Page 23 of Swift and Saddled

As for me, it wasn’t that I didn’t want one—it was that I didn’t want one with anyone who’d ever been interested in me. And now I wanted to get to know the girl who was decidedly not interested.

Great.

Speaking of that girl, I could see her in her ridiculous little car as I walked toward the front of the Big House. It was Saturday morning, so there was no work at Baby Blue today. I’d taken my horse, Ziggy, on one of the trails around the ranch early this morning and then popped over to the riding ring to see Emmy.

I looked down at my watch. It was a little past ten, which was later than I expected. Ada was banging on her steering wheel, and I wondered why until I heard her try to start the car and it wouldn’t turn over.

The way that car was squealing and shaking when she drove it into Rebel Blue earlier last week, I’m surprised it got her to Wyoming, let alone lasted this long.

I walked up to her car and tapped on the window. Shejumped and flashed me a dirty look after the surprise wore off, but I just smiled at her. I’d take her dirty looks over anyone else’s affectionate ones any day.

“Something wrong?” I asked as she opened her car door.

“This stupid piece of shit won’t start,” she said with a huff. She laid her head on the steering wheel, defeated.

“Where were you headed?” I asked, trying not to overstep.

“I just wanted to go buy a few hoodies and a few other things in town,” she said, head still against the steering wheel.

“We have an extra truck you can use,” I said. “It’s in the garage.”

Ada looked up at me. “Really? You’d let me use it?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Why wouldn’t I? No one else is using it.”

“It’s not the ugly blue one that’s parked next to me, is it?” she asked, throwing a worried glance at Emmy’s truck, and I chuckled.

“No, that’s my sister’s, but I’ll be sure to let her know you think her pride and joy is ugly.” Ada’s eyes widened. Those big brown eyes did something to me.

She bit her bottom lip, and I was hit with the memory of her biting mine. “That’s…really nice of you. That would be great. Thank you.”

“Yeah, the keys are already in it. Follow me.” I held her car door open as she got out before shutting it and heading toward the garage.

I walked us over to my old GMC Sierra pickup. It wasn’t in the best shape, but it was drivable, and a hell of a lot more reliable than the car Ada’d rolled up in. Safer too. No collision could take this steel cage out.

It was at the back of the garage, so I’d have to move my truck to get it out. Ada looked at it, shook her head, and said, “I’ve never seen so many trucks in my life as I have at this ranch.”

“Welcome to Wyoming,” I said as I opened the driver’s-side door.

“Maybe I won’t get as many stares from the townspeople when I drive this bad boy,” she said. “This’ll help me fit in.”

“I hate to break it to you,” I said, “but a beautiful woman is always going to get stares. No matter what she’s driving.” As soon as I said it I regretted it. Not because I didn’t think she was beautiful, but because I felt like I had just pushed on her boundary.

It was like I could see Ada’s walls immediately going up. Shit.

She looked away from me and didn’t say a thing. When she looked inside the cab of the truck, her shoulders fell.

“I can’t drive this,” she said. I’d never heard her voice sound like that—small, timid.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I shouldn’t have said that, but of course you can still drive the truck—”

“No, I literally can’t drive it,” she said. She was fiddling with the silver rings on a few of her fingers. “I don’t know how to drive a manual.”

I hadn’t even thought about that. Honestly, I’d forgotten this truck was a stick shift too. But there was something about her response that felt off-kilter in my head and heavy in my heart. It seemed a lot deeper than just not knowing how to drive a stick shift—that was pretty common, even in Meadowlark.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” I said, trying to think about a way to phrase my next suggestion that wouldn’t send her running for the mountains. I didn’t know much about Ada, but I knew she spooked as easy as a horse faced with a plastic bag. “I can drive you,” I said quickly. “To town. I have to grab a few things anyway.”

She bit her lip again. She did that when she was thinking. Her eyes were firmly on the ground—refusing to meet mine as usual. “I guess…” she started, then said, “that’s fine.”

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