“Even friends need blackmail. You should hear some of the shit I have on Bishop?—”
“That goes both ways, asshole,” Bishop interjected. “You wanna get into that shit, I’ll get into mine.”
Lincoln didn’t back down. “Whatever you say… Daddy.”
“Hey! I’m the only one who can call him that!” Lennox called from the back of the arena where Josie was leaning against the fence with baby Stella in her carrier. “Don’t forget I know the sounds you make when you?—”
“Hi, hello! Children are present,” I said, quickly covering Charlie’s ears. “Is it too much to ask you to behave for once?”
She giggled, pulling my hands down to rest on her shoulder. “Daddy says bad words sometimes, Miss Cleo. He never behaves.”
“Maybe he needs to stay late for detention to learn his lesson. That something you could help him with, Cleo?” Lincoln’s words came through barely restrained laughter.
“I’m going to kill you,” I mouthed over Charlie’s head, which only sent him into a full fit.
“Alright, are we gonna ride or what?” Bishop asked, turning to Grady. “You mind if I take her around the arena a few times? You’ll be beside me because I doubt she’s gonna let Titan get far without her.” He gestured toward Sundance.
Grady nodded. “Sure, man. I trust you.”
Bishop walked around and pulled himself up into the saddle. Honestly, it was impressive every time I saw him do it. He was a big guy himself, but it still took some serious strength to get on the back of that horse. “Come on, Charlie,” he said, motioning for her. “Lincoln, mind giving her a leg up?”
“No problem,” Lincoln said, bending down and creating a cradle with his hands. “Charlie, you’re gonna put one foot right here and grab hold of Bishop’s hand so we can get you up there.”
She glanced between Lincoln and Bishop warily. “Where am I gonna sit?”
Bishop patted the small space between his body and thesaddle horn. “Right in front of me so I can make sure you don’t go falling off.”
“Okay,” she mumbled, stepping out of my hold. Just as they said, she grabbed onto Bishop’s outstretched hand as Lincoln hoisted her up. She settled right in front of him, a giddy smile on her face as she looked down at all of us. “Oh my gosh, I’m so tall,” she giggled. “Miss Cleo, why don’t you ride with us?”
“I don’t have a horse saddled up,” I said, stepping back. “But I’ll be right here watching you.”
“You can ride with me,” Grady said, smirking as he glanced down at his lap.
“Nice try.” I couldn’t help but smile when his lips dropped into an overexaggerated pout. “I’ll catch the next one.”
Stepping back, I let Bishop take the lead with Titan. Sundance didn’t need any coaxing to follow suit, falling perfectly in step with her little boyfriend. I watched from the sidelines as Bishop let Charlie hold the reins, giving her gentle instructions on how to navigate the turns.
Then my eyes shifted to Lennox, who looked like she was ready to melt at her fiancé’s coaching. It wouldn’t surprise me if they announced a little surprise before long. They absolutely fawned over Stella and jumped at every opportunity to watch her, even if only for an hour or two while Lincoln and Josie ran errands in town.
In all my creeping, however, I forgot I wasn’t alone. Lincoln walked over and let out a low whistle as he leaned against the railing. “Damn, you’ve got it bad.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, refusing to look at him. I’m sure he had a stupid, goofy smile on his face, which was the last thing I wanted to see right now.
“Sure you do. I see the same thing you did when you encouraged Josie to tell me how she felt. The same thing you see now with the way Lennox is staring at Bishop like that grumpy bastard is the most important person in the world.” He bumpedinto my shoulder. “You’re not as cool, calm, and collected as you think you are.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to see I was right. He was trying to suppress his smile, but his lips were twitching. “He’s not even officially divorced.”
“That’s more of a confirmation than deflection, you know,” Lincoln said. “But so what? No one said you had to skip down the aisle, Cleo. Just don’t shut it all down before you’ve given it a shot.” He pushed off the gate and set his hand on my shoulder. “You should see the way he looks at you, by the way. Everyone sees it except for you. Just keep that in mind.” Then he was gone, making his way across the arena to where Lennox was talking to Josie. He pressed a kiss to his daughter’s head before doing the same to Josie. She leaned into his side, the picture of perfect happiness and contentment.
I deserved that, too, didn’t I? I may have told myself I didn’t, may have shut down the prospect of opening my heart because I was scared of getting hurt. But Grady was different. He wasn’t some random stranger I’d never met. We had history. Even if it wasn’t all perfect, the bad bits didn’t seem quite so horrible these days.
The day I walked away, he asked if he had a chance in the future, if we had a someday. For so long I thought that door was closed, but I didn’t think it ever really was. At the end of the day, there was always a sliver of space left open just for him.
It wouldn’t be easy for either of us, but if he was open to it, I think I could be, too.
Night had fallenby the time I followed Grady out of the barn. He was carrying a sleeping Charlie to his truck. She’d spent the last thirty minutes drooling on my t-shirt as Lennoxand I watched the guys try to outdo one another on horseback. It started after she ran barrels, to which Lincoln and Grady both smarted off they could do better. Because Bishop was incapable of letting a challenge pass him by, he inevitably joined in.
To absolutely no one's surprise, none of them could beat Lennox’s time. However, that led to betting about who could get the fastest time roping steers, which then led to the best shortstop.
