cake for you too, Hailey.” She grinned down at the girl, and it was clear that August taking their granddaughter from them had been difficult on them. He hadn’t meant it to be. Again, it was another situation that had been hard to do but absolutely essential.
“Did you make this with your daddy?” Shannon asked, and August’s muscles tensed instantly.
“No,” Hailey said, going with her grandmother. “Etta let me help her make it.”
Shannon had already turned around, but Daniel’s gaze landed plenty heavy on August’s face as his wife said, “Who’s Etta?”
“She’s my girlfriend,” August said, clearing his throat. To Shannon’s eternal credit, her step didn’t so much as stutter. He met Daniel’s gaze. “We’ve been going out for a few months.”
Daniel blinked, his smile spreading slowly across his face. “That’s great, August.” He clapped his hand on his shoulder. “Come tell us about her. Do you have a picture?”
August once again felt like he’d entered some sort of alternate reality, or perhaps the Bermuda Triangle. He hadn’t anticipated his former in-laws being happy for him that he was trying to find someone new to spend his life with.
At the same time, he wouldn’t want someone he loved to suffer forever. They’d told him to get out there and date. He just hadn’t known how, especially after his one failed attempt at putting himself into the dating pool after Josie’s death.
“No pictures,” he said. “Next time I see her, I’ll get one and send it to you.”
“We’d love that,” Daniel said. “So her name is Etta…?” They arrived in the kitchen, where a three-tiered, bright pink, birthday cake stood on the counter. “Shannon, he’s dating a woman named Etta.”
“So Hailey said.” Shannon flashed August a smile and continued poking candles into the cake. “Etta Glover, right?”
“That’s right,” August said, feeling a bit rumbly in his stomach again. “She runs the community outreach programs—for the people of Three Rivers, as well as classes and demonstrations at the junior high and high schools—for Shiloh Ridge Ranch. I work there now.”
“Oh, is that how you met her?” Shannon asked.
August glanced at Hailey, who couldn’t look away from the pony perched on top of the cake. “I actually met her on the ranch, yes, but before I got the job. Hailey’s class had taken a field trip to the ranch. We both met Etta then.”
“She is so nice,” Hailey said. “She is the best cook too, and she let me help her plant a bunch of flowers around the homestead.”
“She is a good cook,” August said.
“She lives in the homestead?” Daniel asked.
“With her brother and cousin,” August said, suddenly tired of the explanations about the Glover family. “There are a lot of them, Daniel. She’s one of the younger ones. The only one not married right now. There’s like a million adults, and they all live there. Well, most of them. They have a lot of kids, specifically two-year-olds.”
“Show them the video of my party, Daddy.”
August dug in his pocket for his phone, almost dreading the idea of showing them the surprise party Etta had designed and pulled off. “I guess I do have a picture of her,” he said. “She’ll be the one right beside Hailey’s birthday throne.”
He showed them the video of Hailey’s surprise, and then the video Montana had shot of all the Glover children singing Happy Birthday to his daughter.
Shannon sniffled as she stepped away from the phone. She opened the drawer and pulled out a book of matches. “That was wonderful. All those beautiful children.”
Daniel looked up and handed the phone back. “She seems great.”
“She is great,” August murmured as he pocketed his phone. He didn’t quite know how to stand in this house anymore. He felt too tall and like he was taking up too much room. “I really like her.”
“Do you think you might marry her?” Shannon asked.
August dang near choked. “I have…no idea,” he said, his eyes glued to Hailey’s. She wore her wide eyes, almost like she was as surprised as August was at the question. “I’m not trying to replace Josie.”
“We know that,” Daniel said. “But we hope you can get close. We want you to be happy, son.”
August nodded, because he wanted that too. He thought about his level of happiness, and since he’d left Dripping Springs, the mercury in his meter had definitely risen. “I’m doing well in Three Rivers,” he said. “Hailey is too. She’s got some good friends at school and on the ranch, and…yeah. We’re happy there.”
“And that makes