AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I furrow my brow. “Really? What makes you say that?”
“Well, if we’re being honest, I was a troublemaker before I met your father, you know. I had terrible habits—and a bad past, too,” Mom says, leaning against the back of the counter.
I pause, a little taken aback by her words.
“What kind of habits?” I ask, confused by the confession. I didn’t think I took after either of my parents, especially not my mom. Mom before Dad was never a subject we’ve talked about before, but now I’m all ears for it.
“You know...” She shrugs. “I liked to have a little too much fun. I drank and partied my fair share. And believe me, I was always the life of the party.” She smirks. “I’ve always said that you and Hunter were by far the ones that took after my personality. You both are just buckets of fun—sometimes a little too much fun. But it levels out when you meet the right person. Your dad knew just how to rein me in—not that I had to change who I was. I just slowed down a little—got my priorities straight.”
I stare at my mom, shocked to hear her say these things. I had no idea about any of this. I never once suspected my own mother would understand where I was coming from growing up.
We’re way more alike than I ever realized.
It’s strangely ... comforting.
“I have a lot that needs to change, though.” I sigh, replaying the discussion with my lawyer in my head. “I have to prove that I’m stable and can provide a stable home in order to keep Cooper without Harper there. I mean, I know things got a little out of hand on tour, but it’s not like I was acting wild and crazy every night or anything like that. I didn’t sleep around or even do that much. I just ... I had one wild night.”
“One that landed you in jail,” Mom points out. “I read the articles about it. You picked a fight with a tiger at the zoo, Wade.”
“He was very aggressive through the glass,” I say, holding back my laugh. “You had to be there to understand. And I might have had a few too many.”
Mom stares at me, her face going completely blank before we both burst into laughter. And when I meet her eyes again, we start laughing all over again. We laugh until she’s in tears, clutching her side.
It’s the most relieving moment I’ve had in the longest time with her.
And here I was afraid to come home, thinking she was so disappointed in me.
“Do you know where the girls went riding to?” I ask as soon as I can control myself again. “I know Callie can hold her own when it comes to nearly everything, but I was just hoping to spend the day with her out here.”
Mom raises her eyebrows. “Who are you? You normally don’t want anything to do with your girlfriends. I always thought you preferred for them to just do their thing so you could do yours.”
“I mean, I do,” I backtrack, “but Callie’s just ... She’s not used to being here, and it’s been a long week. I thought it would be nice if I showed her around today.” I stop myself as my mother’s face tells me she sees right through my façade. “Yeah, I’m an idiot—I wanna spend as much time as I can with her. She’s just ... she’s like my best friend.”
My heart fills with warmth at the realization.
It’s true. Callie has become someone I can talk to about anything—she seems to understand me. Just like any best friend would.
I never thought it was possible to feel so comfortable with someone.
“The best kind of spouses, or soon-to-be spouses, are the ones who are also your friend.” Mom’s grinning ear-to-ear as she looks at me, and I can tell that she’s absolutely loving seeing me this worked up over a girl. It might even be an exciting thing for her. However, there’s just one massive problem that is starting to bother me more than ever.
I’m catching massive feelings for my fake fiancée.
And I have no idea if she feels the same way.
Chapter Fourteen
Callie
“Um, your dog is literally the best dog ever,” Ava says, beaming, with her hair braided back out of her face beneath a pink cowboy hat. “I think I might ask my daddy to get me one. Do you think he’ll get me one, Mom?”
“I’m going to go ahead and say, probably not,” Emma says, laughter escaping her lips as she shoots me an amused look. “But I say, why not? Maybe you could get a puppy for Christmas this year, since you already have enough horses to fill a barn of your own.”
“That’s exactly what I’m gonna tell him!” Ava says, cheering atop her brown and white paint horse. It’s a chubby little thing, and a bit stubborn, but it’s cute. “I’m glad Wade’s gonna marry someone who can actually ride a horse,” Ava says to me, giving me a big toothy grin. “Bailey can’t ride very good at all. The last time we raced, she just about fell off and bit the dirt. Only Mom can really ride.”
“I’ve been riding for a long time,” I say, thinking back to all the summers I spent at horse camp in the Ozarks. Being in foster care, I received a few scholarships for summer camp. “I don’t know that I’m great at racing though,” I admit. “I mostly just climbed mountains on my horses.”
“Whoa, that’s pretty cool,” Ava beams, her little eyes light up with wonder. It’s amazing how easy it is to impress a nine-year-old. “Maybe sometime, you can take all of us to the mountains, and we can all ride together, and it’ll be tons of fun.”
