Kacy’s eyes drift to the girls. “I know it won’t be perfect, especially if Morgan gets a hold of the tequila, but this is perfect. Here. With you guys. And it starts with baking cookies with two little girls. I’m going to make every Christmas cookie imaginable.”
I pull her into my side, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “You’re something else, Darlin’.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
I press my lips to her temple. “A very good thing.” We haven’t talked about where this is leading or what comes after Christmas. I don’t even want to think about her leaving.
“It’s so beautiful here,” Kacy says, trudging through the snow beside me, the girls ahead of us a few steps. We took a walk around the ranch. The girls wanted to show her where they go swimming in the summer, and that turned into them hunting for a lost spell in the trees. Okay, Sev is hunting for a nonexistent spell, and Camdyn is going along with it for now. I have to admit, since Kacy has been here, Camdyn’s been a lot nicer to Sev. I’ve only had to separate one fight this week.
Without much thought, I take Kacy’s hand in mine, fully aware this is the first time I’ve held it. “Spring is beautiful,” I hedge, curious what she’ll say. “Summers are hot and unbearable.”
Worry etches in her face, her eyes darting to the kids. “I… need talk to you about something.”
My heart beats a little faster. “About leaving?”
“No. It’s just that, well, I don’t know… we should talk. Alone.”
I panic. “Kacy, if this is about you staying here for Christmas… I want you here. They want you here.”
“No, about you—”
“Daddy?” Camdyn yells. “Who’s that?”
I glance over my shoulder to see what she’s pointing at. That’s when I see a familiar Chevy truck. Johnny’s truck. Only he’s not the one standing outside of it. Fuck. Why the hell would she show up here?
“Goddamn it, Tara,” I grumble, feeling like my heart is going to beat out of my chest. I drop my arm from around Kacy and face her. She’s pale, her eyes wide in fear, panic… I don’t know, but I can’t place it. It’s as if she’s seeing a ghost. “Can you take my girls inside?” I ask, handing her Camdyn’s jacket she stripped off and tossed at me.
Kacy nods, reaching for their hands and the jacket, but there’s hesitation in her eyes. “I uh… yes. I can.”
“Are you okay?”
She nods again, chewing on her bottom lip. That’s when I realize how odd this must look to her—a woman standing in front of my house looking like she wants to rip my nut sac off. Probably needs explaining on my part. “That’s my wife,” I whisper. “But the girls have no idea who she is,” I warn, hoping she catches on.
Nodding, almost frantically, she catches on.
I have no idea why Tara would show up here… actually, I do. I just didn’t think she had the guts to face me in person.
Kacy takes the girls closer to the house, underneath the porch. “Should we go inside? It’s getting cold.”
I step toward Tara, who approaches us, looking every bit like her Instagram photos and not like the farm girl who left here three years ago. “What are you doing here?” I growl.
She throws her hands up, glaring at me as she steps through the snow. “To get you to sign the damn papers, Barron.” She at least has the decency to keep her voice down.
“Why?” I snort, stepping closer to her and under the confines of the covered porch wrapping around the house. “So you can get remarried? Because that’s all this about, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she admits, her eyes on Kacy and the girls behind me as Kacy struggles to get their snow boots off. Her hands are shaking. Fuck. I bet she’s freaked out by all this, and the idea that she might be only pisses me off more.
I lift my eyes back to Tara. My chest tightens with every second I’m near her. Believe me, I’d rather stick my hand in a cow’s ass than have a conversation with Tara about these fucking divorce papers. But I knew it was coming. Eventually. I just didn’t think she’d show up here, days before Christmas, while the girls were here.
“So you came all this way to have me sign them?” I laugh, burying my shaking hands in my pockets. I don’t want her to see that her existence here makes me edgy. I’ve never told the girls about her. They have no idea what she looks like or anything about her. For all they know, they were hatched like chickens. Not true, but they don’t ask much about it, so I don’t give details.
“If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, right, Kacy?” Tara’s cool blue eyes slide to Kacy.
My heart drops, and suddenly I find it hard to breathe. Kacy? It takes me a minute before the realization hits me. She’s from California. Did she… no. She couldn’t have. Unfortunately, by the expression on Kacy’s face, the truth is there, without words. She… knows Tara. Slowly, I meet Kacy’s eyes; her pale expression confirms it.
She’s staring, mouth open, at Tara. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, that’s cute.” Tara laughs. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
Kacy shakes her head, but no words come out.
Sev tugs on Kacy’s hand. “Is dat Barbie?”
No one answers Sev.
Tara glares at Kacy. “How pitiful that you were so jealous of me that you had to come here to find the one I left behind.”
This is where I see fucking red. And not for the reasons you’d think. I don’t know why, but my brain hasn’t even registered that part of the connection, or maybe I don’t care enough. What has me ready to blow up on Tara are the girls being this close to her. I’m sweating, ready to grab them and rush them away from her. It makes me vulnerable because I do not want them knowing their mom abandoned them. Not right before Christmas when they asked Santa for a mom.
My focus slips, and I look down at the kids, who have remained completely oblivious to this until this moment. “Who’s she?” Camdyn asks, watching Tara curiously. I search her face for any recollection at all. I often wondered if Camdyn would remember her. She was one when Tara left, and you know, there’s relief because she doesn’t.
“She not from Santa,” Sev tells her, reaching for her cat that walks by.
Tara stares at the girls and then Kacy. “I can’t believe you came here. I fire you and then find my husband? That’s pathetic.”
Irritation gets the better of me. “Somebody better explain what the fuck is going on!” I yell. Both my kids straighten their postures, knowing I mean business. Sev drops the cat, and even he runs away at the tone of my voice.
“Kacy was my assistant,” Tara says, with no emotion in her eyes. “Up until I fired her.”
What? Did I hear that correctly?
I look to Kacy, who’s holding Sev now, staring at me with sorry eyes.
“That’s not what happened.” Kacy swallows and regards Tara with a scowl. “I quit.”
I continue to stare at her, even after the words leave her lips. I focus on her mouth, then back to her eyes. “Kacy,” I whisper, stunned, waiting for the take-back, but it doesn’t come.