Cowboy in Charge (5 page)

She flushed, thinking of her comment to him last night, her remark about his lack of involvement with their baby. She certainly hadn’t worried about being graceful then.

“I’m not trying to pry,” Shay said, “and I know you don’t like to talk about him. And you know just how well I relate to that. But I have to say, in school you two seemed like the perfect couple.”

“We were. When we were between arguments.”

“Really?”

She nodded. Last night, she wouldn’t have made that comment to him at all if she hadn’t already had a headful of memories of those battles.

She wanted to continue to keep conversations about him off-limits, but his reappearance in her life made that impossible. She needed to talk to someone. And she did trust Shay. “We were teenagers,” she said finally. “You know how that goes. Our relationship bounced all along the emotional spectrum. Hot-and-heavy romance at one end and cold-war fights at the other.”

“And kissing and making up in the middle?”

She laughed bitterly. “Yes. Along with one especially long stretch of peace that got us in front of a judge and put a wedding ring on my hand. But the peace treaty didn’t hold up.” She shrugged. “It was just as well. Things wouldn’t have worked out for us anyway.”

Considering they lived in a constant state of high emotions, even if they had managed to avoid their final argument, the one that led to her kicking him out, their relationship never would have lasted. She had told him she had reached her limit—he had left her at home alone just one too many times.

What she hadn’t told him was the reaction his absence always triggered inside her, the sense of abandonment she felt. She could handle that...until they had a baby on the way. If he couldn’t manage to stay home at night when it was just the two of them, how would he handle being a new daddy with a crying infant?

“Maybe the two of you ought to give things another try,” Shay said.

“No, thank you. I’m just glad I managed to get him out of my life again this morning.” As she plopped her teacup down on the coffee table for emphasis, a knock rattled the apartment door. A rhythmic quick-tap she had long ago learned to recognize as Jason’s.

The few times he’d come to her house to meet her, she had loved hearing that special signal just for her. Now, it only made her groan and slump against the couch.

“What’s the matter?” Shay asked. “Are you okay?”

“You won’t believe me when I tell you. I’m fine, but I need you to run interference with Jason for me again.” At the confusion on the other woman’s face, she laughed—though there was nothing at all funny about the situation. “I recognize the sound of his knock on the door.”

Chapter Five

When the door closed behind Shay, Jason dropped into the armchair he’d begun to think of as his. A dangerous thought, and a useless one. He wouldn’t be in town long enough to get attached. If Layne had her way, he suspected he wouldn’t be around here long enough to keep the seat warm.

Already he could see her building up steam to blast him in irritation. She’d held back with Shay here, but now she had nothing stopping her. Before she could start in again, he held up his hand. “Look. We’ve been through this already—last night and again just now with Shay. You’ve got no one else to call. She said she won’t be able to stop by again at all today and probably not all weekend, especially with the wedding tomorrow. And you saw how much of a hurry she was in to leave.”

“Because you bullied her.”

He snorted. “I said, ‘Fancy meeting you here again.’ She laughed. Then, after delivering the news about her schedule, she was out the door before you or I could open our mouths. Obviously she’s busy. I’ve got nothing on my plate at the moment. And now I’m back here, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Jason!” Scott called. “Play cars today?”

He shot a glance at the boy. “Yeah,” he said firmly. “We’ll play cars while your mama takes a nap.” He looked back at Layne. His voice pitched lower, he added, “You’ve had your fun tossing me out. Not once, but twice. Do you really need to ram your point home by going for a third try?”

She glared at him and clutched the afghan more closely around her, but she kept her voice down. “After the way you barged in here, is there any reason I shouldn’t tell you to go?”

“I guess not. You’d never needed much of an excuse before.”

She gasped. “If you’re talking about what happened years ago, you’re way out of line. You gave me plenty of reasons back then. And once you’d walked away to go who knows where to spend the night with who knows what little—”

“Layne,” he snapped.

Visibly, she struggled to take a breath. “And then the next morning—what? You assumed I would be overjoyed you decided to come back? You never told me what made you think that—”

“You never gave me a chance,” he began, but she was on a tear, her voice rising with every word.

“—you just assumed you could walk right in and find your way to my bed again. I wasn’t—”

“
Our
bed. And you weren’t having any of that. Yeah, I know. You made your feelings perfectly clear.” Swallowing hard, he looked away for a long moment, watching Scott with his toys. Regardless of what he could have said back then to defend himself, it wouldn’t have mattered. The marriage was over anyway. It had been long past time for him to leave.

But now, his son mattered. His son was his purpose for coming back and the only reason he was here in this room at this moment. Layne’s illness simply gave him the excuse to hang around.

