Twins under the tree a c.., p.13
Twins Under the Tree--A Clean Romance, page 13
Shadow gazed at her with a knowing smile. “Good for you. Good for Hadley. I’m not sure he’s the right replacement for David, but moving on is a great idea.”
Jenna’s head hurt. Last night’s “moment” on the stairs with Hadley had shaken her. At her apartment this morning, she’d considered phoning Clara to say she couldn’t work on the cabin today. She didn’t want to see Hadley before she’d made sense of last night. And then there was that kiss, times two.
Luke’s cry had saved her from doing something more she would regret.
Do you see me going anywhere? Hadley had asked, yet she’d been waiting for him to do just that since the twins were born. Though she now assumed he’d take them with him; she could no longer picture him leaving them behind. Had she been crazy to consider allowing her fledgling relationship with Hadley to reach another, more personal level? Because then he’d said, I won’t stay in Barren forever. And he still had traits that reminded her of her father. Amy had tried to manage that, and in part because of her health, with the standby guardianship. Add Jenna’s worst memories of David, and she was better off without Hadley.
“Maybe Hadley only felt sorry for me last night,” she added.
Shadow snorted, spraying coffee over the table. “Sure, any man’s first impulse is to comfort the woman who just talked about her ex. Though your confidence really is a problem.” She paused. “Is he a good kisser?”
Jenna buried her nose in her mug. “Shadow.”
“You had better get yourself to the next meeting of the Girls’ Night Out group. I have to say, I’m fine with him trying to guide you onto a better path away from David, but you need a good talking-to. We’ll all set you straight.”
“Believe me, I can wait for that,” she said, but smiled a little. “All right, so I’m making a big deal out of a few kisses.”
Shadow hooted. “Ooh, more than one, then.”
Jenna pushed her plate aside. She hadn’t wanted that sticky bun in the first place. “I’m not saying another word. You can just keep wondering about Hadley’s technique.” Awesome as it had been. The man could kiss, which had surprised her, too. His normally gruff manner hid an unexpected romantic side. “Let’s get this shower planned instead.”
“I’m thinking we should have it right after Thanksgiving.”
Jenna couldn’t keep quiet. “Mom’s actually going through with this?”
“Despite your best effort to talk her out of it, yes. Deal with it, Jen. We can call the event part of your recovery program from David.”
Jenna couldn’t argue. “I know I have a tendency to dwell on our marriage...”
“That’s part of it,” Shadow said.
Painful, but true. “Still, for the first time since David announced he wanted a divorce, and I spent days hiding in our house hoping his move to Salt Lake City without me was a temporary glitch, I wanted another man to kiss me. I didn’t try to stop Hadley.” Far from it—she’d enjoyed the sensation of his mouth on hers when she’d never expected to be drawn to someone else. “You might acknowledge that I’ve made some progress.”
“I can.” Shadow took another sip of her coffee, then set it aside. “I’d also like to see you take interest in your own future. Has it occurred to you that you’re spending more time at the ranch, and with Hadley? There must be some reason why, and I don’t mean redoing that cabin for Danielle Pearson. Gee, Jenna. He actually might be attracted to you, and from the look on your face this morning, you must feel the same about him. Stop trying to deflect a new happiness that could be yours. And after all, he has that adorable set of twins.”
Shadow let the words hang there while Jenna’s pulse banged against her ribs. “They are adorable,” she said, “but don’t start planning another bridal shower or a wedding for me. My ‘recovery’ after David is going to take more time. I sure don’t need a ready-made family—one I would probably mess up like I did my marriage.”
“You didn’t ruin that marriage, David did.” Shadow drew a sheaf of papers from her bag. “Do what you think best about Hadley Smith. We’d better talk about this shower before we end up killing each other.”
* * *
“I’M GOING INTO TOWN,” Sawyer McCord informed Hadley. “Logan’s in the field seeing to a sick calf. Can you get these stalls finished by the time we get back?”
