Page 41 of Catch Me, Cowboy
The silence hung for a few seconds, and then Austin said, “All right, then…”
“All right.”
“Well… good to hear your voice. I’ve got to catch up with the rest of the crew.”
“Austin.” His brother’s name popped out of his mouth.
“Yeah?”
It took Ty a second to say, “Call any time… you know… if you need a sounding board or something.”
“Will do. Thanks.”
But he wouldn’t. Ty was totally certain of that as he hung up the phone. He and his brother dealt with deep stuff alone and shared the superficial. Not the best way to handle things, but the way they were wired to handle them. He set his phone aside and stared up at the ceiling. Morning was a long way away.
He needed to move.
No. He needed to get out of this tin can and go to town.
*
Shelby did notspend the night with Cassie as she’d planned, nor did she get wildly drunk. Instead she drove home after finishing her one and only beer, with more on her mind than she cared to think about. Ty’s truck was gone when she got there. He’d been in town, too.
Thank goodness she hadn’t run into him. Her jagged nerves couldn’t have taken it. Not after confessing her deepest fear to Cassie, who’d thought it was every bit as alarming as she did. How as it that Ty could do this to her? Show up after four years, turn her inside out? She’d been so convinced she was over him, but she was not.
She also could not deal with his lifestyle. The road… the danger…
The danger. She’d never fully acknowledged that before, telling herself Ty’s career would soon be over and then they’d commence building their life together. And then he’d announced he was going pro. Even then she hadn’t focused on the danger, but rather on the fact he’d chosen rodeo. Hadn’t allowed herself to think about why she’d thrown down the rodeo-or-her gauntlet in the first place.
She didn’t see Ty the next morning, because he headed out to start fencing before Gramps had finished breakfast and she didn’t see him that afternoon after finishing up with Evarado because he got into his truck shortly thereafter and went to town.
In a way, admitting she still loved Ty made it easier to deal with him being around. At least she was facing reality instead pretending things were different than they were—or could ever be. The feelings the guy stirred up in her were crazy in their intensity. She’d told him she’d ached for him before… she still ached for him.
She’d been avoiding him before. Now he appeared to be avoiding her.
Better for both of them. Had he guessed how she felt?
She hoped not.
Two days passed. Ty left for work early and in the evening he drove away. Shelby went to roping practice. When Shelby heard his truck pull into the drive early in the morning, she fell asleep. Which meant she was getting as little sleep as he was. It was starting to wear on her and the sooner Ty left the ranch, went back out on the road, the better for her peace of mind.
Evarado was starting to settle, which meant he was starting to feel secure around her. He no longer pulled the rearing trick, but now he spooked and shied as an avoidance tactic. Despite that, the big gelding was kind of growing on her. She felt for him. He’d been handled poorly in his younger years and had been in survival mode for a long time. As had she. Maybe that was it. They were kindred spirits.
And maybe that was why Shelby knew the horse she heard nervously running the rails late that night was Evarado. She went to her window and sure enough, the gelding was pacing his pen, snorting and pawing. She slipped into her robe and quietly let herself out of the house and headed across the drive.
Ty was already at the corral when she got there. The sodium light popped and flickered overhead and the horse snorted again.
“Glad it wasn’t a wolf or cougar,” Shelby said as she approached the corral. As soon as he heard her voice, the gelding quieted.
“I’ll go see about turning this thing off,” Ty said.
“Thank you.”
He went into the barn and she could hear him opening the breaker box. A second later the light went out. Evarado snorted again, then stood still, listening for the unfamiliar overhead predator.
“It’s okay,” Shelby murmured.
The big gelding crossed the corral and came to stand close to her.
