Читать книгу Coming Home to a Cowboy - Sheri WhiteFeather, Sheri WhiteFeather - Страница 9

Chapter Four

The following morning Bridget’s mom stopped by, but she didn’t come inside. Since she was on her way to work, she preferred to stand in the graveled driveway and have a quick talk.

Still, Bridget took a moment to study her. If she wanted to see herself twenty-five years from now, all she had to do was look at the woman who’d given her life. Mom was a little heavier than she used to be, with tiny lines around her eyes and threads of gray sneaking into her natural blond hair, but the overall resemblance between them wasn’t hard to miss.

“What do you think of Kade now that you’ve seen him again?” Mom asked, getting right to the point.

Bridget answered cautiously, not wanting to include anything too personal. “Cody certainly liked him. They clicked right away.”

Her mother’s face had a pinched expression. “That’s what Cody told your grandmother. He called her last night before he went to bed, singing his daddy’s praises. But he already idolized the man before he met him, so he’s been enamored from the start. If something goes wrong, he’s going to be crushed. It gives me a knot in the pit of my stomach just thinking about it.”

“I know. Me, too.” Bridget couldn’t just wash away her fears. “But Kade keeps saying that his interest in Cody won’t fade. That he’ll keep coming back to visit. So I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I promised him that much.”

“I suppose it’s the right thing to do. But it still worries me.”

“I know,” Bridget said again. If anyone understood, it was her mom. “But at least they seem to have a lot in common. I didn’t know that Kade took art classes in college. It never occurred to me that was where Cody might’ve gotten his talent. I just thought it was a random gene.”

“How could you know everything about Kade? You only spent a week with him. And as much as I hate to say this, I can tell that you’re still attracted to him.”

So much for keeping her feelings hidden. “How can you tell? I’m just standing here.”

“It’s written all over your face, honey. But I suspected that it might happen. You had a strong crush on him the first time around, and now he’s back, stirring your senses again.”

“I’m trying to compartmentalize my feelings.” And manage the temptation of being near him. “But I think it’s going to take some time for me to get a handle on it.”

“I wish Cody would’ve never taken an interest in him.” Mom swigged from the plastic water bottle she’d brought with her. “Now that your grandmother knows how pleased Cody is with Kade, she’s ready to go full steam ahead. She wants to host a barbecue this Saturday, so she and I can meet Kade. But she wants to invite other people, too.”

“What other people?” Everything was moving at such a breakneck pace, Bridget could hardly keep up.

“Our friends. Yours, hers, mine, Cody’s. The more the merrier, according to her.”

“Did she say anything to Cody about it?”

“Not yet. She wanted me to run it by you first. But she’s certain that he’ll be thrilled.”

“She’s right. He’s going to love the idea of showing his dad off to everyone. I think Kade will be fine about it, too. He already knows that Grandma is on his side, so he’ll probably appreciate that this was her brainstorm.”

“How do you feel about introducing Kade to your friends?”

Bridget was a bit nervous about it, but she tried to keep it in perspective. “They’ve just start asking about him anyway, wondering what he’s like and how it’s going. I’ll have to deal with it sooner or later. So it might as well be sooner. He’s coming for dinner tonight, so I can tell him and Cody about the barbecue then.”

Mom capped her water. “I hope this isn’t going to seem like a twisted question, considering that I never had the courage to ask you before. But have you ever secretly wanted to search for your dad? Has it ever been a thought in your head?”

“Honestly?” Bridget made a pattern in the gravel, moving the tiny stones with the tip of her boot. “I used to fantasize about it. I’d picture myself striding up to him somewhere, and when I was close enough for him to figure out that I was the daughter he’d ditched, I would tell him in no uncertain terms how much I hated him. But even in my tough-girl fantasies, I was afraid that I might break down and cry and look like a fool. I even feared that I might discover that he was dead. Then I wouldn’t be able to do anything, except feel even emptier inside.”

“He could be gone by now, I suppose.” Mom leaned against her truck, looking a bit empty herself. “Or he could be out there, the same as always.”

