Mossy Glenn Ranch 3 -Saddles and Memories (21 page)

Andy needed him, so much. He didn’t protest.

* * * *

It seemed as if everything was going to get worked out, Salt decided as he drove to the city. He just hoped to hell it all worked out in Andy’s favour. It sure sounded like Ty was going to end up with Andy. Eventually.

Salt would wait. He’d promised to, and if necessary, he could live in the city, in an apartment. It wasn’t something he’d ever wanted, but he did want Andy. For him, Salt would give up everything.

The drive passed quickly, considering how bad he wanted to hold Andy. Salt was a little nervous, because he knew there was a chance he was going to be checked out by the agency caring for Ty. There was nothing bad on his record, no criminal arrests or anything like that, but it was still creepy.

He parked the truck and unbuckled. The sun was peeking out between clouds when he got out. Salt strode across the parking lot, a duffel bag in hand. He was glad it was Saturday. He was going to owe Rocky a bunch of favours for trading days off with him again.

Her maybe-girlfriend Jen was going to serve him cold coffee at the diner.

Salt jogged up the stairs and grinned when he reached the fifth floor with little effort. When he knocked on Andy’s door, it didn’t take but two seconds for the door to be opened and Andy to be in his arms.

“Thank you for coming,” Andy said against his cheek.

“Always. Anytime you need me.” Salt took a deep breath then canted his head back to look into Andy’s eyes. “I can stay, permanently, if you want.”

Andy’s expression was priceless as the man sputtered. “But—your job!”

Salt shrugged and hoped his expression hid the sadness he felt at possibly quitting. “It’s just a job. A good one, yeah, but I won’t be doing it forever, and I want forever, with you. I want to be a part of your and Ty’s family, so if that means quitting, then I will quit.”

“Don’t go jumping off cliffs without a parachute,” Andy advised. “Let’s see what Stratton and the child agency says. I don’t want you to quit. One of us will need to have a job.” Andy smiled crookedly. “It’d look bad if we were both unemployed.”

“You’re going to give him the shares?” Salt didn’t want Brandt to have anything, but he understood Andy’s reasoning.

“If he signs away any rights to Ty, yeah. And I’ll quit.” Andy drooped a little, his shoulders rounding. “I haven’t gotten to talk to Ty about that yet. I need to before I do anything for sure.”

“You’ll do that.” Salt moved them into the apartment and kicked the door shut with his heel. “Any idea when you can see him?”

Andy gripped his hand. “No. I haven’t heard anything yet this morning. Stratton told me to be patient, but it’s so hard.”

“He’ll be allowed to come back to you.” Salt didn’t doubt it.

“I hope so. I just want him happy, and I want you.” Andy looked at him so tenderly it made Salt’s heart flutter.

“You got me, I told you that. And you can quit, I’ll stay on at the ranch. I can come down on the days I get off. Carlos will give me a five-day work week. He told me so.” Salt generally worked six days a week, because he wasn’t an idle man. That, and there was always something that needed doing on a ranch the size of the Mossy G.

“I need to thank your bosses for being so great about this.” Andy didn’t stop at the couch. He kept walking until they reached his bedroom. “Need to thank you, too. We started out as a little fun, and now—you didn’t bargain for this.”

“But I’ll gladly take it,” Salt asserted. “I will most certainly, gladly, take it.”

Andy caressed his cheek. “It’s going to be hard, and invasive, with Child and Family Services sticking their noses in our business. Ty might not want to move from this apartment. It was his home for a long time.”

Salt knew that was a real possibility. “That’s okay. He needs to be comfortable, needs to feel secure. As for hard, I’m a cowboy. We’re made of hard, sugar. I don’t have any business for that place to be up in, but they can snoop around. Whatever it takes to make you happy.”

“You make me happy.” Andy moved closer and kissed him, a bare touch of lips that made Salt yearn for more. “You. Come make love with me. I need you.”

“As much as I need you.” Salt followed Andy into the bedroom and locked the door.

Chapter Seventeen

Nothing worthwhile ever came easy, Salt reminded himself as a net full of butterflies was unleashed in his stomach. He’d had a background check run on him and been vetted by all kinds of state people just so this moment could happen. And now he was so nervous he thought he might throw up.

Andy took Salt’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. “It’s gonna be fine. Ty’s a good kid. He’ll love you, given a little time.”

