Page 21 of A Reckless Memory

On my screen, Sutton’s freshly scrubbed face was visible. She was in a time zone an hour behind, but she had to get up earlier than me for work. Wilder was already out of the house, and she’d messaged to talk. “So it’s done, huh?”

“It’s done. He hasn’t come back to complain about the trailer.”

“Is it that bad?”

“No, just old. I replaced the nasty carpet with cheap shit and bleached everything possible when I lived in it.” I had stayed in the trailer while the house was getting built and had left the furnishings I’d moved in there with and filled my house with an updated, cohesive look. More financial waste, according to Cody.

“I’m sure he’s lived in worse.”

Probably. Unless I recalled the pictures from my drunken night with Sutton. “Except for when he was sleeping in the pageant queen’s bed in her rich daddy’s house.”

“You have a rich daddy, and Ansen stayed in the cabin where the power kept going out.”

True. He’d never complained then, either. “He’s not what I expected. He’s different.”

“It’s been a long time.”

I agreed, but that wasn’t the reason. His jaw was set harder, his eyes darker, and he didn’t strut around like he was the only cock in the henhouse. If he was a rooster, he’d be missing feathers and leaving hens the hell alone. “I must seem different to him too.”

Better? Did he think I looked more polished? More refined like his beauty queen ex?

She arched a blonde brow. “It doesn’t matter how he sees you though, right?”

“Of course not. I just know I’ve changed.”

“You were pretty back then too—and now, of course. Don’t let Barns make you feel otherwise.”

I’d fortified myself against Daddy and his opinions, but he was still my father. “How is Daddy doing?”

She chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t think it’s going to be long, Aggie.”

Sadness sank heavily in my belly. Every time I had tried to talk to him on the phone over the years, he berated me for ruining things with Ansen. If I had a boyfriend at the time, he raged and called the guy he’d never met names. And Lawson had thought to make nice with him? My ex was either optimistic or thought he’d marry into an oil empire. Daddy’s empire was complicated and, as I’d learned, came with strings attached. “I can’t bring myself to visit him. Or to call anymore.”

“Barns made his choice, Aggie. It’s not your fault.”

My fault was listening to Mama. My brothers understood, but they blamed me at the same time. Ever since I got the life insurance money, there’d been a distance between us I hadn’t been able to cross. Each year, the gap closed more, but I accepted they felt the way they felt.

She squinted at her phone. “Shit, I’ve gotta finish getting ready. An emergency cropped up.”

Since she was a large animal vet, I made our typical joke. “Something prolapsed?”

She rolled her eyes. “Something’s always prolapsed.”

Once I hung up, I hopped out of bed and ran through the shower. When I opened the bathroom door, Tex was whining.

“Sorry, bud. I’m hurrying.” I threw on a sweater dress and a thick pair of leggings. I usually walked Tex before I got ready for work, but with the possibility of an Ansen sighting, I was changing my routine. Temporarily.

Twisting my hair into its standard bun, I saw my phone light up. Ansen’s name came up on the screen and a wave of déja vu almost knocked me over. I dropped my arms and stared. I had added his number when I hired him, but I didn’t anticipate what seeing his name again would do to me. A flash of that girl who grinned each time he called ran through my head.

Afraid he’d come to the house, I punched the answer button and put it on speaker so I could finish getting ready. “Yeah?”

“Morning.”

I had to close my eyes at the sound of his deep voice booming into my bathroom. Lawson had a deep voice, but there was a whiny quality to it that had grated on my nerves the longer we were together. “Everything okay?”

“Fine. Chores are done.” Already? “Where do I find the cat food?”

I frowned at my image in the mirror. “What cats?”

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