Page 63 of A Nice Day for a Cowboy Wedding

Cora didn’t know whether to let that be or press, and it was the constant fight in this motherhood thing. Always trying to figure out the right lines to draw. But whether Micah wanted to talk to her or not, it wasn’t as if Shane wasjusta date orjustsome sex. This wasn’t a date to have some fun or scratch an itch. It was the kind of date you went on to try to build something.

And half of her foundation was Micah, which meant making sure his foundation was solid. “I am . . . I’m . . .”Interior thoughts and space. She blew out a breath. “Shane and I are going to go out on a date.”

Micah didn’t look at her. “Okay.”

“I thought you should know.”

“Why?”

“Well, you’ll be telling me when you’re going on dates whether you like it or not, and you like Shane, so I thought you’d be happy. Or at least okay. Because, you know, he might come over sometimes and it might be . . . Well, it’d be fun, the three of us. Wouldn’t it?”

Micah adjusted his backpack, still not looking at her. “I think I hear Sam’s Jeep,” was all he said before heading toward the door.

“Micah.” Cora followed him, not sure what was twisting inside of her. Worry. Fear. Irritation. “You do like Shane.”

“Yeah. He’s fine. It’s fine. Whatever. Can I go now?”

Cora placed her hands on her son’s ever-growing shoulders. He’d be taller than her in no time. Amanin no time. “Baby, be straight with me. We promised each other that.”

“I hate it,” Micah spat, so acidly that Cora took a step back, shocked to her core.

“But—”

“It’s a dumb idea, and I don’t want you kissing him or going out with him or any of it!” He said it so vehemently, so sure.

“But you like him,” Cora replied weakly. Where on earth hadthatcome from? “You like all of them.” Which reminded her she was the adult in this situation. She had to be strong, not weak. “Shane’s a good man, and I like him a lot. And he likes me,andyou. He’s the kind of guy . . .” Ah, hell, she couldn’t start talking about relationships and foundations and futures with a twelve-year-old, but she needed to explain it all somehow. She reached for him. “Baby—”

“You’ll tell him,” Micah exploded, backing away from her, tears shining in his eyes. “About everything that happened with Dad. You’ll tell him and everyone will know and they’ll treat us different. It’ll be all pity and weird looks and . . . I hate it. Everyone at Mile High does that. You’re going to ruin everything at the ranch, and it’s the only place I have.”

Cora could only stare. She hadn’t expected an outburst of emotion, but more . . . She hadn’t expectedthis. Micah to feel exactly the way she felt—that on the Tyler ranch she could just be her. Not Lilly’s messed up sister or an abuse survivor, butCora Preston.

“I’m not going to tell him,” she whispered.

Micah straightened at that. “What do you mean?” he asked, blinking furiously so that none of those tears fell. She had to keep her own eyes as wide as possible to keephertears from falling.

“I’m not going to tell him or anyone all of that,” Cora said, more firmly this time. “I don’t . . . I don’t want any of that pity either. So, we just won’t talk about it with them. That’s okay. We don’t have to tell everyone we meet about our past.”

“Really?” Micah’s eyebrows drew together, and he bit his thumbnail, an old anxiety habit he didn’t do often anymore. “But isn’t that lying?”

“No. It’s . . . It’s keeping some things private. That’s okay.”

Micah studied her. “You’re really not going to tell him?”

“Really.” She’d already decided she couldn’t, and now she had even more reason not to. Micah didn’t want her to. So, it wasn’t even selfish anymore. She was doing it for her kid. It was the right thing to do. For both of them.

The knock on the door caught them off guard, eliciting a flinch from both.

“You still want to go?” Cora asked, placing her hand on the knob. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to go.”

“Because if you want to talk—”

Micah tugged on the door. “I want to go.”

Cora let go of the door so Micah could open it. She forced herself to smile at Sam and Hayley. “Hey, guys.”

“Hey,” Hayley greeted cheerfully. “Our little camper ready?”

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