“Oh, she’s definitely not afraid of cats. In fact, Oscar is the one cat she’ll snuggle up with. It’s actually quite adorable. But as you said, you’ll be leaving, so it really doesn’t matter to you.”
He grabbed the reins and started pulling Susie toward the barn. “That’s okay, Susie. We’ll find someone else for you.”
She whinnied as if to say she didn’t believe him. Frankly, I didn’t have much faith he’d find someone either. Horses were meant to be ridden, and the way Susie was going, no person alive would willingly get on her back.
“Hey, just drop the keys up by Pop on your way out!” he called from the stables. “Good luck in Jersey!”
“New York,” I called back.
“Yeah, whatever. All the same to me,” he said, disappearing into the stables.
All the same to me.
Fuck, he wasn’t wrong. There wasn’t a damn thing about the East Coast that really offered me anything close to what Montana could.
Other than the endless job opportunities, women on every corner, and upscale homes that had the ability to make you feel like you were a king instead of living in the middle of nowhere.
No matter what Montana could offer, the fact was, there was so much more waiting for me in New York, and one very large benefit was that my family was nowhere near there.
15
ELLIE
“He left her house yesterday morning,”Emily Davis whispered as she rifled through the latest on my shelves.
“Maybe he just stopped by to drop something off,” her friend Shayla whispered.
“Uh-uh. You know, Mrs. Butterworth lives across the street from her, and she said his car was there all night.”
“What a slut. First Liam and now Ryder.”
“Yeah, but he’s leaving. It’s all over town that he couldn’t make it in New York, but he got in some big fight with his dad, so he’s running back to his old girlfriend.”
I sighed at the counter, pretending not to listen to the gossip as I scrolled through potential dates for tomorrow night. I still didn’t completely understand the whole Wednesday night issue with dating, but I’d stick with Ryder’s advice until it proved to be no longer useful.
Not that he would be around for me to tell him one way or another. I glanced at the clock on the wall, and a small part of me withered up and died. He was gone already. He said he was leaving yesterday, which means that right now, he was back in New York.
And why did I even care? It wasn’t like I was in a relationship with him or anything. He was just a guy. I mean, I had a good time hanging out with him, even if most of the time I felt like maybe he was only with me because he had no one better to talk to.
But still. He was nothing like I remembered. And then he left.
Emily plopped a dress on the counter, sneering at me. “How much for this one?”
“It’s forty-nine, ninety-nine.”
She scoffed, “For this thing?”
“You’re welcome to drive two hours to the big box store for something cheaper that will probably fall apart after three washes.”
Rolling her eyes, she pulled out her card and tossed it on the counter, “I don’t know why I’m giving my money to a slut like you,” she muttered under her breath.
Gritting my teeth, I picked up the card and rang up the purchase, no matter how much I wanted to just throw her out of the store. I needed every sale, and I couldn’t afford to be choosy with who my customers were.
Even if they were evil bitches.
Keeping my temper in check, I carefully wrapped the dress, hating that she would look fantastic in it. If I wore this, it would show off my lumps and thick thighs. A nasty woman like her shouldn’t look so good when she spewed such hatred.
Still, I placed the wrapped dress in the bag and smiled, handing it over to her, along with the receipt. “I hope you enjoy it.”
