She cared.
And that was the real issue. Somehow, as long as shekept telling herself that they were having a secret short-term affair, she didn’t have to think too hard about why she was still sneaking off to be alone with him every chance she got.
Plus, there was Dillon to consider. If she and Josh took their affair public, she would need to somehow explain the situation to her five-year-old son. She just wasn’t ready to cross that particular bridge.
“Hey.” Josh smoothed her tangled hair back from her face.
“Hmm?”
He stroked two fingertips between her eyebrows. “Stop scrunching your forehead. Frowning will give you wrinkles.”
“Yeah, well. Wrinkles are the least of my worries right now.”
“Tell me all your problems.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
“Impossible. There so, so many…”
“You want me to stay?”
She did. And she didn’t.
“You are taking way too long to answer,” he said. “I’m out of here.” He slid from the bed, and she pressed her lips together to stop herself from begging him to stay.
Instead, she got up, too, put on her robe and followed him downstairs with Roger herding them both from behind. At the door, she kissed him goodbye and then stood barefoot on the front porch to watch him drive away.
Sunday, she and Dillon went grocery shopping and then spent the rest of the day hanging out at home. She cleaned the house and made the pie for tomorrow and tried not to think too much about Josh and their secret affair that had gone on too long to be called a fling anymore.
Monday morning started out in the high forties. Therewasn’t a cloud in the wide Wyoming sky. By afternoon, the temperature might reach the midsixties.
Riley dropped off Dillon and her blueberry cream cheese pie with Annette and worked until four when she ducked into her office and changed into comfy jeans, a pretty, loose-fitting shirt and her favorite tooled boots.
At Annette’s, a shiny green F-150 sat waiting at the curb.
They caravanned out to the Rising Sun, Riley and Dillon leading the way, Annette and Miles following in the pickup.
When they arrived, the party was already in full swing. It seemed to Riley that every Bravo for miles around had shown up to spend the day on the large, open grassy space dotted with cottonwood trees in the center of a circle of houses that belonged to various members of Zach Bravo’s family.
Zach had three barbecue smokers going and the same number of grills. Riley spotted four long farm tables laden with casseroles, salads, finger foods and a bunch of way too enticing desserts. She set her pie down with all the other goodies and turned around to find Macy standing behind her.
They hugged, and Macy laughed. She backed off enough to gently pat Riley’s belly. “Looking good, girlfriend.”
Riley leaned close. “This is only twenty weeks you’re looking at here. I swear I wasn’t half this size with Dillon.”
“Hey. Second baby. It was the same for me with Justin. You saw how big I got with him.”
“Did youhaveto remind me?”
“I couldn’t resist—come sit with us.”
Riley glanced around for Annette and spotted her with Miles. The two of them had wandered over to chat with Nate Bravo, Joe’s dad, who was busy tending one of thesmokers. Riley managed to catch Annette’s eye. Then she gestured at Macy.
Annette waved and nodded. Laughing, she called out, “We’re fine! Go!”
Riley and Dillon followed Macy to a circle of chairs in the shade of a thick cottonwood tree.
“Sit,” her friend commanded. “You want something to drink?”
“Ginger ale or maybe sparkling water?”
