LITMIR.BIZ

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Click? With your baby girl and all?”

      The need to leave quadrupled. She didn’t want to think about Click and his baby girl. She couldn’t. It hurt too much.

      “Yeah, Click,” Brody joined in. “We’re going into town, to the Tumbleweed, if you want to join us?”

      Tandy wanted to sink through the floorboards at her feet.

      Scarlett and Renata stared at her, their expressions revealing the horror and dread bouncing around in her stomach.

      “He can’t go gallivanting.” Widow Riley’s disapproval was clear. “He’s a father. I’m sure Pearl’s mama wouldn’t approve.”

      With a wave, Tandy was out the front door, almost tripping on the wooden steps in her haste to get away. “Banshee, load up,” she called out. Banshee came trotting around the porch, racing her to the truck and jumping into the truck bed and his waiting kennel.

      Maybe she was overreacting. Okay, she was overreacting. Still, she didn’t want to hear what was next. She didn’t want to know about Click’s wife, his marriage, his perfect family life. If she was lucky, he’d sell Lynnie’s place and leave soon enough and she’d never have to see or hear the name Click Hale again. She hadn’t been lucky in a real long time.

      “I take it you’re ready?” Renata asked, jogging to catch up.

      She glared at her cousin, climbing into her truck and turning on the air-conditioning. “Scarlett coming?”

      Renata nodded. “You sort of sprinted out of there.”

      Tandy’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “He’s not coming, is he?” she managed.

      “I don’t think so.” Renata’s hand gripped her forearm, squeezing gently. “I know things fell apart between you, but I’d like to think he’s still a little decent?”

      Tandy rested her forehead on the steering wheel. “He...was.” But seeing his daughter made her pause. Fourteen months. What did that say about him? The sting of tears infuriated her. She’d been lost in anguish and guilt so heavy it had almost crushed her. He’d started a family.

      More important, what did that say about the love he’d claimed to feel for her? She had yet to date, let alone think about being intimate with another man. If he’d really loved her the way he said he did, how could he? No matter what she said and did, the grief was there every second of every day—a gnawing, aching pain. How could he replace her? How could he replace their...their daughter so easily?

      It hurt to breathe.

      “You sure you guys want to do this?” Scarlett asked, pulling the truck door closed behind her.

      “Yes,” Tandy said, throwing the truck in gear. She no longer doubted the logic behind Renata’s reasoning. “Absolutely sure.” A couple of shots were the only way she’d get any sleep tonight.

      * * *

      CLICK STOOD, STARING down the dirt road. The stone house was quiet now, too quiet. Only Brody and Miss Francis were left. And, suddenly, Click was in no hurry to see them go.

      “What the hell was that about?” Brody asked. “You and Tandy?”

      “How much time do you have?” Click asked, only partly teasing. He liked Brody Wallace well enough. Not that they’d spent a lot of time together—Brody’s parents worried about Click being a bad influence on their only son.

      “Sure it’s hard on her,” Miss Francis said. “Poor thing is her age, without a man or child to care for. And then you show up, with a sweet little angel to boot.” She smiled at Pearl. “Can I?” she asked, holding out her hands.

      Pearl didn’t object, so he didn’t either. After holding her for hours, it felt odd to have empty arms.

      “First love is always the hardest to get over,” Miss Francis said, bouncing Pearl on her hip. “If I recall correctly, you two had it bad.”

      Click didn’t correct the older woman. But he knew the truth. Tandy wasn’t jealous, she was disgusted. She couldn’t stand to be in his presence. She’d made that perfectly clear two years ago, so broken and withdrawn in that damn hospital bed. And now this—Pearl—so soon after... He could barely look himself in the eye.

      Miss Francis was right about recovering, though. He’d met Tandy over twenty years ago, and she still made his heart skip a beat.

      “When will Pearl’s mama be joining you?” Miss Francis asked.

      “She won’t,” Click was quick to answer.

      Georgia wouldn’t be visiting for some time. The drug treatment facility she’d signed herself into lasted a minimum of sixty days. He was proud of her for getting the help she desperately needed, but he was devastated that it had taken her so long to get it. Not that he’d known. He’d left Tandy in the hospital and headed to a bar. That drunken weekend with Georgia was a blur of alcohol and grief. He’d been out of his mind and broken. They’d parted ways at weekend’s end, and he hadn’t heard or seen her since. Until a week ago. Her phone call had changed his life.

      “So you’re in this on your own?” Brody piped up.

      Click sighed. “Yep.”

      “This a new development?” Miss Francis asked. “Don’t get your tail feathers ruffled when I say this, but you look a little green when it comes to caretaking this baby.”

      “That I am.” Click nodded, smiling at his daughter. One of Pearl’s little fingers worried the beadwork on Miss Francis’s sweater. “I was bringing Pearl here, counting on Lynnie to show me what to do. But now...” He shook his head, staring around the house. After chastising him for having a child out of wedlock, Lynnie would have been over the moon about Pearl. She loved babies, loved children. It was one of the great injustices of life that he’d been born to people like his parents while a woman like Lynnie Hale was childless.

      “Oh, Lynnie would eat her up,” Miss Francis said, smiling at Pearl. “She’s the sweetest thing, Click. You’re a lucky man.”

      He reminded himself of that regularly. Pearl was healthy. Considering Georgia’s drug problem, that was nothing short of a miracle. He had no way of knowing if she’d used through her pregnancy, no way of knowing what his daughter had been exposed to the first year of her life. He’d been hard-pressed to believe Pearl was his, but the DNA test had confirmed it, and Click stepped up. If he hadn’t, his daughter would be in CPS custody.

      “I’m going to miss your Gramma Lynnie, too,” Miss Francis said to Pearl. “Who am I going to quilt with? Or go to ladies’ meetings with? Or drive me into Alpine now and then to shop—I hate driving in traffic.”

      Click grinned. There was no traffic in Fort Kyle. There were four lights, around town square, and nothing else. Alpine wasn’t much bigger. “I’ll drive you.”

      Miss Francis smiled. “I’ll take you up on that, Click.”

      “Guess I should be heading out,” Brody said. “Not often I get a night out. Not that Fort Kyle’s nightlife can compare to the Dallas scene.”

      “Enjoy it,” Click said.

      Brody held his hand out. “I’m glad you’re back, Click, even if I’m sorry for the circumstances. It’ll be nice to have someone male from this generation around when I visit.”

      Click shook his hand. “Thanks.”

      Miss Francis laughed. “S’pose Fort Kyle is more for those already settled.”

      Click looked at his daughter. He was settled now, as settled as he planned to get. He didn’t know where he and Pearl would end up, but he’d make sure she had a roof over her head and food in her little stomach. It wasn’t much, but it was more than he’d had growing up.

      “Have fun,” Click said.

      “Be

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