Page 32 of Rancher's Heart

Griff: parkers teaching me new words

Me: And apparently told you to get rid of punctuation.

Griff: its how we roll

Me: I’ll see you when I get home.

Griff: I need the number to call for new implant parts

I sent him all the information he needed, and I sighed as I thanked the universe for Griffin Harp. The ER phone rang, and I picked it up. EMS was on the other end of the line, and there went the quiet day they were having.

CHAPTER 19

ELLE

“We need to talk.” His deep, familiar voice made me turn, and I wished I could be happy to see him, but since that incident at Parker’s school, I’d been waiting for this to happen. I hadn’t been avoiding him, but with my work schedule, I hadn’t made it a priority to talk to him about this.

“I can’t wait to hear this. What is it, Troy?” I asked as I walked away from the busy storefront.

“You moved in with a man?”

“I told you that.” It wasn’t like I’d moved us in without letting him know. Maybe I’d omitted a few details, but he knew.

“No, I thought you moved in with an old man.”

“Well, that was an assumption on your part now, wasn’t it.”

“Chanelle, stop walking away from me.” I bristled at the use of my real name. He was the only person who used it besides my mother, and he knew how much it irritated me.

“I couldn’t tell you who I was working with.” It was a lame excuse. There really wasn’t any reason I couldn’t have told him.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, privacy laws and all that bull shit. How do you know it’s safe for our son to be around him.” His frownline was deep between his brows. The sun was beating down on us as we stood on the asphalt between parked cars.

“That’s rich coming from you. Who’s the bimbo of the week at your place, Troy? From what I hear, it’s Starcie Steiner. She’s trouble, you know that?” I crossed my arms and glared at him.

He almost rolled his eyes out of his head. “You just have it out for her, and there’s nothing wrong with her.”

“Right, almost killing a patient and asking me to cover for her screams, nothing wrong.” I shook my head.

“If she’s so bad, why is she working at the school?” He crossed his arms and leaned against my truck, staring at me. The wind whipped around the cars, and a shiver ran down my spine.

Pulling open the door, I grabbed the groceries out of my cart, set them on the seat, and slammed it closed. “Trust me, as soon as I find out how that happened, I will end it.”

“Stay out of it, Elle.” He shook his head. “You’re always looking for a fight where there isn’t one.”

Stopping mid-step, I spun around to face him. “Then stay out of my life. You lost the right to question me when you walked away and found the comfort you were so desperately looking for in someone else’s bed.” He’d cheated, and I walked in on him.

That day was burned into my brain. He’d begged for Parker and me to come to a show he was doing in Wyoming. He was in the finals and guaranteed to win what would be his biggest payday ever. So, I packed up our toddler and drove the six hours to watch him. When I found the trailer, I also found him balls deep in a busty blond. I could still hear her voice telling me I had to wait my turn.

Tears had stung my eyes as I slammed the door. Before he could get his pants done up, I was back in the truck, heading back home. I’d called the divorce lawyer while I was on the road. He knew I wasn’t the turn a blind eye type. He’d ended our marriage the moment he took that woman to our trailer.

Seven years later, it was a low blow, but it was the truth. I watched him sag slightly, but he took a deep breath and moved to stand square in front of me. “Our son’s involved. I won’t stay out of it.”

Troy and I didn’t argue. We’d never fought and maybe that was part of our downfall. We tried to make sure life was perfect, but in reality we’d crumbled under the pressure of Parker losing his hearing, Troy being gone, and my lack of support while he was trying to figure it all out.

“Listen, Griff is a stand-up guy. He and Parker get along great, and he gave me a place to stay when we were kicked out of the other place. Speaking of the other place, how’s it treating you? Parker sure was surprised when you told him.” I’d started trying to be nice, but I’d once again let sarcasm win.

“I’m sorry for how all that went down. If I’d known it was where you were, I never would have agreed to it.” His eyes were filled with sadness, and I don’t believe he truly wanted to make things hard for me.

---