Once Burned (15 page)

“No, we didn’t.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and she wondered what subtle cue he’d picked up on.

“Everything all right?”

“Not really.”

He waited patiently for her to elaborate, and after a moment, she did. She told him about Noah’s snotty attitude after his phone call to his father before they’d gone out to dinner with Skye, and she told him about Noah getting into a fight with Spencer over the crystals, detailing how she’d underestimated how strong her son was and how touched she’d been by his reason for cherishing his crystals. Then she told Henry about Chelsea’s engagement to Todd and her roommate’s plans to move out within the next week. Henry responded with the exact note of concern she needed to hear, and as he rattled off ideas about what she could do—all things she’d already considered—some of the strain slipped away.

“What about moving into your parents’ place? Didn’t you say they were planning to snowbird it in Arizona now that your dad is fully retired? As I recall, they asked you to look after their house while they’re gone.”

“Yes, they did, but housesitting and moving into their house aren’t the same thing.”

“How do you figure?”

“I can’t move into their house, Henry.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’ve only rented that condo through March.”

“Lame excuse. What’s the real reason?”

Lindsay pulled her feet into the chair and curled her free arm around her knees. “It’s admitting defeat… admitting that I can’t make it on my own.”

“Bullshit. That’s your stubborn pride talking, and you’re smarter than that.”

“Henry….”

“I
know
your parents have on numerous occasions asked you to stay with them while they were still home, and maybe you can argue that moving back in with them is the same as giving up your independence, but this…. You’ll be housesitting for them. It’s not a defeat, Lindsay. It’s a smart financial move that might just get you ahead. You don’t have time to find a new roommate or a new, cheaper place to live, so this is a perfect solution. If
nothing
else, it’ll give you six months to look for the
right
living situation for you and Noah instead of the fastest one.”

Lindsay tried to find an argument to counter his logic but couldn’t. She glanced over her shoulder in the sliding glass door at the dimly lit kitchen, and that sensation of not belonging here again descended on her. She hadn’t called her parents’ house home in years, but it was certainly more home than this place had ever been or would ever be.

“Besides,” Henry continued, “I’m sure Noah will be relieved not to have to share a room with that brat Spencer… or anyone else.”

“There’s that, too,” she agreed. On a whim, she asked, “Would you like to say hi to him? I know he’s been wanting to thank you personally for the gifts.”

“Sure, if you’re all right with that.”

“Yeah. Hold on a minute.”

Lindsay slipped quietly into the house noticing that Chelsea had turned off most of the lights and figured Todd had left and Chelsea gone to bed early. When she passed her roommate’s room, however, the door was open and there was no one inside. Then she glanced out the window and saw that Chelsea’s car was gone along with Todd’s. Shrugging, she joined Noah in her own room and, holding the mouthpiece of the phone against her chest, she asked if Chelsea had said anything to him before she’d left.

“Just to tell you she and Spencer were gonna spend the night at Todd’s. She saw you were on the phone and didn’t wanna interrupt. Is that Henry?”

“Yes, it is. Do you want to talk to him?”

“Yeah.”

To Henry, she said, “Here’s my son.”

She handed the phone to Noah and leaned against the headboard to listen, wondering if this was a good idea. It hadn’t been so long since Logan had broken up with her that she’d forgotten how hurt Noah had been by his rejection. She instinctively believed that even if things went south with her and Henry that he’d never do that to her son, but she didn’t ever want her son to feel that disappointment again. Still… watching his face as he thanked Henry for the gifts and—to her surprise—for making his mom happy, she couldn’t suppress the hope and excitement that blossomed. Though it was only a phone call, they seemed to hit it off quite well, talking mostly about football but also about the ranch, which Noah expressed an interest in seeing. While they talked, he was her beautiful boy again, and the sarcastic, rude attitude he’d donned after talking with his father this afternoon disappeared. Finally, he thanked Henry for the chat and expressed a desire to do it again and to meet him in person and handed the phone back to Lindsay.

“I wanted to say goodnight to you before I hung up,” Henry said. “It’s getting late here, and I should probably go cook that elk steak that I started defrosting so it doesn’t go to waste even though I think I’m too tired to be hungry any more.”

“Do you have to? I don’t want to say goodbye yet.”

“Neither do I, but I keep trying to tell you that I’m not a spring chicken anymore. I can’t run all day and all night.”

