Page 37 of Sheriff's City Girl

“Wait, what?” Lily’s brow furrowed. “I thought Lucas was going to give you the job of cleaning stalls.”

“Yeah, well, Cody is some cowboy kid—and you know what’s crazy? He’s not even actually a cowboy. He just has some rich parents that pay for everything, including some super expensive horse that costs more than our house.”

Curiosity caught me, and I couldn’t help myself. “Well, who’s his parents? If they were that rich, I feel like we’d all know who they were.”

Lily grimaced. “Oh, you know who his dad is. I have no idea about the mom.”

“Okay, so then tell me,” I quipped, nudging her as I reached for another slice of pizza. “I’m dying to know.”

“Graham Hudson,” Dara said before her mom could. “And I think he’s a real ass?—”

“Language,” Lily warned her daughter, and then turned to me. “But yeah, we both know she’s right.”

“Wait a minute…” I thought back to Brittany. There was no way that she was Cody’s mom if she had dated Mason… She must be a stepparent. “Graham’s wife isn’t Cody’s mom, right?” I looked at Dara for the answer, since Lily appeared to be almost as clueless as me.

“No, that rude woman is his stepmom.” Dara rolled her eyes. “And she used to be a teacher at the high school a long time ago, but she moved away… And then came back with Cody and Graham.”

“Are you talking about Brittany Williams?” Lily’s eyes widened, before she looked over to me. “She is bad news.”

“She’s the one that said you gushed about me,” I pointed out, reminding her of the conversation we’d had a few days before.

Lily facepalmed herself. “Oh well… If it’s that woman, then yeah, I probably did at one point. She and I were never very close, but I did grow up with her and…”

“And she dated Mason for a long time,” I finished the thought for her, giving her a look. “I found out the hard way.”

“Ooh,” Dara gave me a sly smile. “This sounds like the kind of drama I do like to hear about. I swear you adults have way more interesting stuff happen than I do.”

I rolled my eyes and bopped her on the nose. “Drama is not any fun when it involves you, but… honestly, there isn’t much drama.”

Unless carrying his baby without him knowing counts.

“Okay, but what happened?” Lily echoed Dara’s interest, and in the moment, I realized just how similar the two of them were. It was adorable, and I let that distract me from the sick feeling in my stomach.

“I was closing up the café when Brittany stopped by with some massive stack of recipes that were low carb,” I groaned, fighting the urge to roll my eyes again. “I mean, it’s nearly impossible to have anything low carb in my place, and honestly, I don’t even think anyone would go for it. I have low calorie and no sugar options—I figured that would be good enough.”

“I agree,” Lily said with a nod. “She’s like that though. She inserts herself into your life by whatever means necessary if that’s what she wants to do.”

Yikes.

“Anyway, so then, in the middle of that fiasco, Mason walks in with this beautiful bouquet of flowers.”

The look on both Lily and Dara’s face told me everything I needed to know. They were both more than aware of Mason’s history with Brittany.

“I bet she was a real… witch,” Lily muttered, shaking her head before taking a drink out of the red plastic cup. “She was so hung up on Mason, and I swear the woman was a borderline psycho.”

“Yeah, but everyone said that he hadn’t been with anyone else in years…” my voice trailed off as the confusion set in. “So I don’t really get how it all fits together.”

“I was just a little kid when Brittany was with Mason,” Dara answered me, like she wasn’t a kid right now.

“Yeah, it’s been well over a decade, I think.” Lily seemed to ponder it a little longer. “In fact, I think it was right after his wife left that all that happened. Brittany had always had a crush on Mason, and she saw the opportunity…”

“And pounced like a tiger,” Dara added with a giggle. “But Jess always told me that she was crazy. Mason wouldn’t let her around her and kept trying to get rid of her but she just wouldn’t leave.”

“There are rumors of a restraining order,” Lily added with a shrug. “I don’t know the details though. That was a long time ago, and I was too busy trying to start the interior design business with Drew—and raising Dara. Things were crazy.”

I nodded, the new information making me feel somewhat better—but also a little worse. “So, you don’t think she’s going to bombard me over the low carb thing, right?” Lily and Dara exchanged glances that made my stomach drop. “Just tell me the truth.”

“I have no idea,” Lily said with a sigh. “Like I seriously don’t know. Hopefully, she’s so wrapped up in her rich husband and developer’s wife’s life that she’ll just leave you alone. That being said…”

---