Cathy Mcdavid - Her Rodeo Man

Sunny started clearing the table.

Though she’d been the one to suggest leaving, Tatum offered, “I can stay and help, if you want.”

“Thanks. Then I’ll go with you to the office. There’s a pile of paperwork calling my name.”

Ryder paused on his way to the door, stopping Tatum as she carted an armload of dishes to the sink. “See you in the morning?”

“Right.”

He didn’t move. “Look, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Not remembering. The kiss.” Those compelling eyes roved her face, then lingered on her mouth. “That wouldn’t happen now, I guarantee it.”

The next instant, he was gone. Thank goodness! One second longer, and he’d have heard her sharp intake of breath.

Tatum tried to tell herself that Ryder was in marketing. Essentially a salesman. Winning people over, even flirting a little, was part of the job and second nature to him. Yet, a thrill wound slowly through her, confirming just how susceptible she was to him. She simultaneously dreaded the coming morning and couldn’t wait for it.

* * *

CASSIDY SAT AT the front desk when Ryder entered the ranch office. “Hi. Tatum’s not here yet.”

Her tone wasn’t exactly welcoming, but neither was it distant. Did she consider him an interloper rather than an asset to the business? She still treated his father that way at times.

“I came early to see you.”

It had been easy enough to learn from his father that Cassidy made a habit of visiting the office ahead of Tatum, who had to drop off her sons at day care. She liked to review the day’s schedule and answer emails. According to their father, it was the only break she’d have all day.

“I didn’t come empty-handed.” He produced two paper cups of steaming coffee. Sitting in the visitor chair across from her, he passed her the cup with caramel latte scrawled in black marker on the side.

After a pause, she accepted it. “Dad tell you this is my favorite?”

“I’ve been picking his brain.”

“You actually stood in line twenty minutes for coffee?” Cassidy sipped tentatively through a hole in the plastic lid.

“I got up early and beat the morning rush. Who’d’ve guessed? Reckless has a gourmet coffee shop.”

She eyed him from over the brim of her cup. “Things change.”

He eyed her back. “They do.”

“Is this a peace offering or a bribe?”

“I don’t want to fight, Cassidy.”

She set down the coffee. “We’re not fighting.”

“You embarrassed Tatum yesterday just to get at me.”

“I do owe her an apology.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re sorry I came home.”

“Why wouldn’t I be glad? Really. Mom’s ready to burst with happiness. And Liberty’s so excited, she’s downright annoying. The whole family’s reunited at last, yadda, yadda, yadda.”

“What about you?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“Mom, for one. You broke her heart when you left. I don’t want you to do it again.”

“The only promise I made Dad and Liberty when I agreed to come here was that I’d try.”

“An honest effort is all I ask.”

Did she think he’d give anything less? “Mom and I have a lot of bridges to mend. It won’t be easy.”

“It’s going to be as easy or difficult as you make it.”

Interesting comment for someone who was starting out by making things difficult. But, his sister was probably right. “Let’s stick to the reason I waited twenty minutes in line for overpriced coffee.”

“I thought you said you beat the rush.”

“A slight exaggeration.”

Cassidy laughed. It wasn’t much of a laugh. More like a dry chuckle. Still, it beat the heck out of their mother’s forced cheerfulness at lunch the day before.

“Why are you really mad at me?” he asked.

“Tatum. She needs this job, Ryder. And you’re a threat to it.”

“Not as much as you think.”

“Dad has other ideas.”

Ryder considered leveling with Cassidy about this being a temporary stay until he landed another position. Gut instinct made him hesitate. “I’m not a threat to Tatum.”

“When she lost her job at the school, she also lost custody of her kids.”

“Wow! You’re kidding.”

“Temporarily lost custody. But she fell apart.”

“What happened?”

“Tatum’s good with money. But the divorce left her without any kind of nest egg. And you know what teachers make, especially in Reckless. Squat. She had no savings to fall back on when the school board laid her off last December. The extra money she makes off of her art classes is barely enough to put groceries on the table.”

“Couldn’t she find another teaching job outside of Reckless?”

“That takes time. She also had her house to consider. She didn’t want to move if she could help it.”

If anyone understood the difficulty of finding a good job and dwindling resources, it was Ryder. The past two months of searching had produced no results other than draining his bank account. Though what hindered his job search had less to do with lack of available employment and more to do with the bad reputation he’d created for himself at Madison-Monroe Concepts.

His stomach involuntarily tightened. He’d live down his mistake. Eventually. Come hell or high water.

“We gave her a job as office manager,” Cassidy continued, “and that took a lot of arm-twisting. Tatum is proud and refused what she called a pity job.”

“Dad says she’s pretty good at what she does.”

“She is. Which is why it’s not a pity job. But then the bank foreclosed on her house anyway when she couldn’t keep up with the payments. She and the kids moved in with us. Rent free. That was charity, and she struggled to accept it.”

“Seven people. Four bedrooms. It must have been crowded.”

“We didn’t care. But her ex-mother-in-law got wind of the situation and convinced her son to hire an attorney, claiming Tatum couldn’t provide adequately for the kids.”

“He sued for custody?” Ryder was appalled. “Why didn’t he help her make her mortgage payments? They’re his children, too.”

“It didn’t go that far. Luckily. Tatum compromised. She turned over care of the kids to her mother-in-law. Just until she saved enough money working for us to rent an apartment. It was a rough period for her. The kids, too. They missed Tatum and hated living with their grandmother.”

“Did she mistreat them?”

“No, no. She’s not the warm, cookie-baking kind of grandmother, but that wasn’t the problem. She lives in Glendale. A four-hour round trip. Tatum only saw the kids once a week at most. The day she signed the lease on her apartment, she broke down and cried in front of the rental agent.”

“She’s lucky to have you and Mom.”

“We’re lucky to have her. She works hard, even if an office manager isn’t her first choice of a job.”

“I do remember her drawing a lot. Always walking around with a sketchbook.”

Cassidy studied him critically. “So, you didn’t forget her entirely.”

“No.” But he hadn’t thought of her in years. A stark contrast to the past twenty-four hours. She’d been on his mind constantly. “You and she barrel raced.”

“We did. She met her ex on the circuit, and for a few years, they traveled from rodeo to rodeo, living in an RV. That wore thin on Tatum. She quit in order to obtain her teaching degree.”

“Her husband continued to compete?”

“Nothing would stop him. Tatum did her best to make the marriage work. Full-time job, full-time mom, part-time husband. When she got pregnant for the third time, he left for good, saying something like, ‘baby, I just can’t be tied down.’ She took it hard. I say the jerk didn’t deserve her, and she was better off without him.”