by SJ McCoy
“Yes, I’d like that.”
“Yay!” Ruby bounced up and down on Beau’s lap. “Are you going to kiss each other?”
Corinne laughed. “Not right now. No. We’re supposed to be getting you ready for your big day tomorrow.”
Ruby smiled at Beau. “I’m going to school tomorrow with Josie and Tara.”
“I know. You’re going to have fun.”
“Can you come pick me up?”
Beau frowned. He could, but he didn’t think that was part of the plan.
“You know Miss Susie is going to pick you up,” said Corinne.
“Yes, but I mean from her house.”
“I’m going to pick you up when I finish work.”
“But my Beau could come with you.” She looked up at him with her big blue eyes. “Pleeasse?”
He looked at Corinne. He didn’t know how he could say no to that little face, but he didn’t see how he could say yes either. It’d be up to Corinne.
“You want to?”
He nodded. “I’d love to see how you both enjoyed your first day. I could come meet you when you finish work?”
She smiled. “That’d be lovely.”
“Okay. I’ll be here then.”
Ruby flung her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “I can’t wait!”
He laughed. “You just make sure you’re a good girl and have fun, then you’ll have lots to tell me about.”
“I will. I’m already good at letters and I’m going to make lots of friends, too.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“And you need to get a good night’s sleep first, so it’s time for bed for you, madam.”
Beau was surprised to see her eyebrows knit together. She’d been so sweet the last few days, he’d already forgotten about the other side of Ruby. The side he feared was about to surface again now.
“I don’t want to!”
“Well, want to or not, you have to.”
“But I want to stay up with my Beau!”
“You need to go bed, pumpkin.” He was hoping that by now he had some influence over her. He was thrilled to see that apparently he did.
“Do I have to go now?”
He nodded. “Yeah, you’ve got a big day tomorrow. And I’ll see you when you’re done.”
“Okay. Will you read me a story?”
He looked at Corinne uncertainly. She smiled. “That’s a great idea. Beau can read us a story and then you go straight to sleep.”
Ruby scrambled down from his lap and ran to her bedroom. Beau stood to follow her.
Corinne caught his arm. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all.”
It was weird, but weird in a good way to sit on Ruby’s bed and have her and her bear snuggle against him. Corinne sat on the other side of her and smiled at him over her head. She handed him a book. “This is what we’ve been reading.”
Not ten minutes later, Corinne touched his arm. He was getting into the story of the two kittens who were trying to find their way home. Ruby, on the other hand was fast asleep. He gave Corinne a sheepish grin.
She motioned toward the door with her head and they slipped out as quietly as they could. Corinne closed the bedroom door and led him back to the living room. “I’m supposed to pick her up from Susie’s at six-fifteen. Are you going to be able to come?”
He nodded. “I’ve already figured one thing out, and that’s that I’m not going to tell her I can do something unless I’m one hundred percent sure I can. I’m showing a house over in Emigrant at four-thirty, so I’ll just stick around after that. I won’t head back up to town.”
“You can stay for dinner with us if you like?”
“That sounds great.” He closed his arms around her waist and drew her closer, loving the way she sagged against him as she looked up into his eyes. “I should probably get going.”
Her smile faded. “Do you have to?”
“No. Nor do I want to. I just wanted to give you the option to kick me out if you still have stuff you need to get done.”
“I think I’ve got it all covered, and right now I’d like nothing more than to just curl up with you and a glass of wine and enjoy what’s left of the evening.”
He smiled. He couldn’t think of anything he’d like more either, at least not while Ruby was asleep next door. “Let’s do that then.”
Chapter Fifteen
Corinne shifted, trying to get comfortable. She couldn’t, her neck ached and she couldn’t bend her knees up, there was something in the way. She opened her eyes and realized that the something was Beau. She wasn’t in bed, they were on the sofa. They’d sat down there last night with a glass of wine, then they’d lain down to watch a movie. She sat up in a panic and looked at the clock, hoping to goodness she hadn’t overslept today of all days. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw it was only six-thirty.
Beau opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Oh, shit!”
That made her laugh. “Thanks! Good morning to you, too!”
He smiled blearily. “I didn’t mean it like that. We fell asleep, didn’t we?”
She nodded. “It’s not late though.”
He looked at the clock. “Maybe not for you, but I need to get up to town and get showered. I’ve got meetings this morning.” He sprang up from the sofa. “I should get going.”
“Mommy!” Oh, no. Ruby was awake.
Beau looked at her. “Should I sneak out?”
Corinne sucked in a deep breath and made a decision. “Not if you’ve got time to say a quick hello before you leave?”
He grinned. “It’ll have to be quick.”
“Okay. I’ll go get her.”
She came back a couple of minutes later with a sleepy Ruby in her arms. Beau was sitting at the kitchen table putting his shoes on.
“Beau!” squealed Ruby.
He looked up at her with a smile. “Morning, Ruby. Are you ready for your big day?”
She nodded. “Did you come to take me?”
“No, sweetie,” said Corinne.
Ruby’s eyes grew wide. “Did you sleep here?”
