The Cowboy's Baby: A Small Town Montana Romance (Corbett Billionaires Book 1)

by Imani King

  Now I could start contributing to the bills at John and Jenny's, I walked with my head held just a little bit higher. I started at Parson's the day after I was hired and, by closing time that night I was ringing up customers on my own, at the till next to Amber's. It wasn't a busy day, so we spent most of it chatting.

  "So what was up with you and Dallas Corbett?" she asked at one point, when neither of us had seen a customer for at least ten minutes. "You two were acting really weird the other day. Is something going on?"

  She didn't leave me a lot of room to wiggle out of it. And before I could even reply I'd given the game away by getting embarrassed and looking away. I'm a terrible liar.

  "Oh my God!" Amber exclaimed. "There is something going on! Tia, you have to tell me!"

  I shrugged, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal."I don't know. I mean, I don't know what I can say – I don't think he wants people in town to know."

  "He doesn't want people to know what? Tia – are you sleeping with him? Are you sleeping with Dallas Corbett?!"

  What could I say? It was obvious even without my saying it. But Dallas's words about wanting to keep himself to himself still echoed in my ears. "I – Amber, I seriously don't know what I can say. He really doesn't want people all up in his business. I don't want you telling anyone about this, OK?"

  "Of course," she replied, nodding. "I won't say anything."

  But that was just it. I didn't know Amber very well. I liked her, and I felt like we were already on the way to becoming close friends, but some people just have a gossip gene.

  "OK," I relented. "OK. Yeah, I've been, uh, seeing him."

  Amber bounced in her chair. "You've been seeing him, have you? Dallas Corbett? Oh my God, Tia. Oh my God!"

  Her reaction confused me a little. I was well aware of Dallas's reputation in River Bend, but was it really so shocking that a young single man might be dating a young single woman? I eyed my friend.

  "Can I ask you a question, Amber?"

  "Sure. But you're not off the hook yet. Not even close. I'm gonna need details."

  "Why is it such a big deal? We're both single, aren't we? You seem so – I don't know, you seem really surprised."

  "Oh man," Amber replied, grabbing one of the granola bars she always had stashed beside her till and taking a bite. "Tia, you don't know. OK. Like, it's true that Dallas Corbett is a dick, right? Everyone knows that. But you've seen him. You may have seen a whole lot more of him than I have! What I'm trying to say is that yes, he's an ass. But he's also sooo hot. Every girl in River Bend would kill to get into his pants – and believe me, most of us have tried. The reason this is so weird is because he's been here – what, three years now? Yeah, three. Two and a half? Anyway, something like that. And not once – not once – has he ever shown any interest in any of the girls in town. He's kind of famous for it. Well, there was that thing with Marcy but that wasn't even a thing."

  "OK..."

  "I'm serious, Tia. And he was the one who shut that down. Believe me, she was willing to go a lot farther than a make-out session. So, I dunno, I guess that's why this is so surprising to me. The dude definitely seems to think he's better than a River Bend girl."

  "Maybe he just doesn't want the drama?" I suggested, leaping unconsciously to Dallas's defense and instantly regretting it when Amber's expression changed to one of sly knowing.

  "You are sleeping with him! Damn, Tia. No judgment, by the way, I just wanna know what your secret is. Oh man. I can't believe this!"

  "You said you'd keep it to yourself," I reminded her, worried by her level of excitement. "I mean it, Amber. He doesn't want this getting out."

  My friend popped the last of the granola bar into her mouth and shook her head. "Yeah, I know, I heard you. I won't say anything. But you can't blame me for freaking out a little, can you? Nothing ever happens here, Tia! So when something does happen, even something that probably doesn't seem like a big deal to someone from the city, we can get a little giddy."

  I laughed. "I'm sorry. I think with everything going on I'm just a little more uptight than usual. Like, I don't even know what to think of this thing with Dallas, whatever it is. He doesn't seem anything like how people describe him. He was a jerk the first couple of times I ran into him, but he's been really sweet and kind when I talk about my parents – he really seems to get it on some level. Ugh. I don't know what to think! And now he's busy with his alfalfa or whatever it is and he's being cagey and... yeah."

