Texas Dad (Fatherhood) (12 page)

The man’s eyes twinkled. “Arne. Arne Biddle. I teach art at Tech and moonlight giving beginning painting classes to other seniors around the area. I bought a unit here in anticipation of retiring next year. Bonnie is my newest, most talented student.” He shook Mack’s hand before settling his palm with familiarity on the back of Bonnie’s slender neck. “I’m sure we’ll all meet again,” he said, dropping a lingering smile on J.J.’s mother and coaxing a loving one from her in return.

“Sure,” was all J.J. said quickly, hustling Zoey away from the unit as she hurried back the way they’d come.

“That was...awkward,” she ground out to Mack, who rushed to catch up with her.

“Why didn’t we go in?” Zoey asked.

“Jill’s mother already had company, and we only stopped to see if Bonnie wanted to join us at the mall,” he said smoothly. Unlocking his pickup he boosted Zoey in. But as J.J. headed to the passenger’s side, he took her arm and stopped her at the back of the pickup. “Are you okay?” he asked, gently brushing her hair away from her face.

“Was that man parading around my mother’s condo in nothing but pajama bottoms?” Her query came out on a hissed breath.

“They could have been surgical scrubs. Maybe that’s what he paints in.”

“Right! You are so full of it, Bannerman.”

“Your mother and Arne are well past the age of consent. What has you so upset?” He ran his hands from her shoulders to her wrists and gripped her hand.

J.J. curled her fingers around his. “Rex has barely been dead six months. My mother claimed to be devastated. And now, now...” She broke off and tugged her fingers loose.

“Your mother’s not like you, Jill. You used to say she needed a man to feel like her life was complete. And hasn’t she always been a lot about herself?”

“Yes. Thank you for bringing this into perspective, Mack. I guess Arne seemed pleasant enough.”

“Hey,” Zoey called, sticking her head out of the back door. “What’s taking you guys so long? Are we going to the mall or what?”

Mack looked guilty and J.J. laughed. “Like I said, thanks. I should be ecstatic that Arne is gainfully employed. Mom’s never worked outside the home and this place costs more than Rex’s pension can cover. I subsidize her. If whatever’s going on with Arne works out, maybe I can—” She stopped abruptly, not wanting to let on to Mack that she wasn’t totally thrilled working for
Her Own Woman.
“Anyway, let’s go to the mall,” she said, scooting around Mack.

He was slower to react, but Zoey’s second call spurred him to get in the truck.

A short while later, outside a mall that didn’t appear too busy, Mack found a parking spot halfway between the two anchor department stores. “I’m going to go find some coffee. You ladies do your thing.” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, took out his debit card and gave it to J.J. “Do you want me to write my pin number down?”

She took the card but didn’t tuck it into her purse. “How much do you want Zoey to spend?”

“Whatever it takes to get what she wants, which I gathered from Erma isn’t the usual jeans and shirts.” He looked to Zoey as if for clarification.

J.J. frowned at him even though Zoey danced about saying, “Yay!”

“Mack, you need to set her a dollar limit.” Ignoring his shrug and Zoey’s frantic attempts to silence her, J.J. said, “Setting an amount will make Zoey shop wiser, plus she’ll appreciate more the art of buying items on sale.”

She paused while Mack reached around her and opened the mall door. He’d donned a light gray Stetson when he exited the truck, and he tipped it forward now, shadowing eyes similar in color to the felt brim. “I don’t know a thing about the price of women’s, er, girls’ clothes. I can quote the price of beef on the hoof, and can gauge futures so I know when to sell my herd for top dollar, but I leave buying Zoey’s clothes to Erma. She charges everything at the general store and I pay the bill. Frankly, I like it like that.”

J.J. poked him in the chest with his debit card. “Forget escaping to drink coffee, mister. Erma admitted to me that she doesn’t know squat about what teenagers are wearing. As the single parent of a soon-to-be teen, you need to learn what’s good and what’s not.”

Zoey heaved a sigh. “I bet he won’t like anything I want.”

