Page 91 of Lost and Lassoed

There was no night sky like Wyoming’s. It was vast and sparkling and beautiful. Stars fell and shot all the time with certainty, the moon was effervescent and massive, and it featured as many colors as a sunset. Instead of reds and oranges, it was full of blues and purples and even emeralds.

“Today was perfect,” I said, still looking up at the sky. After we found the “rock fucking jasmine,” we’d stayed in that small meadow for a little bit. Gus had stashed a few sandwiches and apples in his saddlebags, so we ate and sat in the sun for a while. Well, Riley and I sat in the sun—Gus was a shade man—but he worked in the sun all day, so I guess that made sense for him. I’d fed my apple core to Mav and sent my dad apicture of him up in the hills of Rebel Blue. I hoped it made him happy.

“It was,” Gus said. “I was fucking determined to find those flowers yesterday. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner.”

“Your timing was perfect,” I said, laying my head on his shoulder. “I needed to…figure some things out first. I talked to Emmy today.”

“How did that go?” he asked, his tone thoughtful.

“Good,” I said. “We’re good.”

“You two are really lucky to have each other, you know. I’ve always known that,” he said. “But now that I’ve seen whatboth sides of your friendship look like, it feels even bigger to me.”

“Clementine Ryder and Theodora Andersen are written in the stars,” I said with a chuckle. “Doesn’t get more cosmic than that.”

He was quiet after that. I listened to the sound of crickets echoing around us. I’d never had anything like this before—where I felt like I could just exist in the quiet. I usually felt pressure to fill the silence, to entertain, but not here, not with Gus.

I shivered a little—I hadn’t planned for a Wyoming night—just a summer day. Gus noticed immediately.

“Stay here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.” I nodded. I was glad he didn’t ask me if I wanted to go inside. I wanted to stay out here awhile longer.

I’d always been a morning person—I liked to get up and get going—but lately, I’d started to really enjoy nighttime. I got to know Gus at night. We’d sat with each other in the living room, calmly existing in each other’s orbit for the first time ever, during that time. We talked. We laughed. We gave each other shit.

We’d started to see parts of each other that we liked, andthe parts of each other that we didn’t like in the light of day were softened by the night. And so were we.

Gus’s front door opened and he draped something heavy around my shoulders before he sat down next to me again. I recognized the weight on my shoulders. It felt familiar. How did he…?

I looked down and saw camel-colored fabric—vintage suede with fringe.

“How did you get this?” I asked. My hand immediately went to the side where the hole was, but when I went to feel for it, it was gone. I whipped the jacket off my shoulders, not caring about the cold anymore, and looked at the inside of the jacket.

There was a line of small, clean stitches that I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t looking for them.

“I got it from your dad last week. I remembered you saying it had a hole in it—and something about it being my fault.”

I smiled. “Itwasyour fault.”

“I don’t think it was, but I hope this makes up for it anyway,” Gus said. He brought one of his hands up to the side of my neck and brushed my hair behind my shoulder.

“How did you fix it? This isn’t shoddy sewing,” I said, holding up the inside of the jacket so he could see. “See how clean it is? And how there’s no tension in the fabric?”

Gus examined the stitches for a second before he said, “Cloma fixed it. Aggie helped me get ahold of her. I was lucky she was coming back to Meadowlark to tie up some loose ends last week. She was happy to do it. She adores you, Teddy.”

“Most people do,” I said. I threw the jacket over my shoulders and slid my arms into the sleeves. It felt so perfect—like home.

“And I was thinking,” Gus said, “that maybe we could take a trip to Jackson this weekend—Riley will be with Cam—and we can get your sewing machine fixed. I assume you’ll need it, since you have a workspace now.”

“How did you know about that?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Small town, Teddy baby.” He kissed me then—soft and slow, like we had all the time in the world, and I hoped we did.

“Teddy,” he said as he pulled back. He looked serious now—earnest. “I want to be with you. I want us to be together. This summer was incredible. I loved every second of it, but I don’t want it to be over. I want it to be our beginning.

“I don’t have much to offer,” he went on softly. “Just a quiet life with a grumpy man from a small town, but I can promise to love you every day.”

“You love me?” I said.Don’t cry, Teddy.

“I do,” he said. “And I want to show you how much I love you every single day. I want to do everything with you. I want you to be part of my daughter’s life. I want you at every soccer game, barrel race, and art show. I want you there when she sneaks into my bed in the mornings”—he kissed one of my cheeks then. “I want to marry you. I want to have babies with you—little copper-headed demons running around wreaking havoc”—a kiss on the other cheek. “I want to sit on this porch with you thirty years from now and look up at the sky and wonder what I did to deserve a life this good.

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