Page 16 of Taming I Do
“Great,” I said. “Be right back.” I walked the short distance to my truck and locked Delilah’s bags inside the cab. Delilah didn’t look any worse for wear, but what the hell had Suzy been thinking? From now on I’d have to keep a closer eye on the contest judge. I couldn’t afford for her to get the wrong idea about Ido or, worse, get injured and hold it against us.
“So where do you want me?” Delilah joined me and we made our way to the gazebo together.
I could think of several responses, none of them particularly appropriate in the moment. So, I cleared my throat and chased away the illicit thoughts of Delilah underneath me, her tight yellow dress scrunched up above her thighs.
“We’ll have you in the gazebo to start. Like I said earlier, the high school marching band will kick us off, then Mayor Cherish will say a few words. Since you want to say something, we’ll have you go next. Then it’s just a meet and greet. Should be pretty casual.” I cast a glance her way.
She matched my stride, even though I had no idea how anyone could walk in the tall heels she had on. “That sounds great. Your little town has been so welcoming so far.”
So welcoming. Was that a genuine comment or was she in beauty queen mode? It was hard to tell. “About that ride to town,” I started.
She turned to me, her eyes shining. “I’ve never ridden in a sidecar before. It was... fun.”
“Fun?” My gaze roamed over her. How was she not covered in dust?
“Well, it would have been more enjoyable if they hadn’t put a pop-up rain shelter over me until we hit the pavement. But I had to protect my hair.” She ran a hand over her blond waves.
“A rain shelter?” I racked my brain, trying to figure out what my aunt had done. Didn’t really matter now. What mattered was that Delilah had arrived, uninjured, apparently untraumatized, and ready to kick off the next thirty days.
“Your aunt is an interesting woman.” Delilah smiled again and something inside me simmered.
I let out a laugh. “That’s an understatement. I’m sorry if she got out of hand. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Ms. Stone.” Lacey met us on the sidewalk, baby P squirming in her arms. “I’m so sorry about your trailer. I think we’ve got it sorted now. There shouldn’t be any additional problems with your power.”
“Thank you. Now who’s this?” Delilah asked.
“This is baby P.” Lacey juggled her son from one arm to the other. “It’s time for dinner and he’s not especially happy right now.”
“Baby P?” Delilah cocked her head.
“We haven’t agreed on a name quite yet,” Lacey said. “But we’re working on it.”
I bit back a grin. The kid would probably be walking before Lacey and her husband, Deputy Sheriff Bodie Phillips, came clean on a name. Rumor had it Bodie had flubbed the birth certificate and Lacey refused to tell anyone the kid’s given name. Ten months old and the poor kid was still going by baby P.
“Jasper, can you take him for a minute? I want to walk Delilah around the square and ask a few questions.”
I glanced to baby P and back to Lacey. She held her son out to me, and I didn’t have a choice but to take the wriggling baby in my arms. “What kind of questions? Should I come along?”
“Girl talk.” Lacey scrunched her nose as she took Delilah’s arm. “Just give us a few minutes, okay?”
I held baby P close to my chest as the women walked down the sidewalk. The baby’s brow furrowed as he watched his mom and food source move farther away.
“Hey, little guy, she’ll be back in a minute.” I bounced the kid in my arms, the same way I’d held my younger brothers and sister. It had been a while since one of my siblings was this little, but holding a baby was one of those life skills that automatically came back. I still remembered helping my mom with the younger kids.
Baby P reached up and grabbed ahold of my ear. I grinned and blew a raspberry on the baby’s neck, earning me a high-pitched series of giggles. Someday I’d have this for myself. A wife, a gaggle of kids. But not until I secured my future. I’d been through enough rough times with my folks to know that I wanted to be sure of my place in the world before I brought a kid into it or took on the responsibility of a wife.
I turned, swinging baby P around in my arms, and caught Bodie coming up the sidewalk.
“I thought I heard something familiar.” Bodie held his arms out and baby P struggled to launch himself toward his dad. “Lacey around?”
I relinquished the baby to Bodie. “She and Delilah are taking a stroll around the square for some girl talk.”
“Girl talk, huh?” Bodie held his son against his deputy uniform. “Everything ready for tonight?”
“Seems to be. I’m surprised we were able to pull it together so fast.”
“When my wife is on a mission, if you’re standing in her way, it’s best to move out of it.”