“Give your dad some credit. Besides, the man who pays needs to know what his money is buying. Not that I think you’d buy trashy stuff, Zoey. But it’s a parent’s job to have the final say.”

Mack slapped his hat against his thigh, which made J.J. smile. She recognized it as a sign of nerves, something Mack did when he was out of his element.

She tucked his debit card into the breast pocket of his Western-style shirt and dragged him over to the mall directory. She read off stores listed under women’s wear and finally tapped her finger on one.

Zoey’s eyes lit up. “Brandy’s mom just bought her some clothes from there. Heather Reed, who says I dress like a boy, bragged since last year that her mom lets her and her sister buy skirts and tops there.”

“Have you got your list? It’s a good place to start,” J.J. said.

Mack groaned, but followed them. They entered a brightly lit store with blaring music and rounder after rounder of clothing. He shuddered. “This is torture, you know,” he said, bending close to J.J.’s ear. “If this is current music, I’m way out of touch.”

Zoey, who’d been gazing around as if mesmerized, said, “This is a new group, Daddy. Brandy loves them, but I only like a few of their songs.”

“Thank heaven,” Mack muttered.

J.J. searched through a row of skirts. She pulled out a hanger and held it up to Zoey. “This is perfect for fall. It’ll look great with tights in all colors. You’ll want to match tights to whatever top you wear.”

“If I had a gray jacket like yours, would it look good with this?”

“I think so,” J.J. said. “I’m not seeing anything in wool. You may have to come back at the end of summer.”

“Come back?” Mack stopped twirling his hat. “Do they have a catalog?”

J.J. patted his chest. “You’re doing fine. We’ve been here ten whole minutes and you haven’t hyperventilated yet.”

Mack followed the soft sway of Jill’s hips as she wove between racks and stopped to inspect an olive-green shirt with a black panther on the front that Zoey held up. The cat’s eyes glittered. Mack could tell she really wanted the shirt. And dang it, he wanted her to have it. Jill, though, didn’t automatically agree just because Zoey wore her heart on her sleeve. Jill read an inside label and made Zoey read it, too. She held the shirt up to Zoey and had her look in one of the store’s many mirrors. Jill draped it over a pair of shorts, insisting Zoey eye both critically. Finally, Jill went to a bin filled with socks, tights and leggings. Only after apparently finding a pair of tights that suited them did Jill add the top to Zoey’s pile of clothes to try on, and Mack slowly released the breath he’d been holding. He should be paying attention to Jill’s method, because he’d have bought Zoey anything her heart desired.

He watched them repeat the process with a pair of black, skinny jeans and camouflage jacket they plucked from a sale rack. Still standing off to one side, Mack heard Zoey squeal in delight when she spotted a hanging fixture of hats. Cowboy hats were all Mack knew, but nary a cowboy hat sat among the startlingly large display. Zoey tried on several before choosing two. He straightened, trying to look alive when Jill directed Zoey to find him.

“I want both of these, but J.J. said I only need one in black. I can’t decide between them. Which do you like best, Daddy?” She tried on one and did a pirouette, then the other.

“They both look good,” Mack ventured. “I’m not used to seeing you wear any headgear but your straw cowboy hat.” He noticed Jill watching him expectantly.
Damn, he didn’t want to fall short here.
“The way you’re wearing your hair today, Zoey, I’d choose the corduroy one that resembles a golfer’s hat.”

She sighed. “J.J. picked it, too. So, do you like my hair like this? J.J. let me borrow her curling iron this morning. Can I get one? She says they’re cheapest at a drugstore.”

Jill walked over to them then. “We need to wind down and check out. Erma just phoned and said she’d be done in about half an hour. She said for us to go ahead with our shopping, that she’d sit in the waiting room. But she sounded tired.”

“Did she say what they found? Is her hip broken?”

“She said she’d tell us in person. Zoey’s found some nice things, don’t you think?”

He nodded.

“This’ll give her a good start on her fall wardrobe. We’d talked about finding black boots, but that can wait. New styles will soon launch for fall.”

Mack expected Zoey to object, but she didn’t. “Daddy, will you come with me to check out? I found some bargains. J.J. said I did good.”

