Page 14 of Lost and Lassoed

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About thirty minutes later, Riley had finished her bowl of instant mac ’n’ cheese—Gus was severely lacking on the groceries—and I turned on the TV to a show I knew she liked. I saw a call come in from Cam a few minutes later.

“Hey,” she said. “Thanks for picking Riley up. Sorry about Nicole.”

“Any time,” I said. “Between you and me, I think Nicole’s got a little crush on your baby daddy.”

Cam laughed. “I got that vibe when she started pelting me with questions about him a few months ago. Then, at the game right before I left, she hit him with a very strategic hair flip and arm touch.”

“She seems kind of…not great,” I said. “They might make a good match.”

An amused snort came from the other end of the phone. “Idon’t even know what his type would be at this point, it’s been so long since I’ve seen him withanyone.” I tried to think back to the last time I’d seen Gus with a girl, and nothing came up.

Huh.Interesting.

“Anyway,” I said, switching subjects as I walked to the living room, where Riley was watching TV, “I’m still with Riley, waiting for Gus to get home, if you want to talk to her. I think she’s missing you something fierce.”

“Me too,” Cam sighed. “Hand me to my baby.”

“Kid,” I said, “it’s your mom.” Riley’s face lit up. She hopped off the couch and grabbed the phone from me. Once she had the phone in her little hand, I left the living room to give them some privacy.

I walked out onto the front porch and sat in one of the Adirondack chairs Gus had placed there.

God, he had a good setup. He was on the west side of Rebel Blue—far enough from anything else that it felt like this place was all his. He had panoramic views of the mountains, and one of the streams that cut through Rebel Blue went right past the front of his white two-story house.

I closed my eyes and listened to the water flow, letting the sound wash away all the weight of my day.

It was just starting to work when I heard a truck rumbling down the dirt road. I opened my eyes just as Gus’s Chevy pickup came to a screeching halt in front of his house. He cut the engine and was out of the cab before I could blink.

Gus stalked toward the house, his gloves and chaps still on, along with the dark brown cowboy hat that he typically wore. Gus always looked like he literally had a stick up his ass, but I’d never seen him the way he looked now—stressed, tired, disheveled.

As soon as he saw me, he stopped.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked—spat, rather.

“I think you mean ‘Thank you, Teddy, for picking up my kid from soccer practice, getting her home safely, and making her dinner,” I shot back.

I saw Gus’s jaw clench. “Where is she?”

“She’s inside talking to Cam,” I said, coming to my feet. “Let them talk for a while. Riley misses her.” I didn’t mean for it to sound harsh, but it did.

“You think I don’t know that?” Gus snapped.

I shook my head. “That’s not what I meant,” I said. Gus pulled off his gloves and rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, Teddy. I don’t need you to tell me what my kid needs.”

The annoyance that usually accompanied Gus Ryder started to bubble up under my skin. “But you do need me to pick her up, apparently.”

“I asked Emmy to do it,” Gus said as he came up the front porch steps.

“No, she told you she couldn’t, and you wouldn’t budge, so she said she’d take care of it, and here I am,” I said. “If you didn’t want it to be me, you should’ve been more specific.”

“She should know I would never want it to be you,” he grumbled.

That was it. I’d had a bad fucking day, and I didn’t need Gus’s shit on top of it. I mean, he couldn’t even thank me. “Well, at least I didn’t forget about her.”

I watched Gus’s face fall and immediately regretted my words.

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