Grant (Riding Hard) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,22

been refreshing.

Christina had never minded Riverbend’s propensity to talk about everyone and everything when she’d been younger. It hadn’t bothered her until she and Grant had broken up.

Then, suddenly, everyone in the county had to weigh in. Christina had made the right choice, some said. Others said Christina was a heartless bitch who should have stuck with Grant no matter what.

They speculated that she and Grant couldn’t have kids because Christina worked at a bar, and Grant drank too much. Others said that, in truth, they weren’t sleeping together all. Or, God was punishing them for living in sin. Didn’t matter that they were at church together almost every Sunday.

Some said that Christina and Grant had such kinky sex there was no way babies could come of it. Another opinion was that Christina had used too much birth control as a teenager, because she was a tramp, and now she was paying for it.

On and on, whether sympathetic or unkind, opinions on Christina’s personal life had sailed around her. Most had been wildly off the mark, but others were too close to what she feared, like using birth control pills for too long before she and Grant had tried to have a baby. Or maybe she’d waited too long, period. A woman’s fertility decreased as she got older.

Christina was sick and tired of it. Maybe this new situation in town would goad her to make the decision to leave, move to Houston and stay with Lucy. Lucy promised that Christina would have a job quickly, and a place of her own soon after that.

Clean slate, start over, with no memories to punch Christina in the face every time she turned a corner.

She arrived at Grant’s trailer, pulling her truck around the back so it wouldn’t be visible from the road. Hers was the only vehicle around, telling her that Grant and Karen had probably returned to the Campbell ranch for business. She tried to call him, but Grant didn’t answer his cell phone.

He rarely did. Grant wasn’t a cell phone kind of guy. He’d put the phone down somewhere and forget about it, or he’d keep it muted and not bother to check messages.

He didn’t text either, saying his thumbs were too big for it. Carter and Tyler did all the talking on the business phone while Grant kept things face-to-face and friendly.

Christina knew she could have gone to the ranch and waited to talk to him, but Grant’s family would be there. Olivia would want to be polite and sit with Christina, offering her iced tea and snacks, which would only add soreness to her heart. Plus, she couldn’t warn Grant about Karen if he was with Karen.

Christina knew deep down why she’d made these excuses to herself and driven to his house. She wanted to see him alone. Wanted to so much, she was willing to wait for him to finish for the afternoon and return home.

It was hot today, especially for March. Christina would soon bake in the truck, so she got out and climbed the step to Grant’s front door. It was unlocked—Grant never locked his doors.

Grant had bought the trailer after he and Christina had broken up, and she’d never seen its interior. She’d driven past it plenty of times, of course, and had been unable to stop herself glancing at it, swallowing hard if she saw his truck parked in front.

Seeing the leather reclining chair set in front of the television almost broke her heart. He’d bought it from a friend right after they’d moved in together, and she’d complained about how worn out it already was. But Grant had insisted it was perfect, and Christina admitted it was comfortable as hell.

She and Grant had made love in that chair.

She quickly turned away. A new sofa sat along the front wall, along with a new coffee table, but Christina’s gaze kept catching memories.

Pictures of Grant’s family. Photos of Grant on horseback, in costume, usually as a Wild West bandit. With Tyler, arms folded and looking mean in their black hats, fake handlebar mustaches, and black shirts. Another photo showed him and his four brothers in T-shirts and jeans, all laughing at the camera.

A photo sitting in the middle of the cluster made her stop, her heart squeezing. It was a picture of her and Grant, smiling and happy. She remembered when that picture had been taken—at a picnic out by the river. Tyler had snapped the photo of Grant with his arms around Christina