Feeling more needed by Zoey than he had in a while, Mack happily let Jill transfer the hangers and smaller items into his arms. He couldn’t help but notice their reflections in the various mirrors as they waited in line. They resembled a regular dad and mom, shopping with their daughter. Like Brandy’s parents. Jill fit with him. She always had. The fact that she’d made such a hit with Zoey suggested maybe he should let the past go. He continued to mull that over as they drove out of the parking lot.

“Daddy, may I use your phone to call Brandy when you go in to get Erma?”

His daughter broke his focus on Jill.
On their starting over.

Jill answered for him. “Your dad seems to be a million miles away, Zoey. He left his phone with Erma, remember.” She snapped her fingers. “Earth to Mack,” she said with a teasing smile. “Was one little ol’ shopping excursion that hard on you?”

“Actually, no. I was thinking I’m starved. I hope Erma feels up to stopping for lunch.”

“Me, too! Me, too,” Zoey singsonged. “I could wait to eat until we get home, though, if Erma would rather. I already had the best day ever, so I don’t want to be selfish.”

“If there’s time, I’d like to stop on the way to the clinic to pick up photo paper and a nice frame.”

They did make the stop. As they traveled on to the clinic Jill explained to Zoey how to incorporate her existing wardrobe with her new purchases. Mack parked in almost the same spot he’d had earlier. “You’re really growing up, Zoey,” he said, climbing out of the cab. “It pleases me to hear you talk about saving money.”

Jill unbuckled her seat belt and joined him outside. “Is that a tremor in your voice? Her growing up has caught you unaware, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. Hey, where are you going?” he asked, staying Jill with a hand on her arm.

“To sit in back again so Erma can be up front.”

“Don’t.” He ran his hand lightly up and down her arm. “Uh, Zoey will want to show Erma everything she bought.”

She couldn’t read his closed-off expression. Nevertheless she slid back in and shut her door. Mack’s attitude toward her had changed on this trip. She couldn’t begin to guess why. While it was infinitely nicer to stop sparring with him all the time, her self-respect was also threatened. From the moment she’d set eyes on him at the library, she’d known a part of her had never stopped loving him. She’d seen how easy it would be to fall under Mack’s spell again so many times today. Luckily she only had to resist his potent appeal for a few more days. She could do that.

* * *

M
ACK
WHEELED
E
RMA
out, opened the back door and lifted her in.

“What did the doctor say?” J.J. asked, turning in her seat.

“Better news than I expected. I’m back to the original diagnosis of a bad sprain. What the doctor thought might be a hairline fracture was nothing. Still, it’s four to six weeks off my feet. He wants me to taper off the pain meds, thank goodness.”

“It’s good Sonja can fill in,” J.J. said. “I should probably book a hotel room for the rest of my stay so she can have my room at the ranch.”

“I told Benny to put Sonja in an upstairs guest room.” Mack’s word on the subject brooked no further discussion.

“So, you had a good shopping trip?” Erma patted the pile of shopping bags on the seat between her and Zoey.

“Do you want to see what I bought? J.J. and Dad helped me.”

“Your dad did? My, things are a-changin’ at Turkey Creek Ranch. For the better.” She poked J.J.’s shoulder through the headrest. “It’s almost worth my taking a tumble. Listen, you guys didn’t already eat lunch, did you? I worked up a powerful appetite with all that poking at my hip.”

Mack chuckled. “We were hoping you’d be as hungry as we are. I know the perfect steak place. Hold on, we’ll be there in a jiffy.”

Chapter Ten

The next morning J.J. dressed for riding in jeans, boots and layers. She knew Texas weather on the high desert could change in a matter of minutes. The sturdy camera pack she used was ready, and stored in a borrowed backpack along with lip balm, sunscreen and a floppy hat that would work in sun or rain. Last night at supper when she mentioned preparing for rain, the men called her a greenhorn and laughingly reminded her that Texas was in the midst of a long drought.

She actually felt comfortable going off with Mack today. Sonja fit right in with the family and got along famously with Erma. Plus, Brandy was coming over to spend the day with Zoey and see her new things.