“Sure. Should be done by noon.” On his first day at the Circle H, Hadley was in a foul mood. Lucky for him he hadn’t ended up in a cell at Finn Donovan’s office for writing a bum check in the first place. But now with the loan from Jenna, at least he’d been able to pay for the bull. He’d done his calculations the other night, and if he worked hard, he might be able to pay Jenna back by Christmas. Now he was working a second job here, grateful for the extra hours but wishing he could spend his time at Clara’s. He’d even taken a third job for Finn Donovan. Finn needed someone with knowledge of the cattle he’d bought, and Hadley was helping to make him into a real rancher. But how would he make a go of the McMann place if he wasn’t there? Cory, whom he’d left in charge, was good but not as experienced as Hadley.
“Thanks for the help,” Sawyer said, starting back down the aisle.
Hadley watched him go. For years, while still in school, he’d been on the outside looking in at the ranchers’ sons he’d wanted to call friends. When he’d first returned to Clara’s, not as a foster kid but an adult, he’d hoped friendship might be possible, yet even after he married Amy they hadn’t been among the local couples like Sawyer and Olivia who were invited to social events.
He reminded himself that Sawyer was his boss. No friendship would cross the line even when Sawyer had said I’ve got no problem with you. Now Hadley was replacing stall boards under the supervision of the Circle H’s cowhands. Tobias and Willy had given him the most menial job for the day. Hadley didn’t care for being hazed, but he wasn’t staying on this job forever, and wasn’t the twins’ welfare enough for him to worry about?
To make matters worse, the other night he’d given Jenna advice, then let things get out of hand. He’d lost his head and kissed her on the stairs. He already knew she didn’t trust him. Last thing on his mind should be a woman who might be as broken as he was. A woman he’d have to leave. At least he’d made that clear.
Hadley’s hands twitched on the hammer. He’d like to smash it right into the face of that jerk Jenna had married. On his worst day, Hadley had never treated Amy that bad. He might not have tried hard enough to love her, but maybe he had tried as much as he was capable of.
“Done with this stall, Smith?” As Sawyer drove off, Willy sauntered through the barn, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the dimness after being outside. Hadley hadn’t heard him ride in from wherever he’d been all morning, but he looked like he wanted trouble. “Hurry up. After you finish those stalls, load the rest of the cattle being shipped to the feedlot.”
One of Hadley’s least favorite chores. The panicked bawling of the steers told him they weren’t so dumb; they must know they were taking a one-way ride eventually to the slaughterhouse. This morning he felt like one of them. With two extra jobs, he might be making more money, but he was losing ground at Clara’s. And missing sleep every night—not because of the babies these days—while he played catch-up after his long day’s absence from the ranch.
“Sure,” he told Willy as he had Sawyer. He would do what he had to. “Be with you shortly.” He didn’t like Willy. Taller than Hadley and with dishwater-blond hair and hands like hams, Willy could be arrogant, even snide. Yet Hadley had no choice but to try to get along...as he should keep doing with Jenna and leave anything else between them off the table.
Leaning against a bale of hay, Willy crossed his arms. “Don’t know why Logan and Sawyer hired you. Me and Tobias and the other half-timers we use should be enough. I’d say this is charity on their part.”
“That’s your opinion.” How often as a boy had Hadley heard similar comments from kids at school? There’d definitely been a line drawn between those who belonged and those, like him, who didn’t. After a while it had stopped being important to him, but at least now the Circle H owners hadn’t taunted him. “They did hire me—whatever their reason.”
Willy snorted. “What I hear, you didn’t have any option. Clara McMann’s spread has been dry dirt for years. Buying a few cows won’t fix it. Neither will that one bull you bought.” He made another scoffing sound. “You aiming to lose the rest of that ranch for her? Good time, I’d say, to leave town.”
Hadley pushed past Willy. “I answer to Sawyer, Logan...even Tobias before I answer to you.”
“Unless you don’t run those steers up the ramp into the van. Then you will answer to me. Old Sam—” the ranch’s owner and Logan and Sawyer’s grandfather “—put me in charge.” No, he hadn’t. Hadley’s orders had come from Sawyer.
“You’re a hired hand just like me, Willy.”
