Her Four Cowboys

There was a decent pause in his text, and I could tell that Andy was weighing his words carefully. Andy, who always knew what to say, was having trouble figuring out what to say to me. I felt my face fall as I stared at the screen, waiting for him to say whatever it was that he wanted to tell me.

Could you come by my place? Say around 7?

I felt my belly flop around a little bit as I searched for the words to craft my own response.

Sure. I’m excited to see you…

Me too.

The words were a bit cooler than I was used to, but I saw no reason to overthink it. After all, there were some crazy storm warnings coming up, and all our clients were canceling and rescheduling their appointments so that they could buckle down for the weather. I figured the same thing was happening with them, and he didn’t have a ton of time to reflect on the texts he was sending.

Looking back at my computer, I drummed my fingers on my desk, thinking hard about the circumstances with the guys that I’d found myself in.

No, that wasn’t quite right. I’d put myself in this situation, and I now had to figure out the best way to get myself out of it. It was up to me to figure this out, one way or another.

Tonight would have to be the time when it all came out. I didn’t know how I would say the words to him, how I would come clean about my history with all of his brothers, or whether he would understand about what I’d done.

I shook my head to myself. No. No, that wasn’t my business. I had absolutely no control over how he felt toward me after I came clean, and I would just have to weather it.

I was so lost in thought that I barely heard when someone said my name over my shoulder. I blinked, jumping a little in my seat as I swiveled around to see Doc Boyd standing behind me, a look of concern on his weathered face.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice soft with concern. “You seemed pretty far away.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” I said, reaching up and rubbing my temple. “Just puzzling out a personal problem.”

“Oh,” he said, sounding a little lost for how to respond. I smiled up at him, shrugging a shoulder. “I’m okay, Doc. Don’t worry about me.”

“You know that you can always talk to me if you need to, right, Lucy? I’ve been around the block a few times; I know a thing or two about personal problems.”

I laughed, knowing that, as much as I valued Doc’s advice, this would likely be the one thing that I would never discuss with him, under any circumstances.

“Thanks, Doc. I appreciate that.” I stood up, stretching my arms over my head. “Was there something I could help with?”

He nodded. “The Chamberlains brought in their Border Collie. She hasn’t been eating as much lately, and she’s been limping a lot.”

I sighed, knowing what I’d probably see when I walked out there. Bella, the Chamberlains’ geriatric Collie, had been around since I was a teenager, and it was frankly amazing that I hadn’t seen her until now.

“I’m guessing you want me to take her?”

“Yes, if you can.”

I got up from my chair, stretching. “Okay.”

I drove to Andy’s place after work, having showered and changed after leaving the clinic. Bella hadn’t been as bad as I’d expected, other than showing some signs of arthritis. She was okay for the moment, though, and I gave Mrs. Chamberlain some anti-inflammatory meds for her to take when she had her food.

That and the single other walk-in for the day had been decent distractions from what I’d known was coming that night, but the stress kept wracking me over what I knew was going to have to happen next.

My mind had buzzed constantly with different potential ways to address this with the guys after I’d gone home and taken my shower, before sitting on my bed wrapped in my towel and hair wrap and texting Molly for some insight.

Coming clean to Andy tonight.

It took less than a minute for Molly’s response to come through.

OMG. About Austin and Aaron???

Yeppp. No freaking clue how he’s gonna take it.

She was quiet for a few minutes, and I waited for her trusted assessment of the situation to come through.

Honey, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I can promise that whatever it is, I’ll be here. I’m on hand for whatever comes, okay? If you want to get together later and drink, we can do that. If you want to call me to gloat about sexy times, that’s okay.

I laughed at her words.

You’re a weirdo, and I love you for it.

I know. Love you too.

I set my phone to the side and got up from the bed to get dressed. For a second, I thought about playing up my looks as much as I could, trying to make myself sexier than usual… but as I stood at my closet, I thought better of it. If I showed up dressed to the nines when I was practically genetically required to wear jeans and a plaid, he would definitely know that I was trying to turn the situation to my favor.