J.J. went to the kitchen, planning to make sandwiches for them to take along, and found Mack had beaten her to it. “Will a couple of roast beef sandwiches suit you? Sonja said you told her at breakfast that you weren’t interested in tortillas and frijoles,” he said with a teasing smile.

“I said I didn’t want biscuits and beans,” J.J. corrected him. “Do you have room in your saddlebags to toss in a couple of those apples?”

“Sure. What’s in your bulging backpack?”

“Cameras, an extension tripod and other photography stuff.”

“How many pictures do you plan to take?” he asked, storing the apples.

J.J. looked him over from head to toe. “I want a variety of photos our readers will love.”

“Tell me again why city women who read your magazine give a rip about an ol’ country boy like me?”

Hoisting her camera bag while Mack collected his water canteen and saddlebags, J.J. beat him to the door and shot back over her shoulder, “Are you joking? Women love ogling cowboys. We had a wide circulation, but our editor in chief said this monthly promo of hot, successful men has almost tripled our subscriptions. Women signed up in droves for a chance to win a night on the town with one of you single guys. Of course, they’re probably hoping a night on the town might lead to something longer lasting.” Her voice wobbled as she spoke.

“What?” Mack’s tone caused her to stop abruptly. “What are you talking about?”

“Zoey told you the first day at the library. The magazine ran the pictures Zoey sent and readers emailed the magazine explaining why they’d like to meet you. It’s the same for all of our featured men. We read the messages and run background checks on each potential winner to be sure she’s not a kook or a stalker—or married,” she said firmly. “A committee then chooses one woman per featured man who delivers a check for his charity on behalf of the magazine. Staff arrange a night out for the couple, which is filmed and photographed. Starry eyes, starry night, you know it’ll be a big deal.” She started toward the barn again.

“I completely missed that,” he said. “So you’ll be photographing my evening?”

“Probably not.
Her Own Woman
has several photographers. Our features editor gives us assignments, and so far the follow-ups haven’t been handled by the initial photographer. I did shoot the evening out with Mr. January. Past months are archived on our website if you want to see them.”

“So you won’t come back? Can I request you?” he asked as Benny came out of the barn leading two saddled horses. One was a tall, spirited black gelding, the other a docile buckskin mare.

“Why would you request me?”

“I’m comfortable with you, and you know I’m a reluctant contestant.”

He wanted her to come back?
That gave J.J. pause as she blindly accepted the mare’s reins from Benny. Hitching her pack higher on her back, she mounted the horse without much trouble. She stood so Benny could adjust her stirrups, and idly watched Mack secure his canteen and saddlebags and mount with enough grace to make her mouth go dry.

“Benny, I left Jiggs at the house. Jill noticed yesterday that he’s limping. I can’t see anything in his left front paw, but it’s swollen and he didn’t like me touching it. Have Delaney take a look. Jiggs may have picked up a mesquite thorn.”

“Will do. You’re getting a late start. You still planning to be back by supper?”

“Yep, since the guys said the herd settled down nicely. I sent Eldon to plow the south pasture. Trevor’s going to town to pick up seed.”

Benny touched the brim of his hat to acknowledge Mack, who then led the way out of the barnyard. When he and Jill broke free of the charred grassland, Mack dropped back beside her. “So, will you come back?”

“Frankly, I thought you’d be delighted to see the last of me.”

He hemmed and hawed, but finally said, “Well, Zoey would be in hog heaven if you came back and took her shopping again. Uh, me, too.” Leaving it there, he kicked his horse into a trot.

It was a gait that slapped J.J.’s backpack so hard against her shoulder blades she worried for the safety of her expensive cameras. Hauling back on the mare, she looped the reins around her saddle horn and adjusted the buckles, tightening the pack’s straps.

Mack circled his horse around and rejoined her. “Is everything all right?”

“Don’t worry about me. As long as I can see you up ahead I won’t get lost.”

“If you plan to walk Ginger all the way there and home again, it’ll be midnight before we complete our round trip.”