Beau gave Corinne a panicky look.
“Yes, Beau and I fell asleep watching a movie.”
“Did you sleep in Mommy’s bed?” she asked Beau.
“No. We fell asleep on the sofa.”
Ruby smiled. “You should sleep in Mommy’s bed tonight it’s more comfy. I sleep there sometimes, if I get scared.”
Beau smiled. “I’ll have to try it out. For now though, I have to go to work. I just wanted to wish you good luck for today.”
Ruby held her arms out to him. Corinne’s heart did that odd little flip again as she watched him take her daughter and hug her. She planted a kiss on his cheek and he smiled, planting one on top of her head before he handed her back. “You have a good day, pumpkin. I’ll see you later.” He turned to Corinne. “You have a good day, too.”
She reached up and pecked his cheek. “Thank you.”
Just as he’d done with Ruby he planted a kiss on top of her head. It was sweet of him, but it wasn’t what she wanted. She knew she surprised him by pecking his lips. He grinned first at her then at Ruby. “See you later.”
“Bye,” called Ruby as they watched him let himself out.
When he’d gone Ruby wriggled to get down. “I hope he can stay again tonight.”
Corinne was going to give it some thought. In the normal run of things it would have been a long while before she would have considered having him stay over, but since they’d accidentally crossed that bridge by falling asleep on the sofa, she might as well make the most of it.
~ ~ ~
Beau didn’t make it to the office until lunchtime. Wanda looked up and grinned at him when he walked in.
“Greetings, boss man. I trust you had a good weekend?”
“It was great. Apart from running into a busybody when I took Corinne out for Sunday lunch.”
Wanda laughed. “She’s beautiful.
And don’t give me your crap about ruining your lunch. I helped you out and you know it. You can thank me any time, and a raise would be a nice way to show your gratitude.”
“Ha! Dream on.”
“I know, I know, but maybe someday I’ll break through and that big heart of yours will overflow.”
He smiled. “You’d have been proud of me if you’d seen me and Ruby this weekend.”
Her expression softened. “Really?”
“Yep. I hate to give you the satisfaction, but I remembered what you said about her being just a poor little mite. When I looked at her like that everything turned around pretty fast.”
“Aww, ain’t that sweet!”
Beau rolled his eyes. “It is actually. You have no idea what it’s like to have a little person look up at you and know they trust you, that they’ve put their faith in you.”
Wanda laughed. “I have no idea, no. I haven’t raised three of my own, I don’t have a flock of grandbabies around every weekend. I’m just glad you can see it now. It changes everything, doesn’t it?”
He nodded. “It really does. It’s her first day at school today and she wanted me to go see her afterwards.”
“And you’re going?”
“I am.”
“You’re in deep then?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that. I mean we’ve only known each other a couple of weeks. It’s a bit soon to talk like that, isn’t it?”
Wanda shook her head. “Either you’re bullshitting me because you don’t want to admit it, or you need to slow down. You don’t want to let that little girl think you’re going to be a part of her life if you’re not.”
Beau stared at her. He’d thought he was making pretty big strides. He was getting into a real relationship with Corinne, he was opening up to Ruby. That was huge to him. But saying he was going to be a part of their life? That was even bigger, that was enormous. Was that really what he was getting into? Was it what he wanted?
Wanda held his gaze. “Think about it. Anyway, here are the files you’re going to need this afternoon. I’ve emailed you everything that’s come in on the house on Convict Ridge. Oh, and a guy called to see if you could show him the one on Second Street this evening.”
“No. I can’t. See what time he can do tomorrow instead?”
Wanda raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were free after the showing down in Emigrant at four-thirty? That should give you plenty of time to get back up to town.”
He shook his head. “I’m not coming back up. I told you, I’m going to see Ruby after her first day.”
Wanda grinned. “Ah, I see.”
“What?” That look she was giving him said she saw a whole lot, but he didn’t know what it meant.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. I’ll call him back and set something up for tomorrow.” Beau stared at her, but she just smiled innocently. “Anything else, boss?”
He had to laugh. “No. That’s all.”
“Okay, well I’ll get back to work then, and I suggest you do the same.”
He laughed and picked up the files and took them into his office.
He’d just got settled down when his cell phone rang. It was Shane.
“What’s up, bro?”
“Hey. Just checking in with you. Dinner’s at our house this week and we’re aiming for Thursday. Will that work for you?”
“Sure.”
“Okay…”
“And what?”
“Well, we’re going for Thursday because Chance is getting back Wednesday night.”
“Ah.”
Shane didn’t say anything for a long moment.
“I hope that means his dad’s doing okay?”
“Yeah, from what he said he’s getting a bit better every day and it sounds as though he’s hitting it off pretty well with the woman who’s come to live in while he recovers from his stroke. Chance said he’s starting to feel like a spare part so it’s time to come on home.”
“Good. I’m glad everything’s going well.”
“Do you think you could bring yourself to tell him that? It’d be nice if you two could finally bury the hatchet.”
Beau sighed. “There is no hatchet.”
