Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Tully moved his hand like he was going to reach for mine but stopped when he remembered Kenji was with us. I quickly reached for his hand anyway and squeezed it. Kenji didn’t seem surprised by the intimacy.
Tully’s cheeks were a little flushed. I couldn’t tell if he was hot, frustrated, or embarrassed. I hoped it wasn’t the latter because I took comfort in feeling his hand in mine right now.
“That was good of you,” he said softly. “To make sure your daughter was taken care of that way.”
I snorted. “I think a good parent would have been involved in his daughter’s life from the beginning. Setting up a trust fund was the very least I could do for my child.”
Tully and Kenji exchanged a look, and both laughed out loud.
“Remind me to have words with my parents,” Tully said.
“Same,” Kenji added, shaking his head with mock severity. “Setting up a trust fund was the very least they could have done.”
I kicked his shiny and probably very expensive shoe with my boot. “I meant for me. Obviously. In my situation.”
“I know.” Kenji patted my arm. “We were just teasing.”
After a few moments, I asked, “Do you think Katie resented me for not wanting anything to do with the pregnancy and the baby?”
Tully immediately shook his head. “Nope. She was grateful to you for giving her Lellie, and she wanted you to have the option of getting involved because she cared about you, but Katie was also grateful that she was able to solo parent her. One of our coworkers dealt with constant co-parenting stress after a contentious divorce, and Katie definitely didn’t want to have to deal with that.”
I knew he was right. Katie had explained to me how seriously she’d taken the decision to become a single parent. But I still worried I’d let her down.
Kenji added his own reassurance. “You’ll see when you read her messages. She was grateful. She was also happy, Dev. Very happy.”
“It couldn’t have been easy,” I murmured.
“No,” Kenji said. “I’m sure it wasn’t. But she had resources. That’s more than a lot of single parents have.”
Tully agreed and added, “And you’ll obviously have the same.”
Kenji clasped both of his hands together over the tablet in his lap. “You might consider hiring Indigo.”
“Right,” I said with a laugh. “Stoner kid?”
Tully’s hand tightened around mine. “Kenji’s right. That kid has spent the past three years working part-time at a preschool as part of his early childhood education program.”
“Wait, Indigo got his degree in early childhood education? You’re kidding.”
“He’s not,” Kenji said. “You know I did a full background check on him before letting Way bring him onto the ranch. He graduated with a degree in early childhood education. His references from the preschool were stellar. They love him and have tried to hire him permanently.”
That was surprising. I would have thought Indigo was more likely to find himself a VW bus and tour the country following a Grateful Dead cover band… but if there was one thing I was learning this week it was that it was really shitty to judge people based on what you thought you knew about them.
Tully explained what he’d learned about Indigo’s love of outdoor adventures and how much he appreciated the opportunity to live close to so many mountain sports. “Besides,” he continued, “Lellie likes him. The other day, he sang her songs about mushrooms that made her giggle.”
I snorted. “Were they ‘special mushrooms’?” I teased.
The edge of Tully’s mouth lifted. “Maybe.”
Kenji grinned.
I blew out a breath and considered it. He was a nice, easygoing guy who definitely cared a lot about doing the right thing. His stress and concern after Trigger’s incident proved it. After a few minutes, I muttered, “Songs, plural? Who knows multiple songs about mushrooms?”
Tully huffed out a laugh. “A vegan with an agenda?”
Kenji said, “He also plays guitar. Or so Silas says. Which reminds me, Zane told me to tell you that he’s thinking about performing with some friends at the Factory in Dallas in a couple weeks, so maybe you can catch up with him there. He was hoping to see you when he’s in Majestic for the AdventureSmash concert, but I told him you might not be back by then.”
“Shit. I forgot all about the concert.” Zane was scheduled to headline the event, which had been planned to coincide with one of the AdventureSmash races taking place near Three Daughters. “I thought Zane was planning to visit family in Georgia after that.”
“He was, but when he found out you might miss him in Majestic, he decided he’d come to you in Dallas if he had to.”
“Wow,” Tully said, eyebrows lifted. “You said your friend Zane had his music, but I didn’t realize he was good enough to play at the Factory. What does he play?”