“Get the work done,” Willy said as if he’d come up with the idea. “You want to stay here—you need the work—play by the rules. Mine included. Do as I tell you.”
Hadley’s patience, always in short supply, vanished. In the far stall, Olivia’s horse Blue danced and snorted. Like the horse, Hadley was ready to stomp someone.
In a heartbeat he had Willy up against the next stall, Hadley’s forearm jammed against his throat, cutting Willy’s air off. “I understand you. Now you hear me. I dealt with guys like you when I was growing up but I’m not a kid now and I’ll say this once.” Willy was gasping for breath, his face getting purple now. “Don’t mess with me.”
For good measure, Hadley pressed harder on Willy’s neck.
“Can’t...breathe...”
Before he got himself in more trouble, Hadley eased off. Willy all but sagged to the floor. In his stall, Blue was still doing a quick two-step, puffing like a steam engine. “We clear?” Hadley asked Willy.
“For now.” Under his breath, as he labored to refill his lungs, he said a few choice words, then stumbled off down the aisle and out into the sun again.
The hierarchy on the Circle H wasn’t working for Hadley any better than those bullies in the schoolyard had years ago.
The notion made him flash back to the picture in his wallet of his missing brother. He’d defended Dallas in a similar way often enough; defending himself felt pretty good, too. Yet thinking of Dallas threatened to derail his better mood. No matter how Hadley tried to see him in some stranger on the street or how many Google searches he did to find him, he had nothing to go on but a name that led nowhere.
Hustling to get his chores done, Hadley hammered the last boards into place before he headed for Blue’s stall, hoping he didn’t get his brains kicked in his first day on the job.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
JENNA WAS GLAD she and her sister hadn’t come to blows over her mother’s bridal shower. But the plans were underway. The party would be held at Wilson Cattle the week after Thanksgiving, and Shadow was in charge of the invitations, food and decorations. Jenna only had to provide the cake and champagne for a toast, then buy her mother a gift. The light duty on her part wasn’t accidental. Because of Jenna’s continued uncertainty about her mom’s coming marriage to Jack, Shadow had mostly let her off the hook. Jenna couldn’t shake her conviction that Wanda was making a serious mistake, but this morning she was back to her usual routine.
And glad of that, too. The work kept her mind off Hadley and his kiss on the stairs.
She gazed around Liza Wilson’s new house. Jenna’s design suggestions had worked! As she straightened pillows on the sofas that flanked the immense fireplace, she heard the expected sound of a car engine. Liza and Everett, who’d been living with Grey and Shadow, were here.
Everett hadn’t seen the interior since the contractors left and his wife had hired Jenna. “You ladies have a good time,” he’d told them. “I’d rather work cattle than pick through a bunch of fabrics and pictures of furniture.” He’d given Liza full rein to choose the items for their new home, and as promised, Liza had honored his taste.
Heart in her throat, Jenna waited for his reaction.
“My, my, my,” Everett exclaimed, one hand on Liza’s shoulder as they passed through the entry into the great room, his blue-green eyes twinkling. “When my Texas transplant here decides to make a Kansas house a home, she does it right.” He gazed at Jenna and grinned. “My bride and I are very pleased.”
Looking quite pregnant now two months before her due date, Liza took Jenna’s hand. “Thank you. Everett stewed all the way from the main house, afraid he would hate what we came up with. I told him he abdicated any right to complain when he rode off to see his cattle.”
“I’m glad you like what I’ve done,” Jenna said, “with your help, Liza.”
Everett, still an impressive-looking man, his brown hair faintly streaked with gray, continued to glance around. “I like this big room, the kitchen—” in all its gleaming stainless-steel and rough-edged-granite glory “—but I really want to see that nursery Liza has talked so much about. We’ll need it soon.”
Jenna’s phone rang. “Why don’t you go ahead? I have to take this.”
She’d been putting Bernice Caldwell off for months now, and she steeled herself for this conversation.
Bernice didn’t waste her breath on pleasantries. “You’ve been avoiding me. I’m having a dinner party on Saturday. Seven o’clock. Don’t be late. Barney and I will expect you.”