“That’s all in the past,” he said. “History. I’m not trying to find my way anywhere near you now. I only want to help, and only because you’re not feeling well.” Even as she shook her head, her eyes gleamed from the fever she wouldn’t admit to having. “No sense denying it. It’s obvious. It’s also plain to see I’m the last person you want here. Earlier this morning, you couldn’t wait to get me out of the house.”

“But I didn’t toss you out.”

He shrugged. “All right, let’s just say you worked danged hard to find a replacement for me. But now Shay’s gone—taking away your last option—and you don’t have a choice.” He sure wasn’t going to let anyone blame him for an emergency he could have prevented. “One weak moment while you’re holding the baby...one second of fade-out when Scott’s near the stove...anything can happen. Let’s face it, you don’t want me here, but I’m all you’ve got to give you a hand with the kids.”

As if on cue, the baby let out a screech. Layne tossed off the afghan and attempted to stand. Her legs looked about as strong as a minute-old calf’s.

“I’ll get her,” he said, rising to his feet.

Gotta hand it to kids for creating a good diversion.

When he placed the baby into Layne’s arms, she nodded and mumbled a grudging thanks.

“Do you need anything?” he asked.

“A fresh cloth. There’s a folded stack in my closet, right beside where you’d gotten the diaper bag.”

“Be right back.” He headed out of the room, shaking his head.

Scream fests and sex.

That had been the story between the two of them after they’d married, although his teenage hormones sure hadn’t found it a problem back then. They would both get all hot under the collar, usually over the stupidest things and always at the wrong times. They liked to fight. And they liked the makeup sex even better.

The thought of those times left him all thumbs. When he reached into her closet for a cloth, he fumbled and toppled the stack. The cloths knocked over the diaper bag, which fell against a small cardboard box, which went tumbling from the shelf. Reflexes kicked in, allowing him to grab the box before it hit the floor. But the lid fell off midgrab and the box, upended, spilled its contents across the carpet.

Biting back a curse, he knelt to scoop up the papers.

And the cards.

And the photos.

A lump lodged in the back of his throat, making it hard for him to breathe and impossible for him to swallow. Looked like she had saved every danged card and love note he’d ever given her and every photo they’d ever taken together.

He froze with his hand hovering over a shot he remembered all too well, a picture of Layne sitting on his lap in a pink-cushioned chair at SugarPie’s. Sugar always kept a camera on hand in the sandwich shop. She had snapped the shot of them just after they had told her they were gonna be a mama and daddy.

Slowly, he picked up the photo. He had wrapped his arms around Layne and rested his cheek against her soft hair. Her eyes glowed, and her smile stretched as wide as he’d ever seen it. They were barely out of the newlywed stage and deliriously happy at their news. And so appallingly young to have a baby on the way.

Hurrying, he crouched to sweep up everything that had spilled onto the carpet, then shoved it all back into the box. He slammed the lid in place and returned the box to the shelf. Not one of those actions could help him forget anything he had seen or felt or thought. But they all went a long way toward reinforcing what he finally had to admit.

He groaned, recalling that day at SugarPie’s and feeling a certainty at this moment he hadn’t realized back then. A certainty he didn’t want to think about now.

He and Layne never should have gotten married in the first place.

* * *

T
HAT
EVENING
, J
ED
and Tina finally managed to find a quiet place to chat with Shay. Tina had taken her upstairs to the suite the girls had been using for their wedding preparations. Once the coast was clear downstairs, he moseyed on up to join them.

They were both working on the party favors for tomorrow’s wedding, tying ribbons around small crystal vases filled with foil-wrapped chocolates.

The minute he brought up Jason and Layne, he knew he and Tina wouldn’t have a problem winning Shay over to their side. As soon as he mentioned the pair, she was with him, confirming his impression those two weren’t as uninterested in each other as they’d tried to let on.

“I suggested she might have liked having Jason there for the night, and she jumped all over me,” Shay admitted.

“Protesting too much?” he asked.

She nodded. “That’s just what I thought. I tried to tell her he could really care about her and the kids, and the idea made her turn ten shades of red. And you should have seen the look on her face when he came back to the apartment.”

“She wasn’t expecting him again?” Tina asked.

Shay shook her head. “I don’t want to break any confidences...”

“And we don’t want you to,” he assured her. He liked her loyalty. He liked the girl herself. As well as being his old friend Mo’s granddaughter, Shay was a valued employee of the Hitching Post and a good friend to Layne. And to all of the Garlands. She deserved happiness as much as his girls did. One day, he’d have to do something about that.

He smiled encouragingly at her. “Just give us the gist so we know we’re on the right track.”

“Well, she tells me she doesn’t want anything to do with Jason, and I... I can understand that. And this morning she tried to put on a good front with me, but I could tell she wasn’t happy he had left the apartment earlier. Then he came back again right after Tina called me, just before I was leaving. And the look on her face—and on his, come to think of it...”

“There’s more going on than they want people to think?” Tina asked.

