Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,73
no way of knowing if Jess had read it or not. What he knew was that his time was running out.
The last girl arrived, and Nate lifted both hands above his head. “All right, princesses,” he said in a loud voice. They all giggled and looked at him. “It’s time to eat. And do you know what princesses eat?”
“Tacos!” Remmy said, clapping her hands and jumping up and down.
“That’s right,” he said. He put the tray in the middle of the table, and opened the second one as he said. “Tacos. There are tons of tacos, and black beans and rice.” He put that in the middle of the table too. “I can help anyone get what they want. Come sit down, all proper and perfect like princesses.”
They clamored to do that, and Dallas thought seven-year-olds were the perfect age. Thomas had been seven when Dallas had gone into prison, and he still sometimes thought of his son as that little boy who was still losing his front teeth.
He wasn’t that boy anymore, and he’d be eleven in March. Dallas wasn’t sure where the time had gone, but he knew it had a funny way of passing.
He dished up tacos and beans and rice onto paper plates—pink, with all the faces of the princesses—and let the girls eat. His stomach twisted, and he ate a taco to try to soothe it.
Just as he put the last bite in his mouth, the doorbell rang again. It had to be Jess. It just had to be.
He crossed the room quickly and opened the door. Relief flooded him when he saw Jess standing there, a three-tiered cake in her hands. “You made it,” he said, almost breathless at the sight of her.
She flashed him a tight smile—the kind he’d seen before when she was annoyed with him. He still had no idea what he’d done wrong, and he didn’t want to have a serious, adult conversation with her during his daughter’s birthday party.
“Come in.” He got out of the way so she and the cake could come inside, and an uproar of tiny, female voices filled the air as he closed the door behind her. She’d gone straight to the table and put the cake down in front of everyone.
Dallas hung back, watching. The cake had been decorated in pale purple frosting on the bottom, and it circled up into white, and then pink on the top. Little figurines of the Disney princesses had been stuck into the tiers, and they were all waving.
Some of the little girls started waving back, and Dallas envied their innocence. He went back into the kitchen to be with everyone, and he said, “There’s plenty to eat, Jess. Do you want any?”
“No, thank you,” she said, the formality of it increasing his worry. Just get through the party, he told himself. Hopefully he could talk to her in private later.
He did make it through the party, and by the time the last princess left with her queen-mother, Dallas was silently vowing to never have another child’s birthday party again. He sagged against the closed door and looked at the mess in his house.
“Go get your pj’s on,” he said to Remmy. “Then come help me clean up all the tissues, okay?’
“Okay, Daddy.” Remmy skipped down the hall, leaving him and Jess alone. She started stooping to pick up the tissues he was going to leave for Remmy.
“You don’t need to clean up,” he said.
“I don’t mind.”
He glanced down the hall. Remmy would probably be a few minutes at least. “Jess?”
She hadn’t looked at him fully once during the party. She’d been all smiles and loads of fun for the girls as she led the party games and painted nails and lit candles. He’d done a couple of the girls’ hair, and cut the cake and dished ice cream. They’d worked well together, and Dallas really wanted her in his life without all the awkwardness and frustration.
“Yeah?” She still didn’t look at him.
“Did something happen in Montana?” he asked. “You’ve been…we’ve been different since.”
“Not really,” she said, stuffing more unused tissues into a recyclable shopping bag. “It’s about a hundred degrees below freezing there. We went ice skating once, and I dang near froze.”
He chuckled though she didn’t add her laughter to the conversation. He didn’t know what else to say, and Remmy returned to help Jess. She started telling her about the crown she’d gotten to wear that day, and how she got to be line leader