Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Natana’s confusion cleared as she seemed to reassign Lellie to someone else—an outsider—in her mind. “Oh, ah, no. I don’t work here. But I know the kid stuff is back in the left-hand corner. And Connie—the lady over there with the flower on her shirt—she can help you if you can’t find anything.”
Tully thanked her and nudged me out of the way, grabbing the stroller and taking off toward the back of the store. I blinked after him.
“Everything all set for roundup?” Natana asked.
I turned back to blink at her. “Roundup.”
She grinned. “I know it’s been a full year, Dev. But roundup is when we get all the horses ready to—”
My brain flicked back online. “Roundup! Of course. Yeah. Uh… yeah. I guess? Way said he hired a new hand to help us out because I guess Taza went back to Jenks’ dairy.”
She rolled her eyes. “Finally. Took Jenks long enough. I’m happy for Taza. He deserves to take over the operations there. But I know you lost a good hand.”
“The best. I’m happy for him, but to leave before roundup…” I sighed. “Anyway, please tell me you’re still up for helping out? After what happened to Way last year, Silas is going to be a total pain in the ass.”
Her eyes danced as she laughed. “He definitely is. Way will be lucky to sit a horse. Yes, I’m still planning on helping, but I’m glad you guys hired someone. You’ve got your hands full since I know you probably have several mares close to foaling, too.”
While we spoke, she glanced back in the direction Tully and Lellie had gone. I could tell Natana was curious about why I’d walked into the Mercantile pushing a stroller, but she was too polite to ask outright.
We talked for another minute before I managed to extract myself from the conversation. On my way to the back of the store, I had to exchange polite greetings with Connie, Hanson Sandoval, and Clayton Spilling. All three of them glanced curiously at Tully, and though none of them asked me about him directly, either, I knew they’d be wondering and talking it over the minute I left. I had a reputation in town for valuing my privacy, but there was no such thing as privacy in Majestic, and I realized belatedly another night without a crib might have been a decent price to pay to keep everyone’s curious stares away from me.
“You want the fold-up kind or—” Tully glanced at me and abruptly stopped speaking. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Why?”
He glanced over my shoulder toward the front of the store and back to me. “You have a look on your face.”
“What look? I don’t have a look.”
He hesitated, like he was going to say something, then nodded and turned back to the shelves. “Fine. What kind of bed—”
“What look?” I asked again, because apparently, curiosity really wanted to kill a cat.
He frowned and glanced back toward the front of the shop. “Annoyed. Or… I don’t know. Bothered? Whatever. I’m sure it’s none of my business.”
“I…” I started to agree—it really was none of his business, and I hadn’t forgotten that Tully’s questioning yesterday had an ulterior motive—but my mouth refused to follow that plan. “I don’t know what to tell people,” I admitted. “About Lellie,” I added in a lower voice.
Tully’s eyes narrowed. “I guess that depends on what your plan is. If you’re keeping her, you’re going to have to tell people. If you’re not keeping her—”
“We’re not fucking discussing this here,” I snapped, glancing around to see if anyone might have overheard.
In fact, I wasn’t sure I wanted to discuss the situation with Tully at all.
“Language,” he singsonged, turning back to the shelf.
I fought to keep my temper. Tully wasn’t wrong. In the past year, I’d mostly spent time around cowboys like Taza, who was an excellent hand but was also young and crass. Hanging out with Way and Silas was hardly better. But the last thing I needed was Tully pointing out how utterly unsuitable I was to raise a kid.
I was already well aware.
And I’d been going back and forth over what to do about that fact all night as I walked Lellie across the floor. She was a helpless baby, a motherless child, my daughter, and she needed someone to care for her. But the thought of me being that someone, of me letting her down…
“Can we just pick something?” I muttered. There weren’t many crib options—only a simple wooden crib and a foldable travel thing. Since there was no way I could keep Lellie, the foldable one was the obvious choice.
I grabbed it and set it on the ground next to the other items we’d selected. “What else do we need?”
Tully sniffed in a way that expressed disapproval of my choice… or maybe my attitude… or possibly my entire existence. “That depends on your plan, too, Dev. Are we just visiting long enough to discuss things? Or is Lellie staying with you for longer than that?”