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“What’s holding you back?” Sage asked, and wow, that was the question of the year. Did she hear herself? Ty glanced at her, but she simply studied her son.
“I’m not sure,” Dallen said. “Maybe the fact that I don’t have a house for us to live in. Or a job that can support us.” He sighed. “I’ve been thinkin’ of getting my own farm, Momma.”
Her eyebrows practically flew off her face. Ty didn’t know what was so major about that, but obviously something. “You are? How are you going to do that?”
“I dunno,” Dallen said. “There are a few things up for sale right now. Do you think…?” He shook his head. “I can’t afford it.”
“That’s why there are loans,” Sage said. She slipped from Ty’s lap and joined her burly, broad-shouldered son on the love seat. “Baby, if you want to get something of your own, then do it.”
“You think I can?” Dallen looked at his momma with open vulnerability on his face, and Ty loved the maternal love pouring from Sage.
She cradled her son’s face in one hand, and said, “Of course you can.” She smiled at him. “And does Jenny love you?”
Dallen smiled, his face turning a light shade of red. “Yeah, Momma. I think she does.”
“You think?” Sage spoke a bit harshly, and Ty watched her. “Son, you have toknow.”
“She loves me,” Dallen said. “I love her.”
Sage nodded and glanced over to Ty. He smiled at her, and time seemed to slow for a moment. He could see her sitting there in her peach-colored tank top and those sage green shorts. She didn’t wear shoes, and somewhere behind him, Gypsy barked.
Her son, with his dark hair that curled on the ends, sat beside her, the windows framing them both. But it sure felt like it was just her and Ty in that moment, and to him, he felt himself slipping further in love with her.
She got up, and the moment broke. She came over to the table and pulled out another chair. “I ordered pizza for dinner tonight,” she said. “It should be here soon.”
Ty took her hand in his and squeezed, hoping that simple gesture told her that he sure liked being here with her and her son.
“So how do you become a cowboy?” he asked Dallen, and the young man brightened. Ty could see so much of himself in Dallen, because he’d wanted to be a real estate agent at that age, and he’d worked for it.
As he listened to him talk about the jobs he’d had over the years, and when he’d known he wanted to be a cowboy as a profession, Ty realized something else too. He’d worked for what he had, and he could do the same with Sage.
He wouldn’t give up on her, especially after hearing that her son had been dating someone for almost a year and they weren’t engaged or married.
Maybe his friends had just been moving faster than him.No maybe about that, he thought as he considered Bessie and Oliver, who had started dating, fallen in love, gone through their engagement, and gotten married all within a twelve-month timeframe.
He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t have to be them.
He and Sage were on their own path, and he’d sure been enjoying the adventure.
* * *
“I can’t believeyou got all three of those dogs in the back,” Dallen drawled as Ty turned into the parking lot at the park. “Or that I haven’t been slobbered on yet.” He chuckled, but he had a point. Getting Sherman, Brother, and Gypsy in the back of Ty’s SUV had been no small feat.
They had a rolling cooler and camp chairs with them too, but those rode in the backseat with Dallen.
“Right there on the left,” Sage said, and Ty eased the vehicle that way. He took the parking space she’d found, and while they had to walk a bit, they’d have to do that no matter where he found to park.
“Everyone out,” he said. “Dallen, can you get the chairs for us?”
“Yes, sir,” he said, and Ty liked the young man a whole lot. He’d been here for a week, and he was going home on Saturday. Ty had spent his free time with Sage and Dallen for the past several days, and he was looking forward to being alone with Sage again.
Not that he minded her son being here. Of course not. He just wanted to kiss her without an audience or without sneaking her out onto her own front porch and then pulling back before he’d really sunk in.
“I’ll get the cooler,” Sage said.
That left the trio of dogs for Ty, and he moved to the back of the SUV and pressed the button to lift it. “Stay,” he said, holding his hand out as the liftgate rose. “Wait.” He picked up the leashes and started linking them to collars. Only when he had all three of them done did he said, “Okay. You can get down.”
Gypsy and Brother did and then stayed close, but Sherman leapt down like a deer and started to run off. Ty had to hold the leash tight and tell him, “No,” to get him to calm down. “You walk right by me, bud.”
