Lizzie picked up a pen and turned it over in her hands. A family dinner would probably be the perfect time for her to drop the p-bomb. “Actually, uh, he’s working in Dallas right now. His company offered him management of their local office.”
Julieta smiled brightly. “That’s good news, right? But wasn’t he competing? What happened?”
How much could she tell and still have it make sense on Sunday? “He was, but I think the management offer was too good for him to pass up, so he cut his season short.”
“Oh, well. Bring him along. I know the boys will like having him around, and Alex will be in heaven. Chris was really great to him at the hospital.”
Yes, he had been. And he’d been great about a lot of things since. Great about everything except calling her over the past eight days. And that was mostly her fault.
“I’m sorry, Jul, but I’ve got to get to an HR meeting,” Lizzie apologized. “Four-ish on Sunday?”
“Or earlier. Maybe you and Chris would like to go out for a ride. You could show him the ranch.”
“We’ll see.”
Julieta got up and leaned over the desk to give Lizzie a hug. “Good. Now I just have to ask Savannah if she’ll do dessert. No one makes pastry like that girl.”
“See you Sunday. And don’t let the old guy push your buttons.”
Julieta laughed, a musical tinkle that made Lizzie smile. “Right back at you,” she directed, then headed out of Lizzie’s office.
Lizzie picked up her files and her purse and began to make her way to the boardroom. Once her meeting was done she’d have to break down and call Chris.
They’d have to talk and decide how she was going to tell the family—which included telling Brock he was about to become a grandfather.
She just hoped he had his shotgun locked away.
* * *
LIZZIE PICKED CHRIS up at his motel on Sunday afternoon. She had mixed feelings about his coming to the dinner. She’d thought it would be better to tell the family alone. It would spare Chris having to answer some awkward questions and, well, she could control the outcome a bit better. But he’d insisted. Their relationship status confusion aside, he’d made the argument that if he wasn’t along it would look as though he were a coward—which he wasn’t. And he thought she needed backup. They were in this together.
Lizzie pulled into the lot, frowning as she put her car in park. She’d given up some control of the situation but had gained moral support. The really annoying thing was she was glad she wasn’t going to have to face them down solo. Not that long ago Daniel had called her Little Miss Perfect. Not that he’d been malicious about it, but she still felt as if she were about to take a tumble off an invisible pedestal.
Chris came out of his room and pocketed his room key, still an actual key rather than the more modern key card. The motel wasn’t exactly a dive, but it wasn’t a four-or even three-star establishment either. He got in the passenger side and shut the door. “Hey,” he said simply, settling into the seat and reaching for his seat belt. As if nothing had happened between them. As if she hadn’t been sprawled beneath him on the sofa, and he’d never called her bluff.
&n
bsp; “You haven’t found a place yet?” she asked, turning out of the motel onto the street. It would take the better part of an hour to get to Roughneck, by the time she got out of this part of the city and headed east to the ranch.
He shrugged. “I’m taking my time. I don’t want to have to move again, so I want to make sure I end up in a nice neighborhood. Maybe with a yard. Somewhere...safe.”
For their child. He didn’t need to say it for her to know that was what he meant.
“Can we make a stop on the way?” he asked. “There must be a flower shop somewhere.”
“A flower shop?”
He turned his head and looked at her. “Yeah. I’d like to take something to your stepmother.”
It was a sweet gesture. Lizzie gave a short laugh, though. “It’s so hard to think of her that way. There’s only a decade between us.”
“But you get along?”
“Well enough. Not really mother-daughter.”
He nodded, sitting back against the seat and relaxing. “Were you close to Brock’s second wife? What was her name?”
“Peggy?” Lizzie’s heart still ached when she thought of the woman who’d come into their lives at such a crucial time. “Yeah, I guess I was. I mean, I never called her Mom or anything. But she was definitely a parent. She and Dad never wavered on the rules, and she was pretty kind and understanding but tough when she needed to be.”