Page 1 of Curvy Girl and the Single Dad Cowboy

Chapter 1 - Vincent

I pace the worn hardwood floor of the ranch house kitchen, checking my watch for what must be the fifteenth time in the past few minutes. 15 minutes late already. Not a great first impression.

Aaron sits at our family's ancient oak table, silently nursing his black coffee. His weathered hands wrap around the mug like it's an anchor, keeping him here with me instead of wherever his mind tends to wander these days.

"You think this was a mistake?" I ask him.

Aaron's eyes shift up from his coffee, steady and unreadable as ever. Since coming back from his last tour, my older brother has become a man of few words. The ranch suits him now—wide open spaces, minimal conversation, predictable rhythms.

"Hiring someone I've never met to help with Lily," I clarify, though I know he understood the first time. "Some stranger watching my daughter."

Aaron takes a deliberate sip. "You vetted her. Recommendations checked out."

That's practically a speech coming from him these days.

I run my hand through my hair, feeling the familiar weight of exhaustion settling on my shoulders.

"Yeah, but still. It's different having someone in our space. In Lily's space."

The sound of my five-year-old's footsteps echoes from the living room where she's setting up her toy horses in what she calls her "ranch." I still can't believe it's been a year since Sarah walked out on us, claiming motherhood was "suffocating" her. One yearsince I had to explain to a four-year-old why Mommy wasn't coming home anymore.

"You need the help, Vince," Aaron says, his voice gruff but gentle. "We all do what we can, but..."

He doesn't finish, but he doesn't need to. My brothers try, Lord knows they do, but none of them signed up to help raise a little girl. Jackson's too busy running the business side of the ranch, Aaron's still fighting battles only he can see, Cole's barely home between rodeo competitions, and Ethan... well, Ethan's still figuring out how to be an adult himself.

"I know," I sigh, leaning against the counter. "I just—I want to be enough for her."

Aaron sets his cup down with a definitive click. "You are enough, but being enough doesn't mean doing it all alone."

I glance over, surprised by the insight. He meets my gaze with a shrug, then returns to his coffee.

The calendar on the fridge mocks me with its mess of scribbled obligations—veterinary appointments for the horses, Lily's kindergarten schedule, fence repairs on the north pasture, a meeting with our cattle buyers. Something had to give, and it couldn't be Lily.

"Twenty minutes," I mutter, looking at my watch again. "If punctuality was on her resume, I'd be requesting a refund."

"Roads out to the ranch can be tricky for city folk," Aaron offers, which is as close to defending a stranger as he's gotten in years.

I snort. "If she can't find her way to the ranch, how's she going to manage everything else?"

The truth is, I'm looking for reasons to call this whole thing off. Having a nanny feels like admitting defeat, like I've failed at being both mother and father to Lily. When Sarah left, I sworeI'd make sure Lily never felt the absence. Foolish promise. As if I could somehow fill the void a mother leaves behind.

But I don't miss Sarah. If I’m being honest with myself, that ship sailed even before she did. But Lily does. She still asks sometimes, her little voice so hopeful it cracks my heart clean in two.

"Do you think Mommy will visit for my birthday?" "Does Mommy know I lost a tooth?" Each question is like a knife, because what kind of mother just walks away from her child?

Aaron looks up at me, a rare half-smile touching his lips. "Lily’s worth it."

"Worth what?"

"Swallowing your pride. Letting someone help."

I exhale slowly, nodding. "When did you get so wise?"

He hums, and that sound could mean anything or nothing at all.

"Uncle Aaron!" Lily appears in the doorway, her dark curls wild around her face. "Can you come see my horses? I named one after you. He's the serious one."

Something in Aaron's expression softens, the way it only does for Lily. She has that effect on all my brothers —a tiny whirlwind who somehow makes this old ranch house feel like home again.

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