Chapter Twenty-Two
He shouldn’t have left Letty like he had.
Walking out without a word while she slept was a shit move.
But he wasn’t a masochist. Every moment he stayed with her would have made it that much harder to leave.
So he went home, took care of the horses, played with his dogs, checked to see if there was paperwork he needed to do.
There wasn’t. Nothing that couldn’t be put off, anyway. So he saddled Meteor and took a ride.
Meteor liked the snow and needed the exercise. In fact, Riley felt guilty because he hadn’t been riding him as much as he should have. He’d turned him out, of course, but he knew Meteor missed him if he went too long without riding him.
It was a beautiful winter day. A Montana blue sky, crisp, cold without a breeze, pristine snow sparkling on the ground and tree branches.
Riley gave Meteor his head to let him work off a bit of his excess energy.
After a while they slowed down and he decided to ride the fence line and look for breaks.
Fixing the fence wasn’t his favorite thing to do, but at least it would keep him busy.
He’d gone some distance and was about to turn around when Meteor stopped.
The horse was looking at the fence and no matter what Riley did, he wasn’t moving.
Riley sighed and looked in the direction he thought had drawn Meteor’s attention.
There was a shape in the snow by the fence.
He couldn’t tell what it was but when he gave Meteor his head that’s where he headed. As he got closer he heard a whimper.
A dog, he realized, getting closer. He dismounted, ground-tied Meteor, and walked to the dog.
If the gray muzzle was any indication, the dog was old.
He wasn’t sure if he was a stray, which was bad enough.
But if he’d been dumped, it pissed him off that someone would abandon a dog just because it was old.
He went to him slowly, talking soothingly. It was a big dog, a Lab mix of some kind, he thought. The dog wagged his tail and allowed him to pet him. Riley didn’t see any injuries right off, and the dog didn’t snap at him. Maybe the dog was just exhausted.
“Want to go home with me, buddy?” The dog allowed him to pick him up and carry him over to Meteor. The stud stood still and didn’t seem to mind his new passenger. A good thing because Meteor was the reason he’d found the dog in the first place.
Riley took off his coat and wrapped it around the dog.
It was cold but Riley could stand it for the short time until he got home.
When he reached home his dogs greeted him, and of course, wanted to meet the new dog, but Riley discouraged them.
First he needed to figure out if the dog was injured and if so, how badly.
Fortunately, one of the hands was around and Riley asked him to take care of Meteor while he took the dog into the tack room and called the vet.
Kayla Carson was fairly new in town and ran a small-animal veterinary practice. She wanted to open a veterinary hospital, but she hadn’t been able to yet. Riley suspected she didn’t have the funding. Riley had switched to her when his original vet retired.
He took his coat back and wrapped the dog in a blanket after looking him over.
Then he got a bowl and gave him water, which the dog drank thirstily.
He didn’t give him food yet since he wasn’t sure what Kayla would need to do.
He gave her a call, told her he’d found a dog and needed to bring it in.
“I didn’t feed him in case you needed to do something to him. ”
“Is he badly injured?” Kayla asked.
“I didn’t see anything obvious. I think he’s old, cold, and almost certainly hungry.”
“All right. Bring him in. We’ll give him some food after I examine him.”
*
On New Year’s Eve, Letty went to Grey’s.
She’d debated what to wear. She’d finally settled on a very short skirt and form-fitting sweater.
She didn’t wear her knee-high boots since that would have reminded her of her last night with Riley.
Instead she wore tights and ankle boots.
She streaked her hair with a temporary bright red color.
Hung some colorful dangly earrings in her ears and called herself ready.
Fortunately, Grey’s was crowded so she didn’t feel too stupid being there by herself. She found some other single women she knew and sat with them. The talk was all about the newest doctor in town, Ryan Hunter. He was a trauma surgeon and friend of Connor McFarland’s.
“He’s here tonight,” one of the women said. “I’ve been trying to meet him but short of spilling my drink on him, I haven’t figured out a way.”
“He’s to-die-for hot,” another one said. “I think he has a tragic past. He was a battlefield surgeon in Iraq or Afghanistan or somewhere.”
“I met him at a party a few days ago,” Letty said. “I didn’t get a tragic vibe from him at all. He was nice.”
“Nice? You meet the hottest new man in town and all you can say is he’s nice?”
She shrugged. She’d been far too busy keeping an eye on Riley to pay much attention to Ryan. Come to think of it, he’d probably wondered why she was so spacey. “I’m going to get a drink. Anyone else want something?”
Since they all had new drinks, no one did. She slipped through the crowd to get to the bar. She’d just ordered a drink when she heard her name.
“Letty? Hi, I’m Ryan. We met the other night at Logan and Cici’s housewarming.”
Speaking of the devil. He said it with a faint question, as if he wasn’t sure she’d remember him. “Hi, Ryan. It’s nice to see you. How are you liking Marietta?”
“Good, so far. Are you here with someone?”
“No.”
“Even better. I’m not either.”
The bartender set her drink down in front of her. She started to pay for it, but Ryan forestalled her. “Let me get it.”
Feeling guilty, she let him. He led her away from the bar to a corner that magically appeared empty. “How did you do that?” she asked.
