Rode Hard, Put Up Wet (Rough Riders #2)(53)

Finally he murmured, “Better, honey-girl?”


“No. I hate this. I’ve always hated it.”


Cash’s stomach plummeted to the toes of his cowboy boots. “Hate what? Me?”


“No, I hate that I don’t know you. Hate that it’s so goddamn awkward to get to know you. I want everything to be butterflies and rainbows in my life, just once. I want us to finally make that connection and be, I don’t know, like a real family. Instead of polite strangers.”


She started crying again and this time, he cried silently right along with her. Holding the best mistake he’d ever made.


“You probably think I’m a bawl baby, huh?” she asked after a time.


“No.”


“What then?”


“I never thought I’d be so happy to be wearin’ your tears on my shirt.” He squeezed her hard and kissed the top of her head. “We’re gonna make this work, Macie. We’re gonna be a family, ’cause Lord knows, we both need one.”


She nodded against his chest. Still making no move to leave him.


“Can I ask you something?”


“Anything.”


“Why didn’t you ever get married and have another family?”


That question surprised him for the second time. “I guess I never found a woman who would put up with me.”


“I’m serious.”


“I am too. I’m set in my ways, Macie.”


“My way or the highway, huh?”


“Yep.”


“But what about when you were younger? Before you got so set in your ways?”


“I figured there was no rush. That I’d have plenty of time to settle down when I was older.” Cash didn’t want to muddy the waters and discuss his relationship with Gemma and all that he wanted from her now that he’d found a woman who would put up with his wicked ways. “The same holds true for you too. You’re young. I’m sure there are things you wanna do. Travel. See the world.”


Macie snorted.


“What?”


“My mom was the gypsy type, not me.”


Cash leaned back to look at her. “You want to settle down?”


“Maybe.”


“Here?”


“Maybe.”


He kept his tone casual. “With Carter McKay?”


“No. I like it here because you’re here, Dad. But if you’re talking about me and him?


I don’t know. Probably wouldn’t work anyway.”


Cash wanted to tell her it probably wouldn’t and encourage her to nip the relationship in the bud. But he bit his tongue and listened.


“He and I are so different. He’s smart.”


“So are you. You passed your GED when you were fourteen.”


“Hah. He’s got a Masters of Fine Art.”


“So?”


“That’s not all. He has ties to the land and to his family and I don’t know what that’s like.”


“Is he messin’ with your head? Tellin’ you what you have and what you’ve accomplished in your life isn’t good enough? Makin’ promises that you know he ain’t gonna keep?”


Her eyes narrowed and he recognized that challenging look: He’d seen it staring back at him in the mirror. It gave him a spark of pride that she did have something of him in her after all.


“Can I talk to you about this? Rationally? Or are you gonna run off half-cocked?”


Cash grimaced and pointed to the four clips on the tailgate. “Half-cocked? I’m fully loaded.”


“Dad!”


“Kiddin’. I ain’t gonna shoot him.” Yet. “Go on.”


“It’s like he runs hot and cold. He treats me like I’m everything and then the next day, it’s like I don’t exist.”


“He’s an idiot.”


“Yeah.” She smiled and wiped the tears from her face. “Never mind. I’m babbling.


It’s my stupid hormones.”


“When you realize it ain’t you, and it is his fault for how he’s makin’ you feel—”


“I’ll keep it to myself.”


Cash opened his mouth. Shut it.


“But thanks. So when we’re done cleaning up, you want to come and try a piece of caramel apple pie?”


“With whipped cream?”


“I don’t have any in the camper.”


“Gemma has some in the fridge. I’ll grab it and be right back.”


Shooting guns and having pie with his daughter. It was turning out to be a damn fine day.


Three hours later Cash’s cell phone rang while he filled water tanks in the south pasture.


“Yeah?”


“Cash? It’s Colby McKay.”


“Colby, you old dog. How’s it goin’?”