Cowboy in Charge (7 page)

No, he wasn’t a man to analyze emotions, yet he could tell in his gut something wasn’t right. No matter how much she denied it, she was hurting for money, and being off from her job had only made things worse. Her situation—her current situation—had nothing to do with him. But who knew how things would have turned out if he’d stuck around.

He had plenty to answer for from the past. Maybe he’d been wrong to walk away years ago. To give up all those chances.

Now he just wanted the opportunity to make something right.

Chapter Seven

Layne glanced across the kids’ room to the crib, where Jill slept peacefully in the same position she had curled into a half hour earlier.

She had already emptied the contents of the kids’ hamper into the laundry basket now balanced against her hip. Not wanting to wake her daughter, she almost tiptoed from the room and down the hall.

When she reached the entrance to the living room, she paused. At the scene inside the room, her chest squeezed tight as if she had just sprinted down the hallway and couldn’t catch her breath.

Her son knelt on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. One of his favorite storybooks lay open in front of him on the table. Jason sat on the couch behind Scott, leaning over his shoulder. As they focused on the pages, both their faces wore the identical expression of concentrated interest. She had seen that once before, noting that anyone looking at them would assume they were related, would probably realize they were father and son. But no one could guess the two of them had met only days ago.

Her eyes misted. She blinked the moisture away. She couldn’t let these few days weaken her resolve.

Years ago, she had seen the end of her marriage to Jason coming. There was no way she could avoid or deny it. Worse, she had known their relationship was a mistake from the start.

Both her relationships had been mistakes.

She had married for all the wrong reasons, the first time because she was wildly in love with her high-school sweetheart but too young to understand
permanent
didn’t mean
perfect
. The second time, she wanted to provide a father for the child Jason had walked away from. Not once but twice, she had put her faith in men who couldn’t be trusted.

It wasn’t enough that she had failed herself with her bad choices. She had failed her children, too. And if she had learned one thing from the experiences, it was never to let herself fall for a man again.

Especially a man who had already made one fall hurt so much.

Across the room, Jason pointed over Scott’s shoulder to the book. “What’s that?”

“A baby cow.”

“And what does a baby cow say?”

“Moo-oo-oo.” Scott laughed. “Moo-oo-oo. That’s
em-mm-mm
.”

“You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”

Her son nodded. “Yep. Mommy says. And Mommy says a baby cow drinks milk.
Em-mm-mm.
Milk. Like Jill drinks milk.”

Seeing Jason’s now-frozen expression, Layne couldn’t hold back a laugh that verged on a sob. She had caught that same uneasy look on his face when she’d had to feed Jill in the truck. She couldn’t blame his awkwardness on the fact he hadn’t been here after Scott’s birth—not when she had seen and heard how uncomfortable other men often felt at being around a nursing mom in public. But all the same, she wished he had been there for her son.

At her laugh, Jason had looked up and glanced in her direction. Frowning, he rose from the couch and crossed the room. He reached out to take the laundry basket from her. “Where do you want this?”

She would have argued but suspected that wouldn’t do her any good. And she didn’t have the energy. She gestured toward the kitchen. “There’s a washer and dryer in a closet in there. Scott, we’ll be right back.” She followed Jason into the kitchen and gestured to the closet door. “You can just set it down there, thanks.”

“There’s a washer
and
a dryer in that closet?” he asked, sounding as if he didn’t believe her.

“Yes.” She moved past him and opened the door to show him the stacked appliances. “No running to the coin laundry, the way we had to do when we were married.”

“That’s a real shame.”

He went perfectly still as if he had blurted the words without thinking.

For that matter, so had she, not stopping to recall what happened all those times they had gone to the laundry together. Once she loaded the washing machine and fed it the required detergent and coins, she and Jason would move to the table used for folding clothes. He would lift her up to sit on the edge of the table, then move in close for a kiss.

At the thought, her legs suddenly trembled. She took her usual seat at the kitchen table and looked across at the chair he had been using since he’d come back home...back to town. The chair where he’d plopped his Stetson after he’d carried in the sacks of groceries for her.

