Bullet waved, slapped the horse’s hindquarters, and walked over to her.
“Needed some time outdoors. Bein’ inside all day was gettin’ to me. I’m not one for sittin’ in meetings.”
“Me too.” Tristan looked up at the mountains surrounding the ranch. The sky was so blue, set against the green of the trees. No photo could capture its intensity. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air.
“Beautiful here, isn’t it?”
When Tristan opened her eyes, Bullet stood right next to her. “It’s the same in Black Forest. Sometimes Grey and I lie right down on the grass and watch the clouds move across the sky.”
“Mmm, that sounds wonderful.”
Bullet hopped the fence and pulled her by the hand. “Come on, we got a few minutes before you gotta get back inside.”
He didn’t let go of her hand until he’d pulled her down on the grass with him. She expected it to be damp and cold. Instead it was warm from the sun.
“See that one there?” Bullet pointed to a cloud. “Looks a lot like the filly when she reared up on me a bit ago.”
Tristan put her hand across her brow to shade the sun’s glare. “It does.”
“Reminded me of you.”
“What?” Tristan started to sit up, but saw Bullet’s grin and lay back down.
“Dada!” Grey came running across the lawn and jumped on Bullet’s stomach.
“Sorry,” said Liv, chasing after him. “He saw you out here and was through the front door before I could stop him.”
Bullet lifted the little boy up in the air and spun him around until he giggled. “How’s my big boy?”
Tristan couldn’t understand any of what Grey said in response, but it seemed as though Bullet did. Watching him with his son made her think again that she had misjudged him. Perhaps she should invite him to the sponsorship meeting. If they could sponsor twenty, they could certainly sponsor twenty-one.
Bullet set Grey on his bottom on the grass and pulled his ringing phone out of his pocket.
“Yeah,” he answered. “’Bout damn time.” Pause. “Sure, I can meet ya. Just give me a couple of days to make arrangements.”
When he hung up he picked Grey up again. “You ready to see sissy?”
Grey squealed and let forth another slew of unintelligible words.
“Sissy?” Tristan asked.
“My daughter. Her mama finally agreed to let her come visit. Been too damn long, hasn’t it, Grey?” He set Grey down again, and the little boy lay down in the grass next to Tristan.
Her head was spinning with questions. Daughter? Mama? Bullet had another child? Had he been married before? Why hadn’t Lyric told her that part of the story?
“Pearl just turned three,” he said, as though that was all the explanation necessary.
“Time for my meeting.” She stood and walked toward the house.
“Tristan?” he asked after her.
“What, Bullet?”
He was on his feet, striding toward her. “What’s goin’ through your head?”
“Nothing, why?”
He reached out and rubbed her shoulders. “You were relaxed for a minute. Now you’re all tensed up again. What happened?”