Cowgirls Don't Cry(31)

Brandt held his breath, expecting her to say something about Luke being sweet, too, but she just sighed.

“You wanna watch X-Files reruns? This is pointless tonight.” She set aside her knitting. “I’m too wound up.”


“I’m sorry you had a rough morning. Think tomorrow will be easier?”


“I hope so. I don’t know if I can stand being the kid’s last choice for the next four months.” She expelled a soft, bitter laugh. “Although I should be used to it. Like father like son, right?”


That crack about Luke didn’t sit any better with Brandt than the first one did.

Jessie sighed again. “Sorry. I should probably haul my cranky self to bed.”


He reached for her hand. “Stay. Drink a beer with me. We’ll heckle the bizarre plot line and wonder why in the hell Mulder and Scully don’t just get it on already. Jesus. How long can they drag out the sexual tension when it’s obvious the two of them belong together?”


She faced him and frowned. “It takes them a while, but they do end up together. We watched the last season, last year, remember?”


Not really. As usual, he’d been more interested in gawking at Jessie. “I must’ve forgot.”


“You forgot that Mulder and Scully drove off toward a happy future?”


“Yeah. It’s easier to believe in monsters because happily ever after doesn’t happen in real life.”


Jessie gave him a curious look before she tossed him the remote. “One episode. Then I’m going to bed.”


Landon’s behavior Tuesday at daycare was marginally better than Monday.

Landon’s behavior Wednesday at daycare was markedly better than Tuesday.

Landon’s behavior Thursday at daycare was good enough he stayed the entire day.

Brandt and Jessie had fallen into an easy evening routine—too easy. The three of them fed the animals together. They ate supper together. Brandt bathed Landon and tucked him in bed. Then he and Jessie watched TV together until one of them or both of them fell asleep. If she conked out first, he’d watch her like a f*cking perv, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Something about seeing her so unguarded in sleep reinforced the idea she was vulnerable and strengthened his resolve to protect her at all costs.

Even if he was the one most dangerous to her.

So when they were offered a break in the routine, Brandt grabbed it, telling Jessie his mother wanted to have Landon for an hour or so after supper. But first on their to-do list was outfitting Landon for winter weather.

As far as shopping went, Brandt didn’t mind the farm supply store. Tisdale’s carried everything essential to ranching and he usually ran into someone he knew. It hadn’t occurred to him that might not be a good thing until it happened.

He and Jessie were in the boot section of Tisdale’s, trying to figure out if rubber boots worn over shoes were a better choice than simple snow boots. Since neither he nor Jessie had shoe shopped for a toddler, getting Landon to sit still proved a major obstacle.

“No. Put those back. We don’t want anything with laces.”


Brandt held up the camouflage boots. “But they have drawstrings on the top. They’ll stay tied.”


Landon reached for them with a possessive grunt.

“See? He loves them. They’re hip. And manly.”


Jessie grumbled and let go of Landon for two seconds. The kid was off like an antelope.

“Dammit, Landon, get back here.” Shit. He wasn’t supposed to swear. He snagged the boy by the waist and hung him upside down on the trip back to the boot department. Landon shrieked, the good kind of shrieks, but still, he was awful damn loud.