“I’m here. We, um, spent time together.”
“What? You and Ben?”
“Me and Ben. We went out on a couple of, um, dates.”
“Did you sleep with him?”
“Renie! That is not an appropriate question to ask me!”
“Why not, Mom? Jeez. I’m not a kid anymore.”
“It’s complicated.”
“So you did. Good.”
“Renie, honey, so you realize this up front, I am not as interested in discussing your sex life as you seem to be in mine. Just because we’re having this conversation, doesn’t mean I’m opening the door to details. On either side.”
Renie laughed. “Got it, Mom. I’m glad you had fun. When are you seeing him again?”
That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it?
They were halfway to Gunnison when Ben’s cell phone rang.
“Hey.”
“Hi, Ben. It’s Liv. I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you.”
“It’s okay. Well, it’s not okay. Are you home?”
“I am. I didn’t even go in the house when I got here. I went straight out to the barn and went for a ride.”
“The barn? A ride? Do you have a horse?” She hadn’t told him she had a horse. Had he asked her anything about herself? They’d talked about her daughter, but other than that, he knew nothing about her. Wait, her dad had been a pilot in the military. Had she said Air Force?
“I have two. One belongs to Renie, but since she’s away at college, I have two. Micah’s mine. He’s not very old, so he needs a lot of exercise. Micah likes to get out and run. I also board horses.”
“Speaking of horses, I’m on my way to a rodeo in Gunnison.”
“Oh, I should let you go. Take care, Ben.”
“Hold on, hold on, don’t go hanging up yet. I told you so you realized we had something else in common. You seemed worried about it at the airport.”
Ben realized the four people with him were listening to every word he said.
“Hey, it might be better if I call you back, since I’m driving. When I do, will you answer?”
Liv was quiet, so quiet he thought the call had dropped. “Liv, are you there?”
“I’m here.” She went quiet again. “Um, it might be best if you didn’t. I have a lot to get caught up on with the ranch, and I’m tired. It’ll be an early night for me and a busy few days.”
Ranch? She had a ranch? He was such an asshol
e. No wonder she didn’t want to talk to him, he hadn’t bothered to find out anything about her, he’d been too busy getting into her panties.
“Give me a half an hour.”
“Ben…”
“A half an hour, Liv, and I’ll call you back.”