He covered his face when tears filled his eyes again, but a pained smile was tugging at his mouth.
“How the hell are my two little brothers gonna be dads before me?” As soon as the question left me, I choked.
On my breath.
On the emotion that surged through me.
On the pain that speared through me, dull and jagged.
But I forced it back. Pushed it away. Did everything to focus on Sawyer and not the girl who had burst into my thoughts.
“How do I get her to come back?”
I cleared my throat and waited until I was sure I could speak evenly. “Do what Em told you to. Go home and wait for her. Prepare for her to come back. Keep calling her just to tell her that you love her and you’re there for her.” I gripped his arm and waited until he was looking at me. “Maybe don’t go into town, rambling that she’s gone. Because in less than an hour, the entire town’s gonna say y’all separated, and Rae ran off with some guy better looking than you.”
He shoved at me, but at least the sound that filled the office was his scoffing laugh.
I stood and helped him up, then pulled him in for a hug. “Excited for you, Saw.” I leaned back to look at him, the corner of my mouth ticking up. “You and Cays . . . just can’t believe it.”
“Yeah, well, first, I need my girl back.”
“She’ll be here,” I said confidently, then nodded to the door. “Get home.”
I grabbed my coffee and followed him out, heading for the café side as Sawyer jogged out of Brewed. My gaze following him for a moment before seeking Emberly out . . . and stopping.
There.
On her.
My lungs expanded and my heart took off in a rhythm so chaotic and so familiar, that it felt like home. Because that’s what she was. Home.
And at that moment, I wondered how there’d ever been a question. A doubt in my mind.
I loved Isabel. I loved her, and I knew I would’ve done exactly what I’d told her that morning. Taken her and made her mine because I was selfish.
But life without Madison wasn’t complete.
Plain and simple.
She glanced to the side, her expression lighting up with surprise and unveiled excitement when she saw me there. Lighting up my entire damn world with all that captivating glow.
“Hi,” she said when I closed the distance to her, voice all kinds of soft and playful. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here,” I murmured back, the corner of my mouth lifting in a smirk and earning a teasing smile from her.
A knowing hum sounded in her throat as her eyes danced over me. “I’ve heard you don’t leave the ranch often, Mr. Dixon.”
I lifted my chin toward where Emberly was helping someone at the counter. “Got a 9-1-1 text.”
Her expression fell, her stare darting from me to Emberly and then back again. “Is everything okay?”
“It will be,” I said softly. And for the first time since I’d left her last night, it felt like it just might be. “I was gonna try to give you some time.” My head listed, my eyes narrowing playfully. “Days . . . not weeks.”
“Oh, thank God,” she said on a breath. But her lighthearted mood and the way she was biting back a smile offset the seriousness of her reaction. And it was all so Madison that I wanted to grab her in my arms and kiss her right there in front of everyone.
“But I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that anymore,” I admitted.
“I—”
“Sad-mads man!”
Madison’s eyes went wide right about the same second my hand was grabbed.
I looked down to see her daughter swinging my arm the way she had that day in Beau’s house, smiling up at me like I was her favorite person when she didn’t know me at all.
“Did you want to learn how to dance?” she asked, expression animated and expectant.
“Avalee,” Madison said at the same time I asked, “You the teacher?”
Avalee added her other hand to mine and tugged excitedly. “Yes!”
The corner of my mouth lifted in a grin. “Then, yes, ma’am.”
The joy that burst from her was damn-near contagious. “We can go now,” she said enthusiastically. “We don’t have to—”
“Avalee,” Madison whispered over her. Bending down to get on her level and grabbing her daughter’s hands from mine in the process. “Honey, where’s Mamaw?”
Avalee looked at me again, grinning wide before shifting her attention to her mom. “She’s over there. She’s reading because I was reading first, and then I wasn’t reading. So, I told her it was okay if she read the little kid’s book even though she isn’t a little kid.” Her gaze swung to me and her voice dropped low. “Do you think she knows grandmas are old?”
I pressed my lips together to bite back a laugh.
“Avalee,” Madison said, all shock and reprimand. “That isn’t nice, and we’ll talk about why later. Go sit with Mamaw, I’ll be there in a minute.”
Her daughter’s face fell into a pout for half a second before breaking into a grin again as she focused on me. “’Kay, bye, sad-mads man. But did you know that I think we’re here for—”
Madison slapped a hand over Avalee’s mouth and pulled her daughter against her body.
My stare shifted between the two. Avalee still trying to smile and talk through Madison’s hand. Madison looking like she was dying of embarrassment, red heat creeping into her cheeks as her face scrunched adorably.
I offered a little wave and promised, “Next time, Avalee,” and was rewarded with the biggest smile when Madison’s hand fell away.
“One second,” Madison murmured before turning with her daughter and walking away.
“Hey, Romeo.”
I glanced to the side on a delay to find Emberly watching me with a knowing smirk. But seconds later, it fell, and her eyes drifted to the side, indicating where I’d come from.
I stepped close to the counter and lowered my voice, trying to prevent others from listening. “He went home.”
“Is he okay?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, the movements quick and faint. “Rough watching how he handles this shit. I get it, but it’s rough.”
Her face creased with sympathy. “I just don’t know why he spiraled down all over again. He seemed fine when he left us last night.”
I took a long drink from my coffee and nearly spit it out when Emberly punched my shoulder.
“What do you know?” she demanded.
My head shook roughly as I tried desperately to swallow what was in my mouth. “What the fuck?” I wheezed.
“You know something. I know you do,” she said quickly.
“I know what Saw told me,” I said vaguely, and welcomed the way my entire being reacted when Madison rounded the counter and started my way. Smile soft and beautiful, cheeks redder than before. Covering part of her face with a hand as that embarrassment leaked through.
“That girl,” Madison whispered when she reached my side. “I’m sorry about that. She just . . .” Her eyes rolled and she let out an adoring sigh. “Hi.”
My mouth slowly curved up. “Hey.”
“Hello! Cool, got that out of the way,” Emberly said sweetly, then smacked at my arm. “What did he tell you?”