Page 41 of Promise Me a Forever Texas Love

“What’s not to love about a boat in a tree? How has it held up over the years?”

“You should come see for yourself.” Once the invitation was out, he realized it was a mistake. He could survive a hot kiss on a porch and lunch in a new tree house, but he didn’t think he could survive being with Cadee in the treeboat.

The same treeboat where they’d made love for the first and only time.

Conceived a child.

Ruined a friendship.

Thankfully, she didn’t accept the offer. Or even acknowledge it. Instead, she completely changed the subject. Or possibly dove even deeper into it.

“I never meant to take away your dream, Huck.”

He glanced over to discover she’d rolled onto her side to face him. Her eyes were sad and heartbreaking. He could never stand Cadee being sad. The vow he’d made earlier about not touching her blew away in the stiff fall breeze.

He reached out and smoothed back a strand of her hair. “Hey. What dream are you talking about?”

“Your dream of leaving Promise Springs and never coming back.”

“You didn’t do anything, Cadee. Like you said before, what happened that night was a choice we both made.” He hesitated. “And I don’t regret it.”

She blinked. “You don’t?”

“How could I regret it when it gave us Camden?” He stroked her cheek. Nothing was as soft as Cadee’s skin. “He’s a great kid, Cadee. You did a great job of raising him.”

“Thanks, but you weren’t there for all the mistakes I made.”

“Now who is acting like their talents aren’t special?”

Her blue-eyed gaze cut right through him. “I don’t regret that night either, Huck. I’m just sorry it took away your dream of seeing the world.”

“That was just a kid’s pipe dream, Cadee. If I had really wanted to see the world, I would have seen it. I’ve had over eight years to do so. Instead, I didn’t even leave Texas.”

Her eyes widened. “You didn’t?”

“Nope. I made a lot of plans. Collected a lot of travel pamphlets. But when it came to buying a plane ticket to some exotic place, I bawk-bawked. It turns out I’m not much of a traveler. I’m more of a stay in one place kind of guy.”

“Even if the place holds bad memories?”

He smiled and tapped the end of her nose. “It holds a lot of good ones too.”

She smiled. “We did make a lot of good memories, didn’t we?”

They had. So many good memories . . . and one extremely hot memory of a night when they faced each other just like they were doing now and let things go a little too far.

Huck dropped his hand from her cheek and sat up. “Well, I guess I should get back to work. This tree house isn’t going to build itself.” He stood, then held out a hand to Cadee. Happiness burst inside him when she didn’t hesitate to take it and let him pull her to her feet.

“I need to get the sheets off the clothesline and go get Cam. He has soccer practice today.”

“I hope he’s better at sports than I was.”

“You should stop by the community fields on your way home and see for yourself.”

His heart swelled. Not just at the thought of seeing his son play soccer, but also because Cadee had offered him that chance. “I’d like that.”

She smiled. It had been a long time since he’d seen that smile. A smile just for him. “Then I guess I’ll see you there. That’s if you think you can safely get me down from this tree.”

Right then and there, he made a vow to always keep Cadee safe.