“Cage?”
“Hmm?” he said, walking toward me with more hay in his hands.
“Why are you doing this?” There. I’d managed to ask a question that made sense. Other than some odd grunts here and there.
After he’d tossed the hay into the truck, he walked over to stop only a couple of feet from me. His gaze wasn’t playful this time. He was serious. “Because I want to, Eva. That’s why.” He replied then turned and started to walk off and stopped again. I watched as he turned back to me with a smile on his lips. “You let me know if my girl starts moving. I want to feel her.”
I simply nodded, and he pulled his hat back down to shade his eyes from the early morning sun before going back to work. As if I wasn’t standing there. Was this his way of us talking about it? Today I expected him to show up again and demand answers and we’d figure this all out. That wasn’t happening apparently. Instead he was working on my farm.
I could stand there and stare at him, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about anything else. Before I could decide if I was supposed to go inside or stand there or pinch myself and wake up, Cage walked over and opened the truck door. “Back up, sweetheart, I gotta take this on out to the field.”
I did as I was told. Then I watch him crank up the old truck and drive it out to the gate. He jumped out and opened the gate and then drove on inside. A door slammed behind me, and I jumped before spinning around. Jeremy had driven up, but I hadn’t heard him. He was looking out at Cage with an expression on his face I couldn’t read. “I’ll be damned. He showed up.”
So Jeremy was expecting this? “You knew he was coming here. . . to work?”
“Called me last night. Told me he’d be here whether I wanted him to be or not. He wasn’t coming to help me. He was coming to help you. Didn’t offer any other excuse—just said he’d be here at six and wanted to know what needed to be done. I told him about the hay, thinking he’d had too much to drink when he called. Guess I was wrong.”
I watched as Cage began to spread the hay and slapped one of the cows on the side to move it. I couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d gotten up close to a cow and how freaked out he’d been. The memory made me smile. “Why’s he here?” I asked out loud, even though I didn’t think Jeremy had the answer to it either.
“I ain’t figured that out just yet,” he replied. Jeremy gently squeezed my arm then walked to the barn to get to work. He was as confused as I was. I turned around and walked back to the house. If they were gonna work, then I guess I should make them breakfast. There was a good chance Jeremy had already eaten, but I doubted that anyone had fed Cage. He couldn’t work on an empty stomach.
Bliss kicked as I walked back up to the house. I placed a hand on my stomach. “Could you save that excitement until your. . . daddy. . . is close by?” I glanced back over my shoulder to see her daddy, and I wondered how this would work. How would he be her daddy and not live here? He’d be back in Tennessee next week. When Bliss was born, he’d be in the thick of baseball season. I doubted he’d even be there. There was so much that didn’t work with us. That was one thing of many. I’d never be in Tennessee with him. I’d be here. I wasn’t sure I wanted Bliss to grow up with an absent father. One who just dropped by when he had a chance. I wanted her to feel loved. Could Cage give her that?
CAGE
Not looking back at Eva and Jeremy had been hard. I’d been ready to take off running and jump the damn fence and jerk him away from her if his lips went anywhere near her body. I was here to show her I was ready to be the man she needed. But I had my limits.
I was pleased to see they didn’t even hug. They weren’t in f**king love. They’d barely spoken. That wasn’t the way to tell Eva good morning. She deserved a helluva lot more than what I’d just seen.
“You showed up. Not sure what the hell you’re up to though. Still trying to figure that out,” Jeremy said, leaning out the window of his truck.
“That the way you always tell Eva good morning?” I asked, ignoring his comment.
I watched the frown crease his brow. He didn’t even realize what was wrong with what I’d just witnessed. Yeah. . . they weren’t in love. They’d always be friends. Nothing more.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“The fact you had to ask me is all the answer I need,” I replied. I walked around to get into my truck. “East corner is bad. If we don’t get it fixed, a cow is getting out. I’m heading over there next to work on it.”
I opened the door and climbed in.
“I’m not giving up easy,” Jeremy informed me.
“I’m not ever giving up,” I replied then drove off. I had a fence to fix.
* * *
I hadn’t even got started on the fence when Jeremy’s truck came to a stop beside me. I stopped rolling up the wire that had been used to patch the weak spot and looked up at him.
“She’s made breakfast. You need to go eat,” he said.
I wanted to go eat. I was starving. But did she want me there? “Doubt she made it for me,” I replied.
Jeremy spit out the window, and I wondered how she dealt with the fact that he dipped during the day when he was working. That shit was gross. “She hasn’t made breakfast since her daddy got too sick to eat it. She didn’t fix it for me.”
Hope rose up in my chest and I couldn’t keep from grinning. She’d made me breakfast. Hot damn. “Then I guess I better go eat it,” I replied.
“Yeah, I guess you better.”