Page 11 of Trusting a Cowgirl

Callahan hadn’t quit. Though technically she was about a minute late. Back when he signed up for the Army, if he had been even a second late, he’d end up on the ground doing reps.

Riley leaned against the stall, his arms folded. She was lucky he hadn’t given up and had a talk with Shane about her tardiness.

She passed him, not looking at him directly.

Still sore over their last conversation? Probably. His eyes followed her as she entered the stall beside him and grabbed a brush from where it sat on a shelf. She kept her back to him, brushing with more purpose than anyone ever should.

Riley hesitated. Maybe he should apologize.

He wracked his brain for everything he’d said. Had he been overly harsh? He hadn’t thought so, but now that he was thinking about it, he couldn’t be sure. She didn’t seem mad. But then, these people weren’t supposed to act mad.

Getting the lashing yesterday had been the one time during their session that she seemed normal and not so much like a robot. Riley headed into the stall with Dolly and went through the process that he’d done the day before.

Every so often, he glanced over to Callahan and his frown deepened. What did she want from him? She hadn’t uttered a single word. Finally, he let out a sigh. “Well?”

She looked at him over her shoulder. “Well, what?”

“Aren’t you going to start?”

Callahan shook her head. “Nope.”

“Why not?”

She stopped, faced him, and placed her hands on her hips. She didn’t look upset. In fact, there was no emotion present in her expression. She could be furious or thrilled and he wouldn’t know. “I’m not going to force you to do something you don’t want to do. I was wrong yesterday in asking you to try. Do what you want. Say what you wish. I’ll listen. If you have any questions about the horses, I’ll answer them. How does that sound?”

Yesterday he would have thrown a little party. That would have been exactly what he wanted.

Today?

Today was different. He didn’t like this new person who stood before him. This shell of a woman who didn’t smile and didn’t give him a piece of her mind. He wanted that therapist back.

That realization hit him like a load of bricks.

He actually wanted to stay.

And he wanted the person working with him to be her.

Riley cleared his throat and shifted closer to her stall. But words failed him. He wasn’t good with explaining himself, not like he probably should be. Just the thought of saying something to her about his feelings made his stomach drop, but not in a good way. His chest tightened and his breathing accelerated like he was back out with his squad chasing down a target.

To admit that he wanted to actually work on something was to admit defeat. He still thought it was a load of bull. Talking didn’t fix things. It wouldn’t change the past. Deep down he knew it wouldn’t help.

But he was stuck here whether he liked it or not. He might as well make the situation as tolerable as he could. That meant keeping Callahan as hissponsor.

Bleck. He still hated that word.

She stared at him expectantly.

He forced a smile and raked a hand through his hair, his gaze darting to the side. “I joined the military when I was seventeen. My dad kicked me out of the house when I told him.” Riley let out a dry chuckle. “He wasnotpleased.”

Riley pivoted and yanked a brush from the shelf and immediately set to work grooming Dolly. The last thing he wanted to do was get a look at her face and see the pity there. That’s how it always started. Over the last fifteen years, he hadn’t managed to find even one woman who didn’t immediately tell him she felt bad for him.

He didn’t need that.

He didn’t want it either. Joining the army had been a way for him to take back the power he thought he had lost. But no one he’d met saw it that way.

“Sounds like you were willing to go after something you believed in, even if it meant making an insurmountable sacrifice,” she said.

His head snapped up and he stared at her, but she’d turned away, back to brushing Buster. “Yeah,” he mumbled. “Yeah, I did.”

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