Page 15 of Brett and Rowdy (Gomillion High Reunion #5)

“I don’t know.” Brett decided to go for honest. “I really wanna know what’s going on with you and Ashley and Madison, but A, I’m not sure if it’s my business, and B, if it’s something that’s gonna make me freak out, then I’m not sure we should talk about it until after we eat lunch with these people. ”

Rowdy chuckled. “These people, huh? I got to tell you, darlin’, they’re my family.

I really like you. I could probably more than really like you, and goddamn, I loved having sex with you, but just remember that Madison is my baby girl, and I would never do anything to hurt her. I would do anything for her.”

“Hey, I don’t begrudge that, and I get she’s your kid.

I would never ask you not to be her dad in any way, and if you don’t wanna tell me about what happened back then, that’s fair.

It’s just really weird, because everyone keeps telling me I’m all butthurt for no reason, and I guess that feels kinda…

well. Maybe I am, and maybe I’m selfish, but I just want to know what’s what. ”

“Fair enough, man.” Rowdy leaned back in his seat and took a long breath. “Ashley came to me the summer between our junior and senior years and told me she was pregnant. It was someone at the school, and she didn’t want anyone to know. She was scared and she?—”

“Wait. Are you telling me—” Ashley had just… no way. That was ridiculous.

Stupid.

Why would Rowdy do that?

“Are you going to listen to me or not, Brett?”

Sure he was, but he just— “Why would you do that?”

Rowdy shrugged. “I was seventeen? I was broken up with the guy I was madly in love with? I wanted to stick it to my mom and her asshole husband? I was Ashley’s friend, and I wanted to make her stop crying? Pick one.”

“You were madly in love with me?” He almost swallowed his tongue.

“Well, yeah.” Rowdy’s face wrinkled up. “I mean, I asked you to come to the ranch and live with me. That wasn’t bullshit.”

He felt like a landed fish who was sucking air. “And see, after the thing with Ashley, and when you left, I felt like it was all a lie. Jesus.”

“You never talked to me. I just thought you needed to stay here. You told me I could agree to stay, or we were done.”

“And you told me to get the fuck out of your truck.” Shit. That hit him like a ton of bricks dropped on his head. Because he had to face it, he’d been madly in love with Rowdy, too.

“I was a stupid kid. I thought… I thought you’d change your mind. I thought I was something special.” Rowdy chuckled and shook his head. “But when she came to me for help, I couldn’t say no.”

“But why, man? Why are you—her father?” He realized they weren’t driving, but they needed to talk this out.

“Two reasons—one, my dad. He told me, if I did this, it wasn’t just a commitment for a day. It was a promise for life.”

He could see that. “And the second reason?”

“I saw Madison the day she was born, and I fell in love with her, right then and there. I knew, no matter what, that the good Lord had offered me a chance to be a daddy, and I was taking it.”

“Damn.” He sat with that for a moment, and then he started the truck. He wanted to be pissed and say that Rowdy had lied to him, but when had he? They’d never talked about it at the time. He’d never asked.

“You pissed?” Rowdy sat very still, and Barney whined from the back seat, so he figured the air must be thick with tension.

“More blown away, man. I just had no idea, and I feel… like I’m a little lost.”

“Well, I’ll be super clear. Madison knows I’m not her sperm donor. Dan and Ash and I don’t lie to her. I love her. She’s my baby girl.”

“She clearly adores you.” Brett took a deep breath. “And she’s a great kid, honey.” He had a lot to process, but he didn’t know that Rowdy did. And that might suck.

“She is. She’s a cowboy, through and through.” Rowdy beamed at him and reached out to pat his thigh. “Feel better?”

“Yeah.” He had no idea. But at least he knew what the joke was. “Yeah. And I’m starving.” He was good at compartmentalizing.

“God, me too. I intend to eat my way across the country too. Pie. Gumbo. Chicken-fried steak. Tex-Mex…”

“Where the hell do you put it?” He laced his fingers with Rowdy’s for a moment, glad he wasn’t driving a stick these days like he had in high school.

“I work my butt off, mostly, and I work out when I can’t. I like running on my treadmill a lot.”

“That I can see.” That did seem like it would be a good exercise for someone who had good muscle memory and situational awareness. And Rowdy definitely had that.

“You are built like a brick shithouse, on the other hand. I would pay to feed you.”

“I’m down. Not in front of your daughter though,” he teased. He did have a hell of a lot of thinking to do, but oddly, he did feel better. So he would take it.

“Lord no. I don’t need her to give me shit for that.”

“Oh, you might not need it, but?—”

Rowdy squeezed his hand.

“Seriously, I will give her no ammunition.”

“Good deal. Let’s power down some potato salad, man.”

“Sounds good.” And he was going to look Ashley in the eye and smile and let her wonder what Rowdy had told him for at least two or three hours.

He got that much satisfaction at least.