J.J. patted the mare’s neck. “Appropriate name. Hey, we could have started earlier.”

“Not with all the phone calls I had to make this morning to the steak-fry committee. Most of them volunteer every year, but they’re regular ranch folks busy with lots of other things. I had to make sure they’re all available for our meeting tomorrow afternoon.”

“Right. You said I could tag along. The meeting will round out my article nicely.”

“I also said you should prepare to be bored.” He smiled one of his heart-stopping smiles and J.J. decided she ought to speed up. The prospect of a night ride with Mack threatened to stir up too many old memories.

She indicated the barren land they were crossing. “Not even a scrub cedar in sight.”

“After another hour or so you’ll think we’ve entered a different country. Although the grass at the summer range isn’t as lush this year as it usually is. I hope there’s enough to fatten the calves and add the good kind of lean to my steers.”

“You still love ranching, don’t you?”

“Love it?” He shrugged. “Ranching is pretty much all I know. There’s a certain thrill in the challenge, I suppose. But it’s not as easy to make a profit like in Granddad’s or even my dad’s day. Some longtime ranchers in the area have packed it in because their kids weren’t interested in carrying on. Developers snap up their land and the town steadily moves out, sucking up our limited water for golf courses. Those of us who are left have to ranch smarter.”

“I hear that everywhere I travel. City dwellers multiply and urban sprawl gobbles up open land. It’d be a shame if that happened to Turkey Creek Ranch―it’s a historic treasure. You’ll have to encourage Zoey to fall in love with a young wannabe rancher, Mack.”

“That’ll be her choice. I’ve gotta say, though, she threw me into a panic when she followed me around with a camera and talked about taking photography classes next year. I imagined her being a nomad like you. I should’ve been relieved to discover her interest was all about entering me in a silly contest.”

“You weren’t happy that the contest brought me back into your life.”

“You’re putting words in my mouth, Jill. I’m not keen on the contest, but I owe you a debt of gratitude for opening my eyes to how I’ve lost touch with Zoey.”

J.J. thought about telling him that his daughter wanted a mother so badly she was willing to trust the magazine to vet a total stranger for the job. But she didn’t know how to broach the subject without injecting her own opinions, so she turned back to ranching. “Is this all your land?”

“No, this is free range. Dad left me twenty-five thousand acres, but I sold some and now I’m at around twelve thousand, most used for soil conservation. It’s taken me a long time and a lot of work and money to return native grasses to a third of my grazing land.”

“The same native grasses that burned yesterday?”

“Don’t remind me. At least when native grass burns, the roots don’t die. Even before it sprouts back it slows erosion and continues to filter water going into underground aquifers. Providing we get a few good rainstorms. Do you really care about any of this?”

“Once I cared a lot, Mack,” she said with honesty tinged by nostalgia.

He’d reined his horse in to ride abreast of J.J. They were so close his left leg bumped her right one and their mounts’ noses brushed until his horse snuffled, shied and sidestepped away. Mack brought him back in line. “About this contest...I hate the idea of dating a stranger. I get that for whatever reason it’s part of the package, but it’s your magazine. So, come back in August and
you
be my date,” he implored.

J.J.’s breath stalled for a moment. “It’s not
my
magazine. I didn’t make the rules, but they were printed on every entry form. A reader gets that honor, Mack.”

“It’s silly. God only knows why Zoey got it into her head that I ought to date a stranger. You know she wants you to come back in the fall, Jill.”

Their lower legs jostled against each other again, sending goose bumps up J.J.’s body. She waited for Mack to say he wanted her to come back, too. But he didn’t. Disappointed, she edged her horse away from his to break their slight physical connection. “Sorry, but magazine personnel are barred from entering any of our contests. It’s standard operating procedure.”

His face fell, leaving J.J. to wonder if he’d been serious at all. Until he shrugged and said, “Well, do me a favor, then...send someone who looks like Heidi Klum.”

“Talk about shallow.”

He tipped back his head and laughed. He’d ridden close enough for J.J. to inhale his scent. That and the timbre of his laughter touched something deep inside her and left her a bit light-headed. It brought an aching reminder of how much she missed the way they used to tease each other. Those were some of her happiest memories.

