Page 21 of Christmas with the Cowgirl
A million responses shot through his mind, but in the end, he settled for a simple: “Back at you.Because eventually backstabbers reap their just reward.”
Swiffer flushed, glanced over at Riley, then stormed off.Miles realized where he was headed, guessed at how much time it would take him to work his way through the not inconsiderable crowd, then yanked out his phone and dialed Jackson.
“I managed to piss him off, and he’s probably headed for you.He’ll have the syrup on by the time he gets there, but he’s the same old Swiffer.”
When he ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket, he realized Riley had moved over next to him and was watching.Was he imagining approval in her expression?
“That man could strut sitting down,” she said, making him laugh, and the anger at Swiffer drained away.“And he keeps looking at his shoes like he thinks he stepped in something nasty.”
“Might have to arrange that,” Miles said with a grin.
She laughed, and he felt inordinately pleased.“I guessed from the first he’s not here for Jeremy’s birthday,” she said.
His mouth twisted wryly.“Felix Swiff wouldn’t show up for his mother’s funeral if he thought he could make money being somewhere else.”
Her brows lifted.“That bad, huh?So why is he here?”
“More pressure on Jackson,” he said.But he didn’t want to talk about Swiffer, so he was thankful when Jeremy appeared, excited.
“I named him!”the boy yelped, smiling at Riley.
It took Miles a moment to realize he meant the new pony.“So what moniker did you decide to grace him with?”
“You talk funny,” Jeremy said with a grin.
“So what did you name him?”Riley asked.
“I named him Ice Cream.”
Miles blinked.“Ice Cream?”
“Yep.’Cuz it goes with Pie!”
Miles gaped after the boy as he darted back into the festive crowd.He looked at Riley.She looked back at him.Then, simultaneously, they both burst into laughter.
“Perfect,” she said when she caught her breath.
“Absolutely,” he agreed.
For a long moment their gazes locked, and he was reminded of that instant when he’d first seen her, when the ground beneath him had shifted.He realized he was just staring at her, and that it was going to start seeming weird soon.He took a steadying breath and grabbed at the first thing his brain came up with.
“Jeremy told me this land the therapy center is on used to be yours.”
“It was, for a while.But it was part of the Baylor ranch before that.I only bought it because it gave me access to an exit on the far side of my place.Always good to have in case of an emergency.”
“But you sold it back?”
She smiled, and his gut kicked up again.“That was always in the agreement, that they could buy it back.Once I found out what Jackson wanted to do with it, there was no question.And he made sure I still had a legal easement to the access road, so everybody wins.”
He liked that, both that she was all for the therapy center, and that she appreciated Jackson’s seeing to her own concern.“That sounds like him—” He broke off as his phone chimed Jackson’s notification tone.“And so does that,” he added as he pulled it out of his pocket.
When he answered Jackson was laughing, and Miles’s tension eased a little.
“He’s gone,” Jackson said.
“Good news,” he answered, meaning it.
“You should have seen it.He was already mad when I told him to get lost and started making a big fuss about how he was going to get back to town since we’re too uncivilized to have a rideshare at his beck and call.Then Chief Highwater walked over and offered him a free ride to the police station.”
