Tangled Up in Texas

by Delores Fossen

  “Good.” Lenore practically beamed, and she let out a breath of relief. “I wasn’t sure if your mom had talked to you about safe sex.” She lowered her voice to a whisper for those last two words.

  Shaw was now even more puzzled. That had been a safe sex talk? Well, hell. If it was, Kinsley would be confused by it and possibly get knocked up. Which caused him to scowl because he hoped like the devil that she wasn’t doing anything that could result in a knocking up. Especially doing something with Sunny’s almost-stepson.

  “Oh,” Kinsley said. He could only see half of her face, too, but that side flared up with a blush. “Yeah, she sort of talked to me about it. Sort of.”

  Even without that second “sort of” qualifier, Shaw knew he was going to have to chat with Kinsley. And yes, it would have to be the talk. He didn’t want to pawn it off on Cait, either, but on second thought, it was possible his sister wouldn’t mind taking this on. Or maybe Leyton or Austin would. He stepped farther back and fired off a group text.

  Any volunteers for talking safe sex with Kinsley? he messaged. Shaw got fast responses.

  No way in hell, from Austin.

  Shit, no, from Leyton.

  Suck it up, buttercup. You’re the oldest so do it yourself, just like you did for the rest of us, was the response from Cait.

  Shaw wanted to point out that he hadn’t actually had the talk with Leyton. They were nearly the same age, and Leyton had figured it out on his own. However, that wasn’t the way Shaw wanted Kinsley to come by that knowledge. But he wasn’t going to get any sibling help. He was on his own. And apparently Cait thought he had an adequate skill set for it.

  He cleared his throat so Kinsley and his mom would know he was there. Kinsley still hadn’t recovered from her blush, but his mother smiled. “Just in time to try the new recipe I showed Kinsley how to make. It’s sort of like rice pudding but with potatoes and some savory stuff.”

  Shaw couldn’t shake his head fast enough, and he ran his hand over his stomach. “Better not. I ate something last night that didn’t agree with me.”

  Over the years, he’d stopped counting such things as lies. More like self-preservation measures because if he ate what was in that dish, there was a high chance of having real stomach problems.

  “Oh, dear. Want me to get you some Pepto?” his mother asked.

  “No. I’ll just have coffee.” While he poured himself a cup, Shaw looked at Kinsley. “I need someone to take a contract to Rowley. I’m pretty sure he’s in the barn. Would you do it?”

  Kinsley nodded, fast, perhaps because she thought Lenore might insist she sample some of the man pudding surprise. She stayed right on his heels while she followed him back to his office, but the moment they were inside, Kinsley whirled around.

  “Don’t you dare talk safe sex with me,” the girl insisted.

  Shaw felt no relief in her offering him an out on this. “Do you need to talk safe sex?”

  “No,” she spit out, folding her arms over her chest. She sputtered out a few sounds before she finally managed to say, “Sheez, Louise. Who voted you to do this?”

  “Leyton, Cait and Austin,” he mumbled. “Apparently, being the oldest means I’m better qualified.”

  Of course, it was more than that. Marty didn’t need another child or a grandchild, and he couldn’t count on Ryan’s dad having had the “always use a rubber” talk with him.

  “Look, I don’t want to do this any more than you do,” he went on when she kept huffing. “So, let’s make it quick. You shouldn’t have sex, not without your partner’s and your mutual respect and stuff.”

  He hadn’t meant for that to sound flippant with the stuff, but Shaw honestly hadn’t been able to think of another word.

  “And stuff?” Kinsley challenged in the way that only a snotty teenage girl could manage. “Do you have and stuff with Sunny?”

  Shaw considered how to answer that. “Sunny and I aren’t teenagers, and yes, there’s a mutual respect.”

  And there was stuff. Not just the fanned flames of scorching attraction, either. They had a history together. He’d been her first lover. He was her friend. Definitely, stuff. However, he got the feeling that Kinsley wasn’t talking about any of that. But rather love.

  Yeah, that.

