by Jeannie Watt
“What?” he asked drily. “Is Liv all right?”
“I’m not here to talk about Liv.”
Well, at least that answered his question.
“Then...” he prompted when Tim didn’t say anything else. The older man shoved his hands into his jacket pockets.
“I’m here to talk about me.” Matt nodded while at the same time wondering what the hell? It took Tim another couple of seconds to say, “I made a giant mistake when I was a little younger than you.” Tim clamped his mouth shut then, took a moment, then managed to get it open again. “I’ve watched Liv make the same mistake.”
The older man looked down and for a few seconds Matt thought it was the end of the conversation, but then Tim brought his eyes back up again. “Now, I’m not saying that you guys are meant to be together or anything like that. I’m trying not to stick my nose in.”
“Feel free,” Matt muttered, feeling very much as he had as Beckett had taken his fall. The sky wasn’t where it should be and Tim Bailey shouldn’t be in his living room talking about Liv.
“How do you feel about my daughter?”
“Maybe not that free,” Matt said. “And I thought you were here to talk about you.”
Tim gave him a fierce look. “I screwed up what could have been thirty years of a good relationship because I was pigheaded. I can see that Liv has probably done the same thing.”
The fierce look shifted closer to self-consciousness. Tim cleared his throat, looked at the door as if wishing he were heading back out of it.
Matt struggled to his feet and balanced on his better leg. “As much as I appreciate your visit, Tim, I gotta tell you...I think you’ve misread the situation.”
Tim gave him a long, you-stupid-bastard look, then shook his head and headed for the door. And that was that. A blitzkrieg mission. Matt heard Tim start his truck just as Craig ambled into the room.
“Well, that was awkward,” he said.
“You were listening?” Wonderful.
“I’d conked out on the sofa in there, but you guys were loud,” he said. “And I didn’t want to turn on the TV, because then the old guy would have known I was there and clammed up.” Craig sat in the chair opposite and clasped his hands loosely between his knees. “So what are you going to do?”
“About what?”
Craig rolled his eyes. “This big mistake he was talking about. Are you going to go see her? Tell her that she’s being stubborn?”
Matt stared at the kid, at a loss for words.
“Because I think she really liked you a lot.”
“Not enough,” Matt said. “And I really don’t think we need to discuss this.”
“No. I think we do.”
“You’re out of line, Craig.” Matt spoke softly, but in a tone that did not encourage argument.
Craig raised his hands in surrender. “Things have sure changed since I left.”
“I’m not trying to be mean. I just want some privacy in my personal matters.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Matt frowned. “Then what?”
Craig shook his head. “You guys liked each other. A lot. I mean, it was only obvious.” He made kissing noises.
Matt rolled his eyes. “Things change.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. They changed really fast.” He shrugged. “I liked her.”
“Me, too,” Matt said softly, truthfully. And he’d love to have someone to bounce some of his thoughts off, but Craig, as precocious as he was, wasn’t the one.
“Then do something about it,” Craig said. “Don’t be like Tim. And my mom.”
Matt’s eyebrows went up.
“Oh, yeah. Mom and the cook had a long talk the other day.”
“And you listened.”
Craig shrugged. “Now, here’s the thing...” Craig sliced the air in front of him with both hands held parallel. “You need to tell the other person what it is you want, so that they know. You can’t expect them to guess at it.”
“I did,” Matt said, wondering what other nuggets of wisdom Craig had picked up from his mom and the cook.
“And?”
“None of your business.”
Craig exhaled loudly. “I can’t help you if you don’t cooperate.”
Matt laughed. “I don’t need help.” Liar. If he didn’t need help, then he’d be able to stop thinking about all the if onlys.
Craig threw his hands into the air and got to his feet. “If you like her, you should do something about it and not wimp out.”
“Craig—”
The kid jabbed a finger at Matt, cutting him off. “It’s a good thing you didn’t treat your roping career like this, quitting at the first sign of trouble, or you wouldn’t have come close to being a world champion.”
With a disgusted snort, Craig started down the hall, only to stop and turn back. “You know,” he said in an intense un-Craiglike tone, “you need to think about what it means to be a champion.”
After one final dark look, he continued on down the hall, leaving Matt staring after him.
How old was this kid?
* * *
“HE’S GETTING BETTER,” Etta chirped to Andie as Liv came in the back door of the clinic. “When I stopped by last night, he was up and around. Of course, I made certain to get him off his feet, if you know what I mean, as soon as possible....”
Liv stopped, drew on her rapidly dwindling reserves of inner strength and then continued into the front office.
“Hi,” Etta said in her upbeat voice.
“Hi,” Liv echoed. “When’s my first patient?”
“Almost immediately.”
