Chapter 15
CLIO
“So who do you like for the IndyCar race this weekend?” Ernie’s grey head was under the hood of a Subaru station wagon, changing the plugs and fluids while I rebuilt a carburetor.
I ground my molars at the mention of the race. I’d been trying to block out the fact that Ted was racing this weekend, and if he won, he’d set the new record for most wins in a single season. He was getting a lot of press lately, and every time I saw his smiling mug, I wanted to punch it.
“I don’t follow it anymore,” I clipped.
Ernie picked up my sour tone, lifted his head and eyed me. “You got sore feelings over it? What happened? Did someone fire you? Seems to me like you could’ve gotten a job with another team in a heartbeat.”
“No one fired me. I left because I was pregnant,” I reminded him. I’d told him that when he interviewed me for the job.
“Oh shit,” he said in a knowing tone I didn’t like. “Got it. So JT’s father is still in the biz.”
I’d told Ernie the name of the team I’d worked on, that I’d been part of the pit crew and Ted was the driver. I hadn’t told him we’d been together, and I definitely left out that he was JT’s father.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Ernie.” I sounded grouchier than I should have when talking to my boss, but we’d already grown past an employer/employee relationship. Ernie and Edna were practically family. They’d adopted me and JT day one, which was a godsend when it wasn’t annoying, like now.
Everyone else’s business became your own when it came to the small town experience.
The gossip part I could deal with. I just hoped JT’s abilities never got out around here, or the news would spread as fast as it had in Playa Hermosa.
I didn’t think Ernie’d blab my secrets, but Ted was in my past, and I wanted him to stay there.
He didn’t deserve any of my time or energy now.
“Heard you went out to Wolf Ranch again.”
Speaking of gossip. I wanted to roll my eyes, but at least he’d moved away from the Ted talk.
“Where’d you hear that?” I stalled. If he wanted info, I’d at least make him work for it.
“This morning, JT said he saw a baby horse and that a girl named Remy is his new best friend.”
I had to smile at that. JT said he had a best friend. That was really special and meant he was happy here.
Thank you, Sam.
I’d been skittish about arranging playdates for JT in Cooper Valley. For one thing, I didn’t really have the space to host anything in our little apartment. For another, I worried that the closer JT got to other kids, the more he might slip up and say or do something that would reveal his secret.
Sam had made me feel more comfortable with it last night, though. That I could let JT be himself, and it’d be okay.
Of course, Sam didn’t know about what JT was, but he hadn’t seemed the slightest bit fazed about finding him atop the rafter here.
When he saw him dragging that giant tree branch last night, he’d shrugged it off and said Remy was crazy strong and agile, too.
Maybe these Montana mountain kids were a different breed. Maybe I was being too cautious.
JT having a new best friend wasn’t a bad thing. It was the best.
I nodded. “Yeah, Sam brought us out there to see the foal.”
“He’ll do anything to get a date with you, won’t he?”
I ignored that because he’d pried once into my love life, and that sure hadn’t worked out. “Say, has he placed an order for a new axle for his trailer through you yet?”
Ernie frowned. “Hmm. Nope. Just the tractor part. Nothing for a trailer.”
“I’ll pull it up and get it ordered,” I said, heading into the office.
I’d thought about his bull business last night after he made me come four times in thirty minutes. I hadn’t even known bull semen was big business.
I loved that he had a plan for his future beyond bull riding and working as a ranch hand. He might be young, but he had good business instincts. He had plans for his future. I had to hand it to him–he was the full package.
Not that I was shopping.
I sat down at Ernie’s desk and pulled up the trailer make and model that I’d noted last night, then ordered a new axle for it.
Sam had been more than generous with me. I figured this was at least something I could do for him.