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“Sadie wanted me to let you know that Arya is here.”
“Is this some sort of joke? I have no idea who Arya is.”
“Arya.”
“Arya, Arya, Arkansas. I’m really busy at the moment.” I was starting to get annoyed.
“She has someone with her. Someone you’ll want to meet.” She sounded like she was pissed at me, and I wasn’t sure why. “It’s your ex, Beau. Your ex is here.”
“My ex?” I made a face. “Brittany?”
“No.”
“You said my ex was there. Brittany is my ex, and I have no idea why she’d be at the ranch. She certainly isn’t welcome.” Brittany had been one of the biggest dating mistakes of my life. She’d gone around telling everyone that I was close to proposing to her when it was the furthest thing in the world from the truth. Her dad had threatened to shoot me if I didn’t buy her a diamond, and I’d told her I never wanted to see her psychotic face again. The sex definitely hadn’t been worth it.
“There is no Brittany here, Beau.” Olivia sounded impatient. “Think of another ex.”
“Oh, shit, not Ginger.” I groaned. “Please just ask her to leave. I don’t have time to deal with her drama.” Ginger knew everyone’s business and loved to gossip and stir up trouble. She’d been a firecracker in the bedroom, but I still wasn’t sure if she’d been faking it half of the time.
“Look, I don’t want to hear about all your exes, but Arya is here.”
“Olivia, I have no idea who the hell that is.”
“Well, you better start remembering because she’s here with your daughter!” And with that, she hung up the phone.
I sat in my truck, feeling like someone had just slapped me hard in the face. What the hell? My daughter was there? Who the hell had gotten pregnant by me? I’d always been careful. I’d always worn protection. Every single time. Fuck. There had to be some sort of mistake. I knew for a fact that neither Brittany nor Ginger had been pregnant. And Gretchen had been in grad school, Louise was now married, Jenny was now gay, and Yoko was a lawyer in Boise. Who else had there been? A couple of one-night stands in college—I couldn’t remember their names. Had one of them gotten pregnant?
Fuck! As if my life wasn’t complicated enough as it was. What the hell was I going to do now? What would Mom and Dad think? And worse, what was Olivia thinking? Did she think I was a deadbeat dad? But if she did, what did it even matter? She wasn’t my girlfriend. Shit, she wasn’t even going to be in Montana in a few weeks. I didn’t know why I cared, but for some reason, I was more concerned about what she was thinking and feeling than anything else.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Olivia
“Beau is on his way back now.” I smiled politely at Arya and Eloise as Sadie and I walked back into the living room. “Are you sure I can’t make you a sandwich or something?”
“No, that’s okay, thanks,” Arya said stiffly. “Do you know how long he’ll be?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Sorry.”
I studied her. So this was Beau’s type. She was beautiful. There was a pride to her that made me feel like she was just as uncomfortable as I was in this situation. The way she tilted her chin up every time she spoke showed me that she wasn’t the type to shy away from confrontation. She looked like she was going to go off on Beau when he arrived. That made me feel slightly bad for him—but not that bad. How could he not have known that he had a child?
“Hey, hey. Whose around?” Chet walked into the living room in a cowboy hat and cowboy boots with a huge smile on his face. “Why, howdy, Sadie. Ms. Olivia.” He winked at me and lifted his hat. He really was far too smooth for his own good. Despite the drama, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling back. “Who’s this, now?” He looked at Arya and Eloise on the couch.
“This is Arya. She’s here to see Beau,” I explained.
“He really does get all the ladies, doesn’t he?” Chet chuckled ruefully.
“Oh, Chet.” Sadie hit him in the shoulder. “You’re the Hamilton brother that gets the most ladies.”
“Who, me? I’m a one-woman man.” He grinned.
“Yeah, right!” Sadie laughed and grabbed his hat and put it on her head. “More like a one-hundred-woman man.” She giggled and moved quickly to try and grab his hat off her head.
“What’s going on in here?” Wyatt walked into the room, his face lighting up when he saw Sadie. Then he spied his brother grabbing her hand and frowned. “Sadie, what are you doing?”
“Chet’s just being Chet.” She giggled and pressed the hat down firmly on her head. “I’m just a cool, hot cowboy.”
“I knew you thought I was hot.” Chet grinned before grabbing his hat back. “Now you do look like a pretty cowgirl in my hat, Sadie, but I think you have plenty of your own.”
