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“Hey, girl. How’s the queen of the rodeo?” That’s what he always called her, even though she knew she was no such thing and never would be.
“I’m fine.”
What a lie. She didn’t know she was capable of such a lie.
“I just want to know if you wanted to go out tonight. I feel like we didn’t celebrate nearly enough, and I’m in town.”
“Well, I actually was just leaving. I’m going to go see my grandma. Maybe stay with her during the off-season.”
She had been living with her friend, Casey, helping her give horseback riding lessons and training future barrel racers.
But she couldn’t do that if she was pregnant. Well, she could, but she couldn’t do that with a baby.
Not unless she had someone to help her watch the baby.
But she’d been raised by her grandma. She didn’t want her baby to be raised by someone other than her.
“I thought we’d go to the new steakhouse.” He named the one that had just opened. “The queen of the rodeo deserves a nice steak once in a while, doesn’t she?”
He was charming. And he was awfully nice too. And generous. They’d always got along well, and she forced a smile to her face, even though he couldn’t see it. “Seems to me like the saddle bronc riding champion deserves a steak as well.”
“That’s my girl. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“I have to make a phone call first. I’ll let you know.”
“Dakota,” he said, drawing out her name, a little pleading, in a comical way that he did to make her smile.
It worked, kinda. Although there were still worry lines creasing her brow. She was pregnant. She. Was. Pregnant.
She wasn’t quite sure that it had completely sunk in yet.
“Give me a few minutes. I’ll let you know.”
“What about tomorrow night? Just give me a yes.”
“Yes.” If she couldn’t make it tomorrow night, she had time to cancel. But she had to talk to Ryan. Had to let him know what she found out. Had to...somehow tell him that he was going to be a father.
She couldn’t be going out with Gregory if she and Ryan were going to get together.
But considering they hadn’t talked to each other for a month...
She had to call him.
She got off the phone with Gregory, not even sure what all she said, but knowing that she had a hard phone call in front of her.
Taking the box and the little stick, she shoved it down the side of the garbage can so that it wasn’t lying on top, just in case Casey nosed around, although she doubted she would. Casey had enough things going on, she didn’t need to stick her nose into Dakota’s business.
Regardless, she couldn’t just let the stuff lie on top. She wasn’t ready to tell the world yet. She had to figure out how she was going to deal with it first.
Thankfully Casey was already out with her early-morning clients.
Dakota got dressed quickly and decided that the best place for her to have this conversation was in the stall with her horse. She had plenty of time, since Casey was giving a lesson, and she’d have the privacy she needed. But being with Goldie always calmed her down, and this was a conversation that she was going to have to have a lot of courage in order to initiate.
Maybe the reason that Ryan hadn’t called her at all was because he knew what they had done and...regretted it? Had there been some kind of problem with her?
She didn’t remember much from the night. Nothing bad, anyway. She had no idea what Ryan’s problem might be. None. And she liked him as a friend, and maybe wouldn’t mind being more, obviously since when she had enough alcohol in her system, she gravitated toward him, probably the way she wanted to but never allowed herself to.
Maybe she threw herself at him. Maybe he hadn’t had a choice.
