When I called Shelby about the movie, I told her to hold off coming over until I put Sophie to bed. I thought of all the nights Shelby had dinner at my home growing up with my mom and me, but I resisted the urge to call her over to join us. I hadn’t seen my daughter all day. We could use some bonding time that didn’t include a distracting old friend.
The image of watching Sophie and Shelby interact the other morning had been picking at me for some reason. Shelby always claimed she wasn’t good with kids. But it didn’t seem like that was the case. Sophie had been laughing with her. And as muchas it was good to see her laugh, her becoming too friendly with Shelby also terrified me. So here we were, hanging out like old times with Sophie asleep in her room, none the wiser.
“Let’s go, it’s movie time,” I hissed softly, very aware of my fitfully sleeping daughter in the next room.
“What is this? Were you invited to do a rodeo?”
I looked behind me to see her pick up the invite I’d thrown on my counter a few days ago.
“Going through someone else’s mail is a crime.”
“They’re inviting all the old greats from Eugene back for a big rodeo night?” she asked, studying the paper. “Is Dusty coming?”
I scoffed. “Why do you automatically think Dusty is the rodeo great? I taught him everything he knows.”
She ignored me. “Are you doing it?”
“Probably not.”
“Why not?” she demanded, a bossy edge to her tone.
“I don’t want to. I’ve got Sophie now.”
Her brow furrowed. “All of the people invited have kids. It’s just one night. It’s not until mid-August. Plenty of time to get ready. You should do it. Rodeo was your life before?—“
She broke off, but we both knew what she was about to say.
“Just tell me you’ll think about it,” she added.
“Sure,” I agreed immediately.
“You're such a liar.”
“Come on, Tuck, I’m turning ninety over here.”
She finally meandered her way to the couch before plopping down on the farthest corner away from me—just as I suspected she would.
“Try again,” I said.
She threw me a curious glance. “Huh?”
“Try again.”
“Try what?”
“If a guy asks you over to watch a movie, is that where you sit?”
Light dawned in her eyes. “Oh. Wait. Are we doing that now?”
A smile came before I could stop it. “Just for fun, maybe you should tell me the thing you think we’re doing? Should I go shower?”
At the deer-in-the-headlights look she gave me, I immediately regretted my teasing. I looked away and vowed to be on my best behavior. A guy could have a lot of fun with a girl this adorably naive, but I was trying to build her confidence.
“Okay, I didn’t know this wasthatkind of hangout.”
“When you watch a movie at a guy’s house, is that where you sit?” I asked again.
She glanced down at her body curled in the corner. “Yeah. Because the guys are all busy cuddling with their girlfriends.”