Bridget turned the twisted question around. “Have you ever considered looking for him?”

“Yes, but just to learn what became of him. In the long run, though, I knew it wouldn’t be worth it. With the way I loved your dad, I was afraid I would get sucked back into those feelings again.”

“I always wondered about Kade, too, but I never even typed his name into the computer. That would have made it too real.”

“And now here you are, with reality nipping at your heels. But I want you to know that however difficult this gets or however it unfolds, you can come to me.”

“Thank you.” Her heart tugged in her chest. “But I already know that I can count on you.” She’d gotten shortchanged with her dad. But her mom had always been her soft place to fall.

* * *

While Bridget was immersed in making a spaghetti dinner, she glanced at Cody. He sat at the kitchen table, working on his time capsule comic and waiting for Kade to arrive. He’d already rushed through his homework, just as he’d done last night, so that he could make the comic a priority.

As soon as the doorbell rang, he dropped what he was doing and leaped up like a frog. “I’ll get it!”

Bridget stayed where she was, at the stove, stirring the sauce. Within seconds, father and son entered the room.

“Hi,” Kade said to her, his presence creating electric energy.

“Hi,” she replied, and kept stirring. One simple exchange, one greeting, and he made her feel like an anxious virgin all over again.

“Check out what I’ve done so far,” Cody said to his dad. “I still have lots more to do to finish it, but I’m going to keep working on it whenever I can.”

Kade took a seat, openly admiring the pages that had been completed. “Oh, wow. This is amazing.” He glanced up. “Have you seen it, Bridget? His drawings are of the three of us. We’re the stars of his adventure.”

She summoned a smile. She’d seen it, all right. Cody had turned them into a crime-fighting trio. “That’s quite a costume I have on.”

Cody chimed in. “I wasn’t sure how to draw you, Mom. So I used other comic books with superhero girls in them as my guide, and they were all wearing these types of outfits. Only I made yours more Western.”

“I think it’s a wonderful likeness,” Kade said to Bridget. “Like Dale Evans with a spark of Marilyn Monroe.”

“Who are they?” Cody asked as Bridget narrowed her eyes at her son’s dad.

“They’re old-time actresses,” she told him. “And really, Kade, Dale Evans?”

He chuckled. “I couldn’t think of another country girl.”

She made a face at him, simply to stop him from staring at her the way he was. And it could have been worse, she supposed. Cody could have drawn her to look way more momish, instead of putting her in a catsuit with fringe and country boots.

“It kind of looks like Veronica Lake, too,” Kade said to Cody. “She’s another old-time actress. She had long blond hair like your mom’s, only she sometimes wore it covering one of her eyes. That helped make her famous.”

When Cody shrugged and went back to his work, Bridget asked Kade, “So what’s the deal? Are you an old-movie buff?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. But I’m also an old-pinup buff. When I was a teenager, I used to go into a poster shop that had tons of classic pinups lining the walls, and I got fascinated with them. The interesting thing about Veronica Lake is most of her pinups were from the shoulders up because her hair was such a hot commodity. She was small, too, like you. I don’t even think she stood five feet.”

“I’m five-three.” Bridget defended her stature, even though he wasn’t criticizing her. If anything, he was looking at her with far too much attraction in his eyes.

He said, “When I go home to visit my family, I think I’ll go see Veronica’s star in Hollywood. And Marilyn’s.” He teased her with a wink and a smile. “I probably better check out Dale’s, too, just so her feelings don’t get hurt.”

She shook her head, caught in his flirtation and trying not to let it show. “What about Roy and Trigger?”

“Trigger doesn’t have a star. Lassie and Rin Tin Tin do, though.”

Cody glanced up. “What are you guys talking about?”

Kade replied, “The Walk of Fame. The sidewalks in Hollywood that have pink-and-gold stars with famous people’s names written on them. There are some famous animals’ names on them, too. Even some of the Muppets have stars. Come to think of it, Godzilla has one, but as far as I know, he’s the only monster so far.”