Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,71

like we’ve lost touch, and I’m hoping everything is okay with you.”

He turned to get to the street where he lived, only a couple of minutes late now. “Will you at least text me so I know if I need to go buy a cake for my daughter’s birthday?” His voice carried some of the frustration boiling in him, and he quickly ended the call before he said something else that gave away too much.

Sighing, he pulled into his driveway, which didn’t have anyone waiting for him. He still had a bit of fear every time he turned the corner, as if Josh or Adam would be waiting for him on the front porch. He hadn’t seen either of them in weeks, and every day that passed added a little more comfort to Dallas’s mind.

He got out of the truck and went around to the other side to get the tacos. “Daddy!” Remmy’s voice filled the air, and he turned around to find her running across the neighbor’s lawn. He grinned at her and raised his hand to Mrs. Clyde, who’d taken the kids after school today.

Thomas approached much slower, carrying both his backpack and Remmy’s. He smiled at Dallas too, and he balanced the big trays in one hand and forearm as he gave his daughter a side-hug and then tousled his son’s hair. “How was school?”

“Good,” Thomas said.

“Daddy, we got to watch this video on polar bears.” Remmy said. “They have paws as big as your head.”

“Is that right?”

Remmy continued to chatter about literally everything that had happened at school that day as they went inside the house.

Dallas noted the fresh scent of flowers and pine, glad he’d hired a one-time maid service to make sure the house would be clean for this party. He should’ve told them to come tomorrow too, because he had a feeling this princess party was going to be the death of him.

“You better go get changed,” he said to Remmy, sliding the tacos on the counter. “Thomas, Nate will be here in a few minutes to take you to the ranch. Make sure you have your backpack and everything for school tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.” He went down the hall after Remmy.

Dallas listened to his daughter singing at the top of her lungs, and he couldn’t help smiling. He needed to shower and change, so he hurried into his bathroom, checked his phone to see if Jess had texted—she hadn’t—and got the job done.

He’d just stepped into a clean pair of jeans when Nate called, “Hello? We’re here.”

“Coming,” Dallas said, reaching for the T-shirt he’d just gotten out of his closet. He heard Thomas start to talk to Nate, so at least he wasn’t standing awkwardly in the living room. Dallas skipped putting on shoes or socks and padded into the main living area of the house.

Nate, Ginger, and Connor had all come, and Ginger carried a box that had been wrapped in bright pink paper, complete with a purple and white frilly bow.

“Wow,” Dallas said. “You didn’t have to get her anything.”

“Yes, we did,” Ginger said, smiling.

“Let me get her,” Dallas said, turning to go back down the hall. He was surprised Remmy hadn’t come out yet, actually. He found her in her room, a tube of bright red lipstick in her hand. “Whoa, whoa,” he said. “Where did you get that?”

He hadn’t bought it, that was for dang sure. She’d done a terrible job of getting it right on her lips too, and she looked more like the Joker than Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Dallas gently took the lipstick from her as she looked up at him. “Where did you get this makeup?” She wore bright blue eyeshadow too, but it extended over most of her nose and way too far past her eyelids too.

When she didn’t answer, Dallas grew uneasy. “Remmy,” he said sternly, sitting down on the bed with her. She had changed into the yellow princess dress, her bony shoulders barely holding it in place. “Tell me where you got all this stuff.”

“Julia got it from her mom’s bag,” Remmy said, dropping her eyes to her bedspread.

“Is Julia coming to the party tonight?”

“Yes,” Remmy said. “I said if she’d let me take it home, I could get my makeup done, and then we could do hers at the party.”

“Okay.” Dallas stood up and gathered up the eyeshadow palette too. “That’s not happening, okay? We have to give this back to her mother.” That wasn’t a conversation he wanted