Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,72

to have tonight, but Dallas did a lot of things he didn’t want to do.

“Okay,” Remmy said miserably.

“You don’t need the makeup,” Dallas said. “You’re seven. I’m going to get Ginger to come help you take it off.” He didn’t even know if water would do the job. “Ginger, could you come help me?” he called over his shoulder, and her strong, sure steps came toward him.

“Yeah?” she asked, taking in the scene in a couple of seconds. “Oh, okay. Come on, sweetie. Let’s go get you cleaned up.” She extended her hand toward Remmy, who slid off the bed, still looking like a scary version of a miserable clown.

Dallas took the makeup into the kitchen and put it all in a zipper bag. He really needed to know if he should send Nate for a birthday cake or not. There was still time, because the girls were eating first, and then doing a couple of games before cake and ice cream. The whole thing would take ninety minutes, and Dallas hoped he could endure it.

Ginger had put the gift on the dining room table, and Dallas moved it so the kids would have somewhere to eat.

“What’s goin’ on back there?” Nate asked, nodding down the hall.

“Oh, Remmy got her hands on some makeup,” he said, lifting the lid on the tray of tacos. “Ginger is helping her clean up.”

“Mm.” Nate reached for a taco, and so did Dallas. He handed his to Thomas, and the three of them crunched through the delicious shell while standing there in the kitchen.

The doorbell rang, and Dallas’s eyes flew to the clock on the stove. Six-twenty-five. “Could be Jess,” he said. Perhaps she’d been driving while he’d called and texted her, and she hadn’t wanted to answer.

He pulled open the door to find a woman standing there with a little girl wearing a pink dress. It had a picture in a button on the front, but Dallas wasn’t sure who it was. He hadn’t had time to watch Disney movies in prison.

The woman smiled at him as if they’d be best friends. “Hello, I’m Melissa, Ingrid’s mother.” She held out her hand, and Dallas shook it.

“Dallas. Remmy’s dad.” He stepped back and let them inside. He hadn’t specified on the party invitations that parents could just drop off their kids, and it looked like Melissa was here to stay. “This is Nate,” he said, introducing his friend. “He’s taking my son for the night.”

“So there’s no Mrs. Dreyer?” Melissa asked, and as Dallas turned back toward her, time seemed to slow to a stop.

He didn’t know what to say. She wore a look of interest in her eyes, and shock cascaded through Dallas like a waterfall.

“No,” Nate said, barely smothering a laugh as he met Dallas’s eyes. “Well, there’s an ex-Mrs. Dreyer.”

“And you have custody?” Melissa asked, ignoring Nate.

“Yes,” Dallas answered, because that one was easy. He really didn’t want to air his family gossip right now, and thankfully, the doorbell rang again, and Ginger brought Remmy down the hall.

The little girls squealed and laughed as Dallas let in another mother and her daughter. Oh, boy, he thought.

“We’ll get out of your hair,” Nate said with a smile. He thanked Ginger and held the door for them as they left.

“Be good, Tommy,” he called after his son.

“I will, Dad.”

Dallas didn’t close the door, because another woman was walking down the sidewalk, this time with two little girls. He put on his happiest smile and welcomed them to his home.

“Oh, this is nicer than I thought,” the woman said, and Dallas did his best not to roll his eyes.

“Moms,” he said. “You really don’t have to stay. My girlfriend will be here any second, and you can come get your girls at eight.” He made sure to enunciate the word girlfriend, and Melissa apparently got the hint. She left, taking both of the other moms with her.

Jess did not arrive in the next second, but two more girls did. The count was up to six, and Dallas’s ears were already paying a hefty price. They’d only invited nine girls, so there couldn’t be too many more coming.

He really just needed Jess to come.

Remmy started answering the door, and Dallas’s eyes never left it. He pulled out his phone when the eighth girl arrived and texted Jess. Again.

Are you coming? Should I call Nate to go get me a cake? He watched the text to make sure it went though. It did, but he had