Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,59
desk in the kitchen, working on the schedule for her trainers, as well as the horseback riding lessons. A new batch of kids started once the New Year did, and while Emma usually helped with this schedule, she’d been busy planning her wedding and Jess had volunteered to do it all this time.
“Jess!”
She turned and dropped her pencil at the sound of Remmy’s voice. A smile filled her face as well as her soul. “Hey, sweetie.”
The little girl flew into her arms, already talking about something that had happened at school that day. “And this boy—his name is Mickey, you know like the Mouse?—and brought in a real, live rat for show-and-tell. It squeaked and everything, and it had this long, long tail. He actually held it by the tail, and we all got to touch it.”
“That’s amazing,” Jess said, beaming at her. “Was he slimy?”
“No,” Remmy said with a giggle. “His tail didn’t have any hair though.”
“So it must’ve been slimy,” Jess said, still teasing Remmy.
Remmy laughed and shook her head. “No, Jess, it was just kind of weird.”
“I bet.”
“You’ll come to my birthday party, right?” Remmy looked at her with all the hope and innocence of a six-year-old, and Jess’s whole heart expanded for the girl. While she hadn’t seen Dallas a ton, she had spent some more time with his kids.
She’d taken Thomas shoe shopping when Dallas had to work a fifteen-hour day to get caught up on all the things he’d fallen behind on after taking time off.
He hadn’t updated her about Martha for at least a week now, and she looked up to find Dallas standing there, watching her and Remmy and grinning.
“Of course I will,” Jess said, focusing on Remmy again. “When is it?”
“January seventh,” Remmy said. “The party is that night.”
“At your house?”
“Yes,” Dallas said, stepping forward. “Our place. Remmy’s favorite food is—”
“Tacos!” the little girl shouted, and Jess flinched away from the sound. “Daddy’s ordering a lot of tacos.”
Jess grinned too, wishing a lot of tacos would bring her the same happiness it brought Remmy. “That’s amazing,” she said. “I love tacos too.”
“Ask her,” Dallas said, and Remmy turned to look at her father. Jess did too, noting the half-serious look on Dallas’s handsome face. Something sharp stung her, and she realized how much she missed him. Maybe she’d taken too big of a step back. Maybe she’d overestimated how overwhelmed he was.
When Remmy turned back to Jess, she wore some of the seriousness in her gaze too. “Will you make the cake?”
Surprise shot through Jess and lifted her eyebrows. “Your birthday cake?” She switched her gaze to Dallas as if to ask, Really?
“Yes,” Remmy said. “Daddy says you’re good at baking.”
Was she? Had she ever told Dallas that? She couldn’t remember. She was no whiz in the kitchen, she knew that—and Dallas did too.
“Sure,” she said anyway. If she couldn’t do it, Emma would help her, and Emma was a genius with baked goods. In fact, Jess should just ask Emma to make the cake up front.
“Is there a theme we’re working with?” she asked.
“Disney princess,” Dallas said. “All the little girls will be dressed up in princess dresses for the party.”
“No boys coming?” Jess asked, smiling at Remmy.
Remmy shook her head. “Nope. Girls only.”
Jess tried to see the tall, broad-shouldered mechanic who wore a cowboy hat everywhere he went amidst a bunch of six-and-seven-year-old princesses, and somehow he fit right in.
She wouldn’t, but she didn’t want to dwell on that right now. “Disney princesses,” she repeated. “Which one are you going to be?”
“Belle,” Remmy said instantly. She played with the ends of Jess’s hair. “Her dress is yellow.”
Jess grinned at her and pressed her forehead to Remmy’s. “Is your daddy the beast? Or Thomas?” She giggled with the girl, and Remmy felt like she fit right in Jess’s life.
She looked up at Dallas, wondering if he did too. She couldn’t have Remmy without him, and she felt like an idiot for getting attached to the girl when her relationship status with her father was so tumultuous.
“Okay,” Dallas said. “Rems, you have homework for tomorrow, and Jess has work to do.”
The little girl slipped from Jess’s lap, and she stood as Remmy skipped past her dad and down the hall. She watched him watch her until the back door closed, and then he met her eye.
“Do you have a minute?” he asked, extending his hand toward her to hold.
Jess nodded, easily putting her hand in his. She let him lead her