Rugged Cowboy - Elana Johnson Page 0,8

to take even a piece of it for even a minute.

“Come on, guys,” he said to his kids, and they stuck close to him as the crowd started to move in a herd toward the flaps in the tent that had been tied back.

Behind him, Ted said. “Missy, let’s get the pool filled up, yeah? I feel like my skin is melting off.” It was such a Ted-thing to say, and Dallas swung around and smiled at him.

“Who gets married in September in Texas?”

“Crazy people,” Ted said, taking off his cowboy hat and wiping his forehead. “Em and I chose the beginning of March.”

“Smart,” Dallas said, noting that Jess veered toward another door. He watched her go, a bit of guilt straining in his stomach. He probably shouldn’t have snapped at her about the texting.

“Do you guys want to come swimming?” Ted asked, looking at Thomas and Remmy as they finally gained the doors and the crowd started to spread out.

“Can we, Daddy?” Remmy asked.

“Sure,” Dallas said. “I think Aunt Amy bought you guys bathing suits.” He refrained from tacking on the word, “Right?” as if he didn’t know. He was ninety percent sure Amy had gotten swimming suits for his kids, because she’d had them for a the bulk of the summer.

Remmy started skipping ahead of them, saying, “She did, Daddy. Mine’s purple with pink stars.”

Even Thomas looked excited about the prospect of a swimming pool, and as they approached the homestead, he went with Ted toward the cabins in the corner. A stand-up pool sat in the shade of a huge oak tree, and Ted said, “I’ll get it going now. You guys go change.” He paused and looked at Dallas. “I can take the kids for an hour or two,” he said in a much quieter voice.

Dallas wondered if he wore his exhaustion on his face. He’d learned how to smother his emotions and cover everything up with a blank mask, almost from the first day he’d entered River Bay. But he’d obviously forgotten a lot already, in only a few days.

“You sure?”

“Sure,” Ted said. “Go settle in. Shower. Whatever.” He flashed Dallas a smile and started toward the hose.

Dallas went with his kids, and he helped Remmy dig through her suitcase until they found her swimming suit. He went out into the kitchen and asked a brown-haired woman if there was any sunscreen he could use on this kids.

“Sure,” she said. “We have a cupboard we call the apothecary.” She led him over to a cupboard next to the fridge and opened it. Bottles of every height and color stood there, with sheets of pills that could be pushed out of the foil on the back, and taller canisters of bug spray and sunscreen.

“Thank you,” he said. “I forgot your name.”

“Hannah,” she said with a smile. He felt nothing for her, the way he had with Jess, and he wasn’t sure what that meant. Probably that she wasn’t texting during a wedding or yelling at him for cleaning up chocolate from the floor.

“Hannah, right.” He took the sunscreen from the shelf and sprayed his kids. Then he went out the door that led into the garage and stepped toward the back yard. He paused at the corner and watched Thomas and Remmy run toward the other kids in the pool. Apparently, Ted had been nominated as the babysitter, and when he came out to the pool, wearing a bright lime green pair of swimming trunks, it was obvious why.

A couple of other women loitered on the back steps, clearly engaged in a conversation with one another. They looked a little bit like Ginger, and Dallas assumed they were her sisters. Part of him wanted to join the party in the pool, but the thought of changing his clothes and spraying himself with sunscreen made him want to sink to his knees and weep.

Ted’s bellowing laugh filled the air, and Dallas grinned. His kids would be fine.

He went back to the room he’d been given to change in, wondering where he’d really be staying that night. This was the West Wing, and men didn’t live on this side of the house. Instead of finding someone to ask, he simply closed and locked the door. He collapsed on the bed and pulled his phone from his pocket.

A sigh escaped from his mouth, and he thought about doing his best to fall asleep. In the end, though, he dialed Martha, his heartbeat bobbing into the back of his throat.

“Hey,”