Minnie Pearl was the best.”
Kade chuckled and gave the horse an affectionate pat. “That’s quite a handle to live up to. Almost as bad as Horse.” He shifted his attention to Misty, patting her, too. “As for this old gal, I can help you with her. I’ve got plenty of remedies for barn sour horses.”
“That would be great. We’ve only had her for about six months, so she’s still fairly new to us. I got her at an auction, and I’m the one who rides her. She’ll be fine for a while, then she starts getting stubborn again.”
“No problem. Maybe we can have a training session later this week?”
“Okay. That sounds good.” Just for the heck of it, she showed him the rest of the barn, even if there wasn’t much to see, other than the tack room and hayloft.
After the tour, they went back outside, and he removed his phone from his pocket and checked the time. “It’s almost two,” he said. “What time does Cody get home?”
“Around three. We can meet him at the bus stop.”
“What should we do between now and then?”
She considered his question. The next hour was going to seem like forever if she didn’t think of something to keep them occupied. “I can make a pot of coffee if you need a boost.”
“Sounds good. I can always use a shot of caffeine.”
“Do you still take it with tons of sugar?”
He looked surprised. “You remember how I take my coffee? That’s a hell of memory you’ve got there.”
She wasn’t likely to forget. “I take mine supersweet, too, and every time we went to the diner next to the motel, we had to ask for more of those little packets. There was never enough on the table.”
His lips curved into an instant smile. “Ah, yes, my sugar partner in crime. Now that you mention it, it’s coming back to me, too. It’s funny because when I checked into the motel, I noticed that the diner is still there, and from what I saw, it looks pretty much the same.”
“Cheap motels and greasy spoons never die.”
He put away his phone. “And neither do sexy memories.”
“There’s nothing sexy about that diner.”
“I was talking about the motel.”
Before she got weak-kneed and shivery, she started walking toward the house. No way was she going to add fuel to the fire by saying anything else.
Once they were in the kitchen, she stood at the counter, preparing to make the coffee. He leaned over her shoulder, watching the process. She wanted to tell him to give her some space, but she liked his nearness, too.
For now, her mind was filled with images of the motel and how they’d conceived Cody. They’d used protection, except for when they were in the shower. It hadn’t been very responsible of them, but they’d both been of the same mindset, wanting to feel that kind of physical closeness without a barrier between them.
Were those the sexy memories he was referring to? She remembered it well: the water pouring down over them, their mouths fused in blind need, her pulling him closer, him withdrawing at the moment of completion in an attempt to minimize the risk.
“What are you thinking about, Bridget?”
She nearly spilled the roasted grounds she was scooping into the machine but forced herself to finish making the coffee. “I was just zoning out.”
He was still leaning over her shoulder. “I’ve been doing that, too, getting caught up in all kinds of thoughts. Mostly I’ve been thinking about Cody, hoping he likes me as much as he thinks he will.”
Warmed by his admission, Bridget turned to look at him, and they gazed gently at each other.
She broke eye contact and poured the coffee, which was already filling the room with a homey aroma.
She handed him the sugar bowl, but he gave it back to her, letting her go first. She didn’t know how something as mundane as adding sweetener to her drink could elevate her already heightened emotions. But God help her, it did.
He took his turn and they remained quiet, sipping the sugar-laden brew and waiting for the moment to arrive for him to meet their son.
Cody’s bus stop was located on the corner of a paved street, just blocks from Bridget’s house. Kade struggled to stand still, but it wasn’t the coffee he’d drunk that was affecting him. It was his nerves.
“Are more parents going to be showing up?” he asked Bridget. For now, they were the only people there, but they were also about ten minutes early.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll be it,” she replied. “The kids who get off at this stop are old enough to walk home by themselves.”
“Then, maybe we shouldn’t be doing this. Maybe Cody will feel stupid about us being here.”
“Are you kidding? He’s going to feel like a million bucks when he sees you. It will be the surprise of his young life.”
“Yeah, but he already knows I was coming today. Maybe he would prefer to meet me at the house.”
“Don’t worry about it. He’s going to be ecstatic to see you standing here. So just try to relax, okay?”
Easier said than done. Kade was as anxious as an expectant father in a maternity ward. Bridget, however, didn’t have the look of woman who was about to give birth, not with those sexy curves of hers or all that soft blond hair shining in the sun.
Curious about the day his son had come wailing into the world, he asked, “Who was with you when Cody was born?”
She smoothed the front of her blouse, and then placed a hand against her stomach in what seemed like a gesture of remembrance. “My whole family was there. Mom, Grandma, Grandpa.”
“Did any of them go into the delivery room with you?”
“My mom did. She stayed by my side the entire time, coaching me to breathe and push and all of that.”
Kade had gone to the hospital after his youngest sister was born and peered at her tiny face through the glass, but he hadn’t been directly involved in the birthing process. He’d helped plenty of mares during foaling, though, and loved the beauty of new life. “Was your labor difficult?”
“It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t especially difficult, either. Mostly it just seemed surreal. Me having a baby at the same hospital where I was born. An unwed mother just as my mom had been. In her day, that carried a bit of stigma. But her friends didn’t treat her badly because of it. They wanted my dad to settle down and offer to marry her.” Bridget continued to hold her hand against her stomach. “But after he quit coming around, they just felt sorry for us.”
He couldn’t help from asking, “How much do your friends know about me?”
“My
