Page 10 of Promise Me a Forever Texas Love

Something flared in his eyes that she couldn’t define before he glanced away.

“Yeah, well, I’m dealing with it now.” He looked back at her, his features unyielding. “I want to meet Camden. I won’t tell him I’m his daddy. I understand what a shock that would be. And I don’t want to disrupt his life. I just . . .” He swallowed hard. “I just need to meet him. Just once.”

She wanted to deny him. But if she did, she didn’t doubt for a second that he’d meet Camden on his own. When Huck wanted something, he figured out a way to get it. If she orchestrated the meeting, she’d at least have some control.

“Fine. You can meet him. But it needs to be set up so it seems accidental. Camden is too smart for his own good.”

The look that passed over Huck’s face made her heart feel like it was being squeezed into the skinny neck of the Coke bottle she’d just picked up.

“He’s smart? So he gets good grades in school?”

“Yes, even though doing schoolwork is not his thing. He’d rather be working the ranch with his uncles.”

“They make him work the ranch?”

“Of course not. He wants to work the ranch. He loves it.”

“So he rides?”

“Better than I do.”

“I doubt that. You ride better than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

Her cheeks heated at the compliment. “Well, Cam is better. And you should see him rope a—” She cut off when she realized what she was saying. Huck would never see Camden rope a steer and she didn’t want him to. She didn’t want him getting too close to her son and then leaving. She knew how much that hurt. The memory of how badly she’d been hurt had her setting down her Coke and slipping off the barstool.

“We’ll be at Time To Read on Tuesday around three-thirty. He has soccer practice at four so we can’t stay long.” She turned and headed for the door but then turned back when a thought struck her. “How do you want me to introduce you?”

An impish smile flashed beneath his mustache. An impish smile she’d never been able to forget.

“As your best childhood friend, of course.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Nervous didn’t come close to describing how Huck felt when he stepped into the Time To Read bookstore on Tuesday afternoon.

He was petrified.

It didn’t help that Otis Hastings, the owner of the bookstore, was sitting behind the desk when he stepped through the door.

Otis had never cared for Hennessys in his store. Probably due to the fact that Huck and Poppy had loved screwing with him. They’d played hide-and-seek, hiding in all the reading nooks and behind all the overstuffed shelves. They’d messed up his weird cataloging system by putting books back in the wrong places. And they’d munched on chocolate bars while skimming through books until Otis had finally banned them.

If the mean glare on his face was any indication, it looked like the ban was still in effect.

“Just because your brother hoodwinked my niece into falling in love with him that doesn’t mean the rest of you Hennessy Hooligans are welcome in my store.” Otis looked over the top edge of the reading glasses perched on his nose and gave Huck the onceover. “Even if you dress up in your Sunday best.”

Huck tugged at the ill-fitting suit jacket he’d borrowed from Jaxon and felt like a complete idiot. What had he been thinking? Just because he pressed his jeans, polished his boots, and was wearing a nice shirt and jacket that didn’t change who he was. He would always be a Hennessy Hooligan.

Otis wasn’t fooled and Camden wouldn’t be fooled either.

“Well?” Otis said. “Are you going to get out or do I have to call the sheriff?” He snorted. “Not that he’ll do anything. He only kept your brother one night when he robbed the gas station.”

Sweat immediately rose up on the back of Huck’s neck like it always did when the gas station robbery was brought up. And he wanted nothing more than to turn around and leave. But he couldn’t. He could live with the townsfolk hating him. He could even live with what he’d done that fateful night. But he couldn’t live without getting to meet his son.

No matter how scared he was.

He pinned on a smile. “There’s no need to call the sheriff, Mr. Hastings. I’m only here to apologize for my behavior as a kid and to pay for any damage my siblings and I did to any of your books.”

Otis blinked. “So I guess Dawson put you up to this.”