yet she’d known Wes all of twenty-four hours and she’d already sobbed on his shoulder.
“What’s your deal with Wes anyway?” Her daughter paused to wait for her.
“What do you mean?” she asked, looking straight ahead while she walked alongside Olivia.
Liv snuck in front of her, calling her out with those dark eyes that reminded Thea so much of Dylan’s. “We were all having fun, and then suddenly you got all weird and stopped smiling and started to glare at people.”
“What?” A nervous laugh bubbled out. “I did not.” Did she?
“Yes, you did,” Liv argued. “Did he make you mad or something?”
“No!” Thea navigated the steps up to the lodge’s back deck. “Of course I’m not mad at Wes.” She was mad at herself. Did it bother her that the man drew a physical reaction out of her? Sure. Did it make her uncomfortable how quickly he’d bonded with Ryan? Yes. But…
“He seems nice enough. He’s not very reliable, that’s all.” She needed to keep that well in mind. “And I’m worried about your brother expecting too much from a man who doesn’t follow through.” The same way his father hadn’t followed through. She hadn’t realized that was her fear before saying it out loud. But the deepening ache in her heart confirmed that worry was the root of every hesitation.
Before Dylan would leave on a deployment, he would promise Ryan that they would spend all this time together—father-and-son bonding time—when he came back. But it never happened. The fishing trips or the baseball stadium trips or even the batting practice down at the park. Dylan always came back tired and angry and too distant to spend that quality time with his son.
Dylan had always made her promises, too—that things would be different, that he would be there for her. Guilt shut down that line of thought. She had no right to hold anything against a dead man.
“I think it’s too late to adjust Ryan’s expectations.” Her daughter put one of Thea’s favorite phrases in air quotes. She was always talking to her kids about adjusting their expectations the way she’d learned to.
“Yeah. It would appear so.” Her son had already put Wes on a pedestal, and she had no idea how to help prepare him for disappointment.
Thea held open the lodge’s back door for her daughter, and they walked into the great room. It looked like everyone had already arrived. There were the Hershbergers—Cal and Kelly standing with Preston and Timothy. Then there was the Mills family—Gabe and Abby along with their five-year-old daughter, Piper. And Wes and Ryan were greeting the Garcia family—Carlos, Luciana, and their sixteen-year-old twins, Elena and Daniela.
“Hey, everyone!” Thea’s face flushed. She was never late. She should’ve been up here an hour ago in case anyone was early. Waving at them, she hurried to the table where they’d gathered. Thank God, Louise had set out snacks and her wonderful homemade lemonade. “You all must’ve made good time driving up from the airport.” And she’d totally lost track of time, thanks to a certain cowboy.
“We made great time.” Luciana met her with a hug. “You weren’t kidding. This place is beautiful.” Her dark eyes glistened. “It’s the perfect place to get away.”
“Wes was just telling us about all of the fun things we’ll be doing,” Abby added.
“We get to be in a parade,” Piper said, accentuating the words with an excited squeal.
“Say what?” Thea shot Wes a questioning glance and tried to hold on to her smile. They’d planned to go watch the parade, but she had no intention of being in the parade.
“I pulled some strings with the parade organizers.” His eyes worked their magic, making her heart speed up. “They’re friends of mine. When I told them we’d have a bunch of kids staying here, they suggested we build a float and join in.”
“That is so cool!” Ryan gave his new buddy Timothy a high five.
“Um. Wow.” Thea tried to muster an ounce of enthusiasm, but that sounded like a lot of work. “The parade is the day after tomorrow. And we don’t have a float.” Why was she the only voice of reason here? “I’m not sure we have time to—”
“That’s no problem,” Wes interrupted, hooking everyone in the room with his grin. “I have tomorrow afternoon all blocked off for us to spend time working on the float.”
So he’d gone and changed the whole schedule around without even talking to her? Thea decided to avoid his eyes so she didn’t get sucked