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When the muscles stood out along his jaw, she regretted mentioning Carlie’s name. Jarrett had been touchy on that subject, especially since Carlie and Matthew’s engagement had dominated the media for a few days.
But the scowl disappeared as a grin popped onto his face, and he stood, offering her a hand up. “We don’t need a babysitter. We can take Gabe with us on a run. I bought an off-road jogger stroller, and I bet Gabe will love being outside.”
“You’re brilliant!” She let him pull her to her feet. “That’s the reason I like you. Because you think of everything!”
“I thought you told Juanita you liked me for my hot body,” he said, waggling his eyebrows, shamelessly.
“I’m pretty sure I was talking about why Carlie likes you.”
“You mean liked… past tense. Not that I care anymore,” he said, his tone bitter, as he walked toward the mud room, where the garage entrance was.
Obviously, he still cared, or he wouldn’t have said it. But she was used to it. It didn’t even bother her. Well, maybe it bothered her a little, but she knew it shouldn’t.
She extended her hand toward Gabe. “Want to go outside?”
He abandoned his truck and grasped her hand, babbling with excitement as he pointed toward the glass patio door. His English comprehension had grown by leaps and bounds in two weeks’ time.
She picked him up. “Not the back yard. We’re going for a run.”
Jarrett came inside with a huge box and set it on the family room floor, slicing the sides until the cardboard fell apart to reveal a bunch of black metal, canvas, and wheels. It looked nothing like a jogger. “Here it is. The directions say it goes together in five minutes using only this wrench. Let’s hope they’re right. This thing is supposed to be awesome. It even has a removable arm that converts it to a bike buggy.”
“See the wagon?” Rylie asked Gabe. “You get to ride in it. Let’s go change your clothes.”
“Outside,” Gabe repeated pointing toward the back yard again. “Outside. Papa, outside.”
“That’s right, I’m Papa!” Jarrett’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and his eyes locked with Rylie’s. Her own throat was clogged with a huge lump. Jarrett had expressed a little jealousy that Gabe had already been calling her Mama.
“Papa,” Gabe repeated, with a string of words that included outside, as he wriggled in her grasp.
“Papa’s coming with us,” Rylie assured Gabe, but he squirmed out of her arms and ran to Jarrett, tugging on his shirt and pointing to the door.
“You can help me put this together,” Jarrett said. “Then we’ll take it outside and you can go for a ride.”
Helping his papa must’ve been an acceptable alternative to going outside, because he quit complaining and turned his attention to the pile of parts on the floor, picking up a rubber wheel twice the size of his head.
Watching the two of them together made her weak at the knees. “I’ll go change clothes,” she said, anxious to escape before she fell apart.
What was wrong with her? She’d never had so much trouble keeping her feelings under lock and key. Most likely, her parents were part of the problem. As she’d feared, her mother had not been happy to learn Rylie and Jarrett were married, though it wasn’t because she’d been miffed about missing out on the wedding ceremony.
“I’m just so worried about Carlie,” her mom had said. “She had such a bad relationship with Anton. Jarrett’s the only decent guy she ever dated, and now you’ve taken him.”
“Shouldn’t you be happy for me, instead of worried about Carlie?”
“You’ve always had a level head, Rylie. You’re going to be fine. Carlie is like a loose cannon. And I don’t know anything about this attorney guy she’s hooked up with.”
“His name is Matthew. And she’s not hooked up… she’s engaged. So maybe you should get to know him before you write him off.”
“I invited them to come to Dry Gulch so I could meet him, but Carlie said they’re both too busy. Carlie’s filming for her new movie, you know.”
The rest of the conversation had been all about Carlie’s new acting career. Rylie had pretended to listen until she found an excuse to end the phone call. Though her mom’s attitude had been no different from what Rylie had expected, the conversation had brought her to the verge of tears. She was as close to an emotional mess as she’d ever been. Hopefully, she could hold herself together until Monday afternoon when she had a phone counseling appointment scheduled. She was counting on Brooke to work a miracle.
* * *
The jogger was solightweight that pushing it proved to add little effort to the run. Though the state-of-the-art stroller had shock absorbers, Jarrett stuck with the paved running path to make the ride even smoother. Squealing with delight when the ride first began, Gabe eventually settled into a stream of happy chatter, punctuated with occasional pointing. His good mood was heartening after watching him suffer for the last three days, and a smile passed between Jarrett and Rylie. Halfway out, they stopped to let him explore and pick up rocks before heading back.
By the time they neared the end of the route, Gabe was getting restless.
“We should’ve brought him something to eat,” Rylie said.