She didn’t give Jenna a chance to refuse. Bernice hung up before she could speak. Barney’s mother had obviously given up trying to pair her with Barney on a one-to-one basis and was trying a different tactic. Jenna groaned aloud as Liza leaned over the staircase rail from above. “Everything all right?”
“Not really.” Jenna touched her temple, where a headache was brewing. “Barney Caldwell’s mother finally reached me. She has some idea he and I would make a perfect match.” She mentioned the invitation.
“Bernice has her mind made up and you aren’t going to change it.” Liza beckoned her. “Come upstairs, Jenna. We’ll help you fabricate an excuse. Everett wants to personally smother you in hugs for this whole house. I don’t think you’ll have a problem finding clients from now on. You won’t need to cater to Bernice Caldwell.”
That was good news, but how had she attracted Bernice’s notice in the first place? Based on that one chance meeting in front of the bank? Or had Barney put her up to it? She wandered through the second-floor rooms behind Liza and Everett, smiling at his obvious satisfaction in spite of her dilemma over the Caldwells. “We’re going to be very happy here—even happier than we have been since the day we met. And this wonderful space for the baby...” He turned in the center of the nursery, holding Liza’s hand. “The giant stuffed giraffe was inspired. This hammock for his toys...”
“Or hers. Everett loves all the color,” Liza put in. “Our daughter will be thrilled with the dollhouse you and I still need to find for her, Jenna.”
“Whenever you like, we can look for one.” Liza and Everett had opted not to learn their baby’s sex, preferring to be surprised, but it seemed each of them had an opinion. As homework, Jenna mentally thumbed through the various furniture catalogs she kept at home and all over her office.
As they left the nursery, Liza fell into step beside her. “If I were you, I’d go to Bernice’s dinner. The evening might be worth the investment of your time.”
“And have to spend hours with her and Barney?”
Liza grinned. “Not if you discourage them by taking a date.”
After that night on the stairs, Jenna had been avoiding Hadley as much as possible. She didn’t want a repeat of the unwise kisses they’d shared. Thank goodness he spent most of his daylight hours at the Circle H or at Finn Donovan’s place. Still...
* * *
“THIS IS CRAZY,” Hadley muttered. “It’s gate-crashing.”
As he and Jenna pulled up in his truck at the Caldwell house in Barren, he tugged at his tie. Hadley kept asking himself why he’d agreed to this stunt. After working at the Circle H and more extra hours at Finn’s, what he really needed was a bed and twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep.
But Jenna was still trying to sell him on the idea. “You won’t have to do much. A few polite words, a meal you’ll miss at Clara’s tonight, a thank-you to Bernice for a lovely evening, and we’ll be on our way home.”
Home. She must mean her apartment. “Why didn’t you just tell that woman you didn’t want to come? Say you have serious food allergies—gluten, dairy, you’re not a meat eater, whatever—then you could have stayed in tonight. So could I.” And with Clara on duty for the twins, he would have slept.
As he spoke, the feeling of dread didn’t leave him, but Hadley got out of the pickup, came around and held out a hand to help Jenna from the passenger seat. She’d worn high heels, a V-neck dress with folds that wrapped her figure in an interesting way, and gleaming silver hoops in her ears. He averted his eyes.
Hadley grumbled, “I wasn’t invited. You were.”
“I invited you. And you said yes.” After she’d twisted his arm, he’d told himself he owed her this one night for giving him the loan, but that was half the truth. The uncomfortable thought that he’d endured similar events with Amy’s parents and survived didn’t help. After all, he wasn’t about to take his relationship with Jenna in that direction.
“I appreciate what you’re doing.” She climbed down without his help, and the memory of their kiss on the stairs at Clara’s was suddenly between them again. How was he going to spend the evening with this woman he didn’t want to even like when he couldn’t seem to convince himself that it was better to keep his distance? “If this goes the way it’s supposed to,” she said, not sounding as sure now, “I won’t have to worry anymore about running into Bernice or Barney.”
