Red Lines (19 page)

The hot water felt good. He toweled off and checked to see if Haven was still asleep. Her back faced the door. He thought about climbing back in bed with her, but he had things to do. One of which was confirming her birthday surprise. It had to be right. He wanted twenty-three to be a birthday she’d never forget.

He turned the door handle, closed the door, and then released it slowly, hoping it didn’t disturb her.

“Oh, good morning, Marta.” The house manager surprised him in the hall.

“Good morning. I heard you came home last night.”

“Yep, sure did.” He tried to whisper and pointed to the door. He walked to the steps. “Anything going on I need to worry about while I’m home for the weekend?”

“No, we have everything under control at the house.” Her eyes darted back to the master suite.

“You sure?” He hesitated at the top step. It felt as if she had more to say.

“Well, I was wondering how long your guest is going to stay.”

“Guest? You mean Haven? I’m hoping she won’t leave.” He grinned. “But I promise, you’ll be the first to know, Marta.” He squeezed her shoulder. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee.”

“Lenny has a fresh pot for you. Have a good day.”

“You too.” She stood at the top of the stairs as if she was a gargoyle watching her post. It was unnerving, but he shook it off. Marta was just being Marta. She wasn’t the warm and fuzzy type, but she sure knew how to manage the ranch house. He had accepted her odd quirks a long time ago.

He jogged down the stairs and ran straight for the coffee. “Good morning, Lenny.”

“Good morning. I’ve got eggs Benedict this morning. You want to eat now or wait for Haven?”

“Coffee now. I’ll have breakfast with her when she comes downstairs.”

“Sure thing.” The chef turned to pour a cup. “How are things going in L.A.?”

“Not too bad. I miss it here, of course.”

“Of course.”

“No place like Texas, Lenny.” Evan reached for the morning paper. He smiled at the front-page headlines. All the talk was on the local football team being an early contender for state playoffs. Man, he loved Texas.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

“Hey, Mama, how’s it going?”

“You tell me. Why haven’t I heard from you?”

He winced. He had gotten slack with his regular phone calls. “Sorry, I’ve been in L.A., but I’m home right now.”

“You’re home? At the ranch?”

“Sure am. How are you doing?”

“Well, that is perfect timing, because your sister said she needed to take care of some things in Austin and we were thinking about a little road trip.”

“A road trip, huh?”

“And to see you of course, darlin’. I haven’t seen you in months.”

“I know, but this movie was kind of sprung on me last minute and I had to fly out pretty quickly.”

“Uh-huh.” She had that all-knowing mother tone. “Any other reason we haven’t seen your pretty face around here? You know you missed the Brees Crawfish Festival.”

“Sorry about that. I guess I do have some news.” He picked up his coffee and walked out to the front porch.

“Go on. Tell me.”

“There’s somebody I’ve been spending my time with.”

“Is it the ex I keep seeing you with, or the other one?” His mother had a known inability to skip the headlines in the supermarket. She probably knew more than he did.

“Not the ex, God no. Not Emmy. It’s a girl I met this summer on the island. She’s here with me at the ranch.”

“She moved in with you?”

“I don’t know if we’d call it that.” He took a sip of coffee. “She’s a songwriter. Has a contract at a label in Austin, so until she packs up her stuff in North Carolina, she’s staying here.”

“I see.” He didn’t hear disapproval in her voice, but he wasn’t sure what the new tone was.

“Mama, I’d love for you to meet her. Why don’t you and Anna do your road trip thing and come on up tonight?”

“I’d love to meet her too. Your sister is going to be bugging me the whole way for details.”

“There’s just one thing.” He wasn’t sure how to put it. “I have a big birthday surprise planned for tomorrow night for Haven’s birthday. I don’t want to kick you out or anything, I’m not saying that, but by seven o’clock, we’re going to be kind of unavailable.”

“Wow, I’m meeting the girl and it’s her birthday. This is getting more serious by the second.”

Evan laughed. “Yeah, it’s pretty damn serious, but we can talk about that after you meet her.”

“You know I don’t like swearing.”

“Sorry, Mama.” He chuckled.

“I’ll call your sister and we’ll see you tonight.”

“Hey, Mama, is Dad driving down with you?”

“You know he’s busy with some things right now, and he said it would be all right if Anna and I did an overnight trip. I sure wish he could come.”

Evan hung his head. It would have been a bigger surprise if Joe Carlson was tagging along, but he was still stunned his mother was leaving the house without him. She never stayed anywhere overnight on her own.

He couldn’t think of a single thing that would prevent his father from getting in the car with his wife and daughter to visit his son, but that was how the man had always been—distant and removed. Evan thought he had accepted that.

“Yep, I know he’s busy. Sounds good. You girls be careful driving.”

“We always are. See you this afternoon. I’ve got to pack, and get the car loaded. Bye-bye.”

He placed the phone on the table next to the rocker. He looked at the fields in front of him. The grasses rolled with the breeze. On the edge of the brush, he thought he spotted a doe and fawn creeping along the perimeter. He needed a dog. This porch would be complete with a dog. He finished his coffee thinking about what type Haven might like.

