Page 53 of Lost and Found Cowboy
Max took a step back and pushed against Mack’s leg. “No, thanks. I’m doing it with Mack.”
“Mack? You mean this guy?” Lyle jerked a thumb at the cowboy. His voice held the barely concealed rage Lorna had heard so many times as he said, “But he isn’t one of your parents.”
“It’s fine,” Lorna said, trying to head off an argument.
“No, it’s not fine,” Lyle said, raising his voice. “That race is for kids and theirparent, and last I checked,I’mthis kid’s dad.”
Not that he’d acted like it at any point in the last few years.
“This kidhas a name.” Mack’s jaw was set, and his shoulders were back as he took a step toward Lyle. “And Max asked me to do the race with him, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
She didn’t think Mack would actually start something with Lyle, especially not with Izzy strapped to his chest, but there was enough of menace in his tone, that she worried her ex would feel threatened and try something stupid.
Lyle lifted his chin, that hard glint of meanness in his eye as he sneered at Mack. “You wanna take this outside?”
Yep. That was something stupid, all right.
Dodge and Ford stepped up to either side of Mack, and Lyle shrunk back.
“I think it’s time for you to go,” Mack told him. “This is a family event, and I’m choosing to respect that. Why don’t you do the same.”
“Why don’t you fuck off?” Lyle growled, but he turned and stomped away, sweeping a paper tray holding the remains of a hotdog off the end of a table and sending a red spray of ketchup flying.
Max’s bottom lip was trembling, and Lorna crouched down and pulled her son into a hug. “It’s okay, honey.”
“I didn’t mean to make him mad. Is he gonna hurt you now, Mommy?”
His words were like a knife to her heart. She’d always tried to hide as much of Lyle’s violence toward her from her son, but kids were perceptive, and apparently Max knew more than she’d thought.
“No, baby. Andyoudidn’tmakehim mad. I think he was already mad and was just looking to pick a fight. But he’s gone now.” Maybe they should just leave too. But then that would be letting Lyle win. She pulled back and wiped her son’s tears from his cheeks. “And you have a three-legged race to run. We’d better get out there. And I’ll bet Uncle Ford and Uncle Dodge will even come out and cheer you and Mack on.”
“We wouldn’t miss it,” Dodge said, chuckling as he nudged Mack.
Elizabeth had already picked up the trash Lyle had thrown and found some napkins to clean the ketchup from the floor. “We’ll be right out,” she called.
Mack held his hand out to her son. “Come on, bud. Let’s go win this race.”
As it turned out,Mack and Max didnotwin the race. A mother-daughter team with a tall kindergartener and a short motherwere apparently a better matched pair, and they easily stole the blue ribbon.
But Mack and her son sure had fun, laughing their heads off as they goofily walked and tried to jog and especially when Mack stumbled, and they both almost fell. They did each get a participation ribbon though, which Mack said he would put on the refrigerator as soon as he got home.
Lorna had taken Izzy from Mack, and the baby giggled along with her as she laughed and cheered for their two guys.
It was a good way to end the carnival, and Mack bought them a bag of kettle corn for the ride home. Izzy fell asleep on the short drive, and Mack carried her car seat into the house, while she unbuckled the tired six-year-old.
It was just after nine when they finally got both kids to bed, tucking Max’s new stuffed cow, Stuart, in with him, and they were coming down the stairs when a knock sounded at the door.
It was Maisie and Dodge.
The librarian held up a picture book with a dinosaur on the cover. “Max forgot his book.”
“We were walking by and thought we’d drop it off,” Dodge said.
Maisie offered her a gentle smile. “And make sure you were okay.”
Lorna was touched by their thoughtfulness. “I’m fine.” Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see Barb Johnson’s name on the screen. Barb and her husband owned a pet store across the alley from the coffee shop. It was strange that Barb would be calling her, especially this late, and a sense of foreboding filled her chest as she answered the phone. “Hi Barb, everything okay?”
She reached for Mack’s hand as she listened to her neighbor’s words, and his expression turned concerned as she imagined the color had probably just drained from her face.
