Page 69 of A Texas Hero

“Indeed, we are not.” Patch shook a finger at Zoey. “But close enough. And we are not old, young lady. I still have plenty of good years left in me.”

“As long as you take it easy and pace yourself,” Zoey said, and Archer wished he could get her to stop talking. “You don’t want to act like too much of a young man and wind up with a heart attack.”

Archer internally face-palmed and gently elbowed Zoey again, this time while clearing his throat.

Robin’s eyes were wide saucers when she turned to Patch. “You have heart problems?”

“Of course not. Just a little hypertension but I take my pills. The only problems I have are orthopedic ones. But you know all about that.” Then he turned and focused his attention on Zoey. “Robin is a doctor. An orthopedist.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Patchy?

Robin had just called her father, a six-foot-five giant of a man, Patchy? No one called him Patchy. Her mother never had, nor had any of their family and friends. The name was ridiculous, a joke. For crying out loud, “Patch” was a dorky enough nickname.

And now, this woman, who was the antithesis of Zoey’s mother, was a doctor?

When Archer elbowed her again, she was tempted to elbow him back…in the gut. Zoey was being nice, sweet as potato pie, but this woman was arrogant. Confident, full of herself, beautiful. She hadn’t walked in, she had stridden in, à la Olivia Pope in Scandal. As a doctor, she must have money. Why did she want her father? What was her endgame? Maybe she was simply trying to recapture her youth. Yes, that had to be it. Maybe they were both trying to do that. It made sense. Zoey was here to remind them both that Patch Lambert was the daughter of a thirty-year-old woman. He couldn’t lie about his age.

“I always wanted to be a doctor,” Robin was saying. “But I didn’t know where I’d specialize. Patch went off to college to play football and I did premed on the East Coast. Then in medical school, I decided to specialize in orthopedics, which must have had something to do with the affinity and connection I always felt to Patch. Naturally, I kept up with his career and saw all the injuries he endured as he played his heart out on that field. Patch inspired me to want to fix all those injuries, I guess.”

Her father gave her a goofy smile.

“Where did you attend school?” Archer asked, like a normal human being engaging in conversation.

“Howard for premed, then Johns Hopkins,” she said proudly. “I did my residency there, too.”

It was odd the way her father was staring at Robin with stars in his eyes. It was the same way he’d looked at her mother. With simple adoration. He must be under some kind of spell. There could be no other explanation for this.

“Did you just call him ‘Patchy’?” Zoey said.

Robin laughed behind her hand. “That was his nickname in high school. Sorry.”

“Only you were allowed to call me that,” her father joked. “And I called her ‘Birdy’ for a long time.”

Birdy and Patchy? Zoey threw up a little in her mouth.

“So, when is the wedding?” Archer asked, again making conversation as if this was normal.

“We haven’t set a date yet,” Robin said. “At this point, for us, it’s just a formality. We’ve both been there, done that. I’m respectful of Patch’s need for privacy. And of course I’ve already done this once. Did I tell you I was married for twenty years? Just out of medical school. We were too busy to have any children, which I regret.”

“Robin lost her husband not much before I lost your mother,” her father said. “We connected, both being widowers.”

But Zoey’s mother wasn’t lost, and she hated the euphemism. She knew exactly where to find her at the cemetery. She’d died and gone to heaven but wasn’t “lost” to anyone.

“That makes sense,” Archer said, probably because Zoey wasn’t talking anymore. “You both have something traumatic in common.”

“In addition to going to the same high school,” Robin said. “I’ve always followed Patch’s career, naturally, but it was my late husband who was the real football fan. I used to tell him, ‘I know that guy.’ Of course, he knew all about me and Patch. It was a badge of honor for him.”

“Did you know that Zoey has wedding dresses at her boutique?” Archer said. “In case you’re looking for one.”

This time Zoey nudged his thigh under the table and gave him a glare. Both her father and Robin turned to her with wide, eager eyes. Zoey squirmed.

“Do you?” Robin said.

“One of a kind,” Archer said, biting back a smile. “That’s what she tells me, anyway.”

“You won’t believe this, Birdy,” Daddy said, chuckling and pointing to Archer. “He’s the bodyguard I hired for Zoey when all this mess started. But Zoey lets people think he works for her at the boutique.”