Page 66 of Promise Me a Forever Texas Love

He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened before he dropped his backpack and took off running. Cadee easily caught up with him.

“Miles, where is Camden?”

“How would I know? He didn’t get on the bus.” She might have believed him if he hadn’t suddenly taken off across an open field. She caught up with him, this time using her stern mama voice.

“Miles Lynch! Stop running right now, young man, and tell me where Camden is.”

“Leave me alone! I don’t have to talk to you.”

“Oh, yes, you do.” She rode in front of him and wheeled the horse around. The cutting horse proceeded to do what he’d been trained to do with runaway cows. He danced from side to side in front of Miles, cutting off any escape route until Miles finally gave up and flopped down on the ground in exhaustion.

“I didn’t mean to make him run off! I just repeated what I overheard my mama tell her friends.”

“What was that?”

“That any fool can see Camden has Hennessy Hooligan eyes.”

Cadee sighed. She should have known people would put two and two together once Huck started showing up at soccer games and on Sunday mornings at Grounds For Divorce. Which meant she had no one to blame for Camden being upset but herself. If she had been honest with everyone from the start, she wouldn’t be sitting there terrified about her son’s safety.

“Where did he go, Miles?”

“I don’t know. He ran off when we were getting on the bus.” He gave her a sullen look. “Maybe he went to Honky Tonk Heaven to see his deadbeat daddy who doesn’t really want him. Which is why he didn’t show up for eight years and why my mama says he’ll be leaving soon so I shouldn’t worry about any threats he makes.”

Cadee stared at him. “Huck threatened you?”

“Yeah, and he cussed too. Mama told the sheriff, but he didn’t seem to care that Huck had called me a bully.”

It all made sense now. It hadn’t been the principal who had stopped Miles from bullying Camden. It had been Huck. Cadee’s heart swelled at the thought of him protecting their son. But she wasn’t surprised. Huck had always protected the people he loved.

Even if he thought leaving them was the best way to do it.

And hadn’t she contributed to that belief? Dawson was right. Instead of hiding their friendship, she should have stood up for Huck to her daddy and the townsfolk. Instead, she had hidden their relationship. Treated him like he wasn’t worthy to be publicly called her friend.

What a hypocrite she was.

She felt hurt and angry because he hadn’t confided in her about robbing the gas station, but why should he when all she’d ever done was try to hide him. No wonder he’d run off after they’d first made love. Why would he stay with someone who acted like she was ashamed of him? Even after he left, she still hadn’t had enough guts to claim him as the father of her child.

If she loved Huck, truly loved him, she should be shouting that love from the rooftops.

Or just telling a big-mouthed kid.

“You are a bully, Miles Lynch. One day, someone is going to beat all that bullying right out of you. It’s called karma, honey. And it’s a bitch. And Huck Hennessy isn’t a deadbeat. He’s a good man who I love with all my heart. Tell that to your gossiping mama.”

She wheeled the horse around and took off for the house.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

After leaving Cadee, Huck had the strong desire to just keep right on driving. He didn’t know where he wanted to go. Just anywhere that might erase the image of Cadee’s disappointed eyes. But deep down he knew there was no such place. Deep down, he knew those eyes and her disappointment would follow him forever.

Which was why he didn’t keep driving. Instead, he went to the one place that had always given him solace.

The treeboat.

He knew it would bring back memories of last night. But he needed those memories now. Memories of her loving words and hot, sweet caresses. Loving words and hot, sweet caresses he might never hear or feel again.

His heart tightened with pain as he made his way to the treeboat. He had just reached the ladder when he heard his sister’s voice.

“What can I say, kid? Parents do stupid shit. Mine did more than most.”