“Shit, I forgot. Hafta go meet Kit for a pickup.”
“If he’s picking up those curly horned antelopes, they were getting it on last night and she may be pregnant.”
A reluctant smile edged his lips, and I nearly wept with relief. Seeing him sad had just about killed me.
“Oh, we heard. But Kit’s picking up the Axis deer and one of the Sikas.”
He paused, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Rowdy?”
His eyes snapped to mine. “Oh, sorry. I just remembered that Kit’s been trying to hire a land manager, and I thought maybe Sadie could be a good fit? He’d need to mentor her, of course, but I think she could pick it up.”
“Her managerial experience is with people, not land, hun,” Skylar reminded him.
“I know.” Rowdy sighed, sad again. “It’s just that Sadie is really smart, and I think her and Jaxon would be good for that place.”
I stood and hugged him tight. “We’ll figure out a way to take care of Jaxon and his mom,” I said, no clue what I was promising him.
Skylar stood and gave me a half hug, kissing my cheek. “You’re a good guy, Kess.”
“Thanks, Sky.”
I was worried as hell, but one thing was for certain: Skylar had been right. I didn’t know the first thing about Rowdy Lockwood.
13
ROWDY
Skyand I walked back to the cabin in silence. As we hit the front porch, he turned to me.
“Look, I know you’re mad at me for letting the cat out of the bag, but you were in over your head.”
“I’m not in over my head,” I groused.
“Really?” Skylar put his hands on his hips. “Based on Kess’s reaction, you were considering a nuclear option without realizing it was a nuclear option.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “You’re...not wrong. But you didn’t need to tell him about the volunteer work.”
“Why wouldn’t you want him to know that you help people?” Sky asked as Kit’s truck made it up the drive.
I slipped a rubber band from my pocket and tied my hair back. “It kinda blows my cover.”
“Oh, the one where you try to act like a shameless ho?”
“Could you just...not?” I snipped as Kit make a wide turn into the circular drive and pulled to a stop in front of us.
Sky went quiet and when I searched his face, he seemed taken aback.
“I’m sorry, Rowd. I—I’ll stop.”
“Thank you,” I said, waving to Kit as he gingerly exited the truck, then began hobbling his way over to us.
Kit was a quiet, rugged type of handsome, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen himnotwearing his old cowboy hat. He was stern and stubborn and secretly kind all in one go, and I was half convinced that if you looked up the wordmanlyin the dictionary, you’d see his picture.
You’d be forgiven for thinking he wasn’t down with the queer, especially after his wife Cynthia realized she was a lesbian and divorced him. But that wasn’t how Kit’s operating system functioned. He was supportive of her new relationship, and they co-parented better than any divorced couple I’d ever seen.
Still, after everything shook out, there was a permanent sadness that settled in around his eyes. He was like one of those animals who mated for life, destined to be single since his swan flew away.
