Chapter Twenty-Nine
Pete
Sunday
I was putting the finishing touches on my outfit when I heard Emma coming in the house.
“I’m in the bathroom!” I called out.
She appeared behind me in the mirror, grinning. “Are you wearing a tie, Pete Gains?”
I turned away from the mirror, trying to smile, too. I hadn’t been this nervous in a long time. I really liked this girl. I didn’t want to fuck things up by getting off on the wrong foot with her father. I knew how much of a daddy’s girl she was. If I fell out of the saddle tonight, I might not get another chance to get back on the horse.
She looked me up and down, from the tips of my nicest boots to my khaki pants — I hadn’t worn them in years, and they were a little tight — to the dressiest shirt I owned topped off with my only necktie. She laughed, but her green eyes were kind.
“The first thing you need to do is get that tie off.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I tugged it off my neck and threw it on the back of the toilet, happy to never put another one on as long as I lived.
“Daddy’s not gonna be dressed up,” she said. “And, you can see what I’m wearing.” She had on a sundress and sandals, her long hair loose down her back. “You’re not gonna be able to relax if you aren’t comfortable. Go put on something else.”
I went to my room to do just what she’d asked, keeping the nicer boots, but trading the uncomfortable khakis and dress shirt for a pair of jeans and a button up shirt I might wear to ride in. Her daddy had horses and a good chunk of his own property. He probably didn’t expect me to show up in my Sunday best. That relaxed me a little, but I still didn’t know how I was ever going to settle down enough to eat. My stomach had been in knots since Emma’d brought up this dinner.
She looked me over again, this time nodding once to show she approved. “You look great, Pete. Much more natural.” She stepped closer and lifted up onto the tips of her toes to plant a kiss on my mouth. “Let’s get on. Daddy’s got the grill going already.”
We walked out to her car. I’d never ridden in it before. Damn, it was tiny. I felt like I had to fold my legs in half to fit inside of it. I reached under my seat, pulled up on the lever, and slid it back as far as it would go.
She turned us around and headed out to the main country road.
“Should I be worried about today?” I asked.
She shrugged a bare shoulder. “I’m not the one to ask. I’ve never done this before.”
“Damn, I’d think you’d at least have some advice for me.”
She glanced over at me briefly, displaying her warm grin, before putting her eyes back on the road. “You’ll be just fine. Daddy’s a sweet man.” Her grin deepened, those emerald eyes flashing with a light I didn’t quite care for. “At least, he is to me.”
We pulled up to her Daddy’s property, and I had a second to look around before she parked the car and we got out. I could see lots of rolling, grassy land and a barn set back a few hundred feet from the main house.
She turned to me, taking my hand and squeezing. “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine. Kasey’ll probably do most of the talking, anyway.” She leaned to give me another quick kiss, then she was gone, opening her car door and getting out.
Reluctantly, I followed her. We walked up to the porch together, not holding hands. It might’ve been some time since I’d met a girl’s parents, but that didn’t mean I was stupid. I knew better than to keep putting my hands on Emma with her daddy around, not even an innocent arm around her shoulders. I wasn’t about to do anything that got me led out of the house by the barrel of a loaded shotgun.
As soon as we hit the porch, the front door flew open. Kasey was there to greet us, grinning excitedly, her green eyes blazing and hair loose and bouncy around her shoulders. She was wearing a dress, too, but it was a fair bit shorter than Emma’s was.
“Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re here!” she cried, and jumped into my arms for a hug.
I looked over at Emma, who shrugged, a small smile lighting up her face.
Kasey bounced out of my arms and then hugged her sister. “Daddy’s out back.” She took Emma by the hand and dragged her into the house, leaving me to follow along after them. Kasey chattered the whole way through the house, but I couldn’t concentrate on a single word of it. I was swallowing back the sick trying to rise up from my stomach, my mind racing through all the things I shouldn’t bring up, what Emma and I had done last night in my bedroom the first item on the list.
The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that it was only a matter of time before I said something stupid. Emma looked over her shoulder at me once before we reached the back of the house, Kasey chattering away, and gave me a reassuring smile that I couldn’t return.
We walked outside into the last of the sunshine. We had some daylight left, but the sun was dropping out of the sky in a hurry. Mr. Flowers was standing with his back to us, standing over a charcoal grill. I could smell the barbecuing meat the minute I stepped out of the house.
“He’s here, Daddy!” Kasey cried, letting go of Emma. She ran to join her daddy at the grill, bouncing across the back lawn on the balls of her bare feet, her light hair flying in every direction.
Emma took me by the arm, leading me the way she would her prom date. “Relax,” she whispered. “He won’t bite.”
