"Morning, Hayley," Riley answered quickly. She leaned in and hugged him, and he responded quickly with his own hug. She sat back and pulled her knees up so she was perched precariously.

"Can we have pancakes?" she asked. Riley smiled.

A girl after his own heart.

"We can. And we even have proper maple syrup." She wrinkled her nose. "Ewwww," she started,

"that's too sweet. I like lemon. Do you have any lemon?" "Lemon?" Riley tried to remember if Lexie had

liked lemon on her pancakes. Who the hell had lemon on

pancakes? There had to be some kind of rational

explanation that a child of his wouldn't like sticky sweet

syrup. "Lemon," he repeated and was completely aware he

was coming over like some kind of defective parrot. "We have lemon."

Donna's voice came from behind him, and he had

never been so pleased to hear it. He spun to face her then

placed a hand near Hayley as her stool wobbled.

"Why don't you wash up and get dressed, Hayley,

and let your dad take you to see the horses," Donna said

quickly.

Riley kissed Donna on the cheek affectionately and

waited as Hayley, cookie finished, climbed down and

disappeared out of the kitchen.

"Are you feeding that child cookies for breakfast?"

Donna teased. Riley squirmed inside.

"Just to tide her over," he said quickly. Donna

chuckled and peered out of the window to the yard beyond. "Is Jack out with Taylors again?" she asked. "She was restless apparently."

"She's in her sixth month; it's always a strange time

for them. Riley…"

"Yeah?"

"I know the timing is bad, but I wanted to ask

you—no—tell you something."

"Go on." This sounded ominous with a capital O.

Why did Donna want to tell him something when Jack

wasn't in the room?

"There's no easy way to say this, but Neil asked me

to move in with him, into the house attached to the clinic."

Riley could feel his eyes widen. Hell. Jack only tolerated

Neil Kendrick stepping out with his momma because he

thought it wouldn't last long. And now they were moving in

together? Why was Donna telling this to him? She should

be talking directly to Jack about it. She undoubtedly saw

the reaction on his face and shook her head. "I want to ask

you a favor, and you can say no if you like."

Riley's heart sank. He loved Donna. A slim,

irrepressible force of nature, his mother-in-law had been so

supportive about his problems and his relationship with her son, and now Hayley. He already had some idea what she might ask him, and knowing Jack's temper, it was going to

result in traveling down a very rocky road.

"What favor?" he asked. Even though he thought he

probably knew.

"Will you talk to Jack for me? I spoke to Josh

yesterday and Beth over the weekend, but every time I try

to talk to Jack, he closes down."

Riley listened to the words, but his head was filled

with Hayley and his own life. So what he said next was

said with no preparation and possibly verged on rude. "He's your son, Donna, and he's worried about you." "Neil is a good man."

"Neil is only a bit older than Jack."

"He loves me, Riley. I love him." She looked pale,

and he hated what he was saying. God, he was repeating

what Jack had said. He wasn't thinking about how he felt in

all of this. He liked Neil. Yes, the veterinarian was young,

but he was settled and educated, and he clearly adored

Donna. Seemed like the guy was moving out of his small

apartment and into the solidly built house attached to the

clinic—a good thing right? And it certainly indicated

permanence. The age gap was a little much for Riley to get

his head around, but who was he to judge? Who was Jack

to judge? Two men being married wasn't exactly the

normal way of going about things in the middle of Texas. "There's no rush," Donna pointed out. "I spend

every night with him but to actually make it permanent…

I'm not going to say it doesn't scare me after all this time on

my own. Still, Jack's opinion—all of my children's

opinions—mean so much to me."

Riley understood where she was coming from.

What Hayley thought of him now and in some nebulous

future—whether ex-playboy, blackmailer, and all round

people user—was something that had played on his mind

last night as he lay in bed.

"I'll talk to him," Riley finally answered, and Donna

smiled. She had a beautiful smile, and she certainly didn't

look like a woman in her mid-fifties. She looked happy and

rested and stunning.

"I'm ready," Hayley interrupted, and this one, Riley

was happy about.

"Come on," he said, and offered her a hand. "Let's

go scare, Jack."