  "He's being cagey?" Amber asked, glancing up at the clock. "God, two more whole hours until we're free."

  "I don't know!" I responded. "Honestly, how would I know? Maybe this is normal for guys?"

  "Well, like, what do you mean he's being cagey? You think he's lying to you?"

  "No, it's not that. He just – he seemed really into me, you know? And he messaged me last night that the harvest was over but now he needs a couple more days? He wasn't really clear on why. I think I'm just being clingy. And that isn't who I want to be."

  "You should pay him a surprise visit."

  I was about to shoot that suggestion down, before thinking about it for a few seconds and realizing it might be a good idea. Why not? The last time I'd dropped by, things had gone well – to say the least.

  "Yeah," I mused, "maybe I should? Not to grill him or make demands, just to drop in to say hi or see if he needs any helps with anything? I taught him how to make ratatouille a few days ago."

  "You taught him to make rata-what?"

  "That's exactly what he said," I chuckled. "He has this vegetable garden and he just feeds all the vegetables to his livestock, because he doesn't know how to cook. So I taught him a really easy dish. I could teach you, too, if you want."

  Amber's eyes were wide. "You're already cooking dinners with this guy? Is he your boyfriend now?"

  "I don't know!" I said, throwing my hands up. "Honestly, Amber, I have no idea! And it's kind of driving me crazy."

  Thankfully, a few customers started to trickle in around that time. I didn't want Amber to know that I'd been a virgin before sleeping with Dallas. It wasn't about not trusting her, it was just how surprised she seemed by the whole thing – finding out I'd lost my virginity to him just would have made it that much juicier. And I didn't really like that she seemed to think it was juicy. It made me nervous.

  After work, I drove home to shower and change out of my work clothes. It was just past eight in the evening, so it wasn't too late to drop by Dallas's place. Was it a bad idea? Well, it didn't seem like one at the time. I touched up my make-up before leaving and drove to the Corbett Ranch with a happy buzz of anticipation circulating in my body.

  The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that there was an unfamiliar car parked at the top of the driveway. I parked behind it, away from the cabin. There were lights on inside and, as I got closer, I could see there was someone else there, standing in the kitchen next to Dallas. A woman.

  OK. No big deal. It's probably totally innocent.

  But I stayed out of view, peering into the well-lit kitchen to try and figure out who the new person was. Dallas was doing something on the counter, but they were talking. In fact it looked like they might even have been fighting – the woman was gesturing wildly with her arms. After one particularly extravagant move, she reached down and stood back up, with a baby in her arms. That got my attention. I watched intently as she handed the baby to Dallas and then promptly appeared to break down in tears, covering her face dramatically with her hands. What the hell?

  I stepped back a little, not wanting to be seen, and observed the two of them remonstrating with each other. A few times she was yelling so loud I actually heard her from where I was standing. She seemed to be asking him for something. When she leaned in and buried her head against his chest, my stomach dropped and I stumbled backwards, instantly angry with myself for reacting that way but unable to stop it.

  The internal recriminations began. Did he ever tell you he wasn't involved with anyon
e else? No. Did he ever say this thing with you was exclusive? No. Did he ever even hint at wanting a relationship with you? Not really. How do you even know what you're seeing here? Don't start jumping to conclusions, you really have no idea who this woman is or why she's in Dallas's kitchen.

  As soon as my mind had finished making that last point, I looked up to see the woman leaning in to kiss him. I turned away at once, almost tripping over an old tree branch in my haste, and made my way back to the car breathing heavily, the way you do when you know you're going to cry but you don't want to. I opened the door robotically and got inside, turning on the engine and driving down to the main road as I tried desperately to swallow my own emotions.