Good. Something to focus on. Liv was no longer certain of her course of action. She wanted to do something, but what? Matt had made it pretty damned clear that he thought her “revelation” as he called it, was due to pity and would evaporate as soon as he got better.
And then there was Etta. How serious was that?
Her gut told her it wasn’t. Etta was just a bit too shifty when she talked about Matt, as if by acting that they had a deep relationship she could make it true.
Liv was only working a half day since Dr. Hoss was coming to treat Beckett’s injured leg. She saw two new patients, did a consultation with a third, then instead of heading out the side exit for the parking lot when it came time to go, she walked into the reception area where Etta was entering data into the computer.
“How serious are you and Matt?” she asked.
Etta’s gaze flashed up. “What?” Liv couldn’t blame her for being surprised. The old Liv had never been that direct, but damn it, she needed to know the score.
“Are you two dating?”
“Liv...” There was a note of pity in Etta’s voice. “Even if we weren’t, Matt’s not the right guy for you.”
Funny. He’d felt pretty right.
“It’s probably hard, what with him being friends with Tim and all—”
“Friends with Tim?”
Etta batted her eyes. “I saw Tim’s truck there on my way home the other night.”
Liv almost choked. What? Thankfully, she kept the question to herself, so Etta prattled on. “But, really...you’re the settle-down kind and Matt isn’t.”
Liv almost laughed. Etta had it so very backward, but that was secondary to the fact that Tim had been at Matt’s.
“He’ll hurt you,” Etta called as Liv started down the hall to the side exit.
“Already has.”
So what did she have to lose? Nothing.
Which was a rather freeing thought.
At the Y in the road on the way home, Liv had a strong urge to turn left instead of right. She went right because the vet was coming. Besides, she had some questions for Tim—who wasn’t home.
A reprieve for him.
Dr. Hoss showed up as soon as she’d changed out of her scrubs and she lead the way out to the barn where he gave Beckett a thorough once-over.
Dr. Hoss ran a hand over Beckett’s rump after his examination, shaking his head.
“That tendon is probably permanently damaged. I’ll know more in a few days when more of the swelling has gone down,” Dr. Hoss said, giving her a sympathetic look. “Sorry about this. He was a hell of a horse.”
“Still is,” Liv said as she walked the vet to his truck.
“How’s Matt?” Dr. Hoss asked after stowing his equipment.
“I, uh, don’t know.” Which killed her.
“Oh.” The guy’s color rose. “I thought...never mind.”
“That’s okay,” Liv said simply. “We were.” Past tense, thanks to her skewed perceptions and stubbornness.
A few minutes later she watched the vet drive away, depressed about Beckett, and more depressed about Matt. So, what was she to do here? Follow the same path as before, sit and wait for Matt, who wasn’t going to make a move—this time because she’d been so ridiculously unyielding? When Liv had been younger, she’d made the mistake of overthinking, of not following her gut, because she had no faith in her gut. Today she was trying to have faith in her gut, which told her that if she didn’t try one more time to discuss how she felt with Matt, she was going to regret it forever.
Tim was still gone, so Liv fed the steers, then went into the house and showered. She put on makeup while her hair dried in natural waves. In this life there were, in addition to givers and takers, winners and losers. She may not be a winner when this was all said and done, but if she didn’t do something, then she would be a loser by default. The new Liv wasn’t going to default. She wasn’t going to sit silently and hope that the man she cared about noticed her, as she’d done in high school. She wasn’t going to tamp down her feelings, but she wasn’t going to take a my-way-or-else attitude. She was going to find a middle road if it killed her.
She picked up her phone to see if there was a message from Tim when she heard his truck bump over the cattle guard. She kind of hoped to slip away without announcing her mission, but if she had to, so be it. And she wasn’t going to ask why he’d been at Matt’s place, because, really, did she want to know?
She grabbed her purse, headed for the door, then stopped when she saw Matt hobbling up the front steps.
Dear heavens.
She jerked the door open, not quite able to process the situation. Matt was here, why? She looked past him to the black-and-silver Dodge, which was not parked under the elm like usual. No, it was parked next to the barn and...was that Craig in the driver’s seat?
Her mouth fell open, and after clearing the top step Matt turned to follow her gaze. “He’s practicing for his learner’s permit.”
“Oh.” Liv focused back on Matt, a slight frown forming as she gave him a quick once-over. He’d lost weight, which accentuated the hollows under his cheekbones. He needed a shave, and his hair had grown a little too long. He was hunched over on crutches, his left leg encased in plaster up to the top of his thigh...and looked better than ever. Damn, but she wanted to eat him alive—if he’d let her.
Instead, she looked him square in the eye and said, “I don’t know if you remember our conversation in the hospital. You were pretty doped up—”
“I remember.”
Liv’s gaze did not waver even though she felt her cheeks growing warm. “I meant what I said.”