“I don’t know...” Shay considered a moment. “I’m not sure anything’s going on yet. And I wouldn’t even be telling you all this, except I get the feeling they wouldn’t be opposed to something happening. And the funny thing is, I don’t think either one of them is aware of it themselves.”

Jed grinned. “Now, you see,” he said to Tina, “this is just what I was talking about. Shay was on hand to get the lay of the land, so to speak.”

“What do you want me to do?” Shay asked.

“Nothing, for the moment. I’ve got Jason half-convinced nobody from the ranch has time to look in on Layne. I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere, at least for the next day or two. And you’ll be busy with the wedding tomorrow anyway. For now, let’s give ’em this time together, and then after the weekend, we’ll have you take another reading.”

The two girls exchanged a look.

“What about Cole?” Tina asked.

“Same thing,” he said promptly. “Nothing for the moment. Tonight, by the time the boys all get back from living it up in Santa Fe, I imagine they won’t have much on their minds but rolling into bed and sleeping off the effects of having a good time.”

“What happens if Layne starts feeling better?” Tina asked. She turned to Shay. “She might be having mixed feelings about Jason, but she’s also got strong feelings about being independent. I know it frustrates Cole that she won’t take more help from him.”

“I know what you mean, and I agree,” Shay said. “I can’t see her letting Jason stay there once she’s well enough to handle things on her own.”

He nodded. “Even if she does want the boy around, she’ll tell him to go, just to save face.”

“Exactly,” Shay said.

“And then what happens if Jason wants his room here?” Tina asked.

“I’ve got some ideas about it. Now, don’t you girls worry,” he reassured them. “Years ago, Jason mentioned Layne to me often enough. He might not have said how he felt about her, but that was clear to me. Her feelings were even more obvious. Everything Shay just said only makes me more convinced, and talking to Jason this morning did, too. Despite their scrapping, I can see those two are meant for each other.” He smiled. “I’ll come up with some way to keep them together until they finally see it for themselves.”

* * *

T
HE
WEEKEND
PASSED
in a blur for Layne as she drifted in and out of a feverish sleep.

When she awoke again, muted sunlight was seeping into the living room around the edges of the drawn curtains. The only other light came from the glow of the television screen. Jason sat in the armchair with the remote in his hand, flipping through channels.

“You awake?” he said.

“Barely. The kids?” she asked, her voice still raspy.

“Asleep in their room.”

She looked again at the sunlight edging the curtains. “What time is it?” she asked, her voice raspy. “What
day
is it?”

“Going on seven. And it’s Monday.”

She gasped and raised a hand to her head. “It can’t be.”

“Well, it is.”

She recalled him bringing her mugs of soup to spoon up, cups of tea to drink, the baby to hold close for feedings. She had a dim memory of all that as well as a few trips down the hall to the bathroom. She also had the faint remembrance of hugging her son before Jason put him to bed each night.

Once or twice she had thought of calling her brother. It surprised her that she hadn’t heard from Cole or Tina, especially now the wedding was over. They all usually touched base with each other by phone every couple of days, or even in person when one or both of them stopped by SugarPie’s.

But of course they had been busy at Garland Ranch all last week, between visiting with Tina’s aunts and uncles, who had come to stay for the wedding, and preparing for the big day. And by now Cole had his hands full filling in for Pete while he was on his honeymoon.

They had probably taken yesterday as a well-deserved day of rest.

In any case, she couldn’t have asked either of them for help.

As hard as it was to admit, under the circumstances, Jason had timed his reappearance in Cowboy Creek perfectly.

When she ran her hand over her face, Jason glanced her way.

“I was really out of it this past couple of days, wasn’t I?”

He nodded. “That you were.”

She groaned. “I’ve got to get myself together. Get back to work. I need to call Sugar.”

“No, you don’t. She called you. I told her you were still out of it.”

“You talked to her without telling me she was on the phone?”

“I tried twice to wake you and then gave up. You wouldn’t budge. Sugar said take all the time you need.”

“I don’t
have
time, Jason. The bills won’t pay themselves.”

“In your state, you’ll be lucky to get dressed on your own.”

“Well, don’t worry,” she said, keeping her voice light, “I won’t be asking for your help.” She retied the robe she had kept on during the worst of her chills. “I could use a change of clothes, though, that’s for sure.” A dim memory edged into her mind, and she looked over at him again. “Those cowboy pajamas you picked out for Scott to wear last night... They’re his favorites.”

“He told me.”

What else had her chatty son said? “You took care of both the kids all this time.”

“Yeah.”

She ought to be upset by the high-handed way he had walked in and taken charge of her life. But at the moment, she couldn’t manage to gather enough strength for that. She shifted on the couch, trying to sit upright. He leaned across the coffee table and adjusted the pillow behind her. “Thanks.”