  All I could think, the whole way home, was how stupid I was. Of all the times to allow yourself to catch feelings for someone, the window of complete vulnerability after the kind of loss I'd suffered was probably the worst. People even warned me about it! Before I left Philly Dani's mother pulled me aside and told me to be careful, to take care of myself – and specifically not to get involved with any boys while I was still grieving.

  And what did I do? I moved to River Bend, Montana, and promptly slept with the first one who showed any interest in me. What an idiot. When the tears finally came, I slammed my open hand down on the steering wheel, furious with myself. The image of that woman, with the baby in her arms (Dallas's baby? who else's would it have been?), leaning in towards him in that submissive way, the way I had leaned into him. I almost couldn't stand it.

  Arriving back at Jenny and John's house in such a state wasn't going to work, so I ended up just pulling over on the side of the road. I could have called anyone. Dani, or any of my friends back home. Amber, or any of my friends in River Bend. I could even have tried to talk to Jenny about it. But the one person I really wanted to talk to – my mom – was the one person whose advice and reassuring words I was never going to hear again.

  Sitting there in the dark in my great-aunt's car I could almost smell the scent of my mother's perfume, feel the way her blouse would feel against my cheek as I lay my face on her shoulder. It had sunk in, by then, that she was gone. That they were both gone. So instead of the fervent, irrational hope of those first few days after the accident, that it was all a mistake and somehow my parents were just going to walk into the room again and ask me why I was so upset, I felt only bleakness and the profound sensation of being truly alone.

  Dallas Corbett had been an antidote to that feeling, a reason to believe that there could and would be other people in my life who cared about me and who would hold me and accept me when I was at my lowest points. And it hurt right down to my bones to see him with that woman, despite my awareness that he hadn't actually promised me anything. I looked down at my hands in my lap. They were shaking. Him. I wanted him. I wanted to drive back to his cabin and watch him rush out to scoop me up in his arms and kiss me and tell me it had all been a huge misunderstanding. There were a lot of things I wanted in those days.

  When I went to bed that night I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror in my bedroom. Dark circles ringed my eyes, my skin looked ashen and lifeless. There was nothing I could do except endure. That was it, that was my life. Endurance. Endurance and the desperate hope that one day, maybe, the sun would peek through the clouds again. I fell asleep with a heavy heart and then dreamed of the neighborhood I'd grown up in – slurpees at the 7-11 with Dani and working on our skipping skills in the alley behind my house. But I didn't dream of my parents. Even my subconscious, it seemed, wouldn't give me that one little scrap of comfort.

  I was grateful to be working an early shift at Parson's Grocery the next day. I showed up before my shift started and went in to see DeeDee to request additional hours. I needed something to fill my time – something that wasn't dwelling on my own pain.

  "You sure?" she asked me cheerfully as she did some paperwork at her desk, which was littered with empty coffee mugs and little plastic figurines from various animated movies. "You just started. I'm happy to give you a few more hours if you want – one of the other girls is about to give birth so that would be super helpful of you."

  I nodded and forced a weak smile onto my face. "Yes, I'm sure."

  "Well I'll take a look at the schedule this afternoon – check it before you leave today."

  "Thank-you."

  Amber was working that day, too. And as soon as she saw me, she knew something was wrong. Thankfully – because I didn't actually want to talk about what I'd seen the night before – she assumed it was about my parents. Which it was, just not entirely. At lunch she placed a chocolate cupcake with bright pink frosting in front of me and gave me a quick hug.

  "I made these last night. You look like you could use a cupcake."

  The day passed slowly, the way I remember days passing in high school, the minutes ticking by at such a glacial pace that a whole afternoon could feel like forever. The evening was the same, watching TV with John in the living room and wishing I was a different person, living a different life.

  The next day, as I was about to fall asleep, Dallas messaged me.

  "Hey – you busy tomorrow?"