  Love always felt like deep, murky water to Shaw. The murky kind of water that could hide sharp rocks and things that could bite off a toe or two. Maybe he felt that way because he hadn’t had any good role models for it. Relationships failed, and hearts got busted to pieces. His sure had when Sunny had left when she turned eighteen. He’d known all along in his head that she would leave, but his heart just hadn’t gotten the message.

  He supposed a therapist would say he was now guarding that heart, but it was more than that. Even with all their stuff in common, Sunny and he still didn’t want the same things.

  Well, one thing anyway.

  He couldn’t see himself as a father, and she couldn’t see herself not being a mother. That wasn’t a great divide that they could easily bridge.

  “God, you didn’t invite him over for this stupid talk, did you?” he heard Kinsley say.

  Confused, Shaw looked up and followed her gaze to the window that overlooked the backyard. Ryan was walking in the direction of the barn.

  “No, I didn’t ask him to come over,” Shaw told her. “I suspect he’s here to see you.” And that was his cue to wrap up this chat. “Don’t have sex until you’re thirty. Then, make sure the guy uses a condom.”

  There. He’d done his brotherly duty. Again. And while it wasn’t something that would end up in any parent guide, it had been better than the chats he’d had with Cait and his brothers. Which wasn’t saying much. Still, it was done.

  Ryan had already made it to the barn by the time Shaw opened the window and called out to him. “Looking for Kinsley?”

  “No, actually I was looking for you.” Ryan began to make his way back to the house. “One of the hands thought you were in the barn.”

  Shaw had been there earlier, then returned to his office to call Leyton and do the contract. “Come in through the front door,” Shaw instructed. That would keep him away from the man casserole in the kitchen. “My office is just off the hall.”

  Kinsley huffed again, and that’s when Shaw realized she’d ducked out of sight when he’d been talking to Ryan. She was now peering around the corner of his door. “You’re going to talk safe sex with him?”

  “Not under threat of death,” Shaw assured her.

  No, that was Sunny’s area. It was bad enough having to spread the message in his own gene pool. Ryan would be Sunny’s responsibility.

  “I smell like man pudding surprise,” Kinsley said, sniffing at her sleeve. “God, don’t tell Ryan I’m here. I don’t want him to be around me when I smell like this.”

  The girl scurried away as if she’d just been scalded. He probably should have tried to reassure her that all was well, that she didn’t actually stink, but it wouldn’t have necessarily been the truth. Lenore’s recipes didn’t usually have a mouthwatering effect on people, and stink was always a possibility.

  Kinsley was long gone and out of sight by the time Ryan stepped through the doorway of the office. Ryan smiled, but Shaw had no trouble seeing the worry in his eyes. Hell. He hoped this wasn’t going to turn into some kind of confession of the things he wanted to do with Kinsley.

  “Come in,” Shaw offered. He was ready to say something about Kinsley being in the shower, which she almost certainly was to get rid of the smell, but Shaw didn’t want the boy to think that was some sort of invitation for Ryan to fantasize about the girl.

  “I’m here about Sunny,” Ryan said right off.

  That didn’t cause Shaw to relax any. He definitely didn’t want to have to skirt around what’d happened between Sunny and him the night before. Or what Shaw was hoping would ha
ppen between them the next time they were together.

  Ryan sat when Shaw motioned for him to take the chair across from his desk. “Sunshine already has a buyer for the sketchbooks.”

  “How do you know that?” Shaw sat, too.

  “Sunshine texted her. Not an FYI exactly. More like because Sunshine wanted to gloat.”

  That was Sunny’s mother all right.

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Ryan went on. “If there’s a buyer, then it might not be long before the sketches are published. I know Sunny gave her mother those books to keep her grandmother out of trouble, but it could come back to hurt her.”

  “I’m listening,” Shaw said when the boy paused, but he didn’t need to hear more to feel that god-awful knot tightening his gut.

  Ryan scrubbed his hands over his face and made a sound of frustration. “I don’t think Sunny thought about how this would affect her career. Some parents might not be happy if they know the illustrator drew something...not for kids.”

