Page 14 of Rocky Mountain Home

She offered a sympathetic pat on the back. “Not judging you one bit. No way can you say the perfect thing unless you were in a sitcom and somebody was feeding you lines.”

“Is there a perfect thing?”

“Actually, that’s the problem. Other than there’s a whole bunch of things you shouldn’t say, the right one, right now?” She squeezed his shoulder then stepped away, her feet moving out of his line of vision. “No, sweetheart, I can’t think of a single phrase I absolutely want to hear out of your mouth.”

It took a while until the room stopped spinning enough Jesse figured it was safe to look up. He found Dare leaning against the wall next to him, sympathy written all over her expression.

He rose to his feet. “At the risk of being one of the dozen things I shouldn’t say, I’m damn sorry you’ve had to deal with this by yourself.”

She paused. Made a face. “Huh. I need to add that to the list of stuff I didn’t expect.”

“I mean it, Dare. That must’ve thrown you for a loop when you found out. I hope you’ve had support from your friends, and your brothers…” Oh shit, he was in a hell of a lot of trouble. “Let me guess. That was one of your brothers pounding on the door a few minutes ago.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Okay, we need to sit down and have a good long talk, because that’s another one of those yes/no answers that would be a lot simpler once you hear some history. Only I’m not blaming you for not knowing. I’m the one who said you didn’t need details of why I was drinking my ass off.”

Now that he was stable again, Jesse moved in closer. “Then let’s talk.”

“Right now?”

“Why not?”

Dare glanced at her watch. “I guess. What’s your time like? Where’re you working?”

“Down near Pincher Creek. I’ve got tomorrow morning off.”

She examined him for a second before that oh-so-expressive face of hers changed. “You were hoping to hook up tonight, weren’t you?”

“When there’s a sell-out performance, an encore is always appreciated.” Shit, maybe he shouldn’t act so cocky, all things considered. “I guess I shouldn’t joke about that night.”

“Oh, don’t go getting serious on me. Memories of how much fun I had was the only thing that got me through multiple bouts of puking.”

He caught her hand in his, guilt overtaking his panic. “Again, sorry you were all alone.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t need anybody to hold my hair back.”

But she shouldn’t have had to deal with it on her own. That was the point. She shouldn’t have to deal with any of this on her own.

For the first time something stronger than panic hit.

He’d been around his brothers when they’d announced they had a kid on the way. They’d damn near glowed. Something inside him twisted, and a strange, uneasy sensation settled in his gut.

Jesse sure the hell didn’t feel proud. The panic might be natural, but he wasn’t going to let that show again. Other than that first moment of weakness, which Dare had taken amazingly in stride, he was done messing around. There was no use waiting even another minute.

He knew what his parents would say. What his brothers would say, and he knew without a single doubt if any of the Coleman clan were in that room, they’d be waiting for him to man up and deal.

So he did.

Jesse squeezed her fingers tighter and offered as reassuring a smile as he could manage.

“Okay, then. We’ll get married.”

Chapter Three

It was funny to consider how long she’d spent plotting ways to tell her cowboy the news if she ever found him. There were a couple scripts she’d expected the conversation to follow, and she’d planned appropriate responses.

Worst-case scenario he’d say, “hell, no, it’s not mine”. She’d get that in writing, just in case, ask about his family health history on a “hypothetical” basis, and happily never see him again.

Best case she’d come up with was he’d say “oh, shit”, she’d say “right?” and they’d figure out something that involved him sending her a bit of childcare money every now and then until he forgot.