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“All right,” he said, glancing at Connor as he said, “Look, Uncle Ted. I have a bubble beard.”
He nodded and smiled at the child and Ginger said she’d see him then. He hung up and sighed. He wasn’t sure what the point of meeting with her was. Probably to make sure he settled in okay, and that he was following the rules.
Ted had, and he did. The last thing he wanted was to cause any problems for anyone here, or for himself. He’d have to meet with a parole officer eventually, and until then, he had to meet with Ginger. She’d told him they had to meet daily for the first little bit, and Ted didn’t mind. He was used to being told what to do.
He reached up and scratched the hair on his face, as he hadn’t gotten any beard oil yet. He wasn’t even sure how to do that. He did know how to help Connor wash his hair, and dry off, and put on a clean pair of pajamas. He did all of that and tucked the boy into the big bed he shared with Nate, and then sank onto his best friend’s side of the bed.
He started tapping on his phone, which had the Internet, realizing he could buy things online now. No one monitored how much time he spent online or what he did with his money. A simple search for beard oil overwhelmed him though, and he made a mental note to ask Emma about it when she returned to the ranch.
With his thoughts lingering on her again, he did a search with her name. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find. A secret website or blog? One didn’t come up. A LinkedIn profile? She didn’t have one.
She had some social media, but Ted did not, as all such things had to be deleted before prison, and he hadn’t set anything up again. He didn’t have a computer, and he didn’t want one.
Emma’s name also came up as a teacher, and he remembered that Ginger had said that afternoon that she’d come to the ranch ten years ago, after quitting her teaching job. And if she had a teaching job, she must’ve earned a degree in education.
Ted added a couple of words to his search, did some quick math on when she might have graduated given her age, and how long she’d been here…and her name popped up, along with Texas A&M International.
“In Laredo,” he said out loud, the word searing his eyeballs. He’d asked her if she’d lived in Laredo, and she’d said no.
He looked up from his phone, a keen sense of betrayal moving through him. He should’ve expected people to lie to him on the outside, especially a beautiful woman. People on the inside lied too. Everyone lied.
“Heyo,” Nate said as he came through the bedroom door. “How’re my boys?” He wore a smile though it was far too late for him to be working.
“Dad,” Connor said, bouncing to his knees. Nate laughed as he picked up his son, and he started asking him questions about that day, the cake, and his bath.
Ted groaned as he got to his feet. “I’m exhausted. I’m not used to working so hard.”
“You’ll get there,” Nate said, grinning at him too. “Thanks for helping with Connor.”
“Yeah, of course.” Ted gave his friend a grin, clapped him on the shoulder, and went through the bathroom and into his own bedroom. He closed the door to the hall and the bathroom, sealing himself in the room with the huge bed he barely knew how to sleep in. He took off his boots and lined them up in the closet. He put his dirty clothes in the laundry basket. He’d learned to be neat, neat, neat in prison, and he actually liked the organization and orderliness in his life.
He lay down, trying to sort through his feelings for Emma, his own desires to finish his sentence and start his life somewhere, and a brand-new idea that maybe he’d just stay at the ranch and be a cowboy.
* * *
The following evening,Ted sat on the tiny stool where he’d seen Emma sitting when she bottle-fed the foals. Patches was sucking hard tonight, and Ted had to really hold onto the bottle while the over-eager colt tried to get every last drop. “Slow down, bud,” he said to him, glancing to Ruby on the left. She watched the feeding with interest, and Ted smiled at her. “You’re next. Don’t worry.”
He did like these horses, and it was easy to see why Emma did too. He fed Ruby and washed out the bottles, his life already falling into a rhythm and routine he could see himself becoming bored with quickly.
That was one thing he’d loved about working in a law office. The unpredictability of every day. How he never really knew what the day would bring. Just like he hadn’t known he’d have to confront a man during an office party, or that that guy would be an undercover cop bent on making sure the lawyers he should’ve been working with got punished.
When he thought of the circumstances that had brought him to Hope Eternal Ranch always surprised Ted. The memories came at seemingly random times, and his reaction to them was never the same.
Right now, he only felt weighed down by his own reality. He set the last bottle to dry and reached up to scratch his beard again. “That’s it,” he muttered. “I’m gonna have to shave this off.”
“Oh, don’t do that,” a woman said, and he sucked in a breath as he spun toward Emma.
Relief and shock moved through him, a pair of odd bedfellows, and he didn’t have time to think. He only acted. “Emma.” He took her into his arms and took a deep breath of her feminine smell.
Flowers and sugar, with maybe a hint of pine and vanilla. He knew his hormones had kicked into overdrive then, but he didn’t care. She giggled, the vibrations of her laugh moving from her chest to his. “Hey, Ted.”
“You’re okay,” he said, stepping back. “And you’re back. I thought you weren’t coming back for a few days.”
“I had nowhere to go,” she said, tucking her hands into the back pockets of her shorts. She shrugged and looked toward her baby horses. “Thank you for taking care of them.”
“Anytime,” he said easily. And he meant it. He had a weird feeling that he’d do anything for her, anytime, and he didn’t know what that meant.
As if he’d forgotten, he reminded himself that she’d lied to him, and he shouldn’t get too attached to her.
