A Child Under His Tree Read online

  Tyler was giggling madly. “Can I hold her?”

  “Let’s go inside first,” Caleb suggested. His dark eyes drifted over Kelly’s face. “It’s a little cold outside.”

  She kept her expression calm. She was a nurse. She’d seen lots of bare chests. Male. Female. Young. Old. Just because his was...well...his...it didn’t make a difference.

  Liar.

  She ignored the taunting inner voice and followed Tyler inside, trying to keep from dwelling on the way Caleb’s pants hung low around his hips. Then he reached past her to close the door behind her, seeming to surround her with his clean, spicy scent. While she was working hard not to ogle him, he didn’t give her so much as another glance as he gestured to Tyler. “Now you can take her,” he said, and handed the pup over to him.

  Not surprisingly, the puppy immediately put her paws on Tyler’s shoulders, slathering his face even more.

  “Boys and dogs,” Caleb murmured.

  She adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder, looking anywhere other than at the wealth of bare skin he displayed. It was the end of October, for pity’s sake. How could the man be so tan? It was brought into even sharper relief by the strip of lighter skin just above the low-slung drawstring waist of his scrubs.

  But then, maybe he went around without his shirt all the time. How was she to know what his habits were these days?

  Annoyed by her thoughts, she sat down on an overstuffed leather chair, perching on the edge of the cushion where she was within quick reach of Tyler. He was now lying flat in the middle of the floor with the dog bouncing on his belly. “Don’t let us interrupt whatever you were doing,” she told Caleb. Like getting dressed after a shower.

  He didn’t take the hint. Instead, he sat on the couch right across from her. Wavy damp hair falling over his forehead, crazy-wide shoulders, ridged abdomen, slightly bony toes and all.

  God help her.

  She wanted nothing to do with him. Because he was the only man who could make her forget reason and good sense.

  And the evidence was rolling around on the floor between her booted feet and his bony bare toes. Their little boy was turning red in his face from laughing so hard over the puppy’s attention.

  She never should have crumbled to Tyler’s pleas to see the puppy.

  “Tyler, take off your jacket. And be careful with your cast. You don’t want to knock it into something.”

  Not that there was much stuff sitting about Caleb’s apartment. Aside from the chair and couch, there was only a side table with nothing on it and a television mounted over the fireplace. She could see the kitchen from where she was sitting. It was separated from the living room only by a breakfast counter, and it looked equally barren. Not a single bowl or glass on the countertop. No bananas turning brown, no bowls of crisp fall apples.

  “How long have you lived here?” She caught the jacket Tyler tossed to her and folded it over her knees.

  “About six months, I guess.” Caleb leaned down and lightly tugged the dog’s tail. The puppy jerked around and proceeded to chase her tail, knocking right into the side of Kelly’s chair. She barked at the offending chair, then pounced on Tyler’s chest again. “Give or take,” Caleb added. He got up suddenly and left the room.

  She refolded the jacket and smoothed it over her knees. “Do you stay with someone else a lot?” she asked, raising her voice.

  He reappeared with a white T-shirt in his hand. He had an amused look in his eyes. “What are you trying to say?”

  She shrugged and stopped herself from nervously folding Tyler’s jacket a third time. She set it aside before sliding off the chair to kneel next to Tyler and the puppy. It was better to stay focused on them than the sight of Caleb pulling on his shirt. For some reason, seeing him putting on clothes was more disturbing than if she’d seen him taking them off.

  She yanked her mind out of that dangerous realm and back into the land of harmless animals. “Does she have a name yet?”

  He threw himself back on the couch, spreading one long arm along the top of the cushions. “Haven’t decided. Considering how she’s already chewed through one of my tennis shoes and a bed pillow, Beastie would’ve been good, but Justin and Tab already snatched it up for their hound.”

  “You’re the one who wanted a puppy.”

  “More like I’m the latest sucker for Evan’s strays. I’m lucky because I’ve got a spit of a yard out back of the kitchen, but until I find a permanent place, I might have to get doggy day care or something at this rate.”

  “Weaver has a doggy day care?” She couldn’t hide her skepticism.

  “Weaver has all sorts of things these days. From tanning salons to Italian restaurants. The secret might be out that this is a pretty good place to live.”

  “That’s what lured you back from Denver? Fake tans and eggplant parmesan?” She scratched behind the dog’s silky ear. “Figured there’d be plenty of that available in Denver. But at least it explains the, uh—” she waved her hand in his direction “—the bronze pecs.”

  He laughed softly. “You spend a couple afternoons helping my dad string fence at the Lazy-B and see if you avoid getting some color.”

  The Lazy-B was his parents’ cattle ranch. It was minuscule in comparison to the Double C, but it was still nothing to sneeze at. “You used to hate doing stuff like that.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s my old man.”

  Calling Cage Buchanan old was a stretch. The man who’d greeted her at the funeral had been better looking than ever.

  He suddenly sat forward. “What do you think, Ty? Have any good names in mind for the fuzzy blonde there?”

  “Lucy?”

  He chuckled. “That’s my sister’s name. Not sure how well that would go over with her.”

