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She and Ryan had been on again, off again. He didn’t want to get too serious because he had been chasing championship dreams of his own. And he didn’t want a wife and kids holding him back. He’d been very clear about that. So, they hung out together, and she considered him one of her best friends. He had the same values and morals that she did, and they got along really well together. Plus, they had those childhood memories that bound them, fun memories of riding horses on the beach, lying on the warm sands, and swimming in the cool waters of Lake Michigan.
But during the championship rodeo, they’d hung out with people they met during the championship week, some they knew well, some not so well, and some they’d just met, and they’d all gone out together.
Dakota had tried alcohol not long after she turned twenty-one, decided she didn’t like it and wasn’t interested in developing a taste for it, even if her friends told her it was necessary, and hadn’t drunk anything since.
She’d seen the stupid mistakes people had made after they had consumed alcohol. And she made enough stupid mistakes on her own. She was serious about winning a barrel racing championship, and alcohol wasn’t a part of those plans.
The night of the world championships, she’d been celebrating along with everyone else, and her normally reserved personality had loosened up a lot after her first beer. So she’d drunk more.
She woke up beside Ryan.
She had very little memory of what they did, but considering that neither one of them were wearing clothes, and she was sore in places that didn’t have anything to do with barrel racing, it hadn’t been hard to figure out at least some of what she’d done.
She left before he woke up. Their relationship had been casual, and she hadn’t wanted to face him because he’d probably not wanted to do what they’d done any more than she had. She went home to Iowa, and she assumed he’d gone home, too.
She hadn’t talked to him since that night. But now, it seemed like they had something that they needed to discuss.
What was she going to say?
She put her hand over her stomach. She supposed she could give the baby up for adoption and never say anything to Ryan. She knew how he felt. He’d been very clear about not wanting a wife or children hanging around his neck. And he’d been so excited about winning, full of plans and dreams to make it two years in a row.
He was already making plans to practice and get better, talking about things he could do to prepare, physically and mentally as well.
She knew this was going to blow his plans up big time, and he wasn’t going to be happy about it. Not that Ryan had a temper, because he didn’t. He was one of the most easygoing people she knew, but he was driven. Single-minded in his determination to be a champion and now a two-time champion. Did she really want to hold him back from that?
But she didn’t want to raise a baby on her own. She lost her parents young, and she had no support other than her gram.
She smiled. Her grandma would take her in. She could live with her.
But she wanted her child to have a father. She hadn’t had her parents for long, but she couldn’t imagine not having a father.
She sighed, turning toward the mirror, looking up from the little stick in her hands at her reflection.
Her mouth was open, her face pale, her eyes big in her face, her freckles stood out like flies in white cream.
Her red hair always made her complexion seem sallow, and those freckles didn’t help her appearance. She’d never have beautiful, porcelain skin.
But she had a lot of experience under her belt.
She also had a baby under her belt.
She sighed. She was smart to stay away from alcohol. Why couldn’t she have stuck to that? She would never have ended up like she had if she hadn’t been inebriated.
Except, she’d always had a weakness for Ryan.
Her phone rang, and she dropped the stick in surprise.
Grabbing the phone, hoping that it was Ryan, although he had no reason to call, since he hadn’t called for the last month, and what would she say to him anyway?
But that thought was barely formed before it disappeared, because the name that came up on her screen was Gregory.
She swallowed down disappointment. Gregory was handsome, charismatic, and he had won the saddle bronc championship.
Ryan had been annoyed, because Gregory was mostly a jerk.
Dakota had gone out with him a few times, but as handsome and charismatic as he was, he wasn’t Ryan, and she liked Ryan’s calm sense of humor over Gregory’s need to show off.
“Hello?”
