There was, in fact, a tiny toddler-sized helmet in the barn. Way in the back where she would've never thought to look had she not been searching for it. With Aanon's cell phone number shoved in her pocket, and Dodge's coat zipped up to his chin, she secured him in front of her and rode about three miles an hour the entire way to town.
When she pulled up to the back parking lot of Briney's, she turned the motor off and lifted Dodge off the seat. With his little mitted hand in hers, she led him into the bar office and waved at Briney to let him know she was there. Her fingers shook as she punched in the number and waited.
No answer.
"Come on," she pleaded to no one in particular. Punching the number again, she waited with the same results.
Okay, one more time. If he didn't pick up, she'd just leave a voice message for him to call her back at Briney's, and she and Dodge would have dinner there. Right by the phone.
"Hello?" Aanon asked across the static.
The relief she felt was thicker than whole milk butter. "Hey, it's me."
"Farrah? What do you need? I'm kind of busy at the moment. Are you okay?"
"Yes, yes I'm fine. Kind of. Listen, you need to come home."
"What? Why?"
"Dodge is here."
Static stretched on and on until finally, he said, "I'll be home tonight," and hung up the receiver.
Dick.
She was pissed at him. He'd left out a huge part of his life, and that was fine if he had secrets. He didn't owe her explanations. But he'd lied about Erin, and he'd withheld the truth about his son. It felt like a slap to the face that he'd kept everything important as far away from her as he could.
She didn't know him at all.
Chapter Nine
According to a very in depth book on conquering the bedtime routine, Farrah really couldn't keep Dodge up much longer to wait for Aanon. She flipped to the next page and squinted tiredly at the text.
"Keep reading," Dodge instructed from the sudsy bathwater she'd warmed for him in the tub. His blond locks were plastered to his head, and a blob of bubbles decorated his smiling cheek.
"Are you sure? This stuff is super boring. Why don't we read one of the books we got for you?"
"Here puppy," he said, ignoring her offer in an attempt to get Luna to lick a bar of soap in his outstretched hand.
"All right, buckaroo. We need to get you in your new pajamas. That water has to be getting cold by now."
She rinsed him off with a plastic cup as he gripped the tiny tiger bath toy she'd picked up from the general store. After slathering him in lotion until his skin shone, she pulled on his night clothes and ran her comb through his hair.
He plopped down on her lap beside the bathtub as she picked up the parenting book to figure out what to do next.
When the door swung open, Aanon stood there, looking every bit like he hadn't slept in days. He glanced from the bath water to the toddler in her lap and then to the book in her hands.
Unnecessarily, she explained. "I checked out a book on how to do bath time from the library."
"Daddy!" Dodge screamed with the jubilation of a child truly happy.
Aanon caught the little boy in his arms and laughed despite the tired set of his eyes and grim line of his mouth. "Hey buddy," he said, closing his eyes and leaning his cheek against his son's.
Farrah stacked the books Dodge had picked out on top of his folded dirty clothes and handed them to Aanon. She was tired and confused and didn't feel like talking to him any more than he looked like he wanted to talk to her.
"Night, Dodge." She wasn't exactly shoving Aanon out the door, but she was hinting heavily.
"Farrah, I think we need to talk," he said, rubbing the little boy's back.
Oh, hell no was she getting into it tonight when she could barely hold her eyes open. And maybe Erin was okay with discussing inappropriate matters in front of Dodge, but she didn't feel right about it at all.
"How about you enjoy your time with your son. We can talk later."
"Farrah-"
"Aanon," she said, overly patiently. "I just found out you have a son and that you lied to me about your relationship status. I was let in on the secret in a really messed up way, and I was stripped down to nothing by a woman I've never met before today. Our talk can wait." Preferably until she didn't want to strangle him anymore.
"I'm really sorry."
"Don't," she drawled out. He wasn't going to fix a lie so easily. She'd been through this with Miles. Why couldn't men just be honest? "This is one of those things you could've trusted me with. Should've trusted me with."
Gently, she closed the door behind him and pressed her back against it until she was sure he was gone. He deserved time with his son, and she'd give him as much space as she could manage. Lighting into him now would only make him feel bad, and he needed to focus on Dodge. It hurt to swallow the things she wanted to say, but she'd be damned if she was going to be a manipulative attention-seeking crazy person like Erin. The woman had given her the perfect roadmap of the type of woman she didn't want to be. Unfortunately for her, Erin was apparently Aanon's type. She shook her head. No wonder he'd lied.
Erin was the type of woman he liked, and who was she? Farrah wasn't important to him. He'd made that clear from the get-go.
****
The tractor was bulky, but easy enough to drive after Billy's patient lessons. Farrah hit the lever that dropped the hay fork, then reversed and speared the giant round bale. When it was lifted off the ground, she pulled slowly from the barn and maneuvered it to the gate of the cattle's enclosure.
The small herd was fenced into a two acre square tract. Aanon had said that he and his father had always driven them to open pasture land during the few warm months, but at this time of year, predators would get desperate, and feeding the animals in the snow had to be made as simple as possible. So up near the house was where they'd stay for the rest of the winter.
At the sound of the tractor, the cows and the one old, slow bull made their way to the fence. It was the same every morning. Usually they stayed far enough back for her to open the gate and get the tractor through, but today, number 417 was pacing the fence line.
"Crazy heifer," Farrah muttered as she pulled a chunk of hay from the bale and walked down the fence line to toss it over.
When the herd was distracted, she pulled the gate chain and drove on through, then shut it again. Twenty yards in, she lowered the hay fork on the back and drove forward until the bale slipped off. Usually, she spread the hay out for them, but 417 was staring at her with an especially psychotic look on her bovine features. Add that to the backache that had been plaguing Farrah since early this morning, and today the herd would have to pull their own hay from the bale.
Aanon and Dodge hadn't made an appearance yet, but if the smell of griddle cakes that wafted across the clearing was anything to go by, they were inside enjoying breakfast together.
Smiling to herself, she remembered Dodge's face when he'd got to pick his own pint of ice cream from the gas station in town yesterday. Most of it still sat in the freezer on the back porch, but he'd been so excited, his grin had stretched the expanse of his adorable little face.
The chicken coop was next, and when her basket was filled with brown eggs, she set it on the porch of the big house. It was warm enough they wouldn't freeze, and she wasn't in a rush to interrupt the father-son bonding time that was going on inside.
Pulling a cherry-fried pie from her jacket pocket, she turned to go have her own second breakfast on the bench of her front porch. The scenery couldn't be beat, and she needed to soak up as much of the remaining warmth as possible before months of chill set in.
The front door to the big house creaked open and Aanon stood there with a wholly unsurprised look that said he'd been waiting for her. "I made breakfast," he said gruffly.
"Congratulations," she said, ripping open the pie with her teeth.
Inspecting the porch rafters, he swallowed. "I mean, would you like to have breakfast with me and Dodge?"
Holding up the pie as proof, she said, "I've got my own. And anyways, I still have a lot of work to do before I run errands in town."
"What errands?" he asked, cocking his head. "Maybe we could make the trip with you."
It was so hard to say no to him when he looked so damned beautiful standing there in the morning light, arms crossed, leaning against the door frame like he had full confidence she'd say yes.
"Look, Erin made it pretty clear that I'm supposed to stay away from you yesterday. I really don't want to be the one to ruin the time you get with Dodge. Plus, you wouldn't want to come with me on these errands."