AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her eyes popped open and she stopped swaying. A flash of memory struck her. She and Grace and Hannah and Becky at the Farraday ranch, in the family room with the music playing and the four of them, having already moved all the furniture out of the way, line dancing. The recollection made her chuckle. “Yes, I guess I do.”
A waitress came to the table. “What can I get you, Paxton?”
“Hey, Sara.” He waved for Sandra to go first, then he ordered a drink and some wings. “Do you like fried mushrooms?”
She bobbed her head. Her mother often lovingly teased, calling her a cow. You don’t eat girl, you graze.
The waitress walked away, promising to be back with their drinks, and he pushed his seat away from the table and extended his hand to her. “Shall we?”
Immediately, her gaze darted around the place. “No one else is dancing?”
He shrugged. “Someone has to be the first.”
Right. Someone. She’d be an idiot to say no. This was her chance to get close to him. Really close. Unable to make the words come out of her mouth, she simply smiled and nodded.
A popular country tune had them falling into an easy Texas Two-Step.
“You’re a good dancer.” She almost giggled as he spun her around before pulling her into him again.
“Mom said it was the best way to get girls. That or learn to play the piano. Dancing seemed easier.”
“I’ll have to remember that. Make sure to teach David to dance.”
He stared at her a long moment before spinning her out and bringing her back again. “You’d do anything for David, wouldn’t you?”
“Absolutely. Not only is he my world right now, but that’s what being a parent is all about. You bring this helpless child into the world who you have to teach how not to be helpless.”
He seemed to consider her words before nodding. “I never thought about it that way. Kind of brings home what a huge responsibility it is having children.”
“Every decision I make, I have to think about David, how it will affect him. Will it make his life better or worse.”
“I hope I fall into the category of better.”
Her smile widened. “Absolutely. You’re an amazing influence on him. And it doesn’t hurt that he adores you.”
“Nah.” Paxton chuckled. “The kid just likes me for my pitching arm and the horses.”
Her head tipped back with laughter. “There’s that too.”
“Seriously, though, I hope you know that I would never do anything to bring any harm to David.”
Oh, how she wished David’s own father had felt that way. Putting David first or considering him in any decision was not on her ex’s radar. “I do.”
He spun them around and seemed to hold her a smidge closer than a moment before. If only Paxton had returned to Tuckers Bluff for more summer vacations. Would they have stayed friends? Become something more? Would David be his son, not Ed’s? Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Instead of lingering on what might have or could have been, what she needed to learn was to enjoy the here and now. And from where she stood at the moment, the here and now was looking awfully bright.
Chapter Fourteen
The last thing Paxton needed was for the film crew to be here today. At least for now, they were off in the master bedroom filming Sandra and Ryan taping and bedding the sheetrock, getting it ready for adding texture. Sandra had become really good at it. So much so, that Ryan even told her if she ever wanted to give up working in a beauty salon, she could have a job on the construction crew. That had Paxton smiling. The lady was truly a cut above the rest. He’d thought so when they were kids, and he still thought so.
“You forget how to measure?” Quinn stepped up beside him.
“Of course not.”
Dark brows folded into a frown. “So there’s a good reason you cut the sheetrock too short?”
“What?” He drilled the last screw into the sheetrock he was hanging and turned to his brother.
Quinn pointed to the sheet he’d laid against the wall where Paxton worked. The one he was supposed to screw in next. Also, the one that clearly wasn’t long enough to reach the end of the wall. How the heck had this happened? The fifteen foot wall was a foot shorter than the two pieces of sheet rock. He knew that, yet somehow he’d gotten eighteen inches stuck in his head and he’d cut the boards too short.
