Page 30 of Wild and Wrangled

He put his hands on Greer’s shoulders. “She comes off a little strong,” he said to me. “But she means well.”

Dusty’s dad—Renny—was tall. His hair looked like it used to be dark, but now it was mostly gray. He was clean-shaven and wearing jeans and a T-shirt from the grocery store, along with his nametag. Both of his arms were full of faded tattoos.

“You must be Cam,” he said to me. His eyes were bright. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

“All good things, I hope,” I said, reaching out to shake Renny’s hand.

“Good would be the understatement of the century,” Renny said as he took my outstretched hand. When I looked over at Dusty, he looked like he might be blushing.

“Welcome. We’re happy you’re here,” Renny said before moving past me to his wife. He gave Aggie a kiss on her temple and then her lips, and I realized I’d never seen my parents kiss.

When the oven timer went off, Greer and Dusty went to help their mom bring dishes over to the table—chicken, steamedbroccoli, and one of those pasta side dishes from the box. I followed so I could help, too.

Dinner conversation flowed easily. Greer told everyone about the Bill Nye episode that she got to watch at school that day—the one about volcanoes; Aggie and Renny talked about their work, and Dusty told them about school. I chimed in when he was talking, and the way everyone at the table listened and leaned in to pay attention to me when I spoke felt…new. I wasn’t used to it.

“How long have you two been married?” I asked Dusty’s parents. They sat near each other at the table—Aggie at the head of the table and Renny to her right. They held hands on the table throughout the whole meal—except when one of them had to cut something.

“Twenty years.” Renny smiled. “Of pure marital bliss. Isn’t that right, scrumptious?”

Aggie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “That’s right.”

“Ew,” Greer mumbled, and Dusty laughed.

“What about your parents, Cam? What do they do?” Aggie asked. I knew she was being nice, but I didn’t want to talk about my parents. Not while I was here spending time with this family that actually felt like a family.

“My dad is the CEO of a bank,” I said quickly. “And my mom does a lot of charity stuff.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“I have an older sister,” I said. “Violet. She’s in her second year at Yale.”

“Damn,” Renny said. “Your parents must be so proud of you both—Dusty tells us you’re as smart as can be.”

I looked over at Dusty, and he gave me a reassuring smile. “Um,” I said, not really sure how to respond. “Yeah,” is what I settled on.

“I’d love to meet them. Maybe at one of your games?” Aggie said. “I can ask them how they got so lucky with such a great girl.”

“They, um…” I stumbled a little. “They’re, um, really busy.”

Aggie tilted her head when she looked at me, and I had a feeling she was figuring out way too much about me with that look.

“Well,” she said after a few beats, “you’re welcome here anytime.”

“Yes, you are,” Renny said. “Anyone who can get Dusty to be on his best behavior is a miracle worker in my book,” and then he winked at his son. I loved watching this family—the ease with which they interacted with one another. I felt lucky to be here.

With Dusty.

“Who wants dessert?” Aggie asked after a second, and Greer’s hand shot up.

Tonight was perfect.

Chapter 16

Dusty

The lights were on in the main house on the Wilson property. How did I know that? Because I’d been staring at them for the past hour. That meant she was here—she was moving in. She was going to be one hundred feet away from me for the foreseeable future.

I felt like I should go over there. I wanted to. It was better for us to acknowledge the fact that we would be living this close together sooner than later—right?

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