Come Back for Me (Arrowood Brothers #1)(64)

“Be gentle with her . . . if she’ll let you.”

He smiles. “I don’t think you know how happy you made me.”

My cheeks burn. That’s all I want to do, and he has no clue what he does for me. Every minute with Connor is a gift.

“You do the same for me.” I glance back again to make sure she isn’t listening. “I just hope she doesn’t hate us after this.”

“We’ll tread carefully.”

I can’t help but be nervous and anxious about this. While she loves Connor, she gets him as this friend. When he steps into the role as parent, her relationship with him will change. It won’t be all fun and games—he’ll be her father, and the first time he has to discipline her will be a challenge.

That isn’t even taking into consideration how she will feel about the things I’d done. She will know that I lied, and I hope that doesn’t diminish her trust in me.

Hopefully, we will transition without a lot of bumps, but then again, that doesn’t really seem to be the theme of my life.

We make a turn onto a dirt road, and my curiosity spikes. Where the hell is he taking us?

Hadley pulls her headphones out and her face is glued to the window. “Are we there?”

“We are,” Connor says as he continues down the path.

“Are there cows here?”

I burst out laughing, and Connor looks over like I’m crazy. “She thinks you’re taking us cow riding because you seem so inept when it comes to the livestock you raise.”

“Hey! I know you don’t put saddles on cows unless you’re in a rodeo!” he protests with a joking tone.

“Those are bulls!” she yells at him before covering her eyes with her hands.

“Same thing. I know things.”

Her hand drops and she shakes her head. “You also didn’t think you had to milk the cows.”

“You know, you were my favorite, now I’m reconsidering giving you Betsy the new calf that was born.”

“Apples!” Hadley yells instead of responding, her attention wholly focused out her window. “You brought us apple picking!”

I glance back at Connor as he nods. “Well, we both love apple pie, I figured maybe we should get some and try to convince your mom to bake it.”

She giggles as her feet kick wildly. “Best day ever!”

I take Hadley pumpkin and apple picking each year, but Kevin never came with us. He was always too busy—or too angry—to do things with us. Connor is not only here but also has planned it. He wanted to spend time with us. He put thought and effort into something that he couldn’t know we enjoyed doing, and yet, somehow, he did know.

The man managed to take a flippant comment about apple pies—a comment I’d made on the worst night of my life—and turn it into a joyful moment.

He parks the car, and Hadley is out.

I turn to him, and before I can stop myself, my lips part. “I love you.”

Connor’s beautiful green eyes fill with emotion. “I’ve loved you since the first moment I ever saw you.”

“I think I have too, but it’s so soon and there is so much we still need to figure out.”

He grins and takes my hand in his. “We also have nothing but time. Now, let’s go pick apples, and maybe tonight, we can start to make a plan on how to make this dysfunctional trio into a family.”

And with that, he exits the car, and I wonder how I can ever thank his horrible father for forcing Connor Arrowood to come back so he could find me.





Chapter Twenty-Nine


Connor





“How many apples do we really need?” I ask as Hadley puts another two in the wagon. Yes, we have a wagon because the kid picked half the orchard.

“I like apples. They’re good for you.”

Okay, she has a point, but . . . we don’t need fifty. “Fair, but I think we have enough.”

Hadley stops, turns toward me, and puts her hands on her hips. “If we don’t have enough apples, Mommy can’t make pies.”

I’m not really sure how to argue with that, but I can divert her attention to something else. “Do you like pumpkin pie?”

She scrunches her nose. “Ewww.”

Now I’m not sure if she’s my kid. How can she not like pumpkin pie? “Have you ever had it?”

“No, because it’s gross. Pumpkins are like a vegetable.”

Ellie sighs beside me. “You have no idea how much fun this can be.”

I don’t think she understands that I couldn’t care less about these arguments. I want to have a million of them. I’ll debate whatever the little girl beside me wants to debate so long as I’m spending time with her.

“I’m not sure she can do anything I don’t find interesting.”

Ellie shakes her head. “Oh, I can’t wait to see if you say that in a month.”

I can’t either. I hope that it never gets old, although, I know better. My brothers probably thought I was cute and interesting at some point. By the time I was two, I’d become their bargaining tool and scapegoat. Being the youngest meant I was stupid and listened to them.

“I’m sure it’ll wear off in about five years.”