Page 41 of Wilde Ride

I smiled. “Yes, she is. All the time.”

Rhett suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his arms around my neck, squeezing me tightly. “Thank you, Ms. Emeline.”

Hugging him back, I fought to keep my tears at bay. “Always, Rhett. I’ll always be here for you.”

Levi

It took everything I had not to go over to Rhett and Emeline. At first, they were sitting next to each other on the steps, then Emeline moved in front of Rhett. When I saw him wipe away a tear, I nearly walked over. Something inside of me told me to stay where I was.

Then Rhett threw his arms around Emeline and hugged her.

My knees about buckled out from under me as I stood there and watched my son show more emotion with Emeline than I’d ever seen him show to anyone. His therapist had said Rhett kept his feelings inside, and that was mostly okay because he at least talked to me about them sometimes. I just had to continue to be patient and let him know I was there anytime he needed me.

I thought back to a few minutes ago, when he’d declared that he hated his mother. Granted, Caroline wasn’t the perfect mother, but she loved her children. I was sure of that.

Wasn’t I?

Emeline stood, took Rhett’s hand, and headed back to me. When I saw her face, I instantly knew something was wrong.

As she approached, she forced a smile. “I was thinking it might be kind of fun for Rhett to see the working side of our operation. Maybe Caden can show him what it’s like to ride out on the ranch, if he’s an experienced-enough rider.”

Confused by the request, I replied, “He is. Is that something you’d like to do, Rhett?”

His eyes lit up. “Be like a real cowboy?”

Emeline chuckled. “Yep. But we need to go back inside and get your cowboy hat. Would you mind doing that while I call Caden?”

She wasn’t giving me much of a choice in the matter. “Um, yeah, let’s go get your hat, bud.”

Emeline dropped Rhett’s hand, pulled out her phone, and walked away.

As we walked back into the main building of the camp, I asked, “Everything okay?”

Rhett nodded. “I like Ms. Emeline a whole lot.”

I smiled. “Yeah, she’s one of a kind.”

“Do you like her?” he asked as he placed his black cowboy hat onto his head.

“Sure, I like her.”

“Will you date her?”

I let out a laugh. “I like Emeline as a friend. I’ve always liked her as a friend, but I don’t feel that way toward her.”

Except, suddenly, I felt like I was telling my son a lie.

He frowned.

“You’re sure you’re okay? Did you want to talk about what you said earlier?”

Rhett shook his head. “Not right now. I wanna go riding.”

Giving him a nod, I said, “Well, let’s go see if Uncle Caden is free.”

As we walked back outside and toward the Mule, I saw a truck pulling up. It was the ranch truck, and sitting inside were Caden and his younger brother, Gatlin. You couldn’t ask for more authentic cowboys than these two. Both got out, Gatlin basically identical to Caden in jeans, boots, a T-shirt that said River Falls Cattle, and a dark cowboy hat. His face exploded into a wide grin.

“If it isn’t Levi Tucker!”