Page 47 of Head Over Spurs

Before she could ask, Riley cleared his throat and beat her to a question. “How did you like town today, Ms. Graham?”

He was going for a more polite dinner conversation than her, then.

“Oh, call me Francine, dear.” Her mother reached out and patted his arm that sat stretched across the table. His other still rested on Jules’s knee, hidden by the linen tablecloth. “And it was just lovely. So charming!”

“What brought you to town, Mom?” The words were about as blunt as Francine had been, maybe it was a family trait.

“I can’t visit you? This was easier than taking a pack through foreign land to spend some time together.”

“It’s not like you stuck around home either,” Jules shot back. Riley’s hand squeezed her knee, and she met his gaze and lockedon. She allowed his presence to help calm her like she hoped it would.

Maren returned, the conversation on pause as wine was poured and a basket of thin, crunchy breadsticks deposited. After holding the glass up to examine it and taking a sip, her mother answered. “I had no intention of leaving your father.”

Plucking a breadstick from the basket, Jules bit off the end. A satisfying crunch rang out. “Then what happened?” This was more open than they had been with one another since everything fell apart. And while it was suspicious that her mom was so casual about it now, she wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.

“We had plans. A whole host of them. And vowed to make them happen once you were out on your own.” Her mom had a far off look in her eyes, as if back in the memory. “When you graduated high school, we decided you still might need us while in college. Then you graduated college, and it was about getting you settled in your own place. But Miles was no closer to being ready.”

Jules felt her knee begin to bounce, tension creeping throughout her body. Riley dragged his hand back and forth along her thigh until the pace of her leg slowed. She brought all her focus to the perfect amount of pressure coming from his hand, grateful to have him there.

Lifting her wine glass, she stole a glance at him as she took a drink. His eyes were already on her. Holding his stare for a moment, she could tell he was searching for that look. The one that said she wanted to get out of there.

Across the table, Francine continued. “Then your grandfather died. And I knew that was it, our plans would never happen. Of course, I still hoped. It started as me only leaving for the weekend. Just a small trip, not like the ones we weresupposed to take.” Her mother held her head up high, her shoulders straight and confident. “He couldn’t care less that I was gone, or that I extended it to a week.”

“When you were visiting your old college friend?”

“Out in California, yes. That moment when I came back and he hadn’t seemed to care either way, it was enough for me to leave for longer. Then I just didn’t go back—I thought maybe one day he would come after me, ask me to return.”

“Have you told him that?”

Jules reached for her wine glass once again, hoping to wash away the building sadness in her gut. It was as if her dad was forcing himself to serve a life sentence at Graham Equestrian. And that’s never how her grandfather would have wanted things to be.

“No, I haven’t. But after being away this past year, he clearly doesn’t miss me.”

“But how do you know?” she asked after polishing off her glass.

Francine shook her head admittedly. “Your father has made his choices. And you have too—do you plan to throw yourself into this little photo hobby and work your life away like him?”

“Her career is far from being a little hobby. She’s out there making a name for herself. Successfully.” Riley’s voice delivered his words with a calm confidence, and just enough edge to make it clear he wouldn’t have Francine saying these things.

Jules’s jaw dropped. Her mother, however, remained unsurprised by Riley’s interjection. She tilted her head to study him, then smiled tightly—as if deciding something.

The vibration of a phone call sounded at the table. But he continued.

“Everyone wants to be a photographer these days. Most do it as a side job. But Jules…” he turned to her, admiration and heat swirling in his gaze. “Jules books out a year in advance because she’s that in demand.Andit’s international work.”

The phone vibration started up again. But her focus was on Riley. Jules’s heart felt like it was going to leap up her throat as she watched him boast about her to her own mother.

“Have you seen her accomplishments? The magazines that hire her? Their big names? Have you seen how she immerses herself in what she does?”

A third round of vibrating began.

“My goodness. Please just answer that,” Francine huffed.

Riley reached into his pants pocket and withdrew his phone just as the call stopped. He held the screen up for Jules to see as a text message came in. Two missed calls from Brett. One missed call from Grey. And the text was from Grey.

Grey

Need you at the ranch. Now.

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