Page 112 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

Callie laughed. “It does. Oh, but wait – you know Tori!”

“I do! She may just be the sweetest person on earth.”

Callie laughed. “You might compete with her for that title, but yeah. She’s a doll. I was going to say that she was the only real friend I had in Nashville.” She looked around with a smile. “And look at me now – I have all these brothers and sisters-in-law, and a whole bunch of friends. Not a one of them could care less about what I do. They don’t care if I keep singing or if I never work again once the baby comes – as long as I’m good to Kolby, they love me.”

Shayna glanced at Callie’s flat stomach – had she just given away more than she realized?

Callie laughed when she caught her looking. “No, I’m not pregnant.” Her smile faltered a little. “I can’t have kids. But we’re going to adopt, the mom is seven months along now. She doesn’t want to keep the baby, so when he or she is born we’re going to step in and become the parents from day one.”

“Wow!”

Callie laughed. “Yeah, it might sound crazy but …”

“It sounds amazing! I’m so happy for you. This is me volunteering myself for babysitting duties.”

Wade grinned as he approached them with two bottles of beer in his hands. “I noticed that you ladies didn’t have a drink, so I came to offer.” He held out the bottles, and she and Callie took them.

“Did I hear you offering babysitting services?”

“Of course! Mateo and Maya are awesome – I’d be happy to watch them for you any time. You and Sierra deserve a night out.”

“It’s not night times I’m thinking about.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Sierra finally started painting again. And when she can, she gets lost in it. But I know she holds herself back because she’s afraid that she’ll be so lost in her work that she might forget to pick the kids up from school.”

“What time do they finish? I can go get them.”

Wade nodded slowly. “It’d work out perfectly if you went for them after you close the lunchtime bar service down.” He frowned. “Would you want to, though? What about all your other work – schoolwork and that.”

“It’s fine. I have time. And honestly, Wade, I’d love to meet them from school and spend a bit of time with them. And if it means I’m helping in the tiniest way to get Sierra painting again …” She glanced at Callie. “Have you seen her work?”

Callie laughed. “Seen it? I fell in love with her paintings from the first time I laid eyes on one. I’ve bought three so far. If you can help her produce more, I’ll owe you.”

Shay hoped her smile covered how uncomfortable she felt. She needed to get over it. She’d looked up Sierra’s work online when Ty had told her that she was a famous artist. Her paintings sold formillions– and Callie owned three of them!

Wade seemed to understand what she was thinking. He smiled but before he got the chance to speak, Ty appeared at his side.

“You doing okay, sweetheart?”

“I’m great. Is there anything I can do to help?”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, landing a kiss on her lips. “Just needed one of those to keep me going.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his chest.

“Aww, you guys are adorable together,” said Callie.

Wade laughed. “I wouldn’t dare call you that – but seeing you together makes me happy.” He caught Shayna’s gaze. “I don’t want to put my foot in it – do you want to tell Ty what we were just talking about?”

Ty gave her a puzzled look. “Oh, yeah – just that I’m going to be helping them out by picking the kids up from school.”

He frowned – but that didn’t surprise her. He was trying to get her to do less while she kept finding more and more things to do.

She grinned at him. “It’s not like it’ll be hard work, is it? I love those little guys!”

“I know. But do you even know where the school is?”

She laughed. “I don’t. But I’m sure it won’t be hard to find.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “I know. I just … you know.”

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