Page 53 of Lost and Lassoed

“What does the wall say?” I asked.

“It doesn’t know either,” Ada muttered, and I smiled.

I loved Ada, and even though we hadn’t spoken a lot over the past few years, I’d been watching her grow. She’d built an interior design business, so when Wes was looking for an interior designer for Baby Blue last year, I’d pitched Ada.

He brought her on, and she created the most beautiful end product I’d ever seen. Plus, she and Wes had fallen deeply in love, so that was a bonus.

“I think we just go random from the jump,” I said.

“You would,” Ada said, finally looking away from the wall. “But you sound surer than I am, so let’s do it.”

I walked toward the wall, newspaper in hand, and slapped it right in the middle of the wall, and said, “All right, now show me how we’re sticking this shit up here.”

“Just like wallpaper—we’ll put paste on the back, and then we’ll do a sealant coat over the top, but not until we have everything up.”

“I love it when you talk dirty, Ada Hart.”

We started working and got into a groove, though I know it was taking everything Ada had not to impose some sort of order on the papers we were placing randomly. She got quiet when she was focused, so I had time to do one of my least favorite things lately: think.

And where did my thoughts go? Straight to August fucking Ryder, which kind of made me want to throw up.

There was a lot to unpack.

First, that the thought of him didn’t immediately send me into a blind rage. Second, that I might actually…like him? Or have liked him? At least until he had gone back to his general assholery this morning. He was so much more than my best friend’s asshole older brother or someone I didn’t get along with. I liked talking to him and spending time with him, and Ithink he liked doing the same things with me. He was an excellent father, and he cared deeply for his family and the people around him.

I couldn’t write off what I felt for him as the aftershocks of a kiss from years ago. This was something, and I think I wanted to find out what.

“Ada,” I said, “can I talk to you about something?”

“Shoot,” Ada said as she stuck a piece of paper on the wall.

“It’s about a guy,” I said.

“Oooh,” Ada remarked. “The vet?”

“What? No. Why does everyone know about the vet?”

“Small town.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, you’re adjusting well, aren’t you?”

“I’ve decided that small towns are the best places for introverts because there is literally always something for me to listen to,” Ada said. “The other day, I overheard two women at the post office talking about someone getting their bike stolen, so then they stole it back from the thief, and then the thief stole it back, and now they’re just in this never-ending cycle—pun intended, I think—of bike theft.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Jeremy and Wayne have been at that for like five years.”

“I love it here,” Ada laughed. “Anyway, back to the guy that isn’t the vet.”

“It’s complicated,” I said, “but I think I like him. He’s actually great, and I haven’t always thought that, but I do now. And he’s also like ridiculously good-looking.”

“Okay, so what’s the problem, then?” Ada looked confused.

“Well, I thought we were kind of…I don’t know…starting to become friends? But then yesterday he started acting weirdand standoffish. It was behavior that I would’ve expected from him a while ago, but not now.”

“Okay, got it,” Ada said. “Sounds like he has a lot of really great qualities.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Yes,” Ada said without pause. I huffed. “Teddy, you’re…Teddy. You’re beautiful and loud—I mean that as a compliment, by the way—and fun. If you like a guy, he likes you back. Unless he’s a complete and total dumbass, in which case you shouldn’t want him anyway.”

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