never make a cake from a box, and yellow cake was actually vanilla cake with plenty of egg yolks and butter. “What kind of frosting?”
“He puts chocolate on it,” she said. “But they have these tubs with white frosting and lots of sprinkles.” Her face lit up like the stars did at night. “I’ve always wanted that.”
Etta smiled at her and reached for a piece of hair on the right side. “Have you ever had chocolate cake?”
“Yeah, sure,” Hailey said.
“Pudding cake?”
“Pudding cake?” Hailey repeated, her eyebrows folding in. “What’s that?”
“Lemon cake?” Etta asked.
“No, but Daddy would like that,” she said. “He loves sour things.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that,” Etta mused, finishing up with the hair on the girl’s head and continuing the braid down her back. “And pudding cake is just a cake with pudding mix in the batter. It makes it really spongy and moist.”
“That sounds good,” she said.
“Does your daddy decorate with balloons?” Etta asked, as all girls turning ten needed a lot of balloons for their birthday.
“I don’t think so,” Hailey said, her attention returning to the mermaid show on the tablet.
Etta finished her hair and said, “Hand me that mirror, Hay.” She’d been spending more and more time with the girl, especially after school. Hailey knew Etta and August were dating, although if she knew what that actually meant, Etta didn’t know.
Hailey handed her the mirror and Etta held it up for her. “That’s a French braid. I could do that on your birthday.”
“Oh, that’s so pretty” Hailey reached back to lightly touch her hair. “Could you, Miss Etta?”
“Of course,” she said, setting down the mirror and giving Hailey a squeeze around the shoulders. “Now, come on. It’s time to put dinner in the oven, and then your daddy will be here.”
“He won’t let me stay,” she said.
“Probably not,” Etta said as she led the way out of the bathroom. “He likes a quiet evening, Hailey. He works hard around the ranch.”
“I know, but I could stay, and you could take me home.”
“You’ll not ask him,” Etta said firmly as she went into the kitchen. “He’s your father, and he gets to decide.” She opened the fridge and took out the casserole she’d made that morning. She’d then done three classes at the high school for the junior rodeo students, accompanied by Mister and Wyatt Walker, as they’d started some classes and demos last summer.
She’d picked up Hailey from school and they’d spent the afternoon feeding the ranch dogs and the chickens, then talking about her upcoming birthday, which was next Saturday. August had approved a birthday party for the girl here at the homestead, and Etta had volunteered to be the party planner and baker.
“But you’ll invite him, won’t you?” Hailey continued to needle, a slight whine entering her voice. “Our cabin is so boring.”
“I’m sure that’s—”
“It is?” August said, and Etta whipped her attention away from the oven she was reaching to set the temperature on.
“Daddy,” Hailey said, her voice a cheer as she ran toward him. “Look at my hair. Etta did it in a French braid.”
“I see that,” he said, smiling. The action didn’t reach his eyes, however, and Etta sensed a storm inside him. “It’s very pretty.”
“She’s going to do it for my birthday party,” Hailey said.
A switch flipped on August’s face, and Etta turned back to the oven so she could hide her reaction to whatever he was about to say. She’d seen him do this a couple of times before, usually when Cactus or Sammy invited Hailey to come do something that made him feel inadequate.
“About that,” he said.
“What?” Hailey asked. She did have a short attention span, but so did most kids her age.
“I don’t know if we can have a party here.”
When Etta turned from the setting the temperature, she found August looking at her, not his daughter.
“Daddy,” Hailey whined. “Why not?”
“I think we ought to go see Grams and Gramps,” he said. “They love seeing you on your birthday, and this’ll be the very first one they haven’t spent with you.”
Etta’s pulse thrummed through her body the way electricity did through a high-voltage fence. So much so that she could feel and see it giving off energy waves. August probably could too, if the sympathetic look on his face meant anything.
She couldn’t tell if he was pretending or not, and that really bothered her.
Hailey cheered and danced around. “Yes, yes!” she said. “Let’s go see Grams and Gramps.”
“And my mom and dad,” August said. “We can leave