“I didn’t.” The expression in his dark eyes was intense and Liv’s heart knocked against her ribs as the words penetrated. “Okay, I meant the part about not wanting a mercy reunion, but—” he looked down at the ground “—if you were there for real...”
“I was there for real, Matt.” He raised his eyes to hers. “Honest,” she said. She didn’t know what else she could say.
“Honest,” he repeated.
“Yeah. I...I was so over-the-top as far as maintaining my independence, but I figured a lot of stuff out after you left. I was...afraid.”
“I know,” he said simply. “I finally figured that out. And I was angry.”
“I know...I finally figured that out.”
Matt reached out to cup his hand around the back of her neck, his crutch falling away and hitting the porch with a hollow clatter. Neither of them seemed to notice or care as his mouth settled on hers.
“Still afraid?” he muttered before kissing her again, more deeply. It felt like a homecoming and if she wasn’t so afraid of hurting him, she would have wrapped herself around him.
“Massively. But willing to take the chance.”
He smiled against her lips. “The trick to this relationship thing, I hear, is to tell the other person exactly what you want.”
“I did that,” Liv said. “It didn’t work.”
Matt kissed her again, making her wonder how one had sex with a full leg cast. “Maybe you didn’t totally mean what you said.”
“Maybe,” she agreed, kissing his upper lip, then gently nipping at his lower. “But I thought I did.”
“I know.”
“I have a lot to learn about compromise,” she said.
“I know,” he said with a soft laugh. He leaned back then. “Do you trust me not to take over your life?”
“I’m trying.”
“Trying?”
“I might have my moments, you might have to talk me down, but...I’m working on it. I...don’t want to lose what we have.”
Matt reached out to pull her against him, the other crutch falling away as he lowered his head to kiss her again. “Now we’ve done it,” he said when he finally raised his head and smiled down at her. “I’m helpless. I hope you won’t take advantage.”
Liv then took his face between her hands to answer him with actions rather than words. When the kiss ended she looked past him at the truck where Craig was staring up at the ceiling.
“Your chauffeur appears to be grossed out.”
“My chauffeur is just fine. I’m just fine.”
Liv stroked his dark hair away from his forehead. “Funny thing...I think I’m just fine, too.”
EPILOGUE
IF PLANNING ONE wedding was hell, it stood to reason that planning two would be doubly hellacious. Not so.
Shae had pushed her wedding back two months, just before the ultraexpensive invitations had been sent out, because she simply needed more time. Tim and Margo, on the other hand, had pushed up their date. At first they’d talked about marrying in two years’ time, if all went well. Two years had become one year, and then nine months.
So exactly half a year after Tim had conducted his “business” with Margo at the Newport rodeo, he had a new bride. The wedding plans had been as simple as Shae’s were extravagant, taking place in the living room of the house Margo had designed, with a justice of the peace, Liv, Matt, a few of Tim’s old buddies, Walter from across the road and all of the Rhinestone Rough Riders.
After the I-dos, the party commenced, and Liv discovered that her teammates could be a wild bunch under the proper circumstances and the marriage of o
ne of their own fit that bill. After the third champagne toast, which involved a cork flying down the front of Linda’s shirt, Matt took Liv’s hand and they escaped out the back door.
Without a word, they walked to the barn, hand in hand. Beckett nickered a greeting when they went inside and Liv automatically picked up the brush.
“You’ll get hair all over your dress,” Matt said.
“It’ll shake off,” Liv replied, opening the stall gate. Matt closed the gate for her and propped his arms on it.
“Sometimes I think you like him more than me,” he observed with a tolerant half smile.
“Sometimes I have reason,” she said with an answering smile, then after a couple quick strokes of the brush, she walked back to the gate, raised herself up on her toes to kiss Matt’s sexy lips. “But not too often.”
He growled deep in his throat and took her face in his hands, kissing her back. That evening they were going to his parents’ house for Sunday dinner, a semiregular occurrence for the sake of his mother that Matt dreaded. But he put on a good front, as did his father, and Nina seemed happy...although sometimes Liv wondered how much her future mother-in-law knew.
“Let’s go home,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers. “I need to study for an hour or two before we go to the ranch.” Going back to school to start work on a pre-vet degree hadn’t been an easy decision, but once made, Matt had thrown himself into his studies with a vengeance. “And—” he smiled wickedly “—I wouldn’t mind working some other stuff in.”
Liv caught her breath before he gave her one last kiss. Oh, yeah. Time to go home.
She’d looked into renting a house after Tim’s engagement so that he and Margo could have privacy, but before she signed the lease, Matt had offered her a bed and more. After a moderate amount of cautious hesitation, she’d accepted—a decision she hadn’t come close to regretting. She’d eventually been the one to suggest making their relationship more permanent.
Matt had accepted.
Craig was going to be the best man.
* * * * *
