Page 3 of Dance in the Light
“Old Bessie.My God. If your old truck doesn’t bring back memories…” she started, running a hand along the gray dashboard. Finally, a sweet smile crossed Cindy’s face as we drove down the road. I knew every single memory, too. My fucking heart might as well break again now.
“Yep, I just can’t part with her. Some old things are worth keeping around.”
“Look, it’s been years and you could have left by now. So don’t go blaming me or anyone else because you never dared chase your dreams of leaving this town.Youare the entire reason you stay.”
“Nice speech.” I clammed up until we pulled alongside a building down the road.
Cindy Hale had me seeing fire. The kind where I was pissed. The kind where I wanted to strip her, take her hard against a wall, and make her come on my?—
The door flew open, and all I viewed in the middle of seeing red was a flash of hot pink and turquoise. I hopped out of the truck quickly.
“Dada!” My little girl jumped into my arms.
“There’s my rosebud.” I hugged my three-year-old tight, all thirty-one pounds of her, while the heat flaring off Cindy’s eyes seared my back.
“Hey, Rita,” I greeted the sitter. “Same time in the morning?”
“Rose was a very good girl today. Used the potty nicely. We colored and played outside in the sandbox. I’ll see you tomorrow, honey.” She turned to go back inside, but not before her eyes glanced over at the occupant of my truck, then back at me.
“Thanks again for watching after the most precious thing in my life.” I headed toward the truck. “I have someone for you to meet, little bud.”
“Truck,” she said with her cute little girl voice, and pointed.
“That’s right. We’ll make a stop, then go home.” In the backseat of my double cab, I put my girl in the car seat. “Rose, meet Cindy.”
“Dee?” She pointed.
To her credit, Cindy turned in her seat, pulled her jaw up off the floorboard, and painted a smile on her face. “Well, hello. Aren’tyou the cutest thing? The spitting image of your daddy. And how old are you?”
My daughter held up three fingers like I’d been teaching her.
“She just had a birthday last month. I gave her a huge stuffed unicorn pillow to sleep with because she’s my unicorn, one of a kind.” I couldn’t help but gush over my kid. Safely harnessed into the seat, I kissed the top of her pale blonde head.
At the wheel again, I drove on while my girl babbled behind me. Cindy stared straight ahead.
“It was a one-night stand that turned into more.She’sthe reason I stay.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to explain myself, but the situation reminded me of what’s important in my life.
Not Cindy, who would be long gone again in a few days, but my daughter, who I vowed to love and protect the rest of my life.
THREE
CLOCK TICKING
CINDY
There was a time Ryan had called me rosebud too. My cheeks burned with memories of shared kisses in the field…the night we danced by the lights of his truck.
I kept quiet on the way to the farm, because I’d already done enough sticking my foot into my mouth. Also, because little Rose was a talker. She carried on a full conversation with her daddy in a language all their own, even if most of her words made no sense.
“Is that right, baby girl? Yeah? Tell me more,” Ryan peeked at her in the special baby monitor mirror hanging below his rear-view mirror and kept conversing. His smiles beaming ear to ear charmed herandme. Sweet squeals of laughter back at him defrosted my heart.
Wow.I never pictured him like this. In my mind, he was always throwing the football, making touchdown passes, helping Dad mow the hay fields, swimming with me in our pond or six dozen other things that I knew as Ryan. But all grown up and as a father?Just—wow.
Good for him. Really. He had his crap together. I used to—until recently.
“Here we are. The Hale farm,” he announced as if I wouldn’t recognize the dirt lane we’d pulled onto from the highway.
Nothing had changed, so it seemed at first glance. The view of the pastures leading to the barns, then to the farmhouse, still the same.
