Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,56
Remmy, all three of them eating through an entire box of Frosted Flakes. Dallas lingered in the kitchen, a hot cup of coffee in his hands, watching them.
Ted was such a big teddy bear, and everyone he met loved him. Even stoic, masked Thomas had smiled the moment he saw Ted in the kitchen. They’d been laughing about something one of Ted’s dogs had done a couple of days ago for ten minutes. Dallas watched the clock, but he honestly didn’t care if the kids went to school today.
By the time he’d gotten off the phone with Jesus, it had been too late to call Jess. Nate had texted to say he’d spoken with Ginger, and they wanted Dallas to take a couple of days if he needed them to make sure his family was safe.
He wasn’t going to the ranch today. He was going to rekey the house and tell the landlord that he’d done it afterward. He was going to install cameras in the eaves just to make sure he knew who was coming and going around his house. He didn’t care if he had to donate the new locks and camera equipment to the landlord; he needed to keep his kids safe.
“Daddy, will you do my hair?” Remmy asked, climbing up on a barstool. “We have a magician coming today.”
He wasn’t sure how the two things were related, but he pushed away from the counter and approached his daughter. He bent to get the hair kit out of the cupboard under the sink and opened it. “What am I doing?”
“Can you do the half-braid?” She peered at him over her shoulder, and she was the cutest thing on the planet. He loved her dark eyes and light skin, that smattering of freckles across her face, and that adorable Texas accent.
“Yeah,” he said, pulling out the comb and the water bottle. He could braid so much better now than he’d been able to two months ago, but it required wet hair to get just right. “When is the magician?”
“After lunch,” she said.
“Good,” Dallas said. “Because we’re already late for school.”
“We are?” Remmy peered at the clock while Thomas got up and put his cereal bowl in the sink.
“I’ll go get my stuff,” he said. “Sorry, Dad.”
“I don’t even care if you go today,” Dallas said. “In fact, I’d love to just keep you with me all day, so I know you’re safe.”
Thomas hesitated, clearly the idea of skipping school appealing.
“I can’t miss, Daddy,” Remmy said. “We do a spelling test on Monday, and the magician.”
“Do you want to miss the magician?” Dallas asked his son as he started to spray his daughter’s hair. “I’m assuming it’ll be a whole-school assembly.”
“I mean, I don’t really care,” Thomas said.
“You don’t have to go,” Dallas said, meeting his son’s eyes. “We can take Remmy, and then come back here.”
“Okay,” Thomas said, detouring back to the table and Ted.
“I want to go, Daddy,” Remmy said, looking at him with wide eyes.
“I just said you could,” he said. “Now face the front so I can part your hair.” He worked with the comb deftly now, pulling it from her ear and up to the crown of her head. He brushed down the rest, noting how thin and wispy her hair was. He gathered the top into a ponytail and split it into three pieces and began to braid them together.
He finished the job in a few minutes, feeling the weight of Ted’s eyes on him. “There you go, bug. Go get your bag and put on some clean clothes too.”
Remmy skipped off to get the job done, and Dallas looked at Ted, who grinned. “You just did your daughter’s hair in a braid.”
“Yeah,” Dallas said.
“How’d you learn how to do that?”
“I watched a lot of videos online,” he said with a smile. “And she sat still for me for a lot of practice sessions.”
Ted stood up and took his bowl to the sink too. “That’s amazing, Dallas. I barely recognize you.”
“I wasn’t a father in prison,” he said simply. He took Ted’s seat and looked at his son. “What do you want to do after we drop off Remmy?”
“I don’t know.”
“We could go to the trampoline park,” he said. “Or get a real breakfast that isn’t made of only sugar.” Dallas still hadn’t eaten, and he could go for pancakes and bacon. “Or just come back here and watch The Last Airbender.”
Thomas looked up at Dallas, and he definitely had the same light