“I’m holding you to that,” she declared as she sped off ahead of him.
Had Mia given him permission to date Addy? And with their past, how did they even begin to date? Would it feel strange, he wondered, or would going out with her be as natural as the kisses had been?
* * *
After supper that evening, Addy helped Sonny get out to the back porch so he could watch the alpacas. She popped up his folding chaise lounge and set a glass of sweet tea on the table beside it. Then she pulled a rocking chair over beside him and sat down.
“You ever get bored out here on the ranch?” Sonny asked.
“Nope,” she answered.
“I’m glad, but I wanted to ask. Jesse is a medic, and he could monitor my meds and do what you do. I wouldn’t want to hold you back if you wanted to work in a hospital or nursing home, again,” Sonny said.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” she asked.
“Not in the least. I hope you stay here even after me and Pearl are gone on to eternity. You and Mia make this place complete, but I don’t want you to ever have regrets like Jesse would have had if we hadn’t supported his decision to join the Air Force.”
Addy patted him on the arm. “No regrets. I’m happy right here, doing what I do. I just hope Jesse and Mia can find some kind of middle ground and have a friendship if not a father and daughter relationship.”
“And what about you and Jesse?” Sonny turned his head and looked right at her.
She couldn’t keep from blushing. God! At thirty-eight years old, I shouldn’t get red cheeks at the mention of his name.
“It’s good to have my friend back in my life. I didn’t realize how much I had missed him, and Sonny, I want to apologize for not telling you and Pearl about Mia. I cheated both of you out of so many memories by keeping that to myself. It wasn’t fair to you,” she said.
“But you brought her back to us when we needed her the most,” Sonny said. “Sure, we would have loved to have been part of her life the whole time, but we’re not complaining. You had your reasons, and they were good ones. If it had been out of spite or anger, it would have been tough to forgive you, but it was done out of love for our boy, so…” He shrugged. “I’d like to see you two be more than friends, Addy. Don’t waste precious time when the two of you could be together. I regret that I didn’t take my sweet Pearl to all the places she wanted to go when we were young enough to enjoy it.”
“We’ve agreed to take everything slow,” Addy said.
“As long as you’re going forward,” Sonny advised.
Pearl came outside and slumped down in the rocker on the other side of Sonny. “I thought, at this age, we would be sitting out here watching our grandkids play in the yard, not baby alpacas romping in the pasture. But I’ve got to admit, I’m glad that Mia wasn’t pregnant. Not that I’m so old-fashioned as to be upset by a single mama, but I wouldn’t want her to have to raise a kid by that wild O’Malley boy.”
“Amen to that,” Addy agreed. “You’ve got to admit, though, that the alpacas are cute, and you don’t have to worry about one of those sweet little girls running off with a worthless guy.”
“Ever wonder what your mama thought when you wouldn’t name the father?” Pearl asked.
“She was upset for a while, but she told me it was my decision, and she would support me in whatever I wanted to do,” Addy answered.
Jesse poked his head out the kitchen door. “Want to go for a ride?”
“Sure.” Addy stood up. “Did you ask Mia?”
“Yep, but she’s gone to see Justine. This time I think she really is going there rather than to the drugstore, thank goodness,” Jesse said.
“Not ready to be a grandpa at thirty-nine?” Sonny teased.
“Nope, and certainly not when it would upset her to have to raise Ricky’s child,” Jesse answered. “Y’all want anything from over at Bonham?”
“I’ve got an invitation to a baby shower at the church tomorrow evening. Y’all could go into Walmart and find me a few things to give the new mother. She’s having a girl. I’ve got a fancy gift bag and tissue paper so don’t buy those,” Pearl said.
“Sure thing.” Addy nodded as she made her way into the house. “Just let me get my purse and I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll be waiting in the hallway,” Jesse told her.
Addy took time to brush her hair and apply fresh lipstick, then picked up her purse. Jesse was sitting in one of the ladder-back chairs in the foyer when she arrived and he immediately stood up, settled his cowboy hat on his head, and took her hand in his.
“When I was in tough situations, I used to imagine your smile, and it got me through those hard times,” he said. “I’m a fool for not getting in touch with you, Addy.”
“If you’re a fool, I’m one, too.” Addy’s nerve endings were fairly well humming at nothing more than his touch. She wanted to drag him off to a secluded wooded area and have wild, passionate sex with him in the front seat of his truck. Why, oh why, had she gotten so tied up in life that she hadn’t stopped to consider what was really important to her?
“Thank God, we’ve been given a second chance,” he said.
The noise of him opening the truck door for her brought her back to reality with a jerk. “Sorry, what did you say? I was thinking of something else.”
“Was I involved in that?” he asked and helped her into the passenger seat.
“Yep, you were,” she said.
He leaned into the truck and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. The tingle that traveled through her sent her right back to visualizing how great it would be to satisfy the ache being near him created in her body. He grinned as he closed the door, and then he stopped to scratch Tex’s ears on the way around the vehicle before sliding behind the wheel.
“And?” he asked as he started the engine.
“I want more than friendship,” she said bluntly.
“So do I.” He turned the truck around and started down the lane. “But it seems to get in the way, doesn’t it?”
“Why do we have to have one or the other? Is it possible to have both?” she whispered. “Pearl and Sonny seem to have found a way to make it work all these years.”
“Maybe we’re the kind of people who need both. I need a friend to talk to when I’ve got decisions to make, and I need someone to look forward to sleeping with at night and waking up to in the morning. I think we can have both, Addy,” he answered.
“So tonight are we friends or more?” she asked.
“Both for as long as it takes us to get to Bonham,” he said. “Has Mia talked to you about the phone call I got today?”
“Yes, but…” Addy started.
“No buts,” he said quickly. “What was your first reaction?”
She turned away from him and stared out the side window. “I wanted to run away to the panhandle again. If that’s what you really want, I can’t stand in your way—that’s friendship. But the other part of me wanted to cry, because I don’t want you to leave again—that’s the relationship we’re starting to build.”