  “I don’t got a sister,” Tyler said. He rolled over onto his belly and put his head on his folded arms. The puppy wasn’t discouraged; she just scratched at the carpet next to his nose and licked his ear. He giggled breathlessly.

  “Well, maybe your mom will give you a sister one day,” Caleb said. His gaze met hers.

  Distinctly uncomfortable, she pushed to her feet. “So you actually have a yard with this apartment?”

  He nodded. “All the end units do.” He stood, as well. “I’ll show you.” He gave a short whistle. “Come on, dog. Ty, put your jacket back on.”

  The puppy and Tyler immediately scrambled after him, through the kitchen and out the door. Kelly brought up the rear.

  He’d called it a spit of a yard. Which turned out to be a bit of an overstatement. Postage stamp size would have been a more accurate description.

  There was grass—currently brown—and a spruce tree in one corner with a couple dozen Christmas bulbs hanging from the branches. “A little early for Christmas decorations, isn’t it?”

  He shrugged. “I was watching my nieces recently for Lucy and ran out of ways to keep them entertained.”

  Kelly took in the rest of the yard decor: a large metal cooking pot containing the dog’s water, two tennis balls, a small stuffed rabbit with a torn ear and a short length of rope tied into knots.

  “All these toys but the dog still prefers tennis shoes and pillows?”

  “Go figure, right?” He watched Tyler snatch up the rope and swing it around for the puppy, then turned back into the kitchen. “Want something to drink?”

  “No.” She hovered in the doorway. Half in. Half out. A wood-paneled fence surrounded the yard, so it wasn’t as if she was afraid of taking her eyes off Tyler for a minute. It just felt easier to breathe, despite knowing she was letting in some very nippy air. “Thank you, anyway,” she added.

  He leaned against the counter, crossing one foot over the other.

  She looked away from his toes. Seeing his bare feet was harder than seeing his naked abs.
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  Clearly she should have been listening to her coworkers, who kept wanting to set her up on dates. She’d just had no interest. What with Tyler and work, her life was plenty full.

  But after less than a week back in the same breathing space as Caleb Buchanan?

  Her interest was back in full swing.

  It had always been that way. Even when she’d wanted to wipe the floor with his gorgeous face, she’d wanted him.

  Hence, the son he didn’t know he had.

  She looked out the doorway at boy and pup.

  Her stomach tightened. “Caleb, there’s something I—” She broke off when the cell phone sitting on the counter rang.

  “Hold that thought,” he told her and picked it up. “Dr. Buchanan,” he said. His gaze held hers as he listened for a moment. Then he pushed his damp hair away from his forehead. “I’ll meet you at the hospital. No, it’s fine, Hildy. I’m glad you called me. See you in less than an hour.”

  Kelly stepped outside, pulling the door closed a little to give him some privacy as he finished the call. “Tyler, say goodbye to the puppy. We’re going to have to go now.”

  “But Mommy—”

  “I know you’re having fun. But Dr. C has to go to work. So we need to leave.”

  Tyler leaned over and scooped the puppy up with both arms around her little round belly. The dog’s tail whopped him in the chin. “Can’t we babysit her, then?”

  “Tyler—”

  He pushed out his lower lip.

  She hated that pout. It always made her feel like the meanest mom on the planet. Before she could deal with it, though, Caleb pulled the door open again.

  “Sorry about that,” he said. “One of the challenges of practicing in a small town. Everyone knows how to get hold of you directly when they want. No answering service to act as a go-between.”

  “Yet you chose to come here to practice. And pediatrics, even.” Why he’d chosen to switch from his lifelong dream of being a surgeon was still a mystery that there was no point in pursuing. He was here, and that was that. It had nothing to do with them. Any more than their life had anything to do with him. Upsetting the status quo by telling Caleb the truth about Tyler would just turn her and Tyler’s world on its ear.

  It wasn’t as though she believed Caleb could force her into marriage. Thanks to the last five years of single parenting, she was made of stronger stuff than that.

  She hoped.

  She beckoned to Tyler again. “Come on, buddy. Put down the puppy. She doesn’t need us to babysit her.”

  “But Mommy—”

  “He can take the pup with him,” Caleb murmured so close to her ear that she nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned her head and found him only inches away.

  Her mouth went dry, and she unconsciously took a step back, nearly losing her balance on the porch step.

  His arm shot out and caught her. “I don’t mean forever,” he added. “Just until I take care of this call. I’d pick up the pooch in a few hours.”

  Even though he’d kept his voice low, Tyler still managed to overhear enough.

  “Yes!” He somehow succeeded in keeping hold of the puppy and doing a fist pump at the same time.

  “I didn’t say it was okay, Tyler.” Her voice was sharper than she intended, and she squelched a sigh when his victorious expression fell.

  She rubbed at the sudden pain in her forehead.

  It was just a puppy.

  For an hour or two.

  “Fine,” she said on an exhale. “This is not going to become a regular habit.”

  The fact that she’d said that very thing twice in the span of thirty minutes, though, didn’t bode well for her.

