12
Blaine Chappell left the meeting in a worse mood than when he’d gone in. One of their pastures definitely needed to be vacated of all cattle and burned. Spur would not be happy about that. Heck, Blaine wasn’t happy about it, because he was the one who had to deal with the infected animals, the veterinarians, the concerned trainers, the scheduling of treatments, and so much more.
His head hurt, and he hated that his phone kept chiming. Ding, ding, ding. He wanted to throw the stupid thing into the nearest compost pile and get a new number.
He shook the thoughts from his head, because they weren’t entirely true. He loved getting messages from his best friend, Tamara Lennox. She always sent him a lot of messages on Mondays, because it was her day to be in the saddle shop, and she took a ton of pictures, texted them to him, and asked his advice.
He’d known her for over two decades now, as she’d moved to Dreamsville as a Freshman, and the town wasn’t all that big. She loved horses as much as any Chappell, and she was always willing to come out to the ranch to help when Blaine needed it.
He definitely needed her now, and he ducked around the corner to read her messages.
Today, she’d sent several saddles, as usual. She got excited when she got new leather, and Blaine felt some of his bad mood lift with her excitement over the cow hide leather she’d received in her workshop that day.
She also bought finished leathers from overseas, and the beautiful, dark chestnut piece in the next picture would make a beautiful saddlebag. Tam was a master at making things out of leather, and she understood what cowboys wanted. She sold saddles all over the South, into Texas, and up into Montana and Canada.
Amazing, he sent back to her. His fingers flew as he transitioned the conversation from her leather goods to his ranch problems. I’m wondering if you can come help me at the ranch tonight. There’s this problem with—
He stopped as her next message came in. “No,” he said, the word coming without him thinking about it.
Guess who’s coming back into town next month? Hayes.
Blaine did not like Hayes Powell, mostly because he’d taken Tam’s heart straight from her chest and crushed it in his bare hands. He’d never seen Tam cry—until Hayes had broken their engagement and left town. She was a tough woman, and she’d ridden the rodeo circuit, broken bones, and lost her grandmother to cancer—all tear-free.
Blaine frowned as he first erased his message and then tapped to call Tam.
“I knew you’d call,” she said.
“Why is he coming back?”
“I guess his dad is sick.” Tam sighed, and Blaine could see her tucking her nearly white-blonde hair behind her ear as she did. “I’m not going to go back to him.”
“Of course you’re not,” Blaine said. He couldn’t help wondering why he and Tam had never tried a relationship, but he pushed the idea out of his head. He’d ended his own engagement once, and while Tam had been very supportive of his decision, when her own had ended, she’d told him she sincerely hoped his fiancée didn’t feel like she did.
Things hadn’t quite been the same between them since. Sometimes Blaine thought Tam assumed that his ex-fiancée felt the way she had when Hayes had ended their relationship.
Blaine knew that wasn’t true, but he’d never told Tam that his ex had been cheating on him. No man wanted to admit that, and he’d only told Spur and Trey. He definitely knew he hadn’t broken Alex’s heart the way Hayes had shattered Tam’s.
“I just…I need him to know I’m over him,” Tam said.
“Why does it matter?” Blaine asked. What he really wanted to ask was if Tam was over Hayes or not. Their wedding would’ve been last June, so almost a year had passed since then. He’d broken up with her two months before that, and Blaine realized he’d missed the anniversary of it. Tam hadn’t said anything either, so she probably was over Hayes.
She wasn’t dating anyone else, though, and she hadn’t since the break-up.
“Think about Hayes for a second,” Tam said dryly, and while Blaine would rather not think about the man, he did.
He’d known Hayes for several years too. Anyone working in the racehorse industry knew each other, and Hayes had been a starting gate trainer. Every horse that touched the track at a nearby facility went through him to learn how to deal with the starting gate. He’d been very good at his job, and he knew it.
He knew he was handsome. He knew he had a great laugh, and a perfectly symmetrical smile. Blaine had seen him get the numbers from four different women in one evening during a gala for people in the industry.
He was arrogant and tall, and he seemed to know exactly how to get Tam to bend to his every wish and desire.
Blaine’s throat closed as he frowned. “You’re not even going to talk to him, Tam. Promise me.”
“If I had a boyfriend, he wouldn’t even approach me,” she said.
“Get a boyfriend, then.”
“You make it sound so easy, like I can just walk into the Finn’s and pick one up off the shelf.”