“Hey, Liv,” Susie called from the front of Liv’s truck where she stood with Linda and Ronnie. “We have over an hour before warming up. Want to go watch the action with us?”
“I’m going to stay here,” Liv said, her fingers busy in the horse’s mane.
Susie waved an acknowledgment and the group ambled on, their long, sparkly pant legs rolled up four or five times to keep them out of the mud.
Liv continued to work on Queso. Once his mane was braided, maybe she’d sit in the truck and read a book. The last thing she wanted to do was to leave the safety of her trailer.
The thought made Liv’s fingers stop.
The safety of her trailer. Really?
This was living life on her own terms? Hiding from Matt and camping out in her truck reading a book? That sounded more like avoidance than empowerment.
Was she never going to get it right?
She wasn’t going to hide. She finished Queso’s mane and was on her way to the stands to look for her father when Margo emerged from her trailer. She stumbled coming down the trailer steps, grabbed the handle and caught herself just before she fell. Liv hurried over to her.
“Are you all right?”
Margo pulled a quick breath in through her nose, then raised her face. She’d been crying.
“No. I’m not all right,” she said brusquely.
“Is there anything...” And then it struck her. She’d been talking to Tim. Liv was probably one of the last people she wanted to see. “I can do?” she finished weakly.
“Got a tissue?”
Liv reached into her pocket and pulled out a pink bandana, handing it over to Margo without a word. The older woman took it and dabbed at her eyes, sniffing a little. “Damned allergies,” she said, meeting Liv’s gaze dead on, daring her to contradict her.
Unfortunately for her, Liv was getting used to crossing lines drawn in the sand. “Do you guys still have feelings for each other?”
Margo’s chin snapped up a half inch higher as she wadded the bandana in one hand. “Yes. Your father pisses me off to no end.” She spoke without a hint of apology. Margo shoved the bandana back at Liv, who automatically took it.
“I think he still has feelings for you.”
“Well, bully for him,” Margo said. “Excuse me. I need to check on something.”
Apparently, something in the ladies’ room because that was where she headed.
Liv watched her go.
Damn. Thirty years had passed and her father could still piss off the woman to the point of tears.
* * *
“DID YOU WATCH Matt rope?” Tim asked on the drive home.
“No,” Liv said, keeping her eyes straight ahead. She wasn’t ready to do that yet. “But I heard the crowd.”
“He was pretty damned impressive.”
“He should be,” Liv said coolly. “He’s dedicated his life to the sport.” By his own admission, for years it was the only thing that really mattered to him. “Did you, uh...conduct business?” she asked, deflecting the conversation away from Matt in the most effective way she could think of.
Tim was silent for a moment and then he cleared his throat. “Yes.”
“Did it go well?” Liv asked innocently.
“As well as could be expected.” Tim’s knuckles appeared to be turning white on the steering wheel.
“Will you...be conducting more business later?”
Tim inhaled deeply, obviously hating the way the conversation was going. “Maybe.”
Liv shrugged nonchalantly. “Good.”
“Matt’s knee seems to be better,” Tim said. Liv was aware of the muscles in her shoulders tightening at the second mention of Matt’s name.
“Yeah. Painkillers will do that.”
“He wore the brace.”
I don’t give two hoots for what he was wearing—or how well he roped. I don’t want to think about him! But she was having a hell of time not doing that. When she’d left Greg, it had felt totally right, as if she were walking from a poisonous environment into fresh air. She was still fighting to get that feeling with Matt.
“Too bad Ryan Madison wasn’t at this rodeo,” Tim continued, determined to talk about Matt, probably to head off mention of Margo. “I would have liked to have seen the two of them go head-to-head.”
Liv was saved from answering by the buzzing of her cell phone. She dug it out of her pocket, grateful for the interruption until she saw the number. What now?
“Hi, Mom,” she said lightly. Tim gave her a quick glance, before fixing his attention back on the road, giving Liv the distinct feeling that he was happy not to be in her