Baby Girl: Dare to Love Read online

  “What? Damon doesn’t even make our bed. This man is a keeper. So did you ever eat lunch?”

  “Yes, he took me to eat, then I picked up Kassie. I can’t believe I did such a thing,” Jemma said. “I think we went way too fast. I don’t regret for a second, but I know so little about him.”

  “He’s a nice man. I still can’t get over he made the bed.”

  “I know. It was really nice. He didn’t rush me and he kept asking me if I was sure,” Jemma said. “I just don’t know what’s next.”

  “You’re not supposed to know what’s next. That’s what makes this fun. Kyle is a successful rancher. I’m sure he’s in the same boat as you. Krista says you’re the first woman he’s dated since the divorce.”

  “He told me.”

  “He admitted that to you while you were having sex? What he do? Fire one off first?”

  Jemma giggled at her sister’s crude commentary. “Well, yeah. He told me before we actually got started.”

  “Wow! This is some kind of man.”

  “Makes me wonder why his wife cheated on him? Was he that different a person in Austin?” How could he have changed that much in five years?

  “Ask him,” Janna said. “I’ve never met him, but from what I gleaned from Krista, his entire family couldn’t stand the ex. She changed him. When they broke up, they were all excited about it.”

  “She’s in town, or she was Sunday night,” Jemma whispered. “He said she wanted him to sign some paper, but he wouldn’t sign it without reading it first.”

  “Oh my,” Janna said. “It’s never a good sign when the ex shows up.”

  “You got that right. She showed up at the ranch today while he was here with me. I only got bits and pieces cause he was talking to his mother, but sounds like she’s trying to get in his house for some reason.”

  “Think she’s looking for something?”

  “It would make sense,” Jemma stated. “Or either she needs to plant something in his house for some reason. He has Hildago furniture,” she added for no reason. “When he moved back to the ranch, all he brought was his clothes. He gave her everything.”

  “And you said you didn’t know anything about him,” Janna chided. “You guys have talked I’m sure. You know him more than you realize.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Quit overthinking it. You’ve been grieving for a long time. Let yourself enjoy this. You’ve been through the ringer with everything going on with the blogsite, your book deal, and Kassie. It’s your time, enjoy.”

  “So what do I do now? Should I call him?”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know. I thought that was the thing to do,” Jemma said. “I admit I’m out of practice with all this.”

  “Just go with your instincts. If you have to think about it, it’s probably not a good idea. Your actions should be spontaneous. Like lunch today.”

  Jemma didn’t think she’d ever get the hang of this dating thing. It had been so long since she’d been with anyone other than her husband. Now, there was so much at stake. Kassie really liked Kyle and he seemed like he genuinely liked her. Her family really approved of him. She liked being with him. He was a puzzle and she was determined to get all the pieces together and see the real man.

  “When are you seeing him again?”

  “Thursday when Kassie has her lesson.” She noticed Kassie standing in her doorway. “I gotta go. It’s dinnertime.”

  FOURTEEN

  Kyle woke the ringing noise of his cell phone. He glanced at the bedside clock and muttered a curse. It was after seven. He’d been asleep for three hours. His mother was going to rip him a new one for being late for dinner. He reached for the phone he’d placed on the nightstand. “Hello.”

  “You missed dinner.”

  He sat up. “Sorry, Mom. I guess I was really tired. I’m on my way.”

  “Nevermind. Maybe it’s time you learned to cook for yourself. You know, when you invite Jemma and Kassie to your house, I’m not cooking for you.”

  “That’s a long way off, Mom.” He stood. “So there’s nothing left?” After his day’s activities, he was starving. One of his mother’s famous fried meals would just hit the spot.

  “I didn’t say that. I said you missed dinner. As your father and I were waiting for you to not show up, we decided that you needed to start fixing your own meals. The last time I was in your house, you didn’t have any food in the fridge. How are you supposed to entertain discreetly if you have to call your aged mother to fix a meal?”

