Page 50 of Risking it for the Cowboy

“Yes. People who shoulda helped me.” Maybe people like … his parents?

“T. Rex, am I dys—dyslexic, too?”

He tucked her bedhead tendrils behind her ears like a doting father. “I ain’t the one to diagnose it, Daze. But you’re lucky. You got a momma who’s fightin’ for you…” His words tapered off. “Which means you’re gonna be okay.”

“I have you too, T. Rex, right?” Daisy cupped his cheeks too. “And you have me.”

He swallowed, his throat bobbing. Charlie’s chest ached for her daughter reaching for connection. Was it too much, coming on too strong for him? She didn’t even know where they stood.

“Come ’ere, Daze.” He cleared his throat, reached for his phone, setting it back on his knee as he tugged her back into the arc of his arm, and hit play on the audio book.

And the way he held Daisy to him now … maybe it had been just what he’d needed to hear after all.

Charlie retreated to the kitchen. Jotted herself a note to call the school first thing in the morning and ask about testing for learning disabilities while they kept practicing in the other room. She pulled out her phone. Just like that time he’d spent the night, he seemed as if in no hurry to leave, even when he had ample chance.

Charlie: “What happened, Heart? Do I need to kick your boyfriend’s ass? Thaddeus said you left and that he’s having to babysit his cousin.”

A moment later, ellipses began to pulsate with an incoming reply.

Heart: “Thaddeus? What happened to nameless band singer?”

Charlie frowned, but yeah. She’d broken her own rule and Heart was calling her out.

Charlie: “I made the mistake of getting to know him.”

Heart: “U guys finally talking again?”

Charlie shook her head, glancing toward the family room, but tapped her reply. Fun-loving Heart was the master of avoiding matters of her own heart.

Charlie: “Don’t deflect. What happened with you and Tyler? Thaddeus just told me you broke his heart.”

She hit send. Heart started to reply, then stopped. Started, then stopped.

Charlie: “Don’t forget, sisters before misters, right?”

Heart: “Speaking of misters. Thaddeus “just” told you? Is he there now? At 7:45 in the morning? Charlie, you harlot lol.”

Busted. Charlie smiled at the ribbing.

Charlie: “He didn’t spend the night.”

Heart: “I guarantee u he wanted to lol.”

Charlie: “He fixed my Rover last night. It broke down, and he let me drive his truck home. He brought it back this morning.”

Heart: “He loaned u his TRUCK?! OMG that boy doesn’t let anyone touch his truck. He’s so gone for u, u know that, right? He moped around Ty’s farm for 2 weeks, begging me 4 your number like a puppy dog.”

He had? Why hadn’t Heart given it to him?

Heart: “But sisters before misters, right? If you didn’t give him your number, I wasn’t going to, either.”

Charlie bit her lip. It had been their saying ever since they’d hit it off at a paleontology conference and become friends, two lost souls floating around the world with no roots, looking out for themselves.

Snippets of Thad and Daisy’s conversation filtered into the kitchen as she put a skillet on the stove and turned on the heat, laying the strips into the pan to sizzle, her brain running wild with speculation.

Charlie: “But can I trust him?”

Heart: “He’s a live wire, 4 sure. I know why u wouldn’t. I don’t talk 2 him much.”