, Emma, you don’t.” He walked off without another word. That hurt more than anything.
I did the only thing I could think of. I ran straight to Shannon’s Meadow. I didn’t bother to return any of the greetings from several ranch hands who offered me a hello, even Ray who’d been with us since the beginning and was like an uncle to me. Once I was past the Ranch, the tears began pouring down my cheeks. I ran as fast as my Tevas would take me down the gravel road that led to the meadow and the cabin where my life began, literally. Not only was I conceived there, but I was born there as well. There was a blizzard that closed all the roads on the night I decided to make my entrance into the world. Both my fathers helped bring me into the world that night, safe and sound. I always thought that was lovely, almost poetic. Now I felt neither safe nor sound.