  “Jemma had volunteered to teach me,” he said. “She said almost the same thing as you. And maybe you’re right.” He sighed. Was his life really changing this fast? He liked slow, unrecognizable change, not drastic change.

  “Good. When are you starting these lessons?”

  “Not this week. I’ve got to pick up horses this weekend. I’m going to leave on Friday, so we can be back early enough on Saturday so if Aubrey needs to do anything special to any of them, we’ll have enough time.”

  “Good. Those babies don’t need any stress,” his mother said. “I can’t believe Trent is letting her go without him.”

  Kyle chuckled. “He’s got a training session Saturday morning. We’re going to be staying at Gus’s ranch if you need to get in touch with me.” He wanted this trip over as quickly as possible.

  “I’m sure Jemma will understand it’s business.”

  “Mom.”

  “All right. All right. I know you’re not that into Jemma. You’re just bending over backwards for her daughter. Right. I saved you a plate.”

  “Thanks Mom. I’m on my way.”

  “Take your time. The ranch hands have already eaten.” She ended the call.

  Kyle stood, placed his phone back in its holder, and headed to his parents. The short walk gave him time to think about Jemma. Now that he’d made love with her she was in his system and he couldn’t exercise her. Not that he’d wanted to, anyway. What was his next step?

  He knew he wanted to know more about her as a person. But now that they had sex, unprotected, at that. This was the first encounter he’d had since his divorce was final. The use of protection never came up, maybe Jemma was on The Pill, or wasn’t able to have any more children. After all, Kassie was an only child and she’d been married ten years before her husband died. Maybe additional children weren’t an option. Somehow that made him sad. Not that he was planning on procreating anytime soon, it would have been nice to have that option. Yep, they were definitely going to need to have a conversation.

  His cell phone jangled. “Kyle Cosgrove.”

  “Do you ever look at your display to see who it is?” Justin asked. “I called Mom’s cause I knew it close to dinnertime, she said you were asleep. What is going on with you? You live and breathed that ranch. Are you sick?”

  “Slow down,” Kyle said. “I’m fine. I was just tired. Hey, I’m heading to Houston Friday night. Want to go? I’m coming back Saturday morning.”

  “I wish, but Ryder has some kind of thing at his school. It’s a Fall Harvest festival or something. How’s the book coming?”

  “Kind of stuck right now. Got too much other stuff flying around in my head. Ava showed up Sunday night demanding I sign some paper. Like I’d signed anything she handed me. Then Mom said she showed up this morning after I left the ranch.”

  “Wait. You left the ranch during business hours? Where is my workaholic brother?”

  Why was everyone having such a hard time with this concept? “If you must know, I had a lunch date with Jemma. I got back to the ranch late.”

  “How late?”

  “Four.”

  Justin screamed into the phone. “My brother got laid in the middle of the day! Amazing!”

  Kyle was puzzled. “Why is everyone acting like I just won the lottery?”

  “Because, big brother, in some ways, you have. I saw how you were looking at her as she talked with Krista and Megan. I knew you wouldn’t be able to ho
ld out too long. Please tell me you didn’t strike oil first. It’s been a long time.”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, I did. I told her before I probably couldn’t last long.” He performed better than he had hoped for.

  “Man, you’re being honest with her already? This is not good,” Justin said sarcastically.

  “Yeah, yeah, said the man who’s been married for eight years to his high school and college sweetheart.” He reached his parents’ home. “Okay, I’m at Mom’s. You know I can’t walk in there on my phone.” His mother was a stickler for etiquette. “I’ll hit you back later. I’m hoping to knock out a chapter tonight.”

  “Right. Thank goodness you have plenty of time to finish the manuscript. Tell Mom, I love her.” Justin ended the call.

  Kyle holstered the phone and walked inside the house. The aroma of a wonderful meal still filled the air. Every time he stepped through those doors, he felt like a child again. “Mom, I’m home.” He closed the door.

