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“I’ll take my chances with the broncs.” Thatch picked up the water bottle but hesitated before taking a drink. “By the way, I should probably tell you that I talked to Franco about him and Elina while we were at the arena.”
“Oh.” He’d managed to have a conversation about their relationship with that kid that easily? She hadn’t even gotten pasthow long have you been dating?with Elina. “And?”
“He told me he’d never hurt a woman.” Thatch delivered the words almost apologetically, like he was afraid they would disappoint her. “Franco explained that they were only arguing at the store when you ran into them.”
“He told her to shut up and grabbed her arm.” The same fiery urgency she had at the store started to take over again. “I saw him. You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you.” Thatch set down the bottle and leaned into the table, his mouth soft. She seemed to notice his mouth a lot more these days. “He said she was mad at him. Because he wouldn’t steal a pair of sunglasses for her, Lyric. He didn’t want to get in trouble.”
“That’s not true.” That couldn’t be true. “He’s lying.” There was no way a teenage boy would confess to mistreating his girlfriend. Especially to an intimidating ex–Navy SEAL like Thatch who wouldn’t put up with that kind of thing. “I know what I saw.” She replayed the scene again. “He was intense with her…” She couldn’t have misread the situation, right?
“Did you happen to hear what they were fightingabout?” he asked, focusing on swirling his finger around the rim of the water bottle like he didn’t want to look at her.
“No. But she was upset. I could tell.” Her heart thumped harder. Except she couldn’t be sure, could she? “It looked to me like the kid has an anger issue. That type of thing is easy to hide.” She would know.
“Right.” His small smile wasn’t convincing. “Well, maybe we can hang out with them again. I’ll invite them next time I ride. We can keep an eye on things.”
He didn’t believe her. She could tell. He thought she was wrong about Franco. “We might have to come up with another plan too. I don’t think you’re going to be riding for a while.” Without the ice pack, he couldn’t even rotate his upper body without groaning and grimacing. “You’ll probably need a few weeks off at the very least. Especially if you want to go into this competition healthy.”
“They’re only bruises.” Thatch pressed his hands against the ice pack. “And they feel better already.”
Likely because his rib cage was numb. “The bones could be cracked.” Back when Luke had been riding, he’d cracked a rib or two at least once a year.
“I have to be good to get past the competition.” He hesitated, gaze darting before looking at her again. “Speaking of, did you know your ex-husband is competing in the Star Valley Rodeo Days?”
Lyric startled, accidentally knocking over her glass. “What?” She jumped up to grab a towel. “Where did you hear that?” Her fist squeezed the cloth too tightly. Luke was coming here?
“Kirby told me.” Thatch watched her while he spoke. “I asked him about Luke Copeland. I got curious after youtold me his name. And he said Luke is slated to compete that weekend.”
“Oh. Huh.” Shock jammed her throat. She hadn’t seen Luke since the day her stepfather and mother picked her up from the hospital after the man had broken her arm. After three months of ignoring his apologies and hiding out in Star Valley, she’d managed to work up the courage to file for divorce. Only with Kenny and her mother’s help. And they’d made sure she never had to face him. Kenny had wanted her to press charges at first, but she couldn’t. She’d only wanted the whole ordeal to be over.
Thatch still stared at her from across the table, his head slightly tilted as though he was trying to read her.
She shouldn’t be readable. She shouldn’t feel the fear that had started to pump through her again. “That’s… interesting news.” Her perky tone cracked. She tossed the damp towel into the sink to wash later and then busied herself with emptying the dishwasher so she wouldn’t have to look at him.
“I didn’t know if you knew,” Thatch said softly. “Or if you’d care.”
“I don’t care.” She slid the stack of clean plates into the cupboard. She didn’t want to care. She didn’t even want to be thinking about Luke right now. Why would Thatch even bring him up? “We got divorced a long time ago. It’s not like he’s coming here to see me.” Surely he wouldn’t try to find her. Not after all these years. She wouldn’t have to see him. She didn’t plan on going to the rodeo events anyway.
“Have you seen him?” Thatch brought her glass to the sink, and she couldn’t avoid his gaze anymore. “Since your divorce? Have you talked to him?”
Blood whooshed through her ears. She couldn’t discuss this right now. This was none of his damn business. Instead of answering, she pretended to be distracted by the clock. “Oh, wow. We should get going. I told Kyra we would be at the barbecue early to help get the food ready.” Lyric closed up the dishwasher and breezed past Thatch to retrieve the salad she’d made earlier from the refrigerator. “You can leave the wrap on underneath your shirt.” She tossed him the garment on her way.
“Yeah,” he grunted. “Sounds good.”
While he pulled on his shirt, Lyric fed Amos and then bustled out the front door as if everything were normal, as if her stomach weren’t all twisted and painful. “We should drive separately.” She needed some space to pull herself together before she had to spend the whole evening acting like a woman in love.
“You don’t think they’ll wonder why we drove separately?”
She paused in her driveway. God, he was right. They were supposed to be dating. It didn’t matter that her hands were shaky or that her legs moved like wooden planks. She had to pretend. How had everything gotten so out of control? “Fine. I’ll ride with you.”
Maybe she could turn up the radio so they wouldn’t have to talk.
Lyric clicked in her seat belt and pretended to be fully occupied with her phone. Just as Thatch started to back down the driveway, his Bluetooth rang. “Sorry. It’s my mom. I better answer.”
“No problem.” She shoved her phone in her backpocket. At least she wouldn’t have to make small talk right now. She could focus on some cleansing breaths instead.
“Hey, Mom.” Thatch put the truck into gear and drove slowly down her street.