Mr. Flowers set his tongs down and turned from the grill to face us. He didn’t look much older than sixty, with a tanned, weathered face, light blue eyes, and a nose that looked like Emma’s, only bigger. He looked ready to jump right onto the back of a horse, in jeans, boots, a button up shirt that looked a lot like the one I had on, and a worn cowboy hat.
“Daddy, this is Pete Gains,” Emma said, her hands sliding away from my arm. “Pete, this is my daddy, John Flowers.”
I held out my hand, and he took it in a tight grip. “I’m pleased to meet you, Sir,” I said.
He nodded once, the way Emma always did. “I’ve heard plenty about you over the last few weeks, son,” he said in a low, gruff voice. “Chicken’s done.” He turned to start putting it on the plate.
“Can I help with anything, Sir?”
“Just by eating it,” he replied.
We walked over to the table, me sticking as close as I could to Emma. We sat down, Kasey and Mr. Flowers on one side and me and Emma on the other. The table was laid with all manner of sides — baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad, corn on the cob — and glasses of iced tea that were sweating all over the checkered tablecloth.
“As you can see, the girls were busy this morning,” Mr. Flowers said.
Smiling as a pretty blush colored her cheeks, Emma took the plate of chicken from the center of the table, serving me a piece and then herself before handing it to her sister. She did the same with the rest of the sides. I found, staring at all this food, that I was starving half to death. I hadn’t eaten a damned thing since the night before.
“Emma tells me you raise horses,” Mr. Flowers said.
I nodded. “Yes, Sir. I have quite a few on the ranch. We raise them, train them to race, and sell them. I only have two that I’d never sell off.”
“Did you really get that big old farm at eighteen?” Kasey asked, her light eyes shining. She had on a lot of makeup. Not that it looked bad, it was just hard to get used to because she looked so much like her sister and Emma didn’t wear a stitch of the stuff. I liked that about her. She and Lacey had that much in common. They liked to be dirty and sweaty at the end of a long day, and makeup just didn’t fit in with that.
“I did,” I said, relaxing some more. Talking about things I cared about helped. “My daddy passed, and I took over from there. I had some help, of course.”
We all dug into our food, keeping up the conversation, so it felt natural. I tried to keep from sneaking glances at Emma, but I could see her smiling at the edge of my vision. Kasey kept bringing up funny stories about her adventures as a waitress in Austin, at one point I nearly spit out a mouthful of tea. Mr. Flowers just watched his daughters laughing and talking, a calm, pleased look in his eye. He didn’t talk much and only asked a few questions. Even Emma was mostly quiet. I talked to Kasey the most out of everyone. She kept the table smiling and laughing, me included.
At the end of the meal, I rose to help the girls clear the dishes. “You gotta hand wash in this damned house,” Kasey grumbled.
Emma laughed. “She acts like we just laid out the last supper.”
“I’m happy to help with the washing up,” I said.
Emma lifted a dark eyebrow to cap off a surprised expression.
“What? My mama died when I was young. My daddy and I split the chores inside, same as we did outside. I did my fair share of dishes.” I rolled up my sleeves. “Tell me what you want me to do, wash or dry.”
“You got yourself a good one, Em, if he’s willing to clean up!” Kasey turned to leave the kitchen, nearly running into her father in the process. She shrieked, and everyone in the kitchen jumped. “Daddy, you scared me!”
“You help your sister wash up,” he said, completely unaffected by her outburst. “Pete, can we have a word out back?”
I turned to look at Emma, but she only smiled and shrugged. I followed Mr. Flowers from the kitchen to the backyard. He closed the door behind us and motioned for us to sit down in a pair of wooden chairs on the back patio. He stared out at the rear of his property, not looking over at me, which helped me to calm down a little. I felt like some kid trying to take out my sixteen-year-old girlfriend, not a grown man who owned his own business and several hundred acres of land.
“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how special my girls are to me,” he said.
“No, Sir.”
“It’s been just the three of us for a long time. I worry that the girls think they can’t move on with their lives and leave me behind.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“Emma likes to make everybody happy before thinking of herself. Her mother was the same.” He was quiet for a moment, but it was a casual, comfortable silence. “That’s why I’m glad she’s found a place for herself and someone she cares about.”
I swallowed the lump rising up into my throat. He looked over at me, his light eyes more open than I’d expected. He nodded to me once, and I nodded back, hundreds of unspoken words passing between us in an instant before he glanced back out to the yard again. I looked over my shoulder and into the house. I had a clear view of the kitchen where Emma and Kasey were laughing and talking as they did the dishes.
“I’m glad, too, Sir.” I had to think of the best way to express the flood of feelings that welled up in me whenever I looked at Emma. “I truly care about your daughter. I don’t know how the farm got along without her. Or how I did.”
Mr. Flowers nodded again, only once, and we sat in a companionable silence until the girls came out to tell us the dishes were done and it was time for dessert.