by RJ Scott
“I love that idea,” Jack said. “Riley, what do you think?”
“I love it, I can help with the geological layers, they have to be right, or she’ll know, she’s really clever, you know.” Riley puffed up with pride at their daughter, and at the fact that she wanted to learn what he loved.
“I can see that.” Allen smiled. “My email is in there, if you want to send me the geological information.”
“No need.” Riley reached out for the sketch pad, which Allen handed over along with the pen. “Do you have colors?” Allen pushed a pot of Sharpies toward Riley and within five minutes Riley had a topographically accurate representation of the rocks that the D sat on. Okay, it might be overkill, but it needed to be right.
Allen took it back and nodded. “We can do this. Now, tell me more about your home and the horses, and of course, your family.”
Jack did most of the talking. Riley had moved onto thinking about the gift they wanted to get Hayley, or rather the fact they’d not made any decisions at all.
“Jewelry is always good,” Jack said after they’d stood outside the last store on this floor looking for inspiration.
“She doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry.” Riley poked at the window of the gift shop morosely. Why was it so difficult to find the most perfect present in the history of presents? “And it’s what anyone could buy her.”
Jack nodded and then his face brightened. “Hang on.” He grabbed Riley’s hand, pulling him back to the last jewelry store they’d stood outside of. He pointed at the display of bangles, and at one in particular which was a rose gold bracelet they’d both admired. The design was simple, a delicate three-quarter band closed with a chain and a simple knot of the gold to hold the chain together. Nothing too flashy, but very much Hayley.
“How about, because she is going away, we get it engraved with everyone’s names, and maybe the longitude and latitude of the ranch? Her home?”
Riley fell in love with Jack all over again and all he could think was that it was perfect.
The assistant helped them, found them an engraver, and three hours later they had the gift wrapped and a card written. They were ready, they had the perfect gift, a card, and Hayley would know they loved her.
Riley just hoped the party was enough for Hayley to take some good memories with her of birthdays and home and family.
Chapter 8
“When is Logan getting here?” Hayley asked. She’d been hanging around the barbecue at her going away / birthday party for a while now, shooting the breeze with Jack and Josh, but it had been clear that she was angling to talk to Josh about Logan all along.
“He said he’d be here about seven, sweetheart,” Josh said.
She glanced at her watch and then sauntered away as if she hadn't been angling for that information at all.
“Uh oh, is Hayley waiting for Logan?” Josh asked Jack.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “She’s crushed on him since she first arrived here. Always said she'd marry him one day. Doesn’t matter he’s your son and is likely a freak—”
Josh thumped him then picked up tongs. “He still asks after her all the time,” Josh turned the last of the steaks. “Over and above talking about coming home. I know the two things are separate, we talked about it.”
“That’s good, thing is Hayley’s so far gone on Logan that I’m not sure anyone will ever come up to that.”
Josh frowned at Jack “I guess when you know who the one is…”
“Yeah,” Jack murmured. “So he’s still talking about switching colleges?”
He wasn’t sure he should bring the subject up, but it seemed to him that as Logan’s uncle it was a reasonable question to ask and Josh had mentioned it first.
“He has a place at UT in Austin, swears he just wants to be closer to home, and tells me he wants to work with me.”
“As I said, Campbell and Campbell.”
“I still think he has a thing for Hayley.”
Jack looked at his brother, wondering if their previous chat wasn’t fully done, and Josh still had some thoughts that Logan’s decision was her fault. He realized he must be giving a death stare when Josh snorted with laughter. “It’s fine, he’s a grown man and yeah, I’m excited we could do something together.”
Crisis averted, Jack and Josh returned to grilling and he glanced over at Riley who was giving a piggyback ride to Connor and who had a line of children waiting their turn. The big idiot was hot and dusty and grinning like a fool.
Just the way Jack liked him.
When the piggyback ride passed near the barbecue Jack called out to Riley, who jogged over, a laughing Connor gripping at his hair.
