Billy shook his head. He might not know a lot about college, but he did know a lot about her.
Renie switched fields from biomedical to veterinary medicine last year, in her junior year, and had transferred to Colorado State University in Fort Collins, a two-hour drive from the ranch. He told her she could stay at the house as much as she wanted. It was the house she grew up in, and with him away so often, they’d almost never see each other.
“What about when you bring girls home?” she asked.
“What girls?”
That elicited another “loser” comment out of her. He supposed she was right. Plenty of girls would be happy to come home with him, even if only for a night. He wasn’t bragging, it was the nature of being a bronc rider, saddle, or otherwise. Having a one-night stand on the road was one thing—it was different at home.
“You’re a hot guy, Billy.”
“What? God, Renie, you can’t say that to me.”
“What? It’s not like I’m interested.”
“Jeez, what’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t see what the issue is, but let’s get back to the original subject—you should hire Blythe.”
“She know how to take care of horses?”
“No, but…”
Renie was at least five times as infuriating as any woman Billy’d ever met. “Why would I hire somebody who doesn’t have experience with horses?”
“Because she needs the job Billy, and she’ll learn. In fact, I’ll teach her.”
“No.”
Renie grabbed his arm.
Whoa, what the hell? It was as though a bolt of lightning hit him, and the current surged through his veins. It almost knocked him on his ass.
“Please,” she said, in that soft tone she used sometimes when she tried to get her way. It used to make him laugh, and he’d tell her he saw right through her. Today, he had a different reaction. Today, he’d be willing to do anything Renie Fairchild wanted him to.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.” Billy didn’t know what in God’s name was going on, but he knew he needed to get away from Renie, right now. “Listen, I gotta go into town.”
“Where are you headed? I’m not doing anything. I’ll go with you.”
“No. Not tonight. I’ve…um…got a date.”
“You do? With one of these girls you don’t plan to bring home?”
She was killing him. She didn’t appear as affected by the touch as he had been.
“Whatever, Renie. Mind your own damn business.”
Renie watched Billy stomp away from her. She spent a lot of time watching him walk away. She’d been in love with Billy Patterson her whole life. No one, not a single living person, knew how she felt about him. The only one she ever talked to about him was her horse, which was stabled in the barn Billy now owned.
It didn’t seem as though much had changed at the ranch since Billy bought it. In fact, her mom left most of the furniture in the house when she sold it. She and her new husband, Ben, hadn’t needed it at his place in Crested Butte.
With Billy home infrequently, most of the house looked exactly the same as it always had. The master bedroom was the one room Renie was sure was different. She hadn’t set foot in it though. It was almost as though the bedroom was the only place in the house Billy lived. It seemed wrong to invade his space.
When her mom decided to sell, she asked Renie first if she wanted to keep it, live there herself, but Renie told her to sell it to Billy. With four years of school still ahead of her, she didn’t have time to take on the ranch.
She thought a lot about whether she’d regret her decision later, after she graduated and started a practice. Even then, she knew she wouldn’t be able to live the rest of her life next door to the Patterson family. The heartache of seeing Billy come to visit his parents with the wife he would he eventually marry, and the children they would eventually have, was more than she’d be able to handle. You didn’t love someone the way she loved Billy and ever truly move on from it.