  Shaw thought of the shirtless sketch Leyton had seen. Since Sunny had done that years before she’d become the illustrator for Slackers, it probably wasn’t something that would upset most parents.

  Most.

  But some might complain and stop buying the books. And that shirtless sketch might be tame compared to others. So, yeah, Shaw could see why Ryan was worried.

  “Sunny loves doing those illustrations.” Ryan seemed to be trying to convince him that there was a problem that could blow up in her face. “She’s been through a lot already, and if she loses that...well, it might break her.”

  That was deep insight for a teenage boy. Shaw suspected it was also accurate. Coming on the heels of her cancer scare and the stupid messes that Tonya and Sunshine had pulled, nasty publicity like that might send Sunny running for cover, away from Lone Star Ridge.

  Away from him.

  Shaw reminded himself that there’d never been any guarantees Sunny would stay. Still, it tightened the knot even more, and this time, it was his heart that felt as if it was being squeezed.

  He looked up when he heard the footsteps, and Shaw figured it was Kinsley fresh from a shower. But it wasn’t. It was his mother, and she was ushering in a lanky guy in a suit that Shaw didn’t recognize. Ryan, however, must have because the boy practically scrambled to his feet.

  “Dad,” Ryan said, his voice breathy.

  Dad, as in Hugh. Sunny’s ex-fiancé.

  Well, that didn’t help any of those knots.

  Ryan moved toward his dad and then stopped as if debating what to do. Hugh solved that for him by taking hold of Ryan and pulling him into his arms for a hug. A short one, complete with a fist bump on Ryan’s back, but it was definitely a hug.

  “What are you doing here?” Ryan asked once he’d pulled back.

  Shaw couldn’t see the boy’s face, but he could sure see Hugh’s. The man was eyeing Shaw in a way that made him think he’d heard some things about Sunny and this particular cowboy.

  “I was in town at the hardware store asking for directions to Em’s house,” Hugh said, “and someone told me they’d seen you driving out here.”

  Well, that was an explanation all right, but it didn’t answer Ryan’s question of why Hugh was there. Maybe to reconcile with his son. But there was a look in Hugh’s eyes, one that told Shaw there was more to it than that.

  “Sorry,” Hugh said, his attention on Shaw. “I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Hugh Dunbar.”

  “Shaw Jameson.” He shook Hugh’s hand when he offered it.

  Shaw figured the man was about to launch into questions about Sunny and him. But he didn’t. Hugh slid his arm around Ryan and started leading him out of the office.

  “Son, we need to talk,” Hugh insisted. “I want Sunny back, and I need you to help me do that.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “THE BUNNY BALLERINA or the butterfly pilot?” Em asked.

  Sunny had been staring at the concrete figures at Hank’s Hardware and wondering how such a form of lawn decorations had gone so terribly wrong. She didn’t see a single thing that screamed I’m in a yard in rural Texas. No sleek horses. No bulls or herding dogs. Heck, not even a cowboy boot or hat. Just a strange assortment of critters that for some strange reason had been given human career choices.

  “It’s okay if you can’t help me decide which one to get,” Em said, patting her arm. “Your mind’s on other things.”

  That was true. Sunny was thinking about other things. Things that were best put aside, which was what she’d been trying to do when she’d agreed to come with Em to the hardware store. It would do no good for her to dwell on the taunting text from Sunshine letting her know she already had a buyer for the sketchbooks. Heck, that might not even be true.

  But it felt true.

  It felt as if soon strangers would be poring over all those private things she’d sketched.

  Of course, Sunny had been well aware of that when she’d struck the deal with Sunshine, but there hadn’t been much of a choice. If she hadn’t given Sunshine something she truly wanted, something that could cut into Sunny’s soul, then she wouldn’t have backed off and Em would have been arrested. Having strangers pry into her private things seemed a small price to pay to prevent that.

  “I’m going with the ballerina bunny,” Em said, heading to the checkout where the owner, Hank Henderson, was behind an old-fashioned cash register. “I’ll have Fred or one of his boys bring it out to the house.”

