Page 61 of Taming the Wild Cowboy

“Then I guess I’ll unblock you.” Maclyn rather liked the expression that crossed her former friend’s face.

Mike and the student were only a few yards away. The student peeled off, leading the pony to the exit while Mike continued toward them.

“Does he know that I’ve been rejected, or was that all you?”

“Of course he knows,” Brooke murmured, shooting another look at her fiancé.

Maclyn shrugged. “Just wondering, what with your track record of lying to the guy in your life.”

Color crept up Brooke’s cheeks, but she forced a smile. “I’m glad you understand,” she said loud enough for Mike to hear. “If something opens up, and that’s a very real possibility, we’ll give you a call.”

Mike put an arm around Brooke, giving her a quick hug before saying to Maclyn, “You were a very close second, and we’d love to have you on board. You did a great job with that filly.”

“You never know how things will work out,” Brooke agreed, leaning into him.

“No,” Maclyn agreed. “You don’t.” She met Brooke’s gaze briefly. “I’ll be going. I just wanted to stop on my way by, thank you guys for the interview and let you know I am still interested.”

When she walked toward the exit, she could hear Mike and Brooke talking in low voices, but she was fairly certain it wasn’t a confession on Brooke’s part.

Would Brooke show up at Grey’s day after tomorrow? If so, would she apologize? Make excuses?

It didn’t matter. Maclyn was going to have her say after all these years.

*

“I’m going to be sane about this.” Trev opened the tractor shroud. “I’ll live lean, pay off as much debt as possible before I quit, but I’m bailing from this job as soon as I find something closer to home.”

Jordan had spent the morning listening as Trev bounced shit off him, all related to work, despite his brother’s redirections toward the subject of Maclyn. Trev had used the surprise father discussion to dodge questions about his girlfriend the previous evening, and he’d refrained from telling Jordan who’d really been driving his truck the night of the accident, because that would have led to more questions. He continued to dodge the subject through breakfast and the morning cow check, and Jordan had finally given up.

“Is that your phone or mine?” Jordan asked when a ringtone sounded from the workbench where they’d dumped their coats before digging into the tractor’s hydraulic system.

“Mine?” Trev headed to the coats, flipping his over and digging in the pocket as the phone continued to ring. He answered without looking, then grinned when a familiar voice said hello.

“What’s up?” he asked Dylan. He hadn’t heard from his roping partner, make that former roping partner, in weeks.

“My job died.”

“Sorry to hear that.” When his friend had hired onto the 88 Ranch, he’d been hopeful of staying for at least two years.

Dylan laughed. “Me, too. It was actually a pretty good job.”

“What happened?”

“Long story. I thought I’d check to see if you guys still needed a temporary day hand.”

Trev rubbed the back of his neck, shot a look at Jordan who was probably doing things wrong. Trev was a much better mechanic, but he wasn’t going to be there to fix things for a while, so Jordan needed to come up to speed, even though Jordan assured him he’d learned a thing or two over the years away from the ranch.

“Ironically, we’re now overstaffed.”

“I understand.”

If anyone would, it was Dylan. The guy was about as laidback as someone could be without falling into a coma … unless crossed.

“Well, I’m driving through the area.”

“I’m heading back to the job in a couple days,” Trev said. “But you know you’re welcome whether I’m here or not.”

“I’m in Boze.”