Page 21 of Knocked up By the Mountain Man

Completely ignoring me, she walks over to the horses with Carl and begins talking with him. Since he’s been working here for much longer than me, mostly because he’s been alive a lot longer than I have, he knows more about what’s going on and can speak to her easily. But that doesn’t make me feel any better. Worse, if anything, and it’s all Clara’s fault.

She’s the center of my misery and that’s the end of it.

I was fine before she came back here, painfully okay. I was looking forward to the future actually, excited to see what was going to happen with me in charge of the ranch. Now I’m getting increasingly pissed off. I’m going to make her regret this, thatmuch I know for sure. I’m not sure how, but I need to turn things around so that I’m the one in control, the one with all the power. Right now, she has it and I hate it. I can’t stand anyone who has the power other than me. I guess I’m more of a control freak than I realized.

I turn and stomp away because my male pride has been well and truly dented in. I head inside the house where Wyatt is sitting at the dining table, lazily drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. That pisses me off as well; he’s here when he’s supposed to be helping me. I’m starting to feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere, all alone, with no one who understands me. The worst thing is, I can’t even talk to my best friend about any of it because he’d kill me.

I could snap. I really could lose my mind, but I don’t.

Instead, I take a mug and grab a coffee for myself.

If I explode at everyone around me just because Clara is here, then I’ll end up with no one and I really don’t want that.

I have to keep my mouth clamped shut and not say a damn thing. If I can’t think of anything nice to say, then I have to say nothing.

And I really don’t have anything nice to say about Clara right now.

Nothing at all.

9

CLARA

“Oh, Abby, are you sure?” I nearly burst into tears of relief as my friend offers herself up to babysit for a couple of hours. Not for long I hope, just to take Thomas to her house after her nursery hours so I can finish up on the ranch. I’m getting increasingly behind schedule by the minute and it’s feeling very stressful. The horses on this ranch need me, a lot. More than I realized at first. “You don’t mind? I won’t be long, I swear.”

“Hey, Thomas loves me and I love him as well,” she reassures me in her usual sweet tone of voice. “I’ll take him home and make him some dinner. I’ll make sure that he’s fine. You take as long as you need to. It’s no problem at all.”

I was just about to erupt from the sheer stress of being late to pick up Thomas from daycare, which I knew would upset Beau, and also potentially hurt Daniel because I wouldn’t be making him as proud as I would like. Thank goodness for my best friend who had just saved the day.

I should never have let Abby go; I really regret that now.

Luckily, she understands.

“You are such a super star,” I gush with gratitude. “I’ll let you know when I’m done here and I’ll be over.”

“Is everything... okay?” she asks me curiously. “How is everything going at the ranch? With you know who?”

She understands the situation with Beau better than anyone else in the world. I’ve explained it all and spent the last few days complaining about how he was picking on me, but her sympathy is still hard to swallow and I’m not sure why. I guess I just don’t like talking about Beau while I’m so close to him because I don’t want him to see me fall apart. The last thing I want is for him to know the effect he still has on me.

It’s pathetic, especially since he doesn’t know that Thomas is his son.

He might see me as a weakling who simply can’t get over our little fling. Thank God it was only ever that. I never would have wanted to be with him if I had known he was going to turn out like this. This nasty, bitter Beau is nothing like the young guy I had adored for my whole freaking childhood. If he has someone in his life now, then it’s his girlfriend I feel sorry for. She’s truly stuck withhim.

Rather her than me, I think to myself bitterly.Thomas and I had a seriously lucky escape.

“It’s... okay,” I reply carefully so she won’t worry about me any more than she needs to. “I keep to myself.”

“At least it seems like the stable manager is nice enough to you. It’s good that you have him on your side to help out.”

That’s one good thing. Carl and the other stable hands are nice enough guys, but for some reason their approval isn’t enough. I hate myself for it, but I need Beau to accept that I’m not a useless person, that I can deal with things properly. I guess because way back when, I was the poor orphan girl who lived with her uncle and he was the cool wealthy guy who hadeverything. I need him to know that I’ve made something of myself.

Pathetic.

“Right, I better go,” I sigh to Abby. “I’ll get everything wrapped up fast and I’ll be at yours to get Thomas soon.”

“Yep, and don’t worry. We’re going to be fine. I’ll call you though if I need you for any reason at all.”

I hang up the phone and spend a moment rubbing my forehead because there’s an intense ache starting to settle in. My stomach is rumbling and painful as well; I haven’t had a chance to eat anything all day, but that’s not something I can deal with at the moment. I need to get all of my work for the day done first so I can go home peacefully without Beau’s snippy comments ringing in my ears, keeping me awake at night and upsetting me.

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