Despite Andy’s assurances, Salt had his doubts. After all, Ty might see him as competition for Andy’s attention. He might resent Salt, and what did he have to offer a kid, anyway?

“Breathe,” Andy ordered in a soft voice. “Stop thinking about everything that could go wrong, and think about the step we’re taking today.”

Salt cleared his throat, trying to clear away the nerves at the same time. He shuffled his feet and ran his free hand down the buttons of his shirt.

Andy caught that hand, too, and held it as Salt glanced at him. “Salt. Trust me. You’ve been through the wringer for this. The child services people think it’s time, and so does Ty. You need to trust yourself, and Ty. He really wants to meet you.”

“I just don’t know what I’ve got to offer the kid,” Salt murmured, afraid, so afraid of letting Ty and Andy down. Himself, too, because damn, but he wanted the family that was within his grasp. “I’m just an old cowboy—”

Andy snorted and let go of his hands. “Oh, now don’t start that crap up. You’re more than just a cowboy, and you aren’t old. Seasoned, a bit, but that just makes you wiser than the rest of us. Ty is going to be following you around wanting to
be
you. What boy doesn’t want to be a cowboy?”

“Lots of boys,” Salt retorted, thinking of a dozen scenarios where this first meeting went to hell. “Otherwise we’d have too many cowboys running around.”

Andy pursed his lips and looked up at the ceiling. Salt knew he was trying to come up with another argument, or more likely, another way to set Salt at ease. That just wasn’t going to happen until Ty showed up with the case worker and Salt got a better idea of whether the kid was going to hate him or not.

“He’s a good kid,” Andy finally reiterated. “He wants to meet you, and he wants to come home.”

“To the apartment,” Salt couldn’t help but point out. God, but he didn’t want to live in the city. He would, if Ty and Andy were going to stay there. And if Ty didn’t hate him. He would hate the city, and feel as lost as a kitten in a wolf pack, but he’d deal with it.

“To me,” Andy said, taking Salt’s hand again. “And you. He wants a family, and we’re it for him now that Brandt isn’t allowed around him.”

Which was a great thing, in Salt’s opinion. Harsh, maybe, but Brandt had refused to do anything the children’s services agency had asked him to do in order to see Ty. Plus, Ty wanted nothing to do with the ass.

Salt twitched a little when the doorknob turned, then his heart did a slow, heavy thud as the door was opened. A solemn young man stepped into the widening space. Ty looked so much like Andy it made Salt’s eyes tear up.

Ty turned big, dark eyes on him, and hesitated with the door halfway open. His lips moved, like he wanted to say something but couldn’t get the words out. Dressed in a pair of new jeans, cowboy boots, a shirt with pearl snaps up the front and a felt cowboy hat, the kid gulped then came into the room. The caseworker, Mrs Jeanine, followed him and shut the door.

Andy stepped forward and held out a hand. “Mrs Jeanine.” Salt did the same, finding a smile that he was sure showed his nervousness. Mrs Jeanine returned his smile and gave him a sympathetic look.
Relax
, she mouthed at him. Salt nodded jerkily, then she let go of his hand and Ty was right there, sliding between him and Mrs Jeanine.

The boy was tall, probably five-ten or so. Maybe that wasn’t tall for his age, Salt didn’t know, but he liked the way Ty held himself, shoulders up and back straight.

“Salt Johnson,” he said as he held his hand out to Ty.

Ty licked his lips and when he spoke, his voice cracked in that way only puberty could cause. “Ty Calder.”

“Good grip you got there.” Salt couldn’t keep back a grin. Ty’s palm was every bit as sweaty as his own. “My mama always said you could tell what kind of man you’re dealing with by his grip. A confident man has a strong grip, but not so’s he’s trying to prove his strength.”

Ty released Salt’s hand. “My dad said the same thing, just about. He believed a handshake meant something. He told me an honourable man could be trusted to keep his word, if he shook hands on it.”

Salt nodded. “Yup. That’s the way it should be.” Then he didn’t know what to say, and there was an awkward moment as he and Ty shuffled their feet.