“Wassup?” Riley asked, and reached up to loosen Connor’s hold.
“I love you.” Jack leaned forward for a kiss.
Riley didn’t even question Jack’s need for contact, and they kissed gently, Connor squealing as Riley bent over. When they parted Jack searched Riley’s eyes, and there it was, the spark of passion.
Arousal zipped through Jack’s body. “You. Me. Barn. As soon as everyone goes home.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed, and his tongue darted out to wet his lips. They may as well have been the only two people at this event.
“Uh huh,” Riley said, “I can get on board with that plan. You want to me to tell everyone to leave right now?”
Jack shook his head. “We have to be polite and entertain everyone for a little bit longer,” he deadpanned.
Riley gave one of his patented wide smiles. “We’ll have to raincheck until later then.”
They kissed one more time; Jack ignoring his brother’s teasing about gay cooties on the steaks, and a squealing Connor wanting more ride.
“Jack?” Riley asked.
“Hmmm?” Jack hummed into the half-kiss.
“I love you, too.”
Jack saw Logan the minute he arrived at the party. Not that he’d been watching for him in particular, even though he knew Hayley was on hot bricks waiting for him to get there. He just happened to be out front of the house manning the barbecue with Josh, as usual, when Logan arrived in the beat-up old truck that he loved so much. He parked and stepped out of the cab, rolling his neck and looking skyward, stretching tall. Jack tried to find Hayley to see if she was here witnessing the arrival of the boy she wanted.
Man. Actually, Logan was a man. He was twenty-two and had done his time in pre-law up in New York with some pretty impressive LSAT scores, or so Josh had told him the day Logan had found out.
He’d be finished with college soon, well at least the first chunk of it, following his dad, into law, so no, he wasn’t a boy anymore.
“Logan’s here.” Jack bumped elbows with Josh who was seasoning steaks and poking at them with a fork.
Josh grinned over at his son, then his mouth fell open. Jack wondered what the hell he’d seen that would cause that reaction of shock.
That was when he saw the blonde climbing out of the truck, tottering around the front on thin heels.
“She’s gonna break an ankle,” Josh commented.
“And they’re both gonna break Hayley’s heart,” Jack muttered and was pleased when Josh didn’t hear him.
“Looks like Logan has a girlfriend,” Josh said.
Logan and the blonde talked for a while, hugged, and then she cradled his face before pressing a kiss to his forehead. He offered his arm and she clung to it and then they made their way toward the family under the big awning that provided shade.
“Clearly, he has the Campbell genes.” Josh smirked. “We like’m blonde.”
Jack wanted to say something but didn’t, because Riley was a blond. So Josh was mostly right there. He still couldn’t see Hayley, and then she appeared from the house, beautiful in a summer dress, her hair long and loose around her shoulders. She was eighteen but she wore a little makeup and appeared older, and so much like her dad now that it sometimes hurt to look at her. She was Jack’s daughter as well; maybe not by blood, but she was his. Ha
d been since she’d arrived, a kid without a mother who just wanted to be loved.
Jack saw the moment Hayley noticed Logan, or at least pretended to notice him. She dead stopped and stared at him and then, drawing her shoulders back, finished the walk to where he stood.
“Hold the fort,” Jack said and left Josh with the barbecue. Given he hadn't seen Logan in a while, he guessed Josh would be pissed at not going over straight away, but tough, Hayley needed some moral support when the young man she said she was going to marry turned up at her birthday barbecue with someone else.
Luke beat him to it.
“You okay there, Hayls?” Luke hip-checked her, and she had to catch her balance on the fence. Luke might well have been Riley’s nephew and part of the extended Campbell-Hayes’ cousin group, but even Jack found his devil-may-care attitude frustrating at times.
In his third year at Yale, he looked so much like Jeff that sometimes just seeing him reminded Jack of everything Luke’s asshole of a father had done. Still, Luke wasn’t his dad and despite being frustratingly idiotic he had a good heart and watched out for his mom. He was getting to the point where Jack knew that Lisa would want to tell him what had happened with his dad.
