Fighting With The Cowboy (Wild Vista Ranch #11)

Chapter 1

Katie

Crash!

I barely jerked at the sound of my plate crashing to the floor. Didn’t register the sound of people rushing over to make sure I was okay.

All I could focus on was Todd, the guy who had just walked in.

With none other than his new woman to be. The mistress I got left for.

“Katie!”

Someone jerked on my arm while they called my name, and I mentally had to shake myself from the stupor that I was placed in.

“What?”

“Are you okay?”

I glanced down at the floor then up to my best friend’s face.

“I got to get out of here,” I told her, quickly standing up for my seat. “I’ll pay you back.”

“Wait,” she called out but I was already out the door, hardly glancing back to see if that man had even glanced my way.

Once I made it to the car, I took deep, steady breaths, needing a moment to compose myself.

Todd was my ex-husband, divorced because of his cheating ways. And staying here in the great town of Westbanks, OR, with a grand population of just about two thousand meant that I kept running into him a whole lot more than I liked.

And though he and I had been divorced now for two years, the hurt was still there.

Finally, I started up my engine, sending a message to Lucy, my best friend, that I was having dinner with, that Todd had walked in and I had to get away.

She told me not to worry; she’d cover the bill and would stop by on her way home.

Leaving her would be the hardest thing, but it had to be done. Todd didn’t care about the family he hurt, but I sure as hell did. And I refused to keep putting my daughter and I through this heartache.

Twenty minutes later, I strolled into the house, seeing Tiffany at the table, working on some homework.

“You’re home early,” she stated, glancing up at me from her workbook.

“Yeah. Did you eat?”

“I did. Got home about ten minutes ago, so still light out mom.”

“Oh, I know sweetie,” I told her, kissing the top of her head. “Can you do this a little later, I wanted to talk to you.”

She frowned as she stuck her pencil in the workbook and then looked at me.

“What’s going on?”

“You only have about three weeks left of school, but I thought after you were done, we could move somewhere else?”

“Seriously? Why the sudden change?”

“I saw your dad, with…,” I trailed off, not sure what to say but Tiffany was far smarter than her thirteen years.

“This small town is getting to be too rough, huh?”

“Sure is, sweetie.”

“Any idea where you’d want to go?” she asked and hell if I knew. This small town was all I had ever known and honestly, I thought I’d die here. But to save my heart from breaking every other day, I’d pack up and move to the most remote place.

“Nope. Though, we can have some fun with it,” I offered, jumping out of the seat. “Get some paper, a pen, and a basket.”

She frowned but did as I told her, grabbing the items while I grabbed a small atlas I had.

“What in the world are we doing?” she asked, sitting on the couch next to me.

“I want you to pick ten random locations you’d like to live in, write them down, and then throw them in the basket. That’s how we will decide.”

“So, if I said Hollywood, you’d be okay with that?”

“Sure, Tiff,” I told her, giving her a smile.

“I’m serious. I have no idea where to go and this seems like a lot more fun than picking a random spot on the map.

We can move somewhere in the southwest where there are deserts, gorgeous sunsets, and horses.

Or move to someplace that has far warmer beach weather than we do here.

Or we can go to some busy place, like New York.

” I frowned as I thought that one over, secretly glad when Tiffany made a face herself and shook her head.

“Okay, let me see this thing,” she said, taking the atlas and thumbing through some pages. “Oh, Montana is one.” She wrote it down, then threw it in the basket. “New Mexico, I think I’d like. Think we could brave the hurricanes in Florida.”

On and on it went, until she had a grand total of ten locations picked. With a smile, she swished them around in the basket, finally making a squeal as she picked one. She tilted her head as she read the name, then handed me the paper.

Of course, I could always veto any place that was picked, but truthfully, if she didn’t have school, I’d be out of here tomorrow, so it really didn’t matter to me.

“Rosewood County, Texas?” I read out loud. How the hell she got that, I wasn’t even sure, but I pulled up my phone, checking out the sweeping vistas, and the beautiful skies. I can’t say I’ve ever been to Texas, but this was about to be a lot of fun.

According to the website, there were some serious dude ranches near the town of Saddlehorn, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to be by the land. Not that I could work it, but there was something serene and peaceful about it.

I took a screen shot and sent it to Lucy, telling her this would be our new home.

As a photographer and a blogger, I could be anywhere, and I had no doubt that I could help out around the ranches if need be. And there seemed to be more than enough activities for Tiffany, if she so chooses.

“Pack your bags, sweetie,” I called out, smiling even more. “We’re going to Texas, far away from the pain of this place and to all the promises this deep land holds.”

I let out a breath, looking over the landscape once more, knowing that even though this was sudden, it was also the right move because I felt more at peace than I thought I would for something so scary.