the mother never knows what any of them are doing. I think she’s on tranquilizers.”
“I would be,” Matt said. “Anything else I should know?”
“Nope. I think you two will get along great. I’ll email and call when I can, and here’s my cell number—” she handed him a card that read Willa Montoya, Horse Specialist “—so you can get hold of me if you have any questions. But other than Benny’s family situation, I can’t think of anything you need to know.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out some folded bills. “I have a hundred bucks I can give you for food.”
Matt shook his head. “No need.”
“Do you have any idea how much an adolescent eats?”
“If he eats too much we can settle up later.” He didn’t feel right taking money from a woman so desperate to get a job—even if she was putting him in a position here.
Willa smiled and pushed the money back into her pocket. “Thanks, Matt. For everything.”
“No problem,” Matt said, hoping it sounded at least a little sincere.
A few minutes later, after Willa had said a few words to her son and then hugged him goodbye, she waved to both of them and then drove away.
Matt and Crag stood awkwardly next to one another, watching Willa escape to her new opportunity, and then Matt let out a long, silent breath.
This day was not turning out at all well.
The kid glanced over at him. “You know, if you don’t want me around, that’s okay.”
No, it wasn’t. Matt did not take commitment lightly and he’d just made one.
“I have a friend I could stay with—”
“Benny?”
“Mom got to you, eh?”
“Listen, Crag—”
“Call me Craig. Please.” The kid rolled his eyes as he said the last word. “I mean, come on. If your name was Wilhelmina, would you name your kid something as dumb as Crag?”
Matt felt like smiling. “No. I wouldn’t do that,” he agreed.
“Me, either. I just ask people to call me Craig and hope that the majority of them think my mom has an accent or something.”
This time Matt did smile. “Good plan.” He gestured at the duffel. “Let’s go inside. I have a spare room with a bed, but it’s not fancy.”
“It wasn’t like you knew I was coming.”
Amen to that. Matt held the door open and let Craig walk in ahead of him. The kid seemed okay. Not prickly like his mother.
Only a week. He could do it.
He hoped.
* * *
“SO YOU’RE COMING to watch practice tonight, right?” Dr. Andrea Ballentine reached for the check the server had just set on the edge of the table and Liv took hold at the same time. Liv gave a tug. They’d just finalized arrangements and Liv would start seeing patients next week, so she was technically employed and could technically pick up the tab.
“Only if you’ll come to drill practice tonight,” Andie said as she let go of the ticket.
“I’ll come.” Even though Liv had concerns about joining a mounted drill team that had a reputation for speed. She and Beckett had belonged to a sedate parade team in Billings comprised of ten women who drilled at a jog. It was pattern work, but slow pattern work. Flying around an arena at high speed in intricate patterns with eleven other riders? Liv wasn’t so sure about that.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t a decent horsewoman. In fact, she was quite comfortable on horseback, but while her stepsiblings, Brant and the wildly popular Shae, had both been members of the high school rodeo team, Liv had never joined. Why? Because she’d been shy and self-conscious and didn’t like people watching her. She wasn’t a huge fan of speed, either. According to Andie, the Rhinestone Rough Riders had only one speed and that was as fast as they could go. Intimidating, to say the least, but Liv needed to do something to build a social life now that she was back in town and she was determined to explore new horizons—something she’d wanted to do but hadn’t for the first twenty-some years of her life.
“Promise?” her friend asked as she counted out dollar bills for the tip. Andie had always fancied herself the guardian of Liv’s social life, which was kind of funny, since Liv’s social life had always been practically nonexistent—especially in high school. Andie, on the other hand, had somehow straddled the line between being popular and walking amongst the common folk. She always included Liv in everything, even if Liv had been practically invisible in