He looked around and smiled. “It’s a gift.”
He really was good-looking. What one of her friends called ‘go to hell good looks.’ Tall, with dark hair, hazel eyes, and muscles that were apparent beneath his clothes, he was a man any woman would be happy to be with.
Too bad she was still obsessed with a certain rancher.
Too bad she was afraid she always would be.
They talked for a bit and then Ryan said, “We can skip the small talk if you want.”
Surprised, she looked at him. “Why?”
“Not to be too nosy, but I know the look of a woman who’s thinking about another man.”
“It shows, huh?”
“Afraid so. The rancher. The McFarlands’ neighbor, huh?”
“That’s him.” She hadn’t thought she’d been so obvious the other night, but clearly she had been. “We broke up recently.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was my choice. My…fault.” She shook her head. “I’m sure you have better things to do than listen to me whine about my broken relationship.”
“Not really. I don’t know many people yet.”
She laughed. “You must be really hard up if this is entertaining to you.”
“Hard up? No, I definitely wouldn’t say that.”
“Um, thanks?” She hadn’t flirted with anyone but Riley in a long time. It made her feel flustered.
He looked over her head. “Your ex is headed this way. And he doesn’t look happy.”
“Shit.” She didn’t look. Purposefully.
“Crisis averted. A woman stopped him, and he walked off with her.”
“Good.” No way was she ready to deal with Riley tonight. Which made her supremely dumb to have come here when she knew Riley could be here. “It’s been nice talking to you but I’m going home.”
“Do you need a ride?”
“No, thanks. I don’t live far. I walked.”
“By yourself? Alone, at night on New Year’s Eve?”
“Marietta doesn’t have a lot of crime. I’ll be fine.”
“I just moved here from Denver. Which does have a lot of crime. Let me walk you home.”
What the hell. She could see it really bothered him. “It’s really not necessary but thanks. I’ll go get my coat and meet you at the front door.”
Naturally, the women she’d been with, those who hadn’t left anyway, razzed her about ‘the new hot doctor.’
“It’s not like that. He’s just a friend.”
Being very careful not to look for Riley, she left with Ryan.
It didn’t take long to reach her apartment complex.
They didn’t talk on the way, for which she was grateful.
She didn’t bother telling him not to walk her to her door.
She had a feeling he’d insist. She unlocked her door and turned around to him.
“Thanks. You’re very easy to be with. I appreciate it. ”
“I try,” he said with a smile. As she started to go in he said, “Letty? If—or when—you decide to move on, give me a call. Logan has my number.”
“I’ll do that.” Assuming she ever got over Riley enough to want to see another man. Right now that was doubtful.
*
Riley had spent the last couple of days taking care of Sergeant.
His mom had named him. Once he was given food and water, bathed, and settled in his new home—the kitchen—he perked up.
He suspected his mom was going to have him in her room before long.
He laughed, thinking of how Jasper was going to handle that.
Kayla had estimated Sergeant’s age to be eleven or twelve.
He wasn’t chipped and since he had no collar there was no way to tell who had abandoned him.
Riley wouldn’t have given him back anyway, but he wouldn’t have minded punching the owner.
New Year’s Eve. The day he and Letty were supposed to break up.
Well, no problem there since they’d actually broken up on Christmas Eve.
Sleeping together after that didn’t count as back together.
He’d tried everything he could think of to get Letty to admit she cared about him and wanted to be with him. Nothing had worked.
He went to town, to Grey’s Saloon, mostly because he had nothing else to do and he decided he wasn’t going to mope around at home. But when he got there, he wished he’d stayed home.
Letty was at Grey’s when he got there. She looked amazing.
She was off in a corner talking to that friend of Connor McFarland’s.
Ryan Hunter. Dr. Ryan Hunter. She was laughing at something he said.
He thought about leaving, or stupidly, walking over there, but Sonia Wrangler, a woman he used to date stopped him before he could commit that mistake.
Sonia was pretty and they’d had an amicable breakup but the last thing he wanted was to have a polite conversation with anyone.
He tried to pay attention to her, but his eyes kept returning to Letty. Letty, who apparently had no clue he was there, and furthermore, wouldn’t have cared if she did know.
“Riley?”
“Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked if you were still dating Letty, but I think I know the answer. Even though you keep watching her, it’s pretty obvious you’re no longer together.”
Yeah, busted. “We’re not.”
“Why don’t you come sit with me and my friends?”
Why the hell not? “Sure. Lead the way.”
Fortunately, Sonia was with a large group of friends—men and women. They weren’t obnoxious but they were having a good time. Riley sipped his beer and wondered why the hell he’d come.
Especially when Letty left with the new doctor in town.
Fuck. He didn’t really think Letty would do anything with the guy.
No matter what she said, or how she pushed him away, she was still as hung up on Riley as he was on her.
But that didn’t stop him from imagining her in another man’s arms. Shortly after Letty left, so did he.
Somehow he managed not to go to her apartment, but it was a close thing.
He knew, though, that if the guy was with her he’d lose it.
And if she was alone, what was he going to do?
She’d made it damn clear they were over.