Page 23 of High Frequency

“Oh, my goodness, is she ever cute! Is there anything I can get for her?”

“Thank you, that’s nice of you, but she should be fine. I actually have a bottle with me.”

“Well, just let me know if you need me to warm it up,” she offers before repeating, “Would you like something to drink?”

I order a Big Sky IPA when I see the local Montana beer listed on the drink menu.

“We’ll probably need a few more minutes with the menu,” Dan tells her after ordering a beer as well.

“Take your time. I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

The moment she walks away, Dan leans over.

“I want to explain what happened earlier.”

I hold up my hand to stop him. “Really, there’s no need.”

He grabs my hand, places it on the table, and covers it with his.

“But I want to. That was Shelby Vandermeer, from the feedstore? She moved back to town in the spring, newly divorced, and we hooked up from time to time. Keeping it casual was something we agreed on or else it would never have happened.”

“Let me guess, somewhere along the way she changed her mind? I’ve been told it’s a woman’s prerogative,” I point out. “Did you ghost her?”

He lets go of my hand and uses both of his to rub his face.

“I can’t believe you’d think that of me. No, I did not. I met up with her, told her I was sorry but was not in the market for anything more serious, and I ended things.”

“A Big Sky for you, and one for you,” Natalie leans in, placing the beers in front of us. “Do you need a little more time?”

“Yes, please.”

The server makes a face at Aspen, who rewards her with a big, toothless grin.

“Oh my, you look just like your daddy, don’t you?” Before I can correct her, she straightens up and announces, “I’ll give you a few more minutes.”

I glance at Dan, and notice him staring at my daughter.

“She doesn’t really look like me, does she?”

“You carried her in, you both have dark hair, and I’m blond. People make assumptions.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Shelby jumped to the same conclusion.”

I think that much was obvious and I can’t help feel a little sorry for her. We’re not that different. Glancing over my shoulder, I notice the table she was sitting at is empty. When I turn back, I find Dan staring at me.

“We should probably figure out what we want to eat,” I suggest self-consciously, and start scanning the menu.

“Yeah,” he agrees.

But I can still feel his eyes on me, until he finally opens his menu.

Dan

I feel one side of my mouth pull up as I watch those pretty blue eyes drift shut.

The food was great, as usual, and the conversation pretty easygoing. She shared a bit about her job in Billings, and I filled her in on life at the ranch and told her about my fairly newfound father and half sister. All relatively safe topics, providing me with zero answers for the list of questions churning in my gut.

And now I’m watching as she slips the bottle from the baby’s lips and eases her back in her car seat.

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