Page 87 of Rough Ride with the Grumpy Cowboy
“Then you should have thought harder instead of running away,” she asserts.
I turn to her with a glare, not appreciating the tone she’s using on me. She raises her hands in surrender, and we fall silent for a few more minutes before she speaks up again.
“You know, when you told me you were pregnant, I thought you were joking,” she says, taking the sonogram pictures from me.
“Wrong time for a joke, don’t you think?” I retort as I reach for a bag of chips from the snack basket in front of me.
“My mistake. But don’t worry—no matter what you decide to do, I’ve got your back,” she assures me.
“Thank you, Lou.”
“Can we stop by a drive-through and get something to eat? I’m hungry,” I request when I realize that the chips aren’t doing it for me.
“It’s good to see you eating.”
“Food is the last thing I want, but I can’t starve my baby.”
She nods in understanding, instructing the driver on where to go. We end up getting Chipotle, and it turns out to be really good.
“While you’ve been on break, I’ve had to turn down a lot of work. Now that you’re here, can I start setting up gigs again?” Lou asks me as we drive back home.
“Yes, I might as well work while I’m here. I need to do something before I drive myself crazy.”
“That’s good—I’ll get to work on that. Even though it’s not under the most ideal circumstances, it is good to have you back,” she says, smiling at me.
I give her a halfhearted thumbs-up in response.
LA always felt more like home than Texas ever did, but now I’m not so sure anymore. My body is here, but I left my heart in Texas, in a small cabin on a big ranch.
When we get to the hotel, the chauffeur gets the door for me while Lou handles my stuff. I stumble as I get out of the car, and Joel, the chauffeur, steadies me.
“Are you okay, Miss Ramirez?”
“I’m okay, Joel. Thanks,” I answer with a tight smile.
He lets go of my arm just as Lou joins me with my things.
“Thank you,” I appreciate her and move to take them away from her, but she stops me.
“I got them,” she assures me.
“You’re not riding up with me, are you?” I question.
“What do you think?” she retorts, leaving no room for argument as she moves toward the elevators.
I give in and follow her. The reason I’m staying at a hotel instead of the penthouse is because I had a panic attack the minute I tried to set foot in it. I couldn’t get the images of what Estevan did there out of my mind. Just like everything he’s ever touched, that is ruined too, so there’s no way in hell I’d keep living there.
Lou set me up in this hotel as we house hunt for a new place. It sucks that I have to look for a new house—I loved the penthouse, but it’s tainted now.
The hotel room is actually a suite, so I head straight for the bedroom, leaving Lou to whatever brought her up in the first place.
I take a shower and change into fresh clothes before getting in bed. Just as I’m dozing off, Lou barges in, holding her phone out toward me.
“It’s Ella.”
“I don’t want to talk to her,” I reply, burying myself deeper into the bed. My phone has been off since I boarded the plane, and I have yet to switch it on.
“Well, you don’t have much of a choice—she has threatened to release sensitive information about you to the public if I do not get you on the phone,” Lou insists.