  Later after Kyle left his parents, he settled down in home office to make travel arrangements to pick up the horses. Once that was settled, he moved on to his book. He hadn’t touched it in days, and now as he looked at the notes he’d made so far on Kassie, his mind wasn’t cooperating.

  His cell phone buzzed. He knew it wasn’t Jemma, it was Kassie’s bedtime. He glanced down at the number, recognizing the Austin area code, it was Ava.

  “You’re a hard man to keep up with,” Ava cooed into the phone. “Have you signed my paper yet?”

  “No, I haven’t had a chance to look at it,” he said. “As I told you last night, I will express mail it to you in Houston. I’m sure there’s an address on there somewhere.”

  “Actually, no it’s not. It has my Austin address. Since your mother was so kind to have me forced off the property this morning; why don’t we meet somewhere and you can give me the paper.”

  He glanced at the clock, not wanting to talk to this woman any more than necessary. “You know, that’s not a bad idea.”

  “Great. Where do you want to meet? I’m at a hotel close to Mansfield. There’s a coffee shop right across the street and….”

  “Whoa! Ava, I didn’t say anything about tonight. When I read the paper I and have my attorney look at it, I’ll get back to you.”

  “Why does this have to be a family affair? It’s just an amendment to the divorce decree,” she said.

  “Then you won’t mind my attorney looking at it.” What could this woman want? She’d committed adultery, so she didn’t have a leg to stand on. And he certainly wasn’t giving her one thin dime.

  “There’s a time constraint,” she said. “I really need this taking care of as soon as possible.”

  “What could you possibly want now?”

  “Your retirement fund. I have come to understand that your stock portfolio you had during the course of our marriage, has tripled in value.”

  “So.”

  “Half of that million dollars should be mine. You created that fund while we were married. You filed for the divorce.”

  “Because you admitted to being pregnant by another man. Oh, you kept trying to make me think it was mine, but as I’m a stickler about dates. I hadn’t touched you in months.” Years, actually, he thought.

  “Oh, you know I would never betray you. It was only one time. Can we just forgive and forget?”

  He laughed. “No.” He ended the call. Ava. One mistake and he’d paid for it for ten years. Never again.

  Tuesday morning, Jemma had just sat down in her home office to make an outline for her book when the doorbell rang. “Just great,” she muttered as she rose from her seat. She walked down the hall, hoping and praying that it wasn’t Kyle. She was relieved to see a young man at the door. “Yes?”

  “Delivery for Mrs. Jemma Patterson.” He handed her a vase with two dozen roses.

  Jemma took the crystal vase and smelled the roses. They were a brilliant red, yellow and orange roses. “These are beautiful.” She smelled them again. The young man tipped his head and started to walk away. “Wait, I’ll get you a tip.”

  “No need, Ma’am. Already taken care of. Have a nice day.” He walked away.

  Jemma closed the door and smelled the flowers again. A white envelope stared at her. Who would send her flowers? Kyle came to mind. Why? She opened it and read it: Jemma, yesterday was wonderful as are you. Kyle.

  She immediately dialed his cell number, not giving a thought to what he might be doing at this hour in the morning. The phone rang once, then again, before her picked up the call. “Hey, Jemma,” he said softly. “How are you doing this morning?”

  “So much better since your delivery came. Those are beautiful flowers and they smell like, I don’t know what they smell like. The aroma is awesome. Almost like perfume.”

  “I’m glad you liked them.” She heard him barked some orders to the ranch hands. “Are you busy this evening? I really need to talk to you.”

  Oh dear, that was not a good sign. He was dumping her already? She felt a visit to the Cheesecake Factory would be in order.

  “Sure. I could come out for lunch if you need Kassie not to be here.”

  “No, it’s just that I have to go out of town Friday.”

  “The horse deal?”

  “Yes, we’re going to pick them up and bring them back Saturday. I didn’t want you to think I disappeared.”

  Okay, she was confused. “Kyle, we don’t have any plans for Friday or Saturday. Actually, Saturday, I was thinking about visiting my parents.”

