Once a Champion

“Great. Thanks!” Willa turned to her son. “Go get your suitcase. I think you’ll like staying here.”

“No doubt,” the kid said flatly before getting to his feet and heading back to the beat-up truck.

Willa turned instantly back to Matt. “If he tries to go stay with his friend Benny don’t let him,” she said as soon as her son was out of earshot. “The kid’s not bad, but there are six other kids in the family and the mother never knows what any of them are doing. I think she’s on tranquilizers.”

“I would be,” Matt said. “Anything else I should know?”

“Nope. I think you two will get along great. I’ll email and call when I can, and here’s my cell number—” she handed him a card that read Willa Montoya, Horse Specialist “—so you can get hold of me if you have any questions. But other than Benny’s family situation, I can’t think of anything you need to know.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out some folded bills. “I have a hundred bucks I can give you for food.”

Matt shook his head. “No need.”

“Do you have any idea how much an adolescent eats?”

“If he eats too much we can settle up later.” He didn’t feel right taking money from a woman so desperate to get a job—even if she was putting him in a position here.

Willa smiled and pushed the money back into her pocket. “Thanks, Matt. For everything.”

“No problem,” Matt said, hoping it sounded at least a little sincere.

A few minutes later, after Willa had said a few words to her son and then hugged him goodbye, she waved to both of them and then drove away.

Matt and Crag stood awkwardly next to one another, watching Willa escape to her new opportunity, and then Matt let out a long, silent breath.

This day was not turning out at all well.

The kid glanced over at him. “You know, if you don’t want me around, that’s okay.”

No, it wasn’t. Matt did not take commitment lightly and he’d just made one.

“I have a friend I could stay with—”

“Benny?”

“Mom got to you, eh?”

“Listen, Crag—”

“Call me Craig. Please.” The kid rolled his eyes as he said the last word. “I mean, come on. If your name was Wilhelmina, would you name your kid something as dumb as Crag?”

Matt felt like smiling. “No. I wouldn’t do that,” he agreed.

“Me, either. I just ask people to call me Craig and hope that the majority of them think my mom has an accent or something.”

This time Matt did smile. “Good plan.” He gestured at the duffel. “Let’s go inside. I have a spare room with a bed, but it’s not fancy.”

“It wasn’t like you knew I was coming.”

Amen to that. Matt held the door open and let Craig walk in ahead of him. The kid seemed okay. Not prickly like his mother.

Only a week. He could do it.

He hoped.

* * *

“SO YOU’RE COMING to watch practice tonight, right?” Dr. Andrea Ballentine reached for the check the server had just set on the edge of the table and Liv took hold at the same time. Liv gave a tug. They’d just finalized arrangements and Liv would start seeing patients next week, so she was technically employed and could technically pick up the tab.

“Only if you’ll come to drill practice tonight,” Andie said as she let go of the ticket.

“I’ll come.” Even though Liv had concerns about joining a mounted drill team that had a reputation for speed. She and Beckett had belonged to a sedate parade team in Billings comprised of ten women who drilled at a jog. It was pattern work, but slow pattern work. Flying around an arena at high speed in intricate patterns with eleven other riders? Liv wasn’t so sure about that.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t a decent horsewoman. In fact, she was quite comfortable on horseback, but while her stepsiblings, Brant and the wildly popular Shae, had both been members of the high school rodeo team, Liv had never joined. Why? Because she’d been shy and self-conscious and didn’t like people watching her. She wasn’t a huge fan of speed, either. According to Andie, the Rhinestone Rough Riders had only one speed and that was as fast as they could go. Intimidating, to say the least, but Liv needed to do something to build a social life now that she was back in town and she was determined to explore new horizons—something she’d wanted to do but hadn’t for the first twenty-some years of her life.

“Promise?” her friend asked as she counted out dollar bills for the tip. Andie had always fancied herself the guardian of Liv’s social life, which was kind of funny, since Liv’s social life had always been practically nonexistent—especially in high school. Andie, on the other hand, had somehow straddled the line between being popular and walking amongst the common folk. She always included Liv in everything, even if Liv had been practically invisible in most social situations. She’d been so afraid of screwing up, saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing...afraid to let her true self show.

“Yes. I promise I’ll come to practice tonight. Eight o’clock, right?”

“Seven-thirty, but we don’t start riding until eight. You might want to come a little early, meet the other riders. You’re going to love it.”

Liv hoped so. She had a ton she could be doing on the ranch to get the place back together before she established her practice, but since Tim bristled whenever she suggested that she do some real work, like, say, painting the house, she had free time that was driving her crazy. In a way she sympathized with her father. All he wanted was to be left alone while he pretended nothing was wrong, and Liv had ruined that by moving home. Maybe a few evenings to himself during the week would help.

“So what’s up?” Andie asked as she closed her purse and set it on the table.

“Up?”

“Yeah,” Andie said, picking up her coffee cup. Apparently lunch was not yet over. “As in distracting you. We’ve hammered out a deal, gossiped and ate the best cheesecake ever, but your mind is somewhere else.” Her eyes narrowed suddenly. “Greg hasn’t been in contact again?”

Liv snorted. “No.”

The last time Greg had attempted to contact her, Liv had told him in no uncertain terms what she would do. A few of her threats had involved law enforcement. One had been more directly aimed at his private parts. That had shocked him. Quiet, cooperative Liv threatening violence. And she’d been serious.

“Then what?”

“I’m worried about Dad.”

“With good cause,” Andie said. “Keep working on him. Try to wear him down.”

“It’s like trying to wear down granite with a toothbrush,” Liv muttered. “But what’s really bugging me is that Matt Montoya stopped by the house.”

Liv hadn’t intended to talk about the situation with Matt and Beckett because she was halfway hoping it would resolve itself; that once Matt had time to think, he’d realize that legally he didn’t have a leg to stand on and that Liv meant it when she said she wasn’t selling. But deep down she knew that wasn’t going to happen. Matt was nothing if not persistent. She’d seen it when he came to her twelve years ago, determined to pull substandard grades up not just to passing, but to As, and she’d also seen it in his rodeo career. Not that she was following it.

No. This probably wasn’t going away.

Andie’s face darkened. She was one of the few people who knew what had happened to Beckett. “No kidding. Why?”

Liv folded her napkin and set it next to her plate. “Apparently Trena sold the horse to me without Matt’s permission.”

“Of course she did. To save the animal.”