  Man and boy had twin smiles on their faces.

  She wanted to bang her head against the kitchen door.

  “I’ve got a leash,” Caleb said immediately. “Tyler, grab a couple of her toys.” He yanked open one of the kitchen drawers, grabbed the leash and handed it to her before disappearing down the only hallway leading from the living room and kitchen area. When he returned, he was wearing clogs on his feet and carrying a smallish animal crate.

  She worked with medical professionals all day long. She’d seen similar footwear on dozens of them.

  She’d just never seen Caleb wear them.

  Even when he’d changed Tyler’s cast the previous week, he’d been wearing cowboy boots and jeans under his white lab coat.

  “What’s the emergency?”

  “Mom with an asthmatic kid.”

  “Asthma attack?”

  He set the crate on the counter, shaking his head. “Nervous mom. Ty, let’s put the puppy in the carrier so she won’t get freaked out in your car.” He nudged the puppy inside, tossed in the tennis ball that Tyler handed him and secured the wire door.

  Kelly reached out to take the carrier, but Caleb’s hand brushed against hers, beating her to the handle. “I’ll carry her.”

  She curled her fingers against her palm, managing not to rub them against her jeans. Taking Tyler’s hand, she preceded Caleb out the front door to her car. While she buckled Tyler into his booster seat, Caleb tucked the crate on the floor behind the front seat where it wouldn’t be jostled.

  “Be thinking about more names,” Caleb told Tyler before closing the car door and opening the driver’s side for Kelly.

  She’d forgotten that he’d always been that way about doors. Always opening them for her like that. School doors. Diner doors. Barn doors.

  Truck doors.

  Thank goodness she’d gotten rid of that old gas guzzler years ago.

  As if he’d read her mind, he gave her sensible little four-door an assessing look. “Little more passenger room than in that pickup truck you used to have.”

  “Car seats need space.” She quickly slid down into the driver’s seat and jammed her finger against the push-button ignition.

  “Drive safely.”

  “I managed to get through the Tetons between Idaho Falls and here without incident. I imagine I can drive back to the farm just fine, too.” She sounded waspish but couldn’t help herself. She grabbed the armrest and pulled the door closed. “If you’re going to be longer than you expect, I’d appreciate you letting me know,” she said through the window.

  Just fire up that witch’s cauldron, Kelly.

  Her jaw clenched. “Please,” she added.

  He inclined his head an inch and backed away from the car. “Don’t forget names for the puppy, Ty.”

  “I won’t!” Tyler sounded so earnest, her chest ached. In her rearview mirror, she could see him waving at Caleb while she backed out of the parking space and drove away.

  The puppy whined softly in her crate. I know how you feel, puppy. If Kelly could whine right now, she would, too.

  “What do you think would be a good name, Mommy?”

  “I don’t know, buddy.” They were very near the supersized Shop-World, and if she didn’t have the puppy in her car, she would have taken the time to stop. She needed more cleaning supplies and trash bags.

  Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. Blaming Caleb for not being able to stop was silly, as well. She knew it. But it didn’t prevent her.

  Maybe because the more blame she could heap on his head, the less guilty she’d feel over keeping the truth about Tyler from him.

  “Is Dr. C going to come get the puppy tonight?”

  “Yes.” She stopped at a traffic light. She could remember the days when Weaver only had one. Now there seemed to be at least a half dozen. In her present mood, that didn’t strike her as an improvement. They’d probably all be red. It would take them more than an hour to get home. It would be dark by then, and she hadn’t thought to leave any lights on in the house.

  “I like Dr. C,” Tyler
prattled on. “I’m gonna ask him to sign my cast, ’cause he’s my friend. Right, Mommy?”

  The light turned green, and she hit the gas harder than necessary. “I suppose so.”

  “I wonder if he—”

  “That’s enough, Tyler!” The words burst out of her. “I don’t want to hear any more about Dr. C!”

  The silence from the backseat was deafening, and remorse cut her to the quick. She pulled off to one side of the road out of the way of traffic and put the car in Park before turning around to see Tyler’s wounded expression.

  Tears were welling in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry, buddy.” She stretched over the seat until she could touch his hand. “I didn’t mean to be so sharp.”

  His lip jutted out, but it wasn’t a pout. “Then why were you?”

  How on earth could she possibly explain the emotions tangling inside her to her five-year-old son?

  “Sometimes it’s not very easy for Mommy to talk about...about Dr. C.”

  “Why?”

  She squelched a sigh. “Because, well, we used to be friends. And now we’re not.”

  “Did you have a fight?”

  Her head began throbbing again. “Something like that.”

  “Then if you’re sorry, just say you’re sorry.”

  It was the advice she gave him when he and Gunnar had some sort of tiff. “Sometimes it’s not that simple.”

  “Why not?”

  For one thing, she wasn’t all that sure she was sorry. Not where her decision about leaving Weaver was concerned. Yes, now that they’d run into Caleb again, she was going to have to either fish or cut bait when it came to telling him the truth about Tyler.

  But would she have done anything differently six years ago?

  It wasn’t something she could answer.