She nodded. “I’ve had lessons.”
That made him want to cringe. Anyone with his DNA should have been raised on horses. But Lawson decided it would be petty to hold that against Eve.
“I’m going to be a large-animal vet,” Tessie went on. But the glee vanished. “Or at least I was going to be one.” She looked at him. “You heard that I might get kicked out of school?”
“Yeah. Can’t say I blame the dean. Underage drinking is not only bad for your liver, brain cells and judgment, it’s also bad PR for a college.”
Tessie didn’t argue with that. In fact, she might have made a teeny sound of agreement. “Now that everyone knows I’m a student there, Mom’s crazy fans keep leaving stuff outside my sorority house. Horns, capes and those stupid fake weapons she used to carry on the set. And the photographers keep trying to sneak pictures of me.”
“My advice—don’t do anything else stupid to give them a good picture. If you’re boring enough, they’ll eventually find a new target.” Lawson hoped so, anyway.
“Now I know how my mother feels about the press always hounding her,” Tessie added in a grumble. “Don’t tell her I said that. I’m not letting her off the hook just yet. She still hasn’t fessed up about you being the dad.”
Not my dad. The dad. At least she hadn’t called him a sperm donor or the a-hole who’d knocked up her mother.
“Eve knows that you know about me,” Lawson confessed. “I told her that you’d figured it out.”
If Tessie had a reaction to that, she didn’t show it. She gave another horse a treat. “Do you hate me?”
The question stunned him to the point that Lawson made a weird sound, part snort, part groan, part huff, and it was loud enough to spook the horses a little. It caused Aiden to jump, too.
“No,” Lawson barked. “Of course not.”
Tessie stared at him a moment as if waiting for more. And Lawson wanted to give her more, too, but he wasn’t sure what he should say. He considered using the l-word. But it might scare her off. Still, he did have l-word feelings for this hardheaded teenager.
“What about him?” Tessie motioned toward Aiden. “Do you hate him because he’s Kellan’s son?”
This time, Lawson tried to keep his huff a little softer. “No, I don’t hate him. I try to limit my hatred to people who actually deserve it. Your screwing up doesn’t warrant any hatred. And neither does Aiden’s gene pool.” Though he was still hanging on to some hatred for Kellan.
“But you hate my mother for keeping me secret,” she added. She didn’t look at him but kept her attention on the horses.
“I don’t hate Eve, either.” Now he did add more. “Your mom was about the same age you are now when she had you. Think about that for a second. She maybe didn’t make the smartest decision, but I think she did the best she could, all things considered.”
Now Tessie’s attention came back to him. She didn’t address what he’d just said but instead tossed something else out there. “Apparently, my mom hasn’t grasped the concept of safe sex.”
Lawson immediately thought of the broken condom. The concept was there all right, but sometimes leaky latex could squash precautions.
“Is everything okay?” Cassidy called out to them. She was no longer in the sunroom but was making her way toward them.
“Fine,” Tessie and Lawson said in unison.
Cassidy glanced at them as if trying to figure out if that was true, but then she shrugged. “Are you ready to go?” she asked Tessie as she took Aiden from Lawson.
Tessie hesitated, maybe wanting to stay. Probably not because of him, though, but because of the horses. She was giving them a longing look.
“Don’t screw up for six months, and I’ll buy you one,” Lawson offered.
“You’re bribing me?” Tessie asked.
“Yeah,” he readily admitted.
Cassidy raised an eyebrow, maybe because bribes equaled bad parenting or something, but it had always worked on him. Well, for matters that didn’t concern Eve it had, anyway.
“Thanks, but I’ve got my own money,” Tessie grumbled, walking away.
That had a distinctive don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out tone to it, but Lawson tried not to take it personally. He remembered the whole teenage-angst thing and had a daily reminder of it with Tate. Still, it stung, especially considering they had an actual conversation prior to the snark.
Lawson stayed by the corral and watched Mila drive off with them. Roman left, too, heading in the direction of his own house on the other side of the driveway.
It was strange, but Lawson suddenly felt a little, well, empty. No belching, laughing baby in his arms. No horse-loving teenager who might be grounded until infinity. Everything was...normal again. And yet it didn’t feel normal at all.
It felt shitty.
And it only got worse when he saw the car approaching. Not Mila doubling back for an extended visit. It was Darby.
Lawson tried to buck himself up, and he hoped like the devil that his ex was wearing more than a raincoat and a twinkle in her eye. She was. When she stepped from the car, he could see that she was wearing scrubs.
They walked toward each other, meeting halfway between the house and the barn. “Don’t worry,” Darby said right off. “I’m not here for that.”
Good—they were on the same page. About that, anyway.
“I heard about Eve’s daughter,” Darby went on.
Hell. He hadn’t expected it to stay a secret about Tessie being his, but he really didn’t want to have this conversation with Darby.
“I might be able to help,” Darby added.
He raised an eyebrow and was about to ask her if she’d created a time machine to go back and undo the pregnancy. Something he definitely didn’t want undone.
“Thanks for the offer...” he started, but he didn’t get to finish because Darby interrupted him.
“My dad’s college roommate is the head of a department at Wellsmore College. He can talk to the dean and maybe stop Tessie from being expelled. I wanted to make sure it was okay with Eve before I had him do anything like that, but I figured Eve would rather hear it from you than me.”
Darby was right about that, but Lawson wasn’t sure Eve would want to hear it from anyone. Having strings like that pulled might make Tessie believe she was going to get bailed out if she messed up. Lawson didn’t want that notion planted in her head. Still, this wasn’t his call to make. The dad wasn’t the same as Dad.
“I’ll mention it to Eve. Thanks,” he said and then started for the house.
But Darby went right along with him. “How’s Eve doing? I suspect she’s having a lot of mixed emotions right now.”
Lawson kept walking, but he glanced at her, trying to figure out what the heck that meant. Was there some kind of rumor about Eve and him having sex? Or was this Tessie related?
“Eve’s okay,” Lawson answered, hoping that would suffice and send Darby on her way.
It didn’t.
“So, you think Eve will stay here in Wrangler’s Creek?” Darby asked.