H
AVEN’S HAND
landed on an empty space next to her. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Evan’s jeans were on the floor, along with the rest of their clothes. It wasn’t a dream. She smiled. Fridays were usually studio days, but she had asked Carly if they could take a break today. She needed time with Evan.

She took a quick shower then headed downstairs to figure out what the plans for the day were.

After grabbing a cup of coffee, she found him on the porch in one of the wooden rockers.

“Hey.” She smiled.

“Good morning. Care to join me?”

She sat next to him, matching his rocking pace. “How did you sleep in your own bed last night?”

He laughed. “Pretty much like a damn log.” He picked up her hand and squeezed it. “It’s nice to be home. I’m tired of that hotel suite and room service.”

“I like having you home.” The house felt warmer, more alive with him in it.

“All right, so I know you’re probably not awake yet, but I have a bit of a surprise for you.”

She watched his expression. There had to be a big birthday surprise. He had dropped hints left and right. Although her birthday wasn’t until tomorrow, she had a feeling Evan was going to do something to celebrate all weekend.

“Ok, what is it?”

“How would you feel about meeting my mama and Anna?”

Haven almost let the coffee dribble down her chin as she took a sip. “Uh-I. Your mom and sister? When?”

“They’re headed this way for the day. They’re going to spend the night, and then be off in the morning. Anna has work for the foundation in Austin, and Mama wants to do some shopping, I think.”

“Wow, that’s big.” She clasped her hot mug.

“I’ve already met your whole family and every neighbor you’ve got. Don’t you think it’s about time you met mine?” His eyes were shining.

“Yeah, I’d love to meet them. I want to. I just didn’t know it would be today.”

There were a lot of ways she had thought about meeting Evan’s family. He would take her home for a weekend, and she’d have time to buy flowers for his mother, maybe pick up something his father liked to drink. She’d search her closet for the right outfit—the one that said I’m the perfect match for your son. Never in this scenario would she be sharing a bedroom with him, and staying at his house while he was out of town.

“Today’s as good a day as any, don’t you think? Besides, I know how you get if you have time to think about it. You’ll just get yourself all worked up and be stressed. This cuts all that out.” He grinned at her.

“I’m not going to get all stressed.” She eyed him, but realized he knew her habits better than she did. She was going to do exactly that—spend the entire day preparing to meet Evan’s mother and sister with a case of full-blown new girlfriend jitters.

“No, you’re not. Because I won’t let you. We’re going to have fun today.”

“Wait, what about your dad? Is he driving down too?” She might as well meet everyone at once.

“Nah, he has other things he has to do. He doesn’t travel.”

“Is he ok?” Surely Evan would have mentioned if his father were ill.

“Oh yeah, Dad’s always fine. He just doesn’t leave Brees, no matter the reason.”

“Has he ever been to the ranch before? I’m sure he would love it.”

Evan shook his head. “Nah, he’s got his own place to tend to.”

“But—” She tried to think of what to say next. She certainly wasn’t an expert on fathers. Hers wasn’t going to win any parenting awards this year.

“Darlin’, it’s ok. That’s just my dad. I’m used to it. Come on. We have a full day together. Let’s go get in trouble.” He winked and waited for her in the doorway.

She wanted to pull him back to the rocker. He seldom talked about his father, and for a moment, she thought he was on the verge of opening up about their relationship. But she knew that look on his face and the sound in his voice. Discussion was over.

“What did you have in mind?” She rose from the chair.

“Have you ever done any skeet shooting?” He arched his eyebrows.

“You mean with a gun?”

“Yeah, shotgun. Is there any other way? Come on. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.” He wrapped his hand around her shoulder. “And if that doesn’t keep your mind off meeting the family, I have some afternoon ideas.” He kissed the side of her head.

“But I’ve never shot a gun. I’ve never shot anything.”

“That’s all about to change, killer.”

Haven wasn’t sure which she was nervous about: meeting Evan’s mother or shooting a gun for the first time.

“Y
OU KNOW
you were a natural out there.” Evan grinned and handed their shotguns to one of the ranch hands. He pulled the ear protection from Haven’s head.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Did you have fun? You hit a lot of targets.” His face was flushed.

She didn’t hit nearly as many as he did. She thought she saw him miss one. Must be that natural athletic ability, and the fact that he had a private skeet range.

“Surprisingly, I did like it.”

At first, she was scared when he placed the shotgun in her hands, but Evan had been patient and guided her through how to line up her shot and pull on the trigger, making sure the timing was perfect. The kickback wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it’d be. She expected to fall on her ass the first time she released the trigger, but it only dug into her shoulder and she was able to keep her balance.

She removed the eye shields from her face and gave it to the man who had been helping them all morning.

Evan must have every kind of guy toy on the planet. The skeet range was set up like a professional course. They had taken the four-wheeler to get there. He also mentioned he had a cabin he used for hunting, and then there was the stock pond and fire pit. She couldn’t think of a single thing that was missing.

He looked at his watch. “We better head back and get cleaned up before the girls get here.”

Haven shot him a look of panic. She had actually forgotten. The focus and concentration it took to hit the clay discs had been enough to distract her.

“Right. We need to do that.”

He laced his fingers through hers. “You’re going to do great. They’ll love you. I promise. Now hop on.” He patted the back of the ATV.