  That was it. He obviously didn't know that I'd seen him with the woman in his cabin. I ignored the message. He sent another one the next day, when I was at work, and then another the day after, each of them equally short. I ignored them all. But when they didn't stop coming, and the tone didn't change, I knew I had to say something. It was too painful to keep seeing his name on my phone, feeling that microsecond of excitement before realizing oh, yeah, whatever you thought that was with Dallas Corbett, or whatever you hoped it would be, you were wrong. I composed my response during a break at work, and sent it as soon as it was written.

  "I'm having a difficult time right now. If I need to speak to you I'll message you, OK? But for now, please just give me some space."

  That was it, as short and simple as his own messages had been. I wanted to lash out, to say something cutting or sarcastic, but I knew it would just cause drama – and I also knew I didn't really have a right to say anything, no matter how hurt I was.

  Dallas messaged me back, though. That night.

  "Tia – I hope you're not having a difficult time because of something I did. I'll leave you alone after this, because I understand what it is to need to be alone, but I just want you to know I'm here if or when you need me. This might sound sappy, but I don't think I've been as happy as I was with you for years. Maybe this will turn out to be nothing, but I wanted you to know that it meant something to me, to spend time with you. – Dallas."

  Ugh. I threw the phone onto the bed. It was everything I wanted to hear. Everything except the part he left out, where he was involved with another woman and most likely had a baby with her.

  The next day at work, he showed up. Not to see me, just to get groceries. When he got to the checkout I was the only one there, because Amber was on a break, so neither of us had any choice.

  "Hey," he said quietly, unloading his groceries. "Sorry, Tia, but I had to get food. And there's no one else here."

  "It's fine," I replied tightly, not looking him in the eye.

  I rang up the groceries one item at a time, saying nothing.

  "Are you – Tia, are you mad at me?" he asked, when the silence had gone on for an awkwardly long time. Amber chose that exact moment to return from her break, and even though she didn't say anything I could feel her listening to what was being said.

  "No," I responded, trying for a breezy tone and failing.

  "Uh, OK. You just, uh – are you sure?"

  I bagged the groceries, still refusing to look at him. "Yes I'm sure. I messaged you. Didn't you get it?"

  "Of course I got it. And I sent one back. Did you get it?"

  Dallas sounded perplexed. I just wanted him to leave before I said or did something dumb. "Yes I got it, thanks."

  He waited there for a few excruciating moments after I handed him his bags, waiting for me to say something. When I didn'
t, he put his wallet in his back pocket and gave me a small nod. "Uh, OK then. Well, I meant what I said in the message, Tia. I'll – I guess I'll see you later."

  "OK."

  Of course, the second he was out the door, Amber was staring at me. "What was that?"

  "It was – it wasn't anything. I just thought maybe things were moving a little too fast and I told him so. That's all."

  I could feel the waves of skepticism emanating from Amber's direction. Like Dallas, she was waiting for me to say something more. And like him, she continued when I didn't.

  "Uh, really?"

  "Yeah," I snapped. "Really. Is that so hard to believe? That someone like me would ask the great and wonderful Dallas Corbett to slow down a little? Is that what you're saying?"

  As soon as the words were out of my mouth I knew I'd gone too far. Amber looked hurt and confused.

  "Wait," I sighed, slumping down in my chair. "I'm sorry – I, Amber, I didn't mean to snap, I'm just –"

  "No," she said. "No, Tia, it's actually fine. I don't know why I'm being so nosy. Well – I do, it's because I am nosy! But you don't need that from me right now. Really, ignore me. If you want to talk about it that's fine, and if you don't, that's fine too. I'm sorry for being such a pushy-pants."

  "A pushy-pants?"

  Amber smiled. "Yeah, that's what my mom calls me. Pushy-pants."

  The tension broken, we both went back to serving customers – they always seemed to show up in waves. It was either really busy or totally dead. And as I was running diapers and cereal and fruit juice through the scanner, it occurred to me that I did want to talk about what I'd seen. I wanted someone to tell me if I was crazy to be upset or if I had a reason to feel so hurt. So when the pace slowed down again, I turned back to Amber and just laid it all out.

  "I saw him with another woman. In his cabin. They were kissing. Oh, and she had a baby."