Free Renegade Father by RaeAnne Thayne Page A

turned to Joe with a smirk. “We’re especially going to kick your butts ifyou spend all day checking up on us. Worry about your own calves, why don’t you?”
    â€œWell, you know, I’d like to do that but for some reason we didn’t have enough needles to finish the job. You wouldn’t have shortchanged us on purpose, would you?”
    â€œWhy on earth would I do that?”
    He shrugged. “Maybe you were trying to sabotage our chances at winning the contest.”
    You stupid bitch. Can’t you do anything right? You’re always trying to ruin everything for me.
    His words sparked another of those damn flashbacks. It took her completely by surprise. She hadn’t had one for months, but for a moment she froze.
    Locked in the past, she felt herself respond—felt her head bow, her shoulders hunch in foreboding—and she could think of nothing else but escaping.
    Eventually through the old haze of misery and fear, reality intruded. Joe would never hurt her. Her mind knew it even if her instincts had been conditioned to cower.
    She looked up and found him watching her with a smile in his eyes. Teasing. He was teasing her.
    Calming breaths. Deep, calming breaths. With effort, she made her muscles relax and when the fear finally fled she forced herself to play along, raising a haughty eyebrow as if nothing had happened. “Why would I have to resort to sabotage? We were going to win anyway.”
    â€œJust hedging your bets, maybe. Our team mysteriously ran out of sharps halfway through our calves and last I checked, you were the one handing out the supplies.”
    No wonder she’d been thrown off balance. Shewasn’t used to Joe in this teasing mood. Even when he was younger, he’d always been far too serious and his time in prison had only made him more somber.
    Apparently the men weren’t used to it either. Manny watched the exchange avidly from his saddle and even Luke had dropped what he was doing to lean his elbows on the rail of the chute.
    She tried to ignore them both.
    â€œI had nothing to do with it.” She gave a small, prim smile, vastly relieved that the flashback hadn’t been a bad one. “What I gave you should have been more than enough. You probably dropped them in the snow somewhere.”
    â€œThat’s what I would have suspected too, except you do have a reputation to uphold.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about? I always play fair!”
    â€œDo the words ‘letter jacket’ mean anything to you?”
    The memory surprised a laugh out of her, conjuring up a long-forgotten memory. She’d been about eleven, Joe and Colt fifteen. The three of them had been moving irrigation pipes on the Broken Spur one summer day and Joe had boasted that he could ride any horse on either of their ranches. She had bet him his brand-new football letter jacket that she could find a horse he couldn’t ride.
    She laughed again, remembering the completely baffled look on his face when he had hit the dirt. “You just can’t let it go, can you? Twenty years later and you can’t forget.”
    â€œYou cheated, Annie. You never told me you had a ringer, a wild mustang your dad had just brought to the ranch. It was a dirty trick. Can you blame me for being suspicious now?”
    â€œI gave you back your stupid jacket.”
    â€œOnly because your dad forced you to.”
    She grinned at him, relishing their banter. She had a sudden, fierce wish that they could travel back in time to the days when their friendship was pure and uncomplicated. Before the terrible summer when their world had changed forever.
    Her smile faded. They couldn’t go back, any more than they could change the past. And soon all she