A Proposal for Her Cowboy by Cari Lynn Webb

Author:Cari Lynn Webb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2024-05-28T14:12:07+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE OUTDOOR MOVIE night was as popular as Elsie claimed. Lacey took in the bustling crowd filling the square, sitting in chairs, stretched out on blankets. Friends and neighbors mingled. The kids played. The laughter swirled with its own melody. All while a popular children’s movie about a collection of animated toys played on the jumbo movie screen at one end of the square.

Lacey watched Aspen with her new friend, Riley Bishop, as the pair chatted nonstop and walked Butterscotch around a small group of trees. Riley’s stepmom, Paige, had set up a collection of chairs and blankets for friends and family nearby. Lacey had promised to come back after she returned her ex-husband’s call about an urgent situation.

Wanting to make sure Sarah-Beth and the baby were well, Lacey walked across the street, seeking a quieter location. She moved under the dim awning of Rivers Family Hardware and dialed Jeffrey.

Her ex-husband answered on the second ring, gave a curt greeting, followed by, “This is not what we agreed, Lacey.”

“Jeffrey, what are you talking about?” Lacey wandered down the sidewalk.

Her ex-husband’s sigh rolled across the speaker. “I overheard Aspen and Sarah-Beth talking earlier. I know Aspen went riding today.”

Lacey stopped abruptly. “First, is everything okay with Sarah-Beth and the baby? They are fine, aren’t they?”

“Couldn’t be better,” Jeffrey quipped. “But could we please stay on topic?”

Lacey was trying to. “You texted me about an urgent situation.” She gripped her phone tighter. “I thought something was seriously wrong.”

“Something is wrong,” Jeffrey stated flatly. “You entered Aspen in that contest, and we agreed not to.”

That was his urgent situation? Lacey inhaled and worked to keep control of her growing frustration. “No, we didn’t agree.” She turned back toward the crowded downtown square. “You told me. Same as you told Aspen.”

“We discussed this, Lacey,” Jeffrey retorted. “This isn’t how we coparent correctly or effectively.”

“We didn’t discuss anything,” Lacey countered. Discussions and the right conversations had never been their specialty. Perhaps if they had, Jeffrey and she might’ve worked out differently. But debating the past was hardly productive. It was over. Her gaze skimmed the sea of happy smiling faces. “But I did talk to Aspen like I told you I would. She wants to do this, and I’m going to help her.”

“This is not a good idea,” Jeffrey stressed. “You’re making me look like the bad parent.”

“Jeffrey, this isn’t about you,” Lacey said. Her gaze landed on a familiar cowboy who wasn’t so far away that she couldn’t get to him. Or see that he was completely alone. But that wasn’t right. “Look, this is about Aspen. She needs to be our focus.”

“Well, make sure this is not about you either, Lacey,” he challenged. “Aspen is not you.”

He said it as if being like her was a bad thing somehow. Lacey fought the urge to apologize. Her gaze returned to her cowboy and stuck. She kept her cool. “What does that mean exactly?”

“Look, this conversation is better in person,” Jeffrey said, his words yielding slightly.

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