Owen (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 2) (105 page)

He pulled his mouth into half a smile. “We all work out, too. We do a lot of running and lifting.”

She looked over his muscles appreciatively and felt the vibration of her phone in her pocket. She didn’t want to answer it, or even look, but anytime she was away from Logan, she felt obligated. Sure enough, when she glanced at the screen, it was Rachel calling.
 

“Sorry, I have to take this,” she said.

“Harmony, I’m so sorry to interrupt your date. Logan just threw up and it seems that he’s running a fever. It came out of nowhere. He was fine when I got here, then all the sudden he said his stomach hurt and he threw up. He’s okay now, but I wanted to let you know.”

“Okay. I’ll be right there.”

She hung up and put her phone back, then looked at Beck with a long sigh. “I’m really sorry. I have to go.” She chose her words very carefully. She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want to give anything away just yet. “One of the kids I care for is sick. I have to run.” There. That was true enough, right?

“Oh, okay.” He looked around for the waitress. “I’ll take care of the check and everything. Go ahead if you have to go.”

“I’m so sorry. I had a really great time, though.”

“Me too. I was hoping we could maybe do this again?” He raised an eyebrow and gave her a hopeful smile.

“Definitely. I’d love to. And hopefully, next time there’ll be no child emergency.”

“Must be tough being a nanny. I don’t know how you do it.”

She put on her coat and reached for her purse. “Well, they’re just kids. You get to know them, and you grow to love them.”

“I guess. I think I’m nowhere near ready for that.” He chuckled. “I give you all the credit in the world for taking care of kids that aren’t even yours.”

“It’s a paycheck.” She winked and slid out of the booth. “Thank you again, Beck. It’s been really great.”

“I’ll call you?”

“Please do.”

She hurried out of the restaurant and got into her car. He would definitely call, she thought. They’d had a great time and everything, but she didn’t have high hopes.

He’d said he wasn’t ready for kids. He had seemed horrified watching her with the boys at the fair. What would he do when he found out about Logan? Probably the same thing all the other guys did. Stop calling.

Maybe what she really needed to do was find a guy with a kid of his own. That way, there would be no issue. Or she could just go around with a big sticker on her forehead that proclaimed, “Single Mom,” so that no one would be surprised. They could choose to ignore her from the beginning and never even ask her out and get her hopes up.
 

Harmony looked down at her phone the next day and saw that Beck was calling. That was fast.

“Did the kid recover?” he asked.

She looked over at Logan, who was balled up on the couch. “Getting there,” she said. “Though I did have to clean up puke twice today. I hope your day was better.”

“Actually, I’m not sure about that.”

“Really? What happened?”

“It’s a whole big mess. We’ve had some trouble with this other group in the area. A bunch of ladies trying to ruin our business.”

“Uh oh.” She chuckled. “Can’t handle the competition?”

“I wish that’s all it was. But it seems they’re the ones who can’t handle the competition. It started out with them just messing with our displays in Mason’s, but now it’s progressed to much worse. We had to talk with the police today to make statements. They set fire to our processing plant and attacked and killed one of our hives.”

“Oh, my goodness. That’s crazy.”

“Yeah. It’s been rough,” he said. “Luckily, we caught the fire in time and nothing was seriously damaged. They’re going to arrest them and schedule a trial. I guess we gave them enough evidence and everything. So, it looks like we get to go to court next.”

“Not fun. But, if it gets them to leave you alone, it’s worth it, right?”

“So long as they don’t do anything in the meantime to retaliate for us pressing charges.”

“I think maybe your day was worse. At least I got to sit around and watch movies in between cleaning up the puke.”

“Oh, yuck.” He made a disgusted sound. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“I guess I’m used to it. I’ve been taking care of kids for about six years now.”

“I guess by the time you have your own, you’ll be all set.”

Oh no. How should she answer that? She hesitated too long. She said, “Yeah, I guess so.” But then she felt bad for lying.

“What are your plans for today?” he asked.

“Nothing much. I’m just hanging out at home. Got some laundry to do. You know, fun stuff.”

“You’re home now?” he asked.

“Yup. What are you up to?”

“Just driving home. I’ll be making a stop soon.”

“Oh, okay, well I’ll let you go then. Maybe we can talk later?”

“That sounds great,” he said. “Talk to you soon.”
 

She helped Logan get up and go to the bathroom, then settle back onto the couch. “Do you want any soup or crackers or anything?”

He shook his head and pulled his stuffed bear closer to his chest. He always got quiet when he was sick. He’d usually just watch TV and hold his favorite stuffed animal. The trashcan was close to his head so that he could grab it in a hurry if he needed it. She hoped he was done throwing up, though.

She put a load of laundry in the washer and sat back down, picking up her book. Logan wanted to watch his favorite movie for the hundredth time and she needed something else to do besides hear the same dialogue over and over.

She’d just turned the page when there was a knock at her door. She wasn’t expecting anyone, but maybe Rachel was coming to check on them.
 

Harmony opened the door to find Beck standing on her porch, a pizza in his hands.

“I thought maybe I’d surprise you with some dinner,” he said, grinning at her.

Her eyes went wide and her stomach turned. Maybe she’d be needing the trashcan next. This was not how this was supposed to happen. She wanted to wait longer before telling him. Get to know him better. But now he was here and there was no way to hide the truth any longer.

“Hi Beck.” She glanced behind her into the house. Logan must still be on the couch. “I, umm… didn’t expect you.”

“That’s what makes it a surprise. Is it a bad time?”

“No, it’s not that. I… Well, just come on in.”