He had done so much for her and the kids in these past few days. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—be in his debt. Somehow, she would need to find ways to pay him back. She looked past him toward the closet. “I’ll be washing shirts and sweaters after lunch if you want to add anything to the load.”

After a moment, he said, “No need to trouble yourself.”

“It’s no trouble. I’m running the washer anyway.”

“I thought you’d gone to get some rest.”

“I did rest. For a while. I’m getting as bad as Jill with her nap times. I need to stop resting so much and get back on my feet.”

The way I’d done after
you
left.

She couldn’t let herself forget that.

Abruptly, he crossed to the chair and picked up his Stetson. “You know, it’s almost time for lunch. How about I grab something for us from SugarPie’s?”

“But you just bought all those groceries. I didn’t want you to pay for them to begin with.” Even as she said the words, she almost cringed. Her voice sounded too high, her tone too sharp, laced with feelings she couldn’t identify. She only hoped Jason hadn’t heard the difference, too.

He grabbed the pen and notepad she kept on the counter near the phone. “Right now, I could do with one of Sugar’s sub sandwiches. Let’s go see what Scott wants.”

Obviously, he was in a big hurry to leave. Before she could blink, he had gone through the doorway into the living room. As she stared after him, she struggled to make sense of her feelings.

Was she annoyed at him for wanting some distance? Or upset with herself for not wanting him to go?

* * *

T
HE
FIRST
PERSON
Jason spotted at SugarPie’s was none other than Jed Garland. There were only a few booths in the place, most of them still unoccupied. Jed sat sprawled comfortably in the last one in the row as if he were a king surveying his kingdom—as the folks in town had always thought of him. Anybody with a problem or a question, anyone looking for a favor or a good turn, knew they would get what they needed from Jed.

The hefty gray-haired woman nearly filling the seat across from him owned both the sandwich shop and the bakery that shared the same building. She wasn’t queen of Cowboy Creek, but in her own way, Sugar Conway could hold court, too.

Jed gave him a regal wave. Sugar glanced over her shoulder.

He headed their way.

As he approached the booth, Sugar looked him up and down. “Well, here’s the man of the hour,” she proclaimed with her Southern twang, making him wonder just what Jed had said to her about him. “I’ve kept your seat warm for you.” She eased sideways from behind the tabletop and waved him toward the bench.

“I’m not staying long.” He took the vacant seat. “Just going to order some sandwiches to take home...that is, take back to Layne’s.”

“And how is she doing?”

“Much better.” He paused. This was Layne’s employer. “She’s still not too steady on her feet, though. I can’t see her carrying trays for a while.”

“Oh, you can’t, huh?” Sugar rested her hands on the edge of the table. He swore he heard wood groan from the weight. “I don’t know what you can see or what you plan to do.” She had leaned closer and lowered her already soft voice. Her drawl sounded more pronounced. “But I’ll tell you this. Layne’s a good girl, and she’s been through a hard time these past few years. A
very
hard time, mostly thanks to you.”

He met her gaze as steadily as he could. “You’re blaming everything that’s happened to her on me.” But why wouldn’t she? Hadn’t he come close to doing that himself?

“I blame you for leaving her and your baby.” She shook her head sadly. “After that day you two were in here, so happy about having Scott on the way, I can’t believe you walked out on her.”

“I didn’t...” But he did.

Across the table, Jed held up a palm. “Maybe Jason ought to place his order before you get too busy with the lunchtime crowd.”

“Good idea.” Jason had slid the note Layne had given him into his shirt pocket. He fished it out now, recited what she had written for herself and Scott, and added his own sandwich to the order.

Without bothering to take the note or to write anything on her order pad, Sugar nodded and stomped away.

He exhaled in a huff. “I don’t know what she meant about keeping my seat warm,” he said, trying to laugh off his own uneasiness. “To me, it sounded more like putting me in the hot seat.”

“You ought to be used to that, considering you got yourself into it often enough with Layne.”

“Yeah.” He forced a laugh. “Between that and the doghouse, never a dull moment.”

Never a lack of clean clothes, either, thanks to those frequent trips to the laundry. All these years later, even her mention of the place had him breathing hard. He rubbed his forehead, as if he could erase the memories.

