Those Texas Nights. Delores Fossen

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СКАЧАТЬ you try to run, I’ll arrest you,” he warned the boys, causing the giggles to escalate. One immediately started to run, and Clay scooped him up so easily that he must have done it dozens of times. The other clamped onto Clay’s jeans-clad leg and stared up at Sophie as if she were a deranged killer holding a blood-soaked machete.

      “What are their names?” she asked just to be saying something.

      Best not to stand there, thinking of sex and caffeine with the kiddos around. It was best not to think of those things with Clay around, either.

      “Hayden,” he said, tipping his head to the leg hugger. “And this is the troublemaker, Hunter.”

      Their faces were smeared with assorted colors of makeup, but she figured that they were cute beneath. Cute and perfect. The kind of kids that Brantley and she had planned on having. Of course, they already had a father, Spike Devereaux, but Brantley was probably having a ball playing part-time daddy.

      “Are you okay?” Clay waited until her gaze came to his and he looked away.

      “Sure.” And because she felt she owed him more than that, she added, “I’m over Brantley. Really.” She paused, shifted the conversation a little. “How are things with you and your sister?”

      “S-h-i-t-t-y,” Clay spelled out with a smile. “I’m sure you’ve heard all about it from the gossips.”

      Sophie shook her head. “I’ve been avoiding the gossips. Avoiding town, too. And phone calls from anyone and everyone who wants to spill things that I don’t want to talk about.” She could add life and sex to that list of avoidances.

      Mercy.

      She wished sex would stop popping into her head.

      “I’m trying to make sure none of that s-h-i-t falls on these guys,” Clay added. Hunter, the troublemaker, repeated the shit, letter for letter, causing Clay to groan.

      “You’re a good uncle.” And then she remembered her conversation with Mila. “Good brother to your sister, too. I mean, you gave up your job in Houston to move here to be closer to her.”

      She’d meant that to sound casual, but a muscle flickered in Clay’s jaw. “Yeah,” he said, but she got the feeling there was more.

      Maybe he’d gotten fired. Or had burned out. It didn’t matter—it wasn’t any of her business. Even if it felt as if it was.

      “So you’re taking them to playgroup?” she asked. Not that she wanted to hurry along this conversation, but they were starting to attract a crowd. Some of the diners in the café were gawking at them through the window.

      Clay didn’t nod, didn’t shake his head. “No, I’m here with April and Brantley. The boys were getting restless so I brought them outside.”

      “Oh.” Probably not the best response she could have come up with, but Sophie figured she should get out of there. She fluttered her fingers in the direction of her truck. “Well, I should be getting...somewhere.” Anywhere but here.

      Now Clay nodded.

      And that prompted Sophie to say something. “I really am over Brantley, and I’m happy for him and your sister.” The first part was true. The last part not so much. She wanted them to make the marriage work for the sake of the toddler goblin and his superhero twin. “It’s just it might make them uncomfortable if they see me.”

      Too late.

      The café door opened, and Brantley and April squeezed out together. Squeezed because they had to make their way through the gawkers and also because they were practically wrapped around each other, making it difficult to fit through the door. Like the boys, they, too, were giggling, but those giggles froze when their attention landed on Sophie.

      Sophie did another finger flutter toward the truck. “I was just leaving. It was good seeing you, Clay.”

      She lifted her foot to get moving, but her foot froze in midstep. That’s because Sophie noticed Brantley’s right hand. It was on April’s belly. And while it was an average-sized belly, there was something about Brantley’s hand placement that had big bells clanging in Sophie’s head.

      Good gravy.

      “Yes, we’re expecting,” April announced. Her voice was crisp, her eyes slightly narrowed. “Other than Clay, we haven’t really told anyone yet, but I’ll be showing soon, and it won’t be a secret much longer.”

      At least she didn’t assume that Sophie would be thrilled for them. In fact, April was sort of glaring at Sophie as if daring her not to be happy.

      Oh, it took some doing, but Sophie scrounged up a smile though it must have looked on the creepy side because Hayden cowered even farther behind Clay’s leg. She even managed a nod that she hoped seemed like some kind of approval.

      Sophie looked at Clay to see how he was handling this, and he seemed a little shell-shocked. The fact that it was only a little meant he was either very good at masking his feelings or else this hadn’t hit him as hard as it was hitting her.

      “This should show you that it’s really over between Brantley and you,” April added. “We’re a happy family now and don’t want anyone from our pasts trying to spoil our future.”

      “Rein in your insecurities, sis,” Clay grumbled.

      “Just stating the truth,” April grumbled back. “Brantley and I are committed to each other, to this marriage. I’ve quit my job to be a full-time mom to the boys and this baby.”

      “I really have to go,” Sophie said, and she put her feet on autopilot, hoping that they would get her to the truck. Somehow, they did, and she got the engine started so she could leave fast.

      She didn’t get far. Sophie made it to Main Street and pulled into one of the parallel parking spaces outside Mila’s bookstore, which her friend had given the odd name of Sniff the Pages. If anyone saw her, they wouldn’t think anything of her stopping by her best friend’s business. Well, they wouldn’t think anything unless they looked closer and saw her shaking.

      “I am over Brantley,” she repeated. “I am.”

      But it was going to be a bitch to deal with the fact that he was not only truly over her, but he’d also moved on to the life that he’d always wanted.

      Sophie didn’t cry. She made a promise to herself then and there that she’d never shed another tear over Brantley or what might have been. Instead, she fished around in her back pocket and came up with the slip of paper that Mila had put there.

      Shane’s number.

      And Sophie called him before she could change her mind.

      * * *

      CLAY STEPPED OFF the walkway to his house and ducked behind a scrawny hackberry tree. He only hoped that no one saw him doing surveillance of the chickens.

      There were three by the side of his house, and they were doing what appeared to be normal chicken things by pecking at stuff on the ground. Maybe feed that someone had maliciously strewn, maybe just bugs and such.

      Occasionally, СКАЧАТЬ