Morgan and her fiancé, Pax, are standing in front of Tenley’s house. Pax waves, and Morgan looks like it’s all she can do to remain upright. She’s nearing the end of her pregnancy and all she wants is to be off her feet.
I turn the key and Pearl’s engine roars to life. Tenley turns around and sits on her knees, waving. “Call me the second you have a contraction,” she yells at Morgan.
Morgan yells back, but Tenley can’t hear her.
“What?” Tenley yells.
Morgan rolls her eyes and gives Tenley an exaggerated thumbs up.
Tenley laughs and drops down into the seat, buckling herself in. “She’ll call me.”
I pause when the gate closes behind us, using my phone to read Wyatt’s last text and enter the address he sent.
“What’s there?” Tenley asks as my phone starts reciting directions.
“You’ll see.” I’m afraid if I tell her where I’m going, she’ll put a stop to it. Plus, it probably won’t work. The timing has to be just right, and I’m not going to spend any more time on this than I have to.
I slow when I get to the residential neighborhood. It’s mostly single-family homes, and at the end are the apartments I’m looking for.
“I wish I knew what you were doing,” Tenley says, tapping a fingernail on the glove compartment.
“If I told you, you’d stop me.” I give her a quick kiss and hop out. Time appears to be on my side.
The kid is around fourteen. He’s walking a large Labrador retriever and holding a small plastic bag that looks to be in use. This couldn’t be any better.
“Seriously?” the kid asks when I tell him what I want. I hand over the fifty and he shakes his head. “I can’t wait to tell my friends about this.”
The apartment is on the ground floor. It makes this a hell of a lot easier.
I have no idea if the guy is home. For all I know, I might just stand there and wait and end up watching to make sure the flaming bag doesn’t catch anything else on fire.
Turns out, I don’t have to. He’s home.
I’m standing at the end of the sidewalk that leads to his front door. He looks down at the bag, eyes widening. Back up at me.
“Returning the favor,” I call out.
“Who are you?” he yells as I walk away.
It makes me even happier I took Wyatt up on his idea. That guy wrote a story that blew up my life, and he doesn’t even remember my face. He might now, though.
I get back to the vehicle and find Tenley slouched in her seat, her face hidden behind my ball cap. “You’re crazy,” she says, her voice muffled.
“Crazy for you.” I drive out of the neighborhood and get us back on the interstate.
Tenley tosses my hat on the floor in the back seat. She runs her fingers through my hair and settles her hand on my neck. “Let’s go home.”
Six months later
“Quite the wedding, huh? Did you see the bride’s train? You’d have thought she was royalty.”
“She kind of is, if you think about it.”
“Guess all royal families have a black sheep…”
“Now, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“You haven’t heard?”
“Obviously not.”
“The youngest Hayden boy got himself into trouble the day after the wedding. I heard he was at the police station, and it wasn’t because he was delivering a care package.”
“Ladies, how are you this fine morning?” Both women startle. I feel bad. At their advanced age, it’s probably not good for their hearts.
The quieter of the two has the decency to look flustered over being caught gossiping. Her chattier counterpart lifts her chin in defiance.
“Congratulations on your nuptials,” she says.
“Thank you.” I nod at her. Tenley walks out of Marigold’s carrying two to-go cups of coffee. She smiles at the old ladies and says hello. Neither has much to say about us now that we are here.
Not that they’re wrong. It was quite the wedding, Tenley’s train was a mile long, and Wyatt found himself an audience with the sheriff. And not in a good way.
It won’t be me dealing with Wyatt’s mess. Tenley and I are headed out of town. We stopped for coffee, and now we’re driving down to Phoenix. We’ll pick up Peyton and Charlie from Anna, who kept them after the wedding so we could have a few nights to ourselves. From there, we’ll get on a plane to Hawaii. It’s a family honeymoon, at Tenley’s suggestion. We’ll go on another trip later, just the two of us.
Tenley has read every book available on how to be a stepmom. She’d do fine even without all the instruction, but she says you only get one chance to do it right.
We timed the wedding and family honeymoon to coincide with the holiday break from school. Both for the kids and for myself. My students will be back the second week of January.
Tenley’s movie won’t release for another six months, and until she starts traveling we’re focusing our free time on remodeling the old Stephens house, the one the movie studio put her in when she first came to town. Tenley confided in me how much the movie means to her parents’ financial situation. She’s worried and nervous the movie will be a flop.
I’ve researched Tenley’s career, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that a Tenley Roberts film has never flopped. Still, I don’t want her walking around anxious for the next six months, so I called upon Wyatt. He used his mysterious contact, the person who helped him get back Tenley’s underwear, to find the name of the guy Tenley’s dad is indebted to. If Tenley’s movie doesn’t make money, she can pay off her parents debt like she has wanted to all along.
Wes has yet to find someone he trusts as much as me. He still gives me shit for leaving, and I help out when I can. Tenley pitches in too, putting to use those ranching lessons that started all this.
We say goodbye to the two old busybodies sitting on the bench outside Marigold’s. “Were they talking about us?” Tenley whispers as we walk to our car, parked a few spots away.
I nod.
She slips an arm around my waist. “I see them there often.”
“Just assume you’re a topic of their conversation.”
She laughs. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
I lean over to kiss my wife before she gets in the car. “Won’t be the last.”
Tenley grabs me, keeping me in place. “Let’s at least give them something good to talk about.”
I grin against her lips and push my hips into her. “Woman, I love you.”
Tenley kisses me hard. I bet those ladies have their hawk-like eyes on us, and they’re saying it won’t be long until the Haydens are adding another grandchild to the crew.
And in just two months’ time, their prediction turns out to be true.
The End
Sneak peek at The Outlaw
Coming September 2021
Wyatt
“He’s coming home. Tonight. Right now.”
It’s loud in the Chute, the voice of the lead singer in the live band bouncing off the walls and ricocheting around me, but I can still hear the fear in Sara’s voice as it travels over the phone line.