Normally, I stay out of my children’s dating lives. Whatever they do is up to them. But Julie-Mae always goes right for the worst kind of men—the renegades, the cast off fighters at the stockyards, the cowboys on a one night layover in South Platte. In the last year, I’ve had to pick her up in the middle of the night more times than I can count.
Delia clears her throat, shrugging.
“You’re a real bad liar,” I say.
She mumbles something. I give her a stern look.
“Fine,” she says, pursing her lips. “Gage.”
“What?”
“She’s talking to Gage Ryder.”
I sit up. “Oh, no, we are not doing this.”
She lets out a sigh, although I’m not sure if it’s at the situation or at being pregnant. I pour an extra cup of coffee and grab my hat off the table, fitting it on. Delia heaves herself up, following me down the hall.
“Dad,” she calls, “please don’t.”
“Don’t what?” I stop, looking back.
“Don’t overreact.”
“I am underreacting,” I say, yanking open the door. “I will be back with Julie-Mae. You can put the eggs in the fridge.”
I let the screen door slam and head down the front drive. To my left is the employee housing I built when we expanded and started raising more cattle. The construction business has been passed off to a full time company that operates it. I wanted to be at the ranch more often when the kids were little, so I hired a manager and got it working without me. Now, Landis acts asmy ranch manager and lives in the secondary house just over the hill.
I consider seeing if he knew about this, but I kind of think he would have said something.
That stops me. What the fuck am I doing?
I run a hand over my face, wondering why this has me upset. Out of all the people Julie-Mae has gone out with, Gage Ryder is the least problematic. Do I like it? No, but she’s not in danger. Maybe I need to take a beat and talk to Della about it. She’s always the voice of reason when it comes to these things.
I take a breath, looking out over the mountain range. Sometimes, it’s hard to remember what I experienced as a teenager and young adult is just that—my own experience. Even after all this time, I have to check myself and remember I’m all good now.
And my kids are alright.
CHAPTER THREE
DELLA
I’m holding up a paint sample in Delia’s old bedroom when I hear the door slam, and I can tell by Jensen’s footsteps that he’s on a mission. It never stops with him. He’s got as much energy as he did the day we met, and that was a handful and a half.
“Della!”
I lean into the hall. “I’m upstairs.”
He sprints up the stairs, appearing in the doorway, carrying his hat. “Did you know Julie-Mae is going out with Gage?”
I set the sage green sample down and pick up the off-white one, holding it to the windowsill.
“No, but it doesn’t surprise me,” I say.
His eyes roam over the room, dropcloth already on the floor. “What are you doing?”
“I’m fixing up this room for if Delia wants to spend the night when the baby gets here,” I say. “Jon will leave in the fall to run the cattle, and if she wants to stay with us while he’s away, she can.”
“When I met you, I didn’t think you’d be as into renovating as you are,” he says.