She stepped aside and let him in, then she led him to the kitchen.

“Do you always watch kids’ movies when you’re home in the evenings?” he asked, nodding toward the living room where the loud, cheerful singing was coming from.

“Well, here’s the thing, Beck.” She twisted her fingers together and glanced toward the living room. “My son is in the other room watching TV. He’s the one that’s sick.”

Beck’s face went slack and still. He stared at her for a long moment. “Your son?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but you seemed freaked out by kids and I’ve had some really bad experiences with guys not calling again after they found out, and I really liked you, so I guess I was hoping that when you got to know me better, you’d be okay with it or something.” She covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

“Oh, well, it’s… Umm, it’s okay, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Well, I don’t know anything about kids. I don’t really know what to do with them.”

“You don’t have to do anything really. Just be there and hang out with them. They’re people, too.”

He nodded absently. “They seem like they need so much attention and… I don’t know. Guidance? What do you call it when you have to yell at them all the time?”

Harmony felt like she could cry. This was not going well at all. He really was freaked out about kids in general. Was there anything she could do about that? Any way to make it better for him?
 

“He’s sick, today, so he’s just watching TV,” she said. “That’s not too hard, right? We can just eat some pizza and watch TV. It’s not scary.”

“Okay.”

But he seemed really unsure. “Unless you just want to go. I’d understand if you can’t handle it.”

“It’s not that I can’t handle it, I’ve just never had to before.”

“Want to come meet him?”

“Sure, I guess.”

She walked into the living room and Logan looked over at her. “Hey, Logan, this is my friend, Beck.”

“Hi.” Logan held up his hand, but didn’t lift his head or get up.

“Hey.” Beck held up his hand back.

“Want some pizza? Beck brought some for us.”

“Okay.” Logan pushed himself up so he was sitting. His hair was disheveled and sticking out in all directions. His face was red and sweaty, his eyes still glassy.

Harmony looked back at Beck. “Want to grab the pizza?”

He walked back into the kitchen, then returned with the pizza. He set it down on the table and sat on the couch beside her, the opposite side from Logan.

Beck and Harmony each picked up a slice, then Logan reached over for one. Beck watched Logan eating. Logan shoved most of the slice into his mouth.

“Hey, slow down,” Harmony said. “You’re going to make yourself sick again.”

Logan pulled the slice back out of his mouth. Beck’s eyes widened. Then, Logan proceeded to roll up the slice and bite the end of it, taking little bites of his pizza roll and chewing loudly.

“Sorry,” Harmony said quietly. “Boys can be gross eaters when they’re little. One of my past charges used to pull the cheese off, then suck off the sauce, then break the crust into little pieces and wrap the cheese around the little pieces.”

“And you just let them do that?”

She shrugged. “Kids have to be able to explore the world and learn. I try to let them be themselves as much as possible. Unless it’s going to hurt someone or themselves or make a huge mess, then I usually let them. You can’t yell at them for everything.”

Beck was still watching Logan, who now wiped his mouth on his pajama sleeve, sending a smear of red sauce to cover the little trains.

Beck finished his slice quickly and stood. “I’m going to get going.”

“Already?” She stood, too.

“Well, he’s sick, so I don’t want to catch it or anything. And I’m sure he’s not really, umm, up for guests or whatever.”

“Okay, sure. I don’t want you to get sick.”

He nodded and walked to the door. Harmony followed him.

“Just tell me now if you’re not going to call,” she said. “I don’t want to sit around waiting if you can’t do the kid thing.”

He stopped and turned to look at her. The sun was setting and the light coming from behind him was golden orange. It made his hair glow yellow, like it was on fire. And that made the rest of him look darker and even more handsome. She really wanted him to be okay with Logan. To take a chance on them both and see what it was like. To give them a chance and see that kids didn’t have to be scary.

“I think… I’m just not sure, Harmony. I’ve never been around kids or dated anyone with them. I just need time to process this and think.”

“Sure.” She gave him a sad smile. “If you could just let me know either way, that’d be great. Like I said, there’s nothing worse than waiting for a call that’s never going to come.”

“I will. I’ll let you know. I hope he gets better.” He started to walk away.

“Hey Beck?”

He stopped and turned back to her again.

“Thanks for the pizza and for stopping by. It was great to see you for a few minutes, even if it did turn out to be a disaster. I’ve been really enjoying getting to know you.”

“Me too.” He let his gaze linger for a long moment before finally turning away and getting into his car.

Harmony dreaded hearing her phone ring. She knew it would be Beck telling her he couldn’t do the kid thing. How could he ever be okay with it after the way he reacted? But would he even bother calling, or would he just never call again? She didn’t know him well enough to know for sure.

Days went by and she didn’t hear from him. She’d decided he wasn’t going to call after all. How long did he really need to process? But, she waited. She waited a whole week since he’d shown up at her house. When she still didn’t hear from him, she picked up the phone.

“Hey Harmony,” he said.

“Hey. So, you didn’t call like you said you would, so I’m assuming you decided you couldn’t do the kid thing and couldn’t bring yourself to call to tell me?” She tried to keep her tone light, but she was angry and frustrated and deeply disappointed. She’d really wanted this to work and she really liked him.

“I’m sorry. I should have called. But to be honest, I’m still not really sure. I mean…” He let out a long sigh. “I really like you, Harmony. But kids just overwhelm me. I don’t know what to do with them.”

“Okay, well how much time have you spent with any?”

“Not much.”

“And don’t you think that maybe that’s why you feel overwhelmed and like you don’t know what to do? If you spent more time with kids, you’d see that they’re really not that bad.”