“One of these days, we may have to disprove that.” Remembering that her son was sitting just a few feet away and listening intently to their conversation, she added, “But not tonight. I’ll talk to you Monday.”

“Not soon enough,” he murmured. “Good night, gorgeous.”

After they hung up, she set the cordless on her nightstand and smiled. The way he said that at the end of every call made her forget her troubles and reminded her of what he’d set out to show her when he’d agreed to their bargain—that she was more than a broke single mother and that she was a woman both strong and beautiful.
Yes, Henry, you definitely upheld your end of the bargain
, she thought, recalling what he’d asked her just before she’d boarded the plane for home.

“He’s really nice, isn’t he, Mom?” Noah asked.

“Yes, he is.”

“I know because you always smile when you talk to him or about him.”

“Do I?”

“Yep. You know, it’d be all right with me if you wanted to go out with him. Like boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Thank you.” Laughing softly, she hugged him. In this moment, with Henry’s faith in her and her son’s love, she didn’t have room left in her mind to worry about her housing situation. “I love you, Noah.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

HENRY SWORE WHEN HE stepped out of the relative warmth of the barn into the frigid early-November evening. The brief warm spell that had melted most of the six inches of new snow had vanished, pushed out of the region by a powerful cold front. What was left of the white stuff had frozen into crunchy, ragged patches. He guessed the temperature must be in the mid teens above zero but falling quickly. The forecast called for sub-zero lows tonight. There had been a time when he’d bemoaned the bitter cold, but he was still too glad to be home to experience them… and wishing Lindsay was here with him to enjoy a cozy fire in his woodstove. As summer had faltered and bowed to golden autumn and his job on the ranch had shifted from repairs to helping his brothers, father, Austin, Jeremiah, and the Lazy H’s two part-time hands drive the herds down from the summer allotments, there had been so much he wished Lindsay were here to experience. When he was willing to acknowledge it—like now, with the moody gray snow clouds hanging over the valley and obscuring the mountains behind curtains of cold white—missing her had become an ever-present ache in his chest. Their now thrice-weekly phone calls weren’t enough.

“Witch-tit cold,” he heard Jeremiah mutter behind him.

“Not yet, but getting there fast.” Henry glanced over his shoulder and smiled. The kid’s expression wasn’t of resentment but of amusement. “And I bet you’d rather be freezing your balls off out here than sitting in that cell.”

Jeremiah flashed a grin. “Damned right.”

“Glad to hear you confirm it because you and I get to feed the cows tomorrow morning.”

“I guess it’s a good thing we got the blower motor for the heater in the feed truck fixed today.”

“Yep. Thanks for the help, by the way. I can’t remember the last new hire who worked as hard as you do.”

“Well, I have a lot to earn back.” Jeremiah shrugged. “Besides, it feels good. I’m tired when I go to bed at night, but I know it’s because I’ve accomplished something.”

“Amen, brother.”

It had taken Jeremiah a while to get to a point that he could keep up with Henry, but it had taken Henry at least that long to rebuild the strength and endurance ranch work required, so he could sympathize. Jeremiah had put on some muscle in that time and no longer looked like a strong wind could blow him away, and the changes had caught the eye of a couple of the local girls. He was still almost annoyingly humble most of the time, but he was also starting to open up a bit, and Henry genuinely liked the kid. When he chose to let his guard down, he fit right in with the Hammond clan, and if he chose to stick around for a while, Henry saw him being folded into the family. It was already happening. Tracie had developed a soft spot for him almost immediately, and Henry suspected Jeremiah reminded her a lot of her sons at that age. Confirmation of that suspicion came when they strolled into the kitchen of the main house and Tracie embraced them both without even a hitch of hesitation and told Jeremiah to go get cleaned up for dinner with exactly the same maternal fondness that warmed her voice when she told Henry the same.

“Dinner’s ready. We’re just waiting for Aaron and Skye to get here.”

Anticipation heated Henry’s blood, and he shoved Jeremiah toward the bathroom at the bottom of the stairs to wash the smudges of grease and oil from his hands and forearms. Henry waited his turn, glancing frequently and anxiously out the kitchen window at the driveway. Skye’s stay in the family’s vacation rental had ended the first week of October, and she’d gone home to Washington to tackle the mountain of work piling up at her photography studio. In the month she’d been gone, it had felt like a part of the family was missing, a sensation deepened by the changes in Aaron. Henry had his twin back. The perpetual melancholy that had radiated from him had been replaced by a pleasing determination and a predisposition for laughter.

