The Cowboy's Texas Rose (The Dixons of Legacy Ranch 1)

“What are you guys doing in there anyway?” she asked.

Toby’s seriousness broke, and he chuckled. “We got about twenty spoons covered in peanut butter residue from our taste test. Got him to eat a bunch of apple slices, too, by slathering that stuff all over ’em. We’re launching them into the sink to wash ’em. My cupboards are peppered in peanut butter splotches.”

She shook her head as amusement twisted her mouth, when the light saber from the photo caught her eye, cast aside on the floor with some other old toys. An E.T. figure, and a bucket of G.I. Joes, and…were they original Star Wars action figures tipped over and scattered on the floor?

She peeled out of his grip and walked over to them. “What’s all this?”

He waited where he was, jamming his hands into his pockets. “Oh, I rummaged around the storage for some old stuff. My momma kept all our favorite toys in hopes she’d have grandkids someday. But Tyler rarely brought his boys out this far from Nacogdoches, and who knows if Travis will ever have kids. I don’t think he’s dated since his high school girlfriend.”

“What? That would have been, like, fourteen, fifteen years ago.” Rose crinkled her nose. “I don’t buy it.”

Toby chuckled. “I ain’t selling it. Don’t know if he’s hopped into bed on occasion, but I do know that when he returned from overseas with his injuries, it took him a long time to get over her and get back on his feet. Sometimes remaining single becomes a habit, one you wish you could break, you know?”

Oh, Rose knew all right but kept listening.

“But if you did, you’d lose that comfort and safety. I think remaining single is Travis’s safety to be honest.”

Rose smiled, still looking at the toys on the floor. They looked original. A Chewbacca figure was missing his arm. The G.I. Joes were scuffed with flimsy joints from no doubt thousands of twists and adventures outside or parachuting over banisters. Toby and his big brothers had played hard with them, and yet Deborah Ann had packed these precious relics up in boxes to save as if they were fine crystal. And now Toby was sharing this piece of his childhood with Sage.

Toby stepped up beside her, smiling wistfully. “My momma would have gotten a kick out of seeing your boy play with these toys. She loved kids. Grandkids were all she ever wanted.”