Texas Rebels: Paxton

“What did she say?”

He cleared his throat. “Stay away from her.”

“Exactly. Listen to your mother, that’s all I’m going to say.”

They heard a little voice they knew well—Jake, Phoenix’s almost-three-year-old son.

A light tap sounded at the door and reminded Paxton of a rat scratching in a wall. He jumped up and yanked open the door. “Boo,” he shouted. Jake stumbled backward, giggling. Then he ran into Paxton’s arms, and Paxton swung him up into the air.

“You ’cared me.”

He noticed that Jake only had underwear and boots on and it was cold outside. “Where’s your clothes, buddy?”

Phoenix and Rosie, who were standing in the doorway, came inside. “Tell him, son.”

Jake looked down at his underwear. “I got underwear like Daddy’s. I’m a big boy.”

“We’re potty training,” Rosie said. With her red hair and sweet personality, Rosie was a gorgeous woman.

“I wasn’t aware Phoenix wore SpongeBob SquarePants underwear.”

“Don’t start.” Over the years, he and Phoenix had teased each other a lot, but of the two of them Phoenix was always the big jokester.

Paxton hugged Jake again. “I’m proud of you, buddy.”

Jake hugged him back. “Me big boy now.” Jake noticed Rico and held out his arms. Rico took him. “Lookie, Rico.” Jake pointed to his underwear.

“I see, big boy.”

Jake smiled. “Gotta go show Grandma.” He wiggled down and ran to Phoenix.

“We have to put on your coat,” Phoenix said.

“He wouldn’t wear his clothes.” Rosie helped Jake with his coat. “He wants everybody to see his underwear.”

Jake waved goodbye and Phoenix closed the door.

“Do you ever think of having kids, Rico?”

“Nah. I’m content the way I am.”

“I always thought I wouldn’t want kids. They’re a lot of work, but every time I hold Jake I get this feeling that it would be great to have a kid.”

Rico sank into his recliner. “That shouldn’t be much of a problem for you.”

“I want to fall in love first.”

Rico clicked on the TV. “Now that could be a problem.”

“You don’t think I can fall in love?”

“I think this discussion has gone on long enough.” He turned up the TV, and Paxton walked into his room. His cell buzzed with a message. He looked at the name. Lisa.

It was time to cowboy-up and do the right thing—the mature thing. He touched her name and her cell rang. She answered right away.

“Oh, teddy bear, I knew you’d call. I knew you’d realize we belong together.”

“No, that’s not why I’m calling.” He took a deep breath. “I thought you would get the message if I didn’t answer your calls, but evidently the message has eluded you. When we broke up two years ago, it was final. It’s still final for me.”

“I know I was a bitch back then, but I’ve changed and I know what I want. I want you in my life.”

“I’m sorry, Lisa. That’s not going to happen.”

“Have you found someone else?”

He started to lie and put an end to this. But again, that would be the old Paxton and he was working very hard to change his bad habits. “No. It’s just the way I feel. Please don’t call me again.”

“Paxton, baby. You don’t mean that.”

“Goodbye, Lisa. I wish you the best.” He clicked off and blocked her number from his phone. It was over and it wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it would be. Maybe he should buy some SpongeBob SquarePants underwear, too.

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING in the office, Falcon was doling out orders.

“Mr. Busby wants ten heifers. He picked them out two days ago. Elias was with me so he’ll remember which heifers to load.”

“What?” Elias sat up straight in his chair.

“Those heifers we looked at the other day with Mr. Busby. Did you lose your memory?”

“Oh, yeah. Got it.” Paxton knew Elias and he knew every cow and calf on the ranch. He was just jacking with Falcon. Elias leaned over and whispered loudly to Paxton, “All heifers look alike, right?”

“You’re an idiot.”

Their mother’s cell rang before Falcon could figure out what Elias was saying. She clicked off and looked at Quincy. “That was Miss Bertie. She wants to know if you can help her with a cow whose udder is too big for the calf to suck. It was born last night and she’s wants to get it to the pen, but the cow keeps charging her.”

“I don’t mind helping Miss Bertie, Mom,” Quincy said. “But I don’t want to get too far away from Jenny. Her dad and sister are over there now and she made me leave the house for a while. I want to be nearby in case she goes into premature labor.”

Paxton stood. “I’ll go.”

Everyone, including Elias, who had his hat pulled over his face and was teetering on the two back legs of his chair, looked at him. Grandpa’s mouth fell open and everyone seemed to be speechless.

“What? I can’t be neighborly and helpful?”

“It’s just something we’ve never seen before,” Egan said.

“Kind of like Phoenix doing a full day’s work. It’s just something you don’t see too often.” Elias was always cruising for a fight, but today he wasn’t going to get one.