Page 42 of Christmas with the Cowboy
Chapter Nine
The drive toMarietta passed in a blur as Trenna indulged in the pride-saving exercise of being insulted by Reed telling her that Candice had been a real ranch girl while she had not. She couldn’t help that her dad hadn’t wanted her working with the crew, but she’d ridden and helped on the Keller Ranch. She had what it took to be a ranch girl.
It was a stupid thing to fixate on, but so much better than focusing on the past, which couldn’t be changed. All they could do was deal with the aftermath, and she’d never dreamed that she and Reed would ever be in a position to deal with the aftermath. Or that she’d be drawn so strongly to him.
Still want him.
Oh yeah. Better to focus on the insult.
Her first stop once she reached Marietta was at the tire shop, where she’d dropped off the damaged tire that morning to have a new tire mounted on the rim. It had felt like tempting fate driving to the Keller Ranch without a spare and no phone, but she’d made it there and back, so yay for her. And hopefully Jay had gotten the need for retribution out of his system and moved on. When she’d reported the vandalism that morning, she’d told the deputy about her encounter with the man, so now that Reed knew to watch his back, all the bases were covered.
Except for the dad base. Did she tell him what his ex-employee had done?
She decided against it, for the sole reason that she didn’t want to get into it with him just yet. If something else happened, she’d tell. If not, then she’d just as soon keep her distance. She’d busted free of her dad’s control, and she wasn’t going to give him a toehold to get any of it back, like say, in the name of protecting her. He’d do it, just so he could pull strings. It was as if he couldn’t help himself.
Maybe he couldn’t. Going to Dawn’s gala was the closest she was going to get to the ranch before her father and Dawn flew off to the tropics for their Christmas holidays, as they’d done when she was a child, leaving the ranch in the hands of the crew. Who did the work she hadn’t.
Okay, so she hadn’t grown up doing chores beyond caring for her own horses and dogs. She could imagine how her dad would have reacted had she told him she wanted to drive the swather or feed cattle. Oh yes. He would have been all over that.
Her lips twisted at the thought.
Part of her wished that Reed had not come home during the weeks that she was helping Audrey organize the ranch history. Another part contended that if they were going to share a community, they needed to hash this stuff out. Deal with the past and move on.
And another doggedly persistent part insisted that they still had baggage to unpack. That they weren’t done. That if they were, then she wouldn’t be tied in knots every time she saw the man.
Trenna had no answer to that, so she simply pretended she didn’t hear.
*
Despite his initialinstinct to search out his father and demand to know what the hell he was thinking when he’d told Trenna that Reed wasn’t over her, he was torn about confronting his dad. On the one hand, what good would it do? On the other, what was he thinking, butting into Reed’s private business?
Maybe the same thing Reed would feel like doing if he thought he was protecting Lex. Having a kid changed perspective, but still…
He wasn’t going to say a word, mainly because he was embarrassed that his dad had so accurately read the situation. Had read it before Reed had come to terms with it, apparently.
Yeah. Definitely embarrassing.
Some things were best left unaddressed, but if the old man did again, they would have a conversation.
“Reed!”
Reed turned at the sound of his dad’s voice, promised himself that he was going to act as if he had no idea about his dad’s talk with Trenna, and then shifted course to meet the old man halfway between their houses.
“Your mom is unpacking the Christmas boxes this afternoon and thought Lex might want to help when she’s done with her classes for the day.”
“She should be done in an hour,” Reed said. “I’ll ask her when I go in for lunch.”
“Great.”
His dad turned and headed for his truck.
“Where are you going?”
“Got an appointment.”
“In town?”
“No.”