  “Oh. Well, how about dinner Sunday?”

  Was he really asking her out again? “I don’t know. I don’t have a babysitter. You’re welcome to come eat with us.”

  “No, I meant Kassie as well. We can make an afternoon of it.”

  Jemma didn’t know if she ready to see Kyle so soon after their encounter. There were still a million questions floating through her mind. “Sounds like fun.”

  “Good. I’ll see you guys on Thursday.” He took a deep breath. “I need to ask you something about yesterday.”

  Jemma tensed up. “Okay, shoot.

  He cleared his throat. “I take total responsibility for our spontaneous activity yesterday. I realize we didn’t use any protection. Are you on The Pill?”

  Jemma thought he sounded cute stumbling over words. “No.”

  “Hysterectomy?”

  “No.”

  “Sooo,” he drew the word into multiple syllables, “yesterday, we played pregnancy roulette?”

  “No, it was a safe time of the month. I’m not ovulating. You’re safe. I appreciate you stepping up to the plate.”

  FIFTEEN

  Kyle sat behind his desk, fuming more and more by the second. He finally took the time the read the document Ava gave him. She expected him to just her five hundred thousand dollars? She had to be crazy or desperate for money. Which one he really didn’t care.

  He dialed his divorce attorney. “Hey, Brandon, I have a question about my divorce. Ava is claiming that since I started the fund during our marriage, she’s due half due to Texas law.”

  Brandon laughed. “I’m sure she did. She’s busted you know?”

  “What? I haven’t talk to her since we divorced for obvious reasons. What happened to the guy she married after me?”

  “Since your return to Green Acres, you’ve missed a lot. Ava never remarried after you. At least not legally. I try to keep tabs on her, cause I know what kind of person she can be. When you guys split, she was pregnant but the a few months later, she had a miscarriage. The impending marriage was called off. Rumor has it she’s taken up with Max Burnett of the Austin Burnetts.”

  He lived in Austin long enough to know that the Burnetts meant money. “So why is she after me?”

  “Max has been in trouble with the law the last few years. He’s wanted for insider trading and is currently on the run. No one has seen him for the last six months. There’s a BOLO out on him and Ava.”

&
nbsp; “Are you serious? Is this why she’s down here? She showed up on my doorstep Sunday night.” Kyle knew this was going to mean trouble for him. “She’s on the run with Max?”

  “She is believed to be on the run. I’d call the police if she contacts you again,” Brandon advised.

  “She called me last night about that damn paper. She really wants me to sign it. She was at the ranch, but Mom had her escorted off. She hasn’t been back. She wanted me to meet her at some coffee shop to give her the paper.”

  “You didn’t, did you?”

  “Don’t be stupid. Of course not. I have an ulcer because of that woman. I finally had a minute so I looked at this paper she wanted me sign. Since she committed adultery, I don’t think I owe her anything else. I mean, I gave her all the furniture in the divorce.”

  “Against my wishes,” Brandon reminded his client. “All I can say is that Karma is a bitch. She’s getting exactly what she deserves.”

  “You get no argument from me,” Kyle said. “So she has no legal right to the money?”

  “Of course not. Unless you just want to give her your money. You’re not legally bound to do so.”

  “Great. So I can rip this paper up?”

  “I wouldn’t. You never know when you’ll need it.”

  “Of course you’d say that. You’re a lawyer. I wish there was a way that she could stay out of my life permanently. I’d thought since we have no children and are divorced, that would have been easy. I don’t like her popping up in my life without warning,” Kyle said.

  “That’s what I’m here for. Is her number still the same? I can drop her a message.” He took a deep breath. “Now that all the legal mess is out of the way, how are you doing?”

  “Not you too.” Kyle wished that not so many people cared about his social life.

  “What? I’m just concerned for my friend. A little bird told me that you’re dating now. I’m really happy to hear that. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “I know, Brandon. She’s a widow, so we’re both treading lightly. She thinks I’m the ranch manager. She keeps asking about the boss.”