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“What else?” Ted asked the pure blue sky.
His apology—that he’d pressed her too hard. He could own that, and he could try to fix it.
One of his dogs barked, and Ted looked down at Randy. His pulse jumped too, because the last time his dogs had barked, Robert Knight had been nearby.
This time, though, he heard the squeal of a wild boar in the distance, and everything came together.
Grinning, he hurried to the Annex, where he could use the computer to find the final piece of his plan to make up with Emma and get her back into his life.
* * *
Ted returnedto the homestead the next morning about the time the sun fully painted the day gold. He’d just reached the driveway when the rumble of Nate’s engine came up behind him. Ted moved out of the way as Nate pulled into the garage closest to the Annex, and he opened the passenger door for Connor.
“Hey, bud.” Ted grinned at the boy and held the flowers he’d just gathered from the fields out of the way as he gathered the child into his arms.
Connor clung to him as he babbled about the doughnuts they got that morning and that Nate had promised to take him to the beach next weekend.
“That’s great,” Ted said, setting the boy on his feet. He expected Connor to run into the house while he helped Nate carry in their groceries. Instead, he stood there, and Ted looked to see what had frozen him.
Missy stood several feet away, and she lifted her hand in a wave as Ted’s heartbeat picked up. “Morning, Missy,” he said. “You’re up early.” He scanned the front yard for Emma, but he didn’t see her.
“Is it too early to make the cookies?” she asked.
“Nope,” Ted said, glad Nate had gotten up at the crack of dawn to go to town.
“And we have doughnuts,” Nate said, lifting the box. “C’mon in. Connor, get at least the bag with the chips, okay?”
The boy moved to the back of the truck, and Ted did too, the flowers in his hand suddenly feeling so heavy.
Missy didn’t even have to be asked to help. She started picking up bags too, and she asked Connor whose birthday it was.
“Mine,” Connor said. “Daddy’s gonna make me a cake, and everyone’s going to come to the beach for a party.”
“Oh, is that what’s happening next weekend?” Ted asked as he picked up a couple of bags too. “At the beach?”
“Yep.” Connor took his single bag with two packages of potato chips and skipped toward the front door.
Ted smiled at him. “He’s going to be five.”
Missy smiled too, and she started for the house as well.
“Does your mom know you’re here?” Ted asked, glancing to the right and down the road. A couple of cabins sat out in the corner of the yard, and he could barely see the front door of the far one.
“I left her a note,” Missy said. “She said I could, Ted. I asked her.”
“I know,” Ted said, because after he’d asked Emma, she’d returned his text. Just one message, but it had introduced hope back into his heart.
Thanks for having Missy over to make cookies.
That was it. She hadn’t asked if she could come. Ted had sat on the edge of his bed for at least ten minutes, staring at his phone, trying to decide if he should invite her. In the end, he wanted everything to be a surprise, so he’d said,No problem. We’ll bring them to you when we’re done.
That way, she wouldn’t come knocking, and he wouldn’t have to try to have everything organized until he was ready.
“Ted,” Spencer called as Ted went through the front door. “Where is he? Ted!”
“I’m right here,” he said as Spencer came striding out of the kitchen. He did not look happy, and Ted knew what had happened.
Spencer frowned and slowed down before he bowled over Missy. “Your pig ate through the bag of popcorn.”