“She
is
feeling better,” he assured Jed. She would have to be, if she was up to doing laundry, wouldn’t she?

“That’s good.”

“Yeah. I’ll be out of her hair soon and over at the Hitching Post. Once she’s past the point of needing a caretaker.” No matter what she said about getting back on her feet, he wasn’t leaving until he was sure she wouldn’t have a relapse.

Unfortunately, he’d gone well past the point of needing to back off himself. They had too many memories between them, had set themselves up for too many situations they needed to tiptoe around. One false step, and all his plans would blow up in his face. And the longer he stayed near her, the greater his chances of that.

“I don’t think it’s so much a caretaker she needs,” Jed said. “But a young mother like Layne, on her own with two kids, it’s a hard life. She does need someone to give her a hand.”

“Yeah.” He fiddled with the napkin holder set to one side of the table. “What’s up with her baby’s father? Who was it she married?”
If
she had married the man. He realized he didn’t know even that for sure.

“Terry Johansen.”

He remembered Johansen from high school, a tall thin guy interested only in computer games and the school chess club. Layne could have done better.

Then again, she’d most likely thought she had already done worse. With him.

“It wasn’t a good match,” Jed continued, “not even from the start. You know Layne, loyal to a fault. She seemed determined to make things work, but they split up before the girl was born. Terry took care of the doctor bills, and then he took off.”

Another deadbeat dad. No need to hear the man say the words aloud.

“Layne mentioned he doesn’t help her out.” Dammit, he was fishing for info, wanting to find out what Jed knew. Wanting to know just what she might have said about
him
, too.

“Never heard a word of that. Layne will talk about her kids, but she’s not one to wear her heart on her sleeve about the past. Except for maybe with Cole, she usually keeps those things to herself.” Jed set aside the coffee mug he’d been holding and folded his arms on the tabletop.

Here came the heavy hand holding the whip. The reading of the riot act. The former boss’s version of Sugar’s so-called seat-warming.

“You know,” Jed started off mildly, “you ought to consider giving your relationship with Layne another try.”

His jaw nearly dropped. “That wouldn’t work in a million years.”

“I don’t see why not, if you put some thought behind it.”

Even as he shook his head, he couldn’t keep from wondering what it would be like to be on good terms with Layne again. For more than just their son’s sake.

Sugar returned to the table with his order, saving him from having to respond to Jed. Saving him from his own dangerous thoughts. He would be a fool to make the same mistake twice by getting involved with his ex-wife.

“I’d better be moving along.” In more ways than one. He took the sack from Sugar and rose from his seat. “Scott’s hungry, and Layne might need another nap.”

“Didn’t you say she was doing much better?” Sugar asked.

“I did. I also said she wasn’t too steady on her feet.” Neither was he, at the moment.

“Then you’d best hightail it back there,” Jed advised.

“And not go rushing off again, if she still needs help.” Her parting shot delivered, Sugar turned away.

He followed her to the counter to pay for his order. As he waited for change, he thought about Jed’s suggestion.

He had already acknowledged Layne was more beautiful than ever. He just hadn’t allowed himself to admit he was as hot for her now as he was in their high-school and newlywed days.

What kind of man was he to be having thoughts like that about an overtired, overworked and ill single mom? About a woman who wouldn’t have allowed him a cup of coffee if not for the fact he had taken over her kitchen? Not that either of them had had a choice about that.

“Here you go.” Sugar handed him his change. “And you tell Layne not to hurry back until she’s ready, y’hear?”

“I’ll do that.” He pocketed the coins. As he slid the bills into his worn wallet, he thought about the birth announcement tucked inside.

No matter what Jed thought or where his own thoughts had taken him, he couldn’t have a relationship with Layne. He couldn’t take that risk.

He wouldn’t let anything jeopardize this second chance with his son.

* * *

J
ASON
RETURNED
TO
Layne’s apartment and handed out the sandwiches.

While Layne quietly gathered plates and utensils and poured their drinks, Scott chattered away. He held the floor through most of the meal. With his sister still asleep in their room, he might be taking advantage of having his mama’s attention to himself. Jason could understand that. He felt a surge of...something every time Layne looked his way.