Page 52 of Wild and Wrangled

Dusty looked over at Riley and Emmy. “Groundwork,” he said. “Helps build trust between a horse and its rider.” Dusty shook his head. “Emmy looks just like her mom out there.”

I tilted my head. “Did you know Stella?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Dusty nodded. “I took riding lessons from her as a kid, so I was in the exact same spot Riley was.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said. The image of a smaller Dusty flashed into my mind, leading a horse around the arena like Riley had done. “Emmy told me about your, um, ingenuity,” I said, gesturing toward the utility truck.

Dusty smiled, and when he lifted up his old trucker hat to smooth his hair back before adjusting it on his head, I could only hope I wasn’t visibly drooling. Especially when his jacket moved up on his arm a little bit, showing that the blue friendship bracelet that Riley had made him for Christmas was still there. “It’s actually super fucking helpful,” he said.

“How do you get off of it?” I asked. “Like if it just keeps moving?”

“If you don’t pull on the string for a while, she gets reallyslow, so you just hop off the back, run toward the driver’s side, and throw her in park.”

“I wish I would’ve seen that part,” I said with a laugh.

“So you were watching me?” Dusty said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. “You know,” I said. “Someone standing on the back of a moving truck with no one in the driver’s seat is a bit of a spectacle.”

“All I care about is that it made you look,” Dusty said, and I felt it in my spine.

“Shameless flirt,” I said with a push on his shoulder. He caught my hand and held it there for a second before lettinggo.

For a second, I wished he hadn’t let go, and then immediately got frustrated with myself.Friend, Cam,I reminded myself.This is your friend. You’re just having fun with your friend.

“You like it when I flirt with you,” Dusty said with a smile.

“Shut up,” was the only response I could come up with. Because he was right. He’d always seen me so clearly.

Dusty laughed a little. “I’m going easy on you,” he said.

“Believe me, I’m aware,” I responded. Dusty had fifteen more years of flirting experience under his belt, and I was a little scared of what he might have learned. I also didn’t want to think about who he’d learned it from—or with.

“Let me know when you’re ready for me to dial it up,” he said with a wink. My only defense mechanism was another eye roll, and Dusty’s response was to laugh again. My cheeks were hot, and I could only hope they weren’t as red as they felt. If they were, I’d blame it on the cold.

“So I was wondering—” Dusty started to say but was interrupted by Riley climbing onto the other side of the fence and putting her arms around my neck for a hug.

“Did you see me leading Sweetwater, Mom?” she asked excitedly.

“I did.” I squeezed her back with one arm. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Did you see?” Riley looked over at Dusty with a giant grin on her face. One side of Dusty’s mouth tilted up as he nodded.

“You’re a natural,” he said.

“That’s what auntie says,” Riley told him matter-of-factly. “She also said I had to wait a minute before I came over here so you guys could talk. I waited like five whole minutes.”

In Riley time, that meant she waited approximately thirty seconds. We were working on the whole patience thing.

I looked over at Emmy, who was close enough to hear. She had a small smile on her face. Meddling little shit.

“Look what I’m wearing.” Riley held out her wrist to Dusty and pushed up the sleeve of her coat a little. The leather bracelet Dusty had made for her was on her wrist. She refused to take it off, which I secretly loved most of the time. It would get a little heated at bathtime when I asked her to take it off, but when I told her that water might ruin it, she’d allow me to take it off her for five minutes.

Dusty held out his wrist the same way, so she could see his blue bracelet. “I’m wearing mine, too,” he said with a grin. “I love it.”

My sassy and spunky daughter went bashful, and it made me smile. The Dusty Tucker effect seemed to take hold of her, too. Just like her mom. She detached from me and scooted her little feet along the fence, getting closer to Dusty. When she swung her leg over, Dusty put a hand on her back, so she wouldn’t fall as she brought over the other one. Instead of climbing down like she always did, she reached one arm backto Dusty, who grabbed her with care and set her softly on the ground.

“Thank you,” she said as she looked up at him. Where did these manners come from? Riley stepped toward me and looped her hand in mine. “Are you done working?” she asked.

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