“God, I could have at least asked his last name. That would have been the smart thing to do. The responsible thing.”
“You weren’t trying for responsible that night. Don’t beat yourself up. But, bright side, now we know where to find him.”
Fear curled in my belly. “And do what? Ask him to marry me and ride off into the sunset together?”
“No.”
I sighed, almost wishing I could go back in time and somehow not find out who he was. This meant I had to face him. Tell him we were having a baby. Possibly deal with him rejecting me—rejecting us. “You’re right. I have to tell him what’s going on. Give him the choice to be involved or not.”
She opened her laptop and began typing furiously.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m booking us a stay at Ryker Ranch. What else?”
“Erin! You can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“It’s perfect. You can go talk to your baby daddy, and I can do some on-scene research for my next episode. Can you imagine? My subscribers are going to lose their minds when they hear I spent a week with the very cowboys I’m talking about.”
She smiled and pulled her credit card out of a slot in her phone case. After typing in the number, she beamed at me. “Okay, pack your bags, sis. We’re heading to Sunrise, Montana tomorrow morning. I booked us the last cabin they have. Bonus, we get the jacuzzi tub for two.”
Tristan
Thursday morning, I woke up to Mama banging on the door to the house Buck and I had once shared, her angry voice echoing off the tin roof. “Tristan Nicholas Ryker, get your hungover behind out here right now! I don’t care what you and Travis were up to last night.”
Hungover was right. I’d really tied one on. My head throbbed, my mouth was as dry as a desert, and if it were possible, I thought I might actually still have been buzzed. But it wasn’t every day your cousin met the love of his life after getting his heart crushed. There wasn’t anything wrong with helping him celebrate with our friend Jack Daniels. Especially when I had the day off today.
She banged on the door again. “Don’t make me use my key. If you’re in there with some girl, I doubt you want your Mama busting in on you.”
Pulling on a pair of jeans, I stumbled out of my bedroom and into the living room. “I’m coming, Mama. Keep your shirt on.”
“Don’t you talk to me that way,” she said as she opened the door, using the key after all. “We have five paying customers waiting for you to take them on a trail ride. You were supposed to be there ten minutes ago.”
I frowned. “What? No, today’s my day off.”
“Sorry, son, no it’s not. These people booked this a week ago.”
I strode to the calendar on the fridge and stared in disbelief at the big red TRAIL RIDE written down for today. “Shit,” I muttered.
“Don’t you talk like that in front of me, Tristan. Get your butt in gear. They expect a one-hour trail ride, and you’re going to give it to them.”
I got dressed, popped two aspirin, and ran out to meet the group of tourists who clearly were only here because of Saddle Up’s success. “Hi everyone, I’m Tristan Ryker, and I’ll be your guide today. Excuse me for being late. I was up late saying goodbye to my cousin. He’s a firefighter, and he’s heading back to California to go be a hero.”
“We saw you on the wedding special. You looked real good, Tristan,” one of them said.
“Y’all should keep an eye out for another Saddle Up wedding special in the near future.” The four women giggled, and I winked. “So far, two of my brothers have found love because of the show. I wonder when I’ll get a turn.”
They murmured, all four of them making eyes at me with promises of nights spent trying to be my forever. I bet they didn’t even care I was late now. Of course, the lone guy with them didn’t look impressed. I didn’t care. We got them all saddled and mounted, then I took them out through the ranchlands and back, making them all laugh and telling stories of when I was a kid. I really didn’t mind it, but damn, my head still hurt. I needed coffee and water, and maybe some toast.
After flirting shamelessly with all four of them, I saw them back to their rented SUV. One passed me her number on a folded up piece of paper. I stuck it in my pocket for later. She was pretty, and she clearly wanted to cross a night with a cowboy off her bucket list.
Striding back to the main house, I walked inside through the kitchen door, hung my hat, and took off my boots. Mama was mad enough at me already; I wasn’t about to walk on her clean floors with muddy boots. Then I poured myself a cup of hot coffee and collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs.
“Tristan?” Mama called from the front room.
“Yeah, Mama, I’m here.”
“Honey, I need you to come in here a minute.”
I took a drink of the scalding hot coffee and stood, striding toward the front of the house. “What is it, Mama?”
She stood with a beautiful woman about my age. Her long blond hair hung down past her shoulders, and my heart stuttered at the crystal blue of her eyes. God, she was pretty. Really damn pretty, and really fucking familiar.
I smiled. “What can I do for you?” I asked her.
Mama cleared her throat. “This is Hazel. She and her sister booked a cabin here at Ryker Ranch. But she’s in need of some help.”
I cocked a brow. “Help? Why?”
Mama’s gaze traveled down, and mine followed to where Hazel’s hand rested. On a swollen belly. A very real, very pregnant belly.
Holy shit.
Hazel
God, here he was. For as drunk as we’d been, I remembered him pretty damn well. He was the sexiest man I’d ever seen. I stood there like an idiot, unsure what to say in front of his mother. I couldn’t just blurt it out and blindside him even more.
He swallowed. “What…what can we help you with, ma’am?”
Ma’am? Did he just…ma’am me? Oh, my God, he didn’t remember me. I could’ve cried. “I just…uh, we’re trying to get to our cabin, but there are a bunch of cows standing on the road. I need some help moving them.”
“Sure, honey, Tristan can get those pesky heifers moved out of your way. I’m real sorry you won’t get the full ranch experience in your condition, but I sure hope you can get some good relaxation.” Sandra Ryker smiled at me, her blue eyes matching her son’s. I could already feel the pure kindness radiating from her.
“Just let me get my boots.” Tristan’s words were tight and forced before he turned away and strode out of sight.
“How far along are you, Hazel, honey?”
“Eighteen weeks tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. You and your sister are staying here together?”
“Yes. She does YouTube video reviews of reality shows, and Saddle Up is her latest. She thought we should come check it out for ourselves so she could give an honest review of the show.”
Sandra smiled. “I think the two of you are gonna love it here. Even if you can’t ride and drive cattle with the rest of them, I’ll be glad to show you what I do around here. And we have a lovely spa. My soon to be daughter-in-law is a massage therapist. I bet you’d like that. My hips ached something fierce when I was pregnant.”