  Sunny almost offered to lift it. Her chest and armpit were feeling better, hardly any pain now, but the bunny was made of concrete so it was probably best to go with the delivery.

  “Say, did that fella of yours find his way to Shaw’s?” Fred asked.

  It took Sunny a moment to realize that he was talking to her. “Fella of mine?”

  “Yeah. A guy in a suit,” Fred happily provided. “He said he needed to see his boy, Ryan, and then you. Said you two were supposed to get married.”

  The explanation was so unexpected, so surprising, and it didn’t make any sense. It was as if Fred had just spoken a foreign language.

  “Hugh came to Lone Star Ridge?” Em asked Fred when Sunny didn’t say anything.

  “I reckon that was his name. He asked how to get to your place, ’cause he wanted to see his boy, but I told him Ryan was heading toward Shaw’s. He was driving Sunny’s SUV, and I spotted him when I was loading some feed. Your fella asked for directions to Shaw’s, and I gave them to him. He should be there by now.”

  Sunny was about to ask for the keys to Em’s truck, but her grandmother handed them to her. “Go,” Em insisted. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll get someone here to take me back home.”

  That was one of the advantages of living in a small town. Someone would indeed give Em a ride. Another advantage was that Sunny had learned Hugh had come to town and that he wanted to see Ryan. That was a positive sign. She hoped. The part about said you two were supposed to get married didn’t sound good.

  Em’s truck was practically an antique so it coughed and sputtered when Sunny started it, and it coughed and sputtered the whole way out to Shaw’s. She spotted Hugh’s silver Audi, which looked as out of place here on the ranch as those weird concrete figures had. Still, Hugh didn’t have to fit. He only had to be the father that Ryan deserved.

  Sunny parked next to the Audi and her SUV, which Ryan had driven over. She headed for the house, but before she made it to the porch, she saw Ryan and Hugh by the corral fence next to the barn.

  And her heart sank.

  Because that wasn’t a happy father-and-son reunion going on. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Ryan looked pissed off. He threw his hands up in the air and stormed away from Hugh back toward the house. Hugh was right behind him, but Ryan picked up some speed when he saw her.

  “It’s bog
us,” Ryan said with fire in his voice. A fire that immediately died down as if the fit of temper had drained him. “He came here to try to get you back.”

  Obviously, this was her day for being surprised, but at least this time it didn’t seem as if she was hearing a foreign language. She understood every word that Ryan said.

  “What?” she snarled at Hugh.

  “Just hear me out,” Hugh insisted. “You, too,” he added to Ryan.

  Ryan did no such thing. “Ask him why he wants to get back together with you,” Ryan told her, and he didn’t exactly whisper it, either. It was loud enough to have Shaw coming to the back door. One look at Shaw’s face, and she saw his eyes darken just as she’d seen Ryan’s anger. It didn’t take her long to figure out why.

  Sunny whirled toward Hugh. “Did you tell Shaw you wanted me back?”

  Hugh managed to look indignant even with three sets of angry eyes on him. “He might have heard me mention that to Ryan.”

  “Ask him why he wants to get back together with you,” Ryan repeated.

  Sunny was betting it wouldn’t be a good reason, especially relating to Ryan. This was so not what she’d hoped for, and worse, it wasn’t what Ryan needed.

  “Why?” She aimed that demand at Hugh. “And while you’re explaining that, keep in mind that I broke up with you, and I don’t want you back.”

  “Well, you should because this affects Ryan.” Hugh let that hang in the air for several moments while he shook his head as if in frustration. “‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’”

  Sunny was certain that her frown deepened. “That’s from To Kill a Mockingbird.”

  “It still applies to me, to us, to our situation,” Hugh insisted. “I know you want me to be part of his life, and I will be. I just need this favor from you first. I need you to come back to the store and do some readings for the kids. I know how much you love that sort of thing, so it wouldn’t be a chore.”

  “Tell her the rest,” Ryan insisted.