Page 144 of Hollywood

Chastity laughed. “Yeah, Mom hated it too.”

Her tone turned wistful. The longer we were together, the more Tex opened up. He’d told me his mom was the nurturer of the family, the one who kissed scraped knees, who baked cookies with them, who listened when they were afraid or angry.

Losing her had broken their family. Or at least, their father. Tex and Chastity were closer than ever. Meanwhile, his dad had lost another business and from what Chastity heard from the people she knew in Hayworth, he was drinking too much and circling the drain.

I should probably feel bad for him, but I didn’t. He’d thrown away a perfectly good son.

“I’m so glad you decided to make the move over here,” I told Chastity. “Tex is excited to spend more time with the kids.”

She smiled. “Yeah. He’s always been so good with them. But then, I don’t have to tell you.”

“Nope.”

Now that she was out of rehab, Carrie had custody of Ruby again. But she’d be bringing her over soon for a three-night stay. We’d decided that until Ruby started elementary, we’d split the week between us. Once school started, we’d evaluate what was best for Ruby, but at the minimum, I’d continue to have her every weekend.

I missed Ruby when she was gone, but dividing the week really was the best of both worlds. I got to spend more time alone with Tex—and when I had Ruby, I had more energy to really be the best dad I could be.

Texfinallyclimbed down.

“Don’t do that ever again!” I wrapped my arms around him, dragging his head down to smooch his cheek. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

He laughed and rubbed my back. “Seriously? That was nothing. I used to hang out on the roof of our house. Almost fell off once. Was hanging on to the eaves by my fingertips.”

Chastity laughed. “Dad was yelling at you to get your ass down, and Mom was bribing you with cookies.”

“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “I miss those cookies.”

“Well, you’re getting no cookies today! I won’t reward you for scaring the crap out of me,” I said. “And don’t go showing Ruby how to climb anything, either.”

He drew back with a grin. “No rewards at all?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

I smacked his ass. “Don’t get smart with me.”

He grinned. “I could have fallen to my death. I just thought you might want to appreciate having me around.”

I gasped. “Shame on you, playing on my fears to get some!”

He brushed a quick kiss over my forehead. “Can’t help it, darlin’. I’ve got no shame when it comes to you.”

He sauntered off to help Ghost with the tire swing. Chastity turned to me. “He’s really happy. I haven’t seen him brush off a mention of Dad so easily in a long time.”

I nodded. “He’s getting there. I know it hurts him still, but he’s got a lot of great things going for him.”

“Yeah, he told me about his promotion at Wilde Roots.”

“Yeah, he’s in charge of all inventory. He’s got a day shift now. We worked Ruby’s schedule around it, so it works out.”

“I guess congrats are in order for you too, right? Tex said you’re going to take over the barbershop.”

“Sort of? It’s still Clint’s place. He’ll continue to own it,but I’ll be managing it and bringing in some new barbers to expand the business. The plan is that when he’s ready, it’ll eventually be mine.”

“That’s amazing!” she said. “I’ll bring the boys in for cuts.”

“Do that. I’ll give you the family rate.”

“What’s that?”

“Free, of course.”