Mack suddenly tacked to the right, altering their direction by about forty-five degrees.

J.J. noticed immediate changes in the countryside. There were more outcroppings of limestone, more gnarled shrubs, and while it wasn’t pronounced, she sensed a rise in elevation. “There’s something really beautiful about this desolate territory, Mack.”

“Here I figured you’d be dying to get back to civilization by now.”

“Not so much.” She might have said more, but they rounded a copse of misshapen boulders and bent mesquite trees. Fanned out in a draw below, green grass met a blue sky streaked with peach-colored clouds. Grazing contentedly on both sides of a silver ribbon of river bisecting the draw was a sea of cattle. They all had curly, dark red coats and broad white faces. J.J. stopped, shrugged off her bag and dug out a camera. She attached her favorite long-range lens, propped her elbow on the saddle horn and began snapping away.

“Hey, I thought you wanted me in the pictures,” Mack said.

“I will, but the colors are so vibrant now. As the sun sinks the panorama won’t be the same. These shots are for me...to remember.” She let her camera arm go lax. “Enough. Now we can ride down to the river and eat lunch. Then I’ll decide where to pose you.”

“Posed photos look...well, posed,” he mumbled, starting his gelding on a slow descent toward the river.

“My job is to make them look natural,” she called after him.

He dismounted on a low knoll a short distance from the river, next to a fire ring of rocks and signs of grass being matted down. “This okay? It’s where we generally make camp when we bring in a herd.”

“Any place is fine. I’m starved.”

Mack checked his watch. “It’s later than I thought. Going on three.” He unhooked the canteen and passed it to J.J. “We need to head back in an hour. That’ll put us at the ranch about when I told Benny to expect us.”

Swinging down to the ground, J.J. instantly knew she’d been in the saddle too long for her first ride in quite a while.

Mack saw her rubbing her thighs. “Tenderfoot,” he said, unpacking the apples and sandwiches.

She made a face at him and limped over. He spread out a plaid blanket that had been rolled up behind his saddle. She dropped the canteen and the camera backpack, then eased down. “Oh, it feels heavenly to sit on terra firma,” she said as Mack passed her a sandwich.

“You may not feel up to going with me to the steak-fry meeting tomorrow.”

“I will. A dip in your hot tub after supper tonight will fix me up.”

Mack pictured Jill in his hot tub as he ate his sandwich. She hadn’t said it to make him want to join her later, but it did. He’d never expected to feel this way with any woman again.

Idly, Mack picked up an apple and polished it on his shirt, wondering if there was any chance in hell that they could start over.

Jill put her sandwich down and unzipped her bag. She swiftly changed lenses on her camera, rolled over onto her stomach and began taking pictures of Mack with the apple.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“That’s going to be a fantastic shot. Our readers will think you were about to tempt Eve with that apple.”

He frowned at her in an attempt to erase what had really been on his mind. “Then I’ll just go feed this apple to Zorro,” he said, bounding to his feet.

“Who?” Jill wiggled around until she sat cross-legged, and traded her camera for her half-eaten sandwich.

“My horse,” Mack said, heading to where both horses grazed.

“Here,” Jill called. “Then give my apple to Ginger. It’s only fair.”

Mack came back reluctantly. He took the apple Jill held up, and when their fingers met he got all twisted up inside. With her hair tangled by the wind, her lips soft and pink, Mack was more than tempted to toss away the apples, tumble Jill onto the blanket and make love to her. Of course he wouldn’t. He was far too civilized to give in to those urges. He took both apples and walked away.

J.J. finished her sandwich. “Stand right there between the horses,” she instructed Mack. “Good, good.” She circled around the animals, shooting them and Mack from several positions. “To get a wide-angle picture of you with the herd as a backdrop, I think it’ll be better if I’m on Ginger and you walk down closer to the river. I want to feature you but also showcase what you do.” Still sore from the ride, J.J. hobbled to Ginger. She had a hard time mounting while holding the camera. She could have asked Mack for help, but his attention was on the cows.