“So why can’t you just accept him as another brother?”
“Because he’s not, and… You know what. Let’s not go there.”
“More than happy to oblige,” said Shane. “All I really wanted was to make sure that you were still going to come to dinner once you knew Chance is going to be there.”
“It never stopped me before, did it?”
“No. I just didn’t want to spring it on you.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“He’s going to get part of the ranch you know.”
“I know. Don’t push it, Shane. I’m coming around on a lot of things, but that one will take me a while. You can’t hurry me, you’ll just piss me off and there’s no reason for you and I to fall out over it is there?”
“Hell, no. I’m amazed that we’re even having this conversation! So, no I’m not going to push it. I’ll see you Thursday.”
“If not before.”
Shane laughed. “Was I seeing things or was that your truck leaving the ranch as I was getting there this morning?”
Beau smiled to himself. There was no point lying. “You weren’t seeing things.”
“I didn’t think so. Then I hope you’ll be pleased to know that we asked Corinne to come out on Thursday as well.”
“More than pleased. If you hadn’t asked her, I would have.”
“Like that, is it?”
“Yep.”
“Good for you.”
“It is. I don’t know about you though, but I’ve got work to do.”
“Yeah, okay. See ya.”
“See ya, and Shane?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
Beau hung up and stared at the wall for a few minutes. So Chance was on his way back. That would no doubt mean that his dad would finally get around to telling them all his plans for the ranch. Beau knew that Chance would be included. No matter how much that bothered him. He’d told Shane that it would take him a long time to come around to accepting it. He didn’t know that he’d ever be able to. Corinne’s words came back to him. If you can’t make something better, then all you can do is find a better way to look at it and move on. He knew he couldn’t change the fact that his dad was going to give Chance part of the ranch. He couldn’t change it, but was it possible that he might be able to find a better way to look at it? He didn’t see how, but it would be nice to let it go and move on. So much had changed over the last few months. Seeing his brothers settle down, feeling the family dynamic shift as they all found their feet and were being drawn closer to each other again had changed the way he felt about a lot of things. He’d changed. And he had a feeling that being around Corinne and Ruby would change him even more if he let it. He shrugged. He didn’t have time to figure it all out right now, but he did know that his ill-feelings toward Chance were the one downer in his life at the moment. And he was the only one responsible for them. He knew it wasn’t Chance’s fault; hell, he liked the guy. He just resented the way he’d come into the family and been given a place in it that he hadn’t earned.
He flipped open the file in front of him. It was time to get down to work, not to dwell on all of that.
~ ~ ~
Cassidy grinned as she came striding through the lobby of the lodge. “So how was your first day, girlfriend?”
Corinne smiled. “It was great, thanks. I’m so glad Shane had us come out on Saturday night to mingle with the guests. It made things so much easier today.”
Cassidy raised an eyebrow. “And from what I saw you were doing some mingling with a certain Remington brother, too. How’s that going?”
Corinne looked over her shoulder. She didn’t feel as though she should be talking about her personal life at work. Especially since her personal life involved her boss’s brother.
> Cassidy laughed. “Don’t worry. No one’s listening. And besides everyone saw the two of you, or should I say the three of you together on Saturday night. It was adorable! You should have seen Ruby snuggling up on her Beau while you were busy.”
Corinne smiled. “I did see, they carried on like that even after we left.”
“And you were worried about whether he hated her. I guess you know the answer to that now.”
“Yeah. It was like you said, he just didn’t know how to handle her. Apparently he got some help from his assistant at work; she gave him a good talking to about how he might need to just show Ruby a little kindness.”
Cassidy laughed. “You met Wanda? Isn’t she awesome? She’s in my seniors’ art class. She’s a hoot.”
“She seemed it. And she obviously adores Beau.” She didn’t miss the look of distaste that crossed Cassidy’s face before she managed to hide it. “You don’t like him though, do you?”
“I wouldn’t say anything against him. I mean he does seem to be coming around more and more lately, but…” she sighed. “I can’t lie. He’s not my favorite.”
“Why?”
Cassidy thought about it. “I guess he’s not my kind of person. No, that’s not fair, he is fun when you get him talking, but he’s just that much more aloof than the others. The rest of them are open books. What you see is what you get, and they’re all…they’re kindhearted.”
“And you don’t think Beau is?”
Cassidy frowned. “I’m not saying that. At least I don’t think so. He might be. It’s just that with the others you know right off the bat that they’ve got great big hearts. Beau may have one too, but if he does, he keeps it hidden.” She shrugged apologetically. “You’d probably be better off talking to Summer or Gina, they’re more diplomatic than I am.”
Corinne smiled. “No, I like hearing it straight up. And I think he really does have a big heart. That’s what Wanda said, too. That you just have to break through the tough outer shell before you see it.”
Cassidy smiled. “Well, if Wanda says so, then I’m buying it. That woman takes no prisoners, if she thought he was an asshole she’d tell you straight up.”
“I very much got that impression, but she really seems to adore him. Do you mind if I ask you though, is there any particular reason that you don’t like him?”
