well, but I can teach you other things that might compensate for not hunting.”
Dylan’s face broke out into a huge grin and he wiggled slightly in his chair. “That’s so awesome! What do you do? Are you going to move in here? Johnny’s dad lives in another city but he comes by every once in a while. Not often though. Are you going to come to my birthday party? And what about Christmas? Mom makes us go to church all the time too. So are you going to go to church with us? Sometimes she lets me sit in church with her so can I sit in church with you too?”
Jemma laughed, wiping her tears away so Dylan didn’t become concerned. “Hold on, buddy,” she told him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “His name is Damien Alfieri and he lives in Italy. So…”
“But I’ll be here soon. I don’t know all of the details.”
“He just found out that he had a son a few hours ago,” Jemma explained when Dylan’s eyes started to narrow again with concern. “He is a very busy man.”
“But not too busy to see my son.” He hesitated. “I don’t want to change your life, Dylan but…”
“But everything is changed!” Dylan exclaimed, almost jumping up and down. “And mom’s bed is big enough to share so you could live here!”
Damien looked over at Jemma and almost laughed when he caught her face flame up with color. The idea of sharing her bed was very alluring. Turning back to Dylan, he said, “Your mom and I will talk on the phone to work out the details, okay? And will you talk to me about your day when I call?”
Dylan’s excitement was settling down with those words. “Yeah. But what about tonight? You can’t leave now, right? You’re going to stay for a little while?”
Jemma’s heart wrenched. To discover a father and then have that treasure taken away so quickly was confusing. “He has…”
“I’m taking you and your mother out for dinner tonight. And I was hoping you could introduce me to your horses.”
Dylan was thrilled. “Yes! Can we go to Tucker’s for dinner?”
Damien looked at Jemma, not sure what Tucker’s might be.
Jemma hesitated. “Dylan, I’m not sure Mr. Alfieri would like Tucker’s,” she explained. “Maybe there’s a place that…”
“Tucker’s sounds fine with me,” he interrupted, accurately guessing what she might be about to say. He winked at Dylan who grinned right back. “Burgers, I’m guessing?”
Dylan’s head bobbed up and down. “Great burgers!”
“Let’s go meet the horses,” Jemma suggested, thinking it would be a good idea to get out of the house. Dinner sounded good too. Anything to put more space between all of them. She turned around to turn the heat off of the soup then put the whole pot into the fridge for dinner the following night. She wasn’t a big fan of soup anyway. It was just cheap, healthy and easy to make.
As they walked out of the house towards the pasture, Dylan swamped Damien with questions, eager to learn about his newly discovered father but also excited to tell the new man in his life about his accomplishments.
“He’s going to brag about you with his friends tomorrow,” she said as Dylan raced ahead of them, thrilled to be showing his father something he loved.
Damien stopped and turned to face her. “And you?”
She blinked, not sure what he was asking. “What about me?”
“Will you be bragging about me to your friends?”
She instantly thought about George and felt horrible. “No.” But if they showed up at Tucker’s tonight for dinner, everyone in town would know about the new man in Dylan’s life by the time he went to school in the morning.
He looked down at her, his dark eyes scanning her blue ones. “Get rid of the guy, Jemma,” he told her forcefully.
Jemma blinked, shocked that he’d read her mind so easily. “What man?”
“The man you are seeing.”
Dylan raced back, jumping up and down. “George isn’t too bad. My mom likes him but she’s not going to marry him.”
Damien had been watching Dylan but by the end of the statement, he looked up at Jemma. “Who is George?” he demanded.
Jemma shivered. “Dylan, why don’t you go saddle up Buddy and show your dad how well you can ride?”
Dylan’s grin widened even more. “I’m real good!” he announced. A moment later, he was gone, racing towards the barn to get his saddle and gear.
When Dylan was out of hearing, he turned back to Jemma. “Who