Page 9 of Trusting a Cowgirl

If only he knew that she had no intention of judging him. Stating that out loud would only serve to put distance between them again. She’d finally gotten him talking, and there was no way she’d jeopardize what little progress they’d made.

“Your turn. How old are you?”

Doing her best to show him he didn’t scare her, though at this point nothing could be farther from the truth, she squared her shoulders. “I’m twenty-two.”

And just like that, the walls came up. He scoffed at her, shook his head and moved back to Dolly’s side. “I knew you were young, but I didn’t think you werethatyoung. Are you even legally allowed to be working with me?”

She shot to the edge of the stall she was in and nearly flung herself over the wall. “I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology and I went through training to be here. I’m not a traditional therapist, but I’m more than capable of helping out someone who thinks they’re too good to justtalk.”

Grace clamped her mouth shut, her face turning bright red. She’d lost her temper. It was a small outburst and nothing like what he’d dished at her, but it was still against the rules. She was supposed to show him that he could trust her. She needed to create a safe space. And she’d just destroyed whatever progress they’d made.

Riley kept his back to her while he worked at brushing Dolly down. His shoulders were stiff and he wasn’t arguing back.

Well, if she had already messed this up, she couldn’t make it any worse.

“You think that just because you can manage to live day to day with your dark thoughts, that you’re okay. Well, let me tell you something.Noneof us is okay. You might have a deeper kind of trauma. And you might be entitled to feeling like you’re this outcast that no one will ever understand or know what you’ve been through, but you’re doing that all on your own. There are hundreds, if not thousands, who are just like you. Maybe you should take a good, long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself if you’re happy.”

She huffed and moved to the stall door, yanking it open and slamming it shut but only successfully causing Buster to react. She’d have to apologize to him later, when Riley Scott was no longer in hearing distance.

Pausing in front of the stall where Riley stood, she couldn’t help herself. She threw one more accusation at him. “If you’re so okay, then none of this would bother you. And maybe, justmaybe,you would be willing to look outside of yourself and realize you could do a lot of good. There are people who have been through exactly what you have and they could use someone to talk to.”

Grace stormed down the long aisle toward the barn entrance. She didn’t have anyone else she was supposed to work with. And at this point she didn’t even know if she still had a job here anymore.

Not likely.

She could see it all now. Riley would storm into Shane’s office and demand that she be removed as his sponsor. He’d tell her boss that she shouldn’t work with anyone anymore because she couldn’t handle one statement about her age.

The worst part was that Riley was probably right. She shouldn’t have been so quick to anger when it came to that particular issue. What had gotten into her? She wasqualified. She knew better than to lower herself to his level. She let out a groan and a growl at the same time, stomping her way toward the parking lot when she realized she hadn’t driven to work that day.

Smart move, Grace, she chastised herself. If she called her father to pick her up early, he’d know something was up. There was no way she would go back to that barn to get a horse to ride when Riley was still there. Her only option was to find a place to hide out in the country club until the time when her ride arrived.

Grace had prided herself on being the level-headed one—the person in their family who could see the bigger picture and not react right away.

What was it about Riley that had gotten under her skin so easily?

It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be.

She was probably just insecure and not quite ready to work here. That had to be it.

Instead of going into the club and finding a seat at a table, she made a beeline for Shane’s office. She might as well tell him now before he had a chance to hear from Riley just how bad it had been.

Grace pushed open the doors and plopped down onto the chair facing Shane. “I quit.”

He didn’t react immediately like she’d expected. Shane was rather predictable. He’d either get concerned that she was upset, or he’d get upset that she was breaking her commitment when he needed her most.

But she was wrong.

When she’d arrived, he’d been reading something on his computer screen. His eyes darted to her, void of surprise, which had taken her off-guard, but she’d quickly recovered. Now he leaned back in his chair, studying her as if he could read what had just occurred out in the barn with Riley.

“Does this have something to do with Mr. Scott?”

She pressed her lips together. For once, she wished she could lie. To tell Shane that Riley had said something or done something to make her want to leave would be so much easier than admitting she couldn’t control herself.

Lying wasn’t an option.

“Yes, but not in the way you might be thinking.”

Shane steepled his fingers together and rested his lips against them. He sat like that for what felt like an eternity, then he dropped his hands and leaned over to pull open one of the drawers in his desk. He retrieved a folder and dropped it onto his desk with a flourish. “Mr. Scott can be difficult to work with.”

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