Page 9 of Wrangle Me, Cowboys

Only Holden had sat down at the table beside his mom. It was sort of sweet how genuinely pleased to see her he seemed, though I couldn’t say I shared that sentiment.

“No squabbles? After the last time you had a woman here, I can’t say I approve.”

“Amber’s nearly our sister, though,” Sawyer said, catching my eye and shooting me a wink.

Lidia nodded. “That’s good to hear. Can’t have a repeat of that last one.”

“Trust me, Mother, that will never happen again,” Waylon said, his jaw set. He was the only one who hadn’t talked to me about Maria, who had broken all their hearts.

“Thank the Lord,” Lidia said. “But I still don’t know if I think this is a good idea. The way people talk around here…”

“Amber’s helping out with the horses,” Holden said. “She’s good at it, too. In fact, she’s pretty damn near the perfect sister.”

“Like the little sister we never had,” Sawyer agreed, his eyes sparkling with merriment.

“Hmph,” Lidia said. “Could have fooled me.”

“You may have caught me at a bad moment,” I said.

“I’ll say.”

Oh no. I could feel a verbal torrent building inside me. I was helpless to stop it.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m a bad person,” I went on. “I actually have been helping with the horses, though I can’t say I’m keen on making that old buzzard’s life any easier. By that I mean Grimes, not you. Not that you’re old. Or a buzzard. I just mean, Grimes is a total creep. But I’m sure you know that, seeing that you lived here at some point, I’m assuming. Right? Or did it skip a generation, like twins, and go straight from your dad to your kids?”

Lidia opened her mouth, then closed it again. Finally she said, “Well. I guess you could keep her around for entertainment value if nothing else.”

Now I didn’t just have to prove myself worthy to all the guys, but to their mother? Craptastic.

“She’s only here for a couple more months,” Waylon said, delivering a sandwich to his mother and one to me.

“And then you can get your payday and live happily ever after,” I said, remembering I was mad at him.

“Sit, eat. It’ll take the edge off,” he muttered when I gave him a withering look.

“Well, the talk in town’s just getting started,” Lidia said. “And I don’t think it’s proper, her being what she is.”

“What I am?” I asked indignantly.

Waylon’s hand closed on my shoulder, firm and commanding. “If people want to gossip, they’re going to gossip,” he said, facing his mother.

Sawyer tipped his chair back, his legs sprawling under the table. “If it’s not this, it’s something else,” he said. “You can’t stop gossip any more than you can stop the wind from blowing.”

“It’s true,” I said. “You know why the gossip column is always full? It’s not because there’s always something scandalous going on. It’s because it has to be. There’s a space for it, an audience for it, and it’s the job of the writers to fill the column with something. They have to find something to talk about.”

Lidia narrowed her eyes at me, but she didn’t say anything.

“Whatever people in town say about us, they’ve been saying for years,” Sawyer said. “Doesn’t bother us.”

“Does it bother you, Amber?” Holden asked.

I shrugged. “My parents are both in politics. People have been talking about me since I was born.”

“Well, aren’t we humble,” Lidia said.

“Were you married to Senator Westling when he was a senator?” I asked. “If you have tips on being invisible in politics, I’d love to hear them.”

“All I’m saying is that people will talk,” Lidia said. “I think my sons deserve to know that. You know they caused quite a local scandal a few years ago.”