Mrs Jeanine put a hand on Ty’s shoulder and stepped up beside him. “Well, Mr Johnson, Ty has certainly been looking forward to this meeting. I have, too, because I am very impressed with your willingness to do what we’ve requested of you. And taking the parenting classes, that was…” She shook her head. “Well, I just wish more people cared about kids the way you do. Too many aren’t willing to do anything that inconveniences them, yet you drove in every week for the classes. I am impressed, that’s for sure.”

Salt was blushing so fiercely he thought he might catch on fire. He’d taken parenting classes, that was true. One set the agency was requiring, and another because he wanted to be as good at helping Andy with Ty as he possibly could be. It seemed to him, despite all the talking in those lessons, that being a parent was a mixture of common sense and a lot of love. There were other things, of course, but he thought those two were the most important.

“You’re really red,” Ty told him. “I think you embarrassed him, Mrs Jeanine.”

Salt grunted, and Andy chuckled before he spoke. “Salt is a modest man, sure enough.”

“He is, indeed,” Mrs Jeanine agreed. “That’s a good quality in a man.”

“Yes, it is. I think—”

“I’m standing right here,” Salt pointed out, cutting Andy off. Andy winked at him.

Ty cocked his head to one side and met Salt’s gaze. “They tend to do that, talk around a person. Like we either aren’t supposed to point out how rude that is, or we’re not smart enough to realise they’re talking about us right in front of us.”

“Hey!” Andy yelped. “That wasn’t what we were doing!”

Mrs Jeanine tutted and shook her head. “I think Ty’s right, about us talking around Mr Johnson and him.” She turned her attention to Ty. “But you’re wrong about us not thinking you’re smart. Maybe we don’t expect to get called on being rude, though.”

Ty widened his eyes, and Salt was suddenly sure the kid was working Mrs Jeanine. “Sorry, ma’am.”

She huffed out a laugh and patted Ty’s shoulder. “You know you have nothing to apologise for. Now you’re just making sure I feel guilty.”

Ty opened his mouth then shut it. He looked Salt straight in the eyes. “Dad also told me to be direct when there was something I wanted.”

Salt nodded. “Yeah, I’d say that’s best.” He tried not to fidget as Ty studied him for a long moment.

Then Ty inhaled, and exhaled on a question. “Do you really want me? Or are you just doing this all for Uncle Andy? I don’t want to be in the way, or…or unwanted.”

Salt had never been more glad for the counselling and parenting classes as he was then. He’d been told to expect something similar because Ty would need to know he wasn’t being thought of as a burden. Salt knew the kid wouldn’t be. As much as he wanted to hug Ty, he was afraid that would be too much for the kid, so he needed words to offer Ty reassurance.

Salt gestured at the uncomfortable sofa in the visiting room. “Can we sit down and talk, get to know each other a little? I think that would help us both more than me just telling you that yes, I really do want to be a part of your life, and not all just for Andy, though I do love the man more and more each day.”

Andy made a happy little sound and Mrs Jeanine went back to the door. “I’m just going to grab a drink, then I’ll be right back, sitting at the table. Anyone else want anything?”

“No, ma’am,” Ty said, along with Andy and Salt. Mrs Jeanine left the room, but didn’t close the door all the way.

“Guess she can’t close it,” Andy muttered. “Supervised visit and all.”

“It’s okay.” Salt offered Andy a smile before looking at Ty. “I’m real glad to finally get to meet you, Ty. You look so much like Andy and your daddy. I hope you’ll be happy living with us.”

Ty nibbled on his bottom lip as he stared at the ground. Salt slowly reached out and put a hand on Ty’s back. “You want to have a seat?”

Instead of answering, Ty turned and headed for the couch. Salt sat on one end and Ty on the other, but they weren’t leaning away from each other, which Salt considered a good thing.

“What would you like to ask me?” Salt began, wanting to give Ty free rein on the conversation. “Or is there something you’d like to tell me about yourself?”

Ty snorted and looked up at him then. “They made you see a therapist, didn’t they?”

Salt had hated it, too. “Yeah, but they required a psych evaluation on Andy and me, too.”

Ty scrunched up his nose. “Brandt refused, and I’m glad. I don’t want to see him ever again.” Then Ty turned a fierce look on Andy. “And he can’t have the company. No way. Dad wanted it for me, and Brandt can’t have my shares. I’ve been thinking about that. I trust
you
with my shares, not Brandt. Can we keep the company going even if he has some stock in it?”