Cowboy Baby Daddy

“Yeah,” Perri said, nodding. “That’s a good thing, right? No one likes a father who’s a cheapskate.”

“Maybe. But is it really a good thing?”

She blinked. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

I lifted one finger. “He buys a new truck.”

“It’s used, I thought. Like 50,000 miles or something?”

I shrugged. “You know, well, new used.” I lifted a second finger. “He buys a house.” I lifted a third finger. “He buys a bunch of new appliances for his kitchen. You should see some of these things. It’s like some of these could have come from NASA.”

“Oh, now you’re exaggerating.”

“I’m just saying.” I lifted a fourth finger. “And he buys a bunch of furniture for a daughter, who, as far as he knows, will only be staying with him part-time. I went online and checked the prices of some of these things. They weren’t cheap. They were expensive.”

Perri stared at me for a good 10 seconds. My pulse raced, my stomach tightened, and I swallowed. I knew my best friend would confirm how suspicious all Alex’s spending had been. Once we confirmed it, she could help me brainstorm how to deal with it.

“Are you drunk, Aspyn?” she said.

I’d been expecting a lot of different responses but not that. “Huh? Why would I be drunk? We’re in church!”

Perri shook her head and clucked her tongue like some old grandma. “Listen to you. I don’t get you. You’re complaining about Alex putting down roots. Seriously?”

“No, no. That’s not what I’m upset about. You don’t understand.”

“He’s doing everything he can to make it clear he’s staying. That’s why he needs a house and furniture. Well, maybe not the truck, but you can’t expect a man to live without a truck. This isn’t New York. This is Livingston.”

The head of a choir stepped into the hallway. We both offered her a smile.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Carmichael,” I said.

Perri offered her a polite nod and took a sip of her coffee.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” Mrs. Carmichael said.

Fortunately, she didn’t want to stop to chat. Once Mrs. Carmichael got going, it practically took the Second Coming to get her to stop.

She continued down the hallway. Even if she didn’t want to chat, she did serve as a nice reminder that we weren’t at my house, and we couldn’t expect much in the way of lasting privacy.

I waited until Mrs. Carmichael turned a corner to continue talking. “I get that Alex wants to convince me he’s going to stay. I’m convinced.” I shrugged. “And we’re getting along great. I couldn’t ask for things to be any better. This isn’t about that.”

“Okay, then.” Perri narrowed her eyes. “What’s it’s about?”

“Could you buy a new house, truck, land, and a whole house full of furniture? I don’t mean eventually. I mean in like, a couple of weeks.”

“Well, not right now. I couldn’t afford it.”

I shook my finger. “Exactly. He’s flinging money around like he’s a millionaire. He can’t afford it. He’s taking loans or something, going into a bunch of debt just to impress me.” I sighed. “That’s gonna cause trouble down the line. The bill’s gonna come due, and then what? Just because you get a little insurance payment doesn’t make you a billionaire. Remember how my cousin thought he was going to be on easy street after his accident, and then he ended up spending too much?”

Perri rolled her eyes. “What? You think he’s going to run off so the bank doesn’t foreclose on his house?”

“No.” I groaned and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “I’m saying if he wants to stay here with me, he needs to be careful.”

“You’re being stupid,” Perri said.

I blinked and tried to convince myself I hadn’t heard what I’d heard.

“What?” I managed to stammer out. “Did you call me stupid?”