After Henry’s hands were scrubbed as clean as they were going to get tonight, he ventured back into the kitchen to help his mother and Beth set the table. When Jeremiah also stepped in to help, the women stood back to watch with matching smiles of gratitude.

The Hammond household definitely had an air of festivity, like today was some major holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas, and Henry thought it was appropriate since they were—he hoped—welcoming Skye home. He hadn’t talked to Aaron about when, exactly, his twin might take that first step toward officially bringing her into the family, but it was written in every grinning line of his face any time Skye was mentioned.

Hearing a vehicle, Henry glanced out the window again and spied his brother’s truck slowing to a stop beside his own. When Aaron stepped out, walked around to open Skye’s door, and kissed her as soon as she was outside, Henry grinned and turned away as envy spiked. His brother deserved every second of the happiness Skye brought him, but Henry couldn’t deny that seeing them together made him ache for Lindsay. Time and distance had definitely
not
made his heart or his body forget her, and the uncertainty over when he might see her again incited a distracting restlessness.

“They’re here,” he announced, striding into the living room where everyone else had gathered to wait. “So we probably ought to mosey in the direction of the table.”

Everyone was seated and ready to eat by the time Aaron and Skye decided to join them. A swirl of frigid air wafted into the cheerful warmth of the house, announcing their arrival as clearly as Henry’s words. Rosy-cheeked with eyes glittering with the glow of new love, they ambled into the kitchen hand in hand. Everyone greeted Skye with a hug and welcomed her home in turn, and Aaron’s five-year-old daughter enthusiastically launched herself from her chair into Skye’s waiting arms. It pleased Henry to see that Skye was as glad to be reunited with the girl as she was to see Aaron again.

Their love might be too new for her to trust it yet,
Henry mused, recalling Aaron’s words on the matter shortly after she’d left for Washington in October,
but she wants to.

She brought out the proof of the photography book she was working on about the traditions of the Lazy H, and Henry made the appropriate compliments—easy to do because the book was gorgeous and somehow managed to capture everything he and his family loved about their ranch and their way of life—but he was far more interested in Skye herself, most particularly her noticeably bare left hand. When he had a moment, he pulled Aaron aside.

“Well? Did you ask her?”

Aaron lifted a brow. “Ask her what?”

“You haven’t, you dumbass.”

“No, I haven’t, Hen,” Aaron sighed. “I want to make sure she trusts this before I do.”

“But you
are
going to ask her because
you
trust it.”

“Yeah, I do, and that’s the plan.”

Henry gripped his twin’s shoulder, so glad to hear those words that he couldn’t put together an adequate response to express it. At last, he settled for an early congratulation. “Guess I was right about thinking with your dick.”

“Maybe so, but I’ll go you one better.” Aaron met his gaze head on with a fierceness that made Henry lean back in surprise. “You’ve got something special going on with Lindsay Miller—and don’t try to tell me again she was just a fling. I know you’ve talked with her on the phone at least a couple times a week since she left Northstar. Thinking with your dick got you into that mess with Melanie, so try thinking with your heart this time. It’s a damned sight smarter.”

To punctuate his statement, Aaron poked Henry in the chest.

Ordinarily, Henry would’ve chuckled at his brother’s closing quip, but it was too accurate to be funny. Instead, he frowned thoughtfully as his twin returned to his seat beside Skye. A plot hatched, and he asked his father and Nick to speak with him in the kitchen for a few minutes.

“What’s up?” Nick asked, leaning against the counter beside the sink.

“Do you think work around here has slowed down enough for me to take a leave of absence fro the ranch?” Henry inquired. “We’ve got Jeremiah now, who is perfectly capable of handling any repairs while I’m away, and Hoyt said he’d like a few more hours.”

“Depends on why you’re leaving and how long you’re planning to be gone,” John replied.

“The answer to the first is Lindsay.”

Nick’s brows lifted in surprise. “I thought you said that mess with Melanie and Doug is still up in the air. And didn’t you just send a bunch of winter clothes for Dylan just yesterday?”

“That’s something I’m going to take care of in just a minute. As to how long I’ll be gone… I’m thinking until Christmas.”

“Why Christmas?”

“For one, Skye will be joining us, and I’d like Lindsay and Noah to be here, too. I think they’d all like that—being able to spend the holidays together and with Evie. And I’d like to invite her parents as well. As long as it’s all right with you both and the rest of the family, of course. The rental cabin is open for all of December isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. Can’t imagine why anyone would have a problem with that,” John remarked. “Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but I think Nick will agree that Lindsay is the kind of woman we all hope you’ll settle down with.”

“The wild card of the family wants to bring a woman home to our family Christmas,” Nick said, “and I’d say that’s a damned fine thing to celebrate.”

“I hope so.”

“Go make whatever phone calls you need to make,” John added. “We’ll keep the ranch running while you’re gone, but you’d better put your time off to good use.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

John returned to the table to tell Tracie to expect more company for Christmas. If the broad smile she tossed her son’s way was anything to go by, she heartily approved. Nick didn’t say anything else to him, only clapped him on the shoulder and rejoined their family at the table. Henry snatched the cordless off the kitchen counter, slipped into his coat, and stepped outside. Exhaling in a silvery cloud, he punched in Doug’s number. His friend answered on the second ring.

“Y’ello,” he greeted.

“It’s Henry.”

“What do you want now? I told you I—”

“I’m done playing games, Doug. I am still supporting Mel and Dylan, and that’s not right when Dylan has a father who has the means to do it.”

“Whose fault is that? You don’t have to support them.”

“Someone does.”

“Not my problem.”

“Uh, yeah, actually it is. I know for a fact that she didn’t make that kid on her own, and so do you. I’m giving you an ultimatum because I need to be done with this so I can move on with my life. Either you grow up and admit that you have a son—a beautiful, amazing son who deserves your love and support—or I’m going to pay for a lawyer for Mel so she can get what she needs for Dylan from you.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“You bet your ass I would. I’m not saying you have to marry Mel or otherwise involve yourself with her. I’m saying you need to be a father because, like it or not, you
are
.”

Silence.

“I know exactly what you’re feeling right now—well, the flipside of it. You’re angry and insulted that she didn’t even consider that you might be Dylan’s father.”

“How the hell do you know how that feels?”

“I love that little boy, Doug, and all that time, I believed he was my son. I wrapped that love around me so tightly that when it turned out to be a lie it damn near choked the life out of me.”

“She never even
mentioned
I might be his father, and I’d thought she was already pregnant when I slept with her. Do you have any idea how insulting that is? How much
that
hurts? She chose you over me without a second thought.”

Henry winced at the pain in the other man’s voice, all too familiar with it.

“So that’s it, then. You’re pissed that she picked me over you.” Henry inhaled as deeply as the cold air allowed. A light blinked on in his brain, and the whole sloppy situation became instantly clear. “You might want to ask yourself why that matters so much.”

Again, no response. Henry paced while he waited in an attempt to warm his limbs. Finally, when it became apparent that Doug either couldn’t or wouldn’t reply, he spoke again.

“Why did you and Mel break up in the first place? You were together for almost four years, for God’s sake.”

“We were young,” Doug replied so quietly that Henry almost didn’t catch what he said. “Neither of us wanted to settle down.”

“That’s it? No irreconcilable differences? No earth-shattering betrayals? Just the impatient curiosity of youth.” Henry shook his head. “I’ve always wondered.”

“Mel never said?”

“No, and I got the feeling you were a taboo subject, so we never talked about it.” Henry wandered around to the side of the house and sat on the picnic table. It was bare of the snow that had coated it just last night, but even through his insulated Carhartt work pants, the cold wood chilled his legs. “You know I’m not a religious man, but maybe this is God’s way of bringing the two of you back together. You’d best figure out whatever the hell it is you need to figure out because I’m going to clear this fiasco from my life by any means necessary.”

For the third time, Henry received no answer, so he offered a friendly goodbye and immediately dialed the next number he needed to call because he wasn’t so sure of himself that he’d start the process of finding a place to stay in Washington until he was certain Lindsay was amenable to the idea.

“Well, hi there, sexy,” she purred. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you for a couple hours yet. You can’t tell me dinner with your family is over already.”

“No, it isn’t,” he replied. For a moment, all his plans fluttered out of his head, replaced by the now-familiar joy of hearing her voice again, and he found himself asking how she was adjusting to living in her parents’ house now that she’d been in it a month.

“My pride hates to admit this, but it’s been great. Much less stressful, for sure, and Noah loves having his room and me to himself.”

“See? It was a good idea.”

“Yeah, it was, and honestly, I don’t feel like I’m living off my parents because I’m still paying the utilities and setting aside money for the property taxes just like I would if this was
my
paid-off house instead of theirs. That helps.”