“Sorry, honey,” Pop said.
I grabbed the broom from beside the refrigerator. “What a mess. You’re reverting to your bachelor ways.”
Jed gave him a significant look, but he didn’t seem to notice. Guilt swished around in my stomach for my little jab about my dad being a bachelor.Too soon.
“You’re doing just fine, Pop.” I stepped closer to kiss him on the cheek before sweeping up the trail he and Jed had left behind.
“Leave that for your brother.” Pop winked at me and trundled up the stairs.
“What is that delicious smell?” Jed peered at a casserole dish wrapped in aluminum foil I’d set on the counter. “You’re cleaning upandmaking dinner? You should visit more often.”
“It’s just lasagna and garlic bread. And Pop toldyouto clean up.”
He opened the oven door a sliver, and the strong scent of garlic and marinara wafted through the kitchen. “You made two? It was sweet of you to think of me and my bachelor ways.”
“I didn’t,” I said, passing the broom to him. “The other one’s for Ty.”
“Ty,” he repeated deadpan. “Ty, Mister Working You on his Ranch Hardy? Sure, I can see why you’d make him dinner.”
It might not have been the best idea. The tiny little kiss I’d given him had left us on shaky footing. He’d avoided me most of the day, until I had almost convinced myself I’d imagined that tortured look of his in the truck. But this afternoon, when Ladybird had been bundled up and carted off, he’d let me in again. I’d wanted to do something for him in return.
“Working on the ranch is about something else,” I finally said.
“And that would be?”
I still hadn’t explained about our stupid bet. Winning Ty over and soothing my wounded pride wouldn’t sound like the best of reasons to muck out a guy’s horse stalls where my father was concerned, and Jed would intentionally misunderstand no matter what explanation I gave.
“The working on his ranch part is really for me, and the lasagna is purely a pity meal. A mission of mercy. Like they do through the church. Heisincapacitated.”
“I’ll bet. So you’re just doing the Lord’s work?”
I gave him the most pious smile I could muster.
“I’ve got a question for you,” he said, leaning a little on the broom. “Bret’s going to be at the wedding, right?”
I turned back to the counter and wrapped the cooling lasagna in one of my mother’s casserole carriers I’d found in a drawer. No matter how over him I might be, Bret wasn’t my favorite topic. “So Eden says.”
“How come you went out to Ty’s to make sure everything was all hunky-dory between you two for the wedding, and not Bret?”
I paused as I bundled up the garlic bread. Trying to work things out with Bret had never crossed my mind. Ty was the one I wanted to make amends with, the one whose good opinion I’d been so desperate to win. Ty was the one I wanted to talk to, wanted to see. After everything with Bret turned out to be fake, maybe I’d just wanted to reassure myself the friendship and honesty I’d once found in Ty hadn’t been part of the show. But saying any of that felt like too much of a confession.
“Bret cheated on me.” As though Jed needed the reminder. He’d offered to bloody the man’s nose plenty of times. “I’m not eager to see him again.”
“But you were eager to see Ty.”
My mouth dropped open—to say what, I didn’t quite know—when Jed’s pointed look stopped me. Anything I said would only prove the point he was dancing around.
“Take out your lasagna when the timer goes off,” I said, shooting him a final glare. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
“Don’t expect us to wait for you,” he called as I walked out the door.
* * *
I pulled up to Ty’s farmhouse, wondering for the hundredth time just what I was doing there. Turning up unannounced again was probably a bad idea. He would take it like a grouch, and complain about me fussing over him. Maybe he didn’t like being tended, but he didn’t have anyone else to take care of him. With his parents out of the country and Bret disinterested, he had to fend for himself. The man couldn’t even open his truck door without pain—he wasn’t likely getting four-star meals while he recuperated. He needed someone to help him out.
That’s all this was, I reminded myself as I climbed the steps to his porch yet again. Just being charitable. It had nothing at all to do with the way he’d looked at me after I kissed his cheek, like he’d wanted to devour me in the best possible way. No, this was just me doing the Lord’s work.
I rang the doorbell and waited in the falling twilight. Crickets chirped in the sultry evening heat, little snaps breaking up the peaceful quiet. I’d just thought I might have to round Ty up at the barn when he opened the door.