One more person who would know the family secret. Jack tried not to worry about that, and concentrated on the here and now.
“I’m fine,” she answered Luke’s question. Jack stopped a couple of feet to the side of him, ready to… god knows what.
Luke whistled. “Wow, is that Logan’s girlfriend? She’s hot.”
Hayley feigned indifference. “Who?”
Luke pointed a finger in Logan’s direction and Hayley rushed to grab his arm and pull it down.
“Don’t do that,” she snapped.
“Why Hayls, you don’t want him knowing you’re looking?” He delivered this in an annoying sing-song voice, and she thumped him in the arm hard, and stepped away. “The fuck?” he muttered.
“Go away Luke; you’re an idiot.”
Jack tended to agree, Luke was one of those boys who just loved to push buttons, but so far Hayley was handling everything okay.
With another grin, Luke swept Hayley up into his arms and held her tightly, carrying her kicking and scratching over to where Logan and his blonde were talking to Eli and Robbie.
Everyone turned to watch when Luke dropped her onto her rump.
“You’re an asshole Luke!” she shouted and scrambled to stand, brushing the dust off her butt and then her hands.
Jack was about to move, but Riley was there, and he stopped him, a hand on his arm. “She’ll deal with it,” he said. He watched from there, and he continued to watch all afternoon when he was manning the barbecue. At one point, she and the blonde disappeared into the house, but there were no cat fights, nor arguing. Just a contrite Logan hanging around the barbecue and chatting with Josh.
“Tell us about your girlfriend.” Jack interrupted the heated debate about which football team was best. That was a moot point, the Cowboys were better than anyone else.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Logan said, not quite meeting Jack’s eyes.
“She’s not?” Josh asked, sounding shocked.
“Cassie’s a friend. We were at a party last night and somehow she ended up in my car here, so I said she could stay, y’know Southern hospitality and all that.”
“It’s fine,” Jack said. Making a note to tell Hayley that, although Hayley and Cassie had re-emerged from the house. Seemed like Cassie had borrowed some of Hayley’s clothes, and looked less party girl and more girl next door. It didn’t stop Luke, who was right up in Cassie’s space, although Cassie didn’t seem that spooked by it. Logan moved away, talking to family, acting like there was nothing he wanted to do more. But Jack saw him looking for Hayley.
All Jack could think was that he was turning into a social commentator for young adults. He’d never seen that one coming, and he had to go through it with another daughter when Lexie got to Hayley’s age.
He decided there and then that Lexie wasn’t going to get any older. She’d stay the age she was now forever.
“Hey sexy.” Riley helped himself to a piece of steak from the warming plate. He made appreciative sounds as he ate and Jack was hard. It was that easy. One sex sound, one smile, one look at Riley and he was all turned on. Thankfully, he’d become so used to it that he’d taken to never tucking his shirt in. Ever. Not even by accident.
“Hey back,” he said, and kissed his man, fingers curled into Riley’s hair and his grip firm. When they separated after Josh made some comment about a bucket of cold water, Riley was dazed and pressed a finger to his lip.
“What was that?” he asked.
Jack pasted a fake leer on his face. “If you don’t know by now…” Then he decided to be completely honest. “Love you.”
Riley smiled, and then kissed Jack. “Love you, too. You think that girl with Logan is his girlfriend?” He sounded a little sad, because he probably thought the same as Jack; that Hayley’s heart was going to be broken.
“Nope, not his girl, apparently,” Josh interrupted. Then with a nod of his head he indicated Cassie and Luke who were standing very close over by the fence. “Anyway, looks like Luke is all over her like a rash on a baby’s bum.”
Jack had an uneasy feeling about all of this.
Chapter 9
Riley was determined that he was going to be brave about this whole college thing. He still felt, on occasion, that he’d missed so much of Hayley’s life that he needed to see her every day, just so he could catalog every moment and make up for his absence.
"Must be hard to watch Hayley grow up and go to college," Eli said at his side.
And being strong went right out of the window.
Riley gripped his best friend’s arm and hauled him around the back of the house. He ignored the concerned look Jack threw his way, the smile Donna threw him as they marched past, and the fact that Eli was wriggling in an attempt to get away. They came to a stop out of view of everyone, and Riley finally released Eli
“I can’t do it,” Riley blurted as Eli stepped back and away rubbing his arm.
“What?” Eli asked, “And dude, you don’t know your own strength.”
Riley’s fears vanished in an instant when he saw Eli massaging his arm. “Shit, did I hurt you?” Eli was cancer free, but Riley was always sure to be extra careful with Eli; something Eli hated.
“Fuck off with the cancer pity,” Eli snapped his usual response and crossed his arms over his chest. “What can’t you do?”
Riley’s fears poked back at him, sharp and painful. “Deal with Hayley leaving us.”
“She isn’t though; she’ll be in Colorado studying, as a lot of other girls her age.”
“Alone.”
Eli sighed. “Riley she won’t be alone, she’ll meet a guy, let’s call him Dave, and despite the tattoos and piercings and the motorbike he’ll love her, and only let her have the soft drugs.”
Riley sighed noisily. “You're not helping.”
“Dave will look after her all through the pregnancy.”
“Eli, for god’s sake. She’s…” Riley couldn’t even begin to vocalize the entire mess in his head where Hayley was on her own out there in the world without him and Jack backing her up. Not to mention being without all the other guys on this ranch who kept an eye on things when Riley couldn’t.
Eli stepped closer and placed a hand on his arm. “She’s what, Riley? When I see Hayley, all I see is confidence and this bright love of life that just shines around her. She is loved and loves, and she is the most sensible person I’ve ever met.” Then he snorted a laugh. “She must get that from her mom.”
Riley couldn’t even rise to the familiar teasing. “What about her diabetes?” He could hear himself clutching at straws like an idiot.
Eli frowned at him. “When was the last time that was a problem?”
“It’s not that, but what about her medical checks and—”
“Riley, yo
u need to breathe.” Eli shook him a little and Riley snapped out of it.
“I am breathing,” he murmured. “I’m just losing my shit here, and Jack is all calm and keeps saying things like ‘It’s only Colorado,’ and what am I supposed to say to that?”
“Do you remember our first year in college?”
“That’s not helping either,” Riley groaned and scrubbed at his eyes. “You know what I was like, there are boys out there and all they’ll want is to… do things.” No boy was going to treat Hayley as he had treated girls in college. He’d only settled down a bit when he’d met Hayley’s mom, but he hadn’t even treated her as well as he could’ve. “What if someone like me…look…what if her heart gets broken and we’re not there to help?”
Eli hesitated for a moment, and he looked deadly serious. Riley waited for the words where Eli said that everything was going to be okay; words he could maybe believe.
“She’ll get her heart broken,” he said and Riley tensed. That wasn’t what he was expecting. “She’ll meet this Dave, and he’ll hurt her, and she’ll likely hurt him, and there will be tears. She’ll even call you and Jack, and you’ll want to drive right up there and hug her, and probably hunt down and kill Dave at the same time.”
“Dave would be a dead man,” Riley growled as an image of a mean, tattooed, welfare-cheating biker landed in his head fully formed.
“That’s part of being a dad,” Eli teased. “Look, the reason she can go to college is because you are here for her, and she knows that she can count on you always.”
“I suppose.”
“But something else, the biggest bravest thing she’ll do is to solve things for herself without her dads.”
Everything Eli said was making sense; Riley’s anxiety settled a little. Hayley was a good kid, hell, she was a beautiful, confident young woman now.
“Since when did you get so wise?” Riley mused.
Eli shrugged. “Since Robbie and I did all this talking and thinking about what we wanted next. Y’know, children and all that.”
