Lone Star Father

The old man’s eyes widened. “Reid?”

He smiled. “In the flesh.”

“Reid Hardell?” Amelia narrowed her eyes. “Young man, it’s about time you came home to visit your family.”

“Yes, ma’am.” His grandfather didn’t crack a smile or offer a hug. Reid should have called before showing up out of the blue.

A shrill bark startled the group. Fang raced across the parking lot, his leash trailing behind him as Jessie tried to catch up. As soon as the dog saw Reid, he switched directions and ran over to him. Reid scooped the mutt into his arms.

“I wanted to try out the swings.” Jessie stopped next to Reid and gasped for air. “But Fang took off.” Her gaze zeroed in on Emmett’s grumpy face. “Don’t you like dogs?” When Emmett didn’t answer her question, she said, “What’s going on?”

“Jessie.” Reid cleared his throat. “I’d like you to meet your great-grandfather.”

Emmett’s mouth sagged open. “This young’un is your daughter?”

Amelia smiled. “Emmett, you never told me that Reid had gotten married.”

Reid handed Fang over to Jessie, then said, “I’m not married, Ms. Amelia.”

“Jessie, come inside. Your dog looks like he needs a drink of water.” Scarlett and his daughter entered the office, leaving Reid alone to face his grandfather.

“I should have warned you that I was coming,” he said.

“You should have done a lot of things, young man.” Emmett walked back to his truck and climbed behind the wheel, then stuck his head out the window. “Get in, Amelia. We’re leaving.”

The older woman clutched Reid’s arm. “Don’t mind his grumpiness. You just caught him by surprise. Come by my house tomorrow and talk to him.”

“He’s not living at the ranch?”

“Scarlett is staying in Emmett’s room at the ranch and helping Sadie look after the twins until she finds an apartment.” Amelia hopped into the pickup and waved out the window as his grandfather drove off.

Reid tore his gaze from the clunker and stared longingly at his own pickup. The temptation to leave Stampede was strong, but he’d stay and deal with the consequences of leaving the family fold.

He’d do it for Jessie.

And because he had nobody else to turn to.

* * *

REID’S DAUGHTER FILLED the plastic bowl with water from the cooler in the lobby, then set it on the floor for the dog. Once the little yapper drank his fill, she put him on a chair where he curled into a ball and closed his eyes.

“I like his Superman T-shirt,” Scarlett said.

“Fang’s always cold.”

“Fang?”

“He lost one of his canine teeth.” Jessie picked up a brochure advertising the petting zoo at Paradise Ranch. The young girl was slender with pretty blue eyes—like her father’s.

Reid Hardell... Scarlett’s thoughts skipped back to the day she’d attended her great-uncle’s funeral in Stampede and had walked past the corner of the church and plowed into Reid, much the same way she had a few minutes ago. Only back then Reid had kissed her after he’d helped her up off the ground. Every summer when she and her cousins had visited Aunt Amelia, they’d been warned to stay away from those wild Hardell boys and now Lydia and Sadie were each married to one of them.

“How old are you?” Scarlett asked.

“Twelve.” Jessie’s gaze narrowed. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-eight.” Wait until her cousins learned the middle brother was the father of a preteen daughter. “You and your dad arrived at an exciting time,” she said. “My cousin Lydia is married to your uncle Gunner and she gave birth to a baby girl earlier this evening.”

Jessie didn’t comment, her pensive gaze shifting between the dog and her father in the parking lot. Scarlett’s experience as a social worker insisted there was something off about the father-daughter relationship. “You and your dad will be staying in the High Noon room.” She entered the code into the machine Gunner had taught her to use when she’d moved to town a few months ago.

“What’s a high-noon room?” Jessie asked.

“Lydia helped your uncle renovate the motel last summer and instead of numbers on the room doors, she picked Western movie titles.” Scarlett waved a hand. “The movies were way before your time.”

Jessie’s attention returned to the window. “What’s there to do here?”

“Not much, but Paradise Ranch has a petting zoo, which might be busy next week when all the school kids are on spring break.”

“I’m homeschooled.”

This time Scarlett stared out the window. “Your father supervises your studies?”

Jessie shook her head. “My mom did, then Mrs. Valentine helped me. She’s smart. She used to work at a bank.”

“Who’s Mrs. Valentine?”

“My foster mom.”

Foster care. That explained the uneasiness between father and daughter.

Jessie sat next to Fang and the dog climbed into her lap. “My mom died.”

“I’m so sorry, Jessie.” Scarlett’s heart swelled with compassion. “How long did you live with Mrs. Valentine?”

“Since September.”

Six months. “I moved here from Wisconsin not that long ago. I’m a social worker in Mesquite.”

“Mesquite?”

“A town about fifteen minutes from here.”

“Mrs. Delgado’s my caseworker. She’s nice.”

Scarlett wanted to know why the young girl had been put into foster care after her mother had died, but if she asked too many questions, Jessie might shut down.

“Fang belonged to Mrs. Valentine, but he liked me better, so she gave him to me.” Jessie rubbed the mutt’s head.

“When I was your age, I had a dog named Charlie,” Scarlett said. “He slept with me in my bed.”