Page 46 of Take Me Please, Cowboy
“Would you like a drink?”he asked thinking he could use one.He’d only been home from work for a half hour and a beer tasted nice right around now.
“Anything besides beer?”she asked, knowing him too well.
“I can make you a vodka and orange juice.”
She considered it then wrinkled her nose.“I’m good.If I have a cocktail, I won’t want to make dinner.”
“Then don’t.Order pizza tonight.”
“You have a solution for everything,” she said as he disappeared into the tiny kitchen for a beer.
“That’s my job,” he said, popping off the cap and sitting in the old armchair facing the couch.
He watched as her lavender gaze swept the interior of his home.
“You keep everything nice and tidy.”She didn’t sound surprised, though.She’d raised him to be organized, to keep things clean, and he, the oldest, had always tried to do what he’d been taught.It was easier that way, less friction between his parents, less drama for the family.
He saw his mother study some of the rodeo ribbons and awards he’d hung on one wall.
“Where are the buckles?”she asked.
“Put away.A little too much bling for such a humble abode.”
She smiled.“You remind me so much of my dad.I wish you’d been able to spend more time with him when you were growing up.But considering you didn’t see much of each other, it’s remarkable how similar you are, and not just in looks.You have the same quiet strength.He was a man of conviction.If he made you a promise, he kept it, always.”
It wasn’t hard for Rye to read between the lines.His mom had fallen in love with Jonathan Rye Calhoun, imagining he would be her hero, like her adored father.But John was cut from a different cloth, and while he’d once been a hardworking man, setbacks set him back, permanently.
Her smile quavered and, clasping her hands tighter, she added, “Someday you’re going to meet the right one, and you’re going to want to build a family with her, and what she wants is going to be important, Rye.”
Rye lifted a brow but held his tongue.
“Let’s be honest if we can.No woman is going to want to live here, in the trailer.And they certainly won’t want to move in with your family.”
“I would never move my wife into your house, and what’s wrong with this place?”he teased her.“It has four walls, a roof, plumbing, even a hot plate in the kitchen—”
“Thank God, I know you’re not serious.But, Rye, you have thought about this, haven’t you?No young woman is going to want to move here, and I want a daughter-in-law one day, I do, but not if she’d resent us.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“She would if she had no place of her own.I know, because I had to move in with your dad’s family here, and it wasn’t ideal.Trust me.”
Rye had never heard this before and it gave him pause.“You never told me.”
“I wasn’t going to speak against your grandparents, or your dad.But it was stressful, and it made those early years as a newlywed far harder than they had to be.”
Rye held his breath, because what options did he have?None.He’d never abandon his family.
“Have I upset you?”his mother asked, tentatively, voice pitched low.
“No, of course not.”
“I want the best for you.”
“I understand.Fortunately, I’m not getting married anytime soon so we don’t have to cross that bridge yet.”
She hesitated.“What about the girl you met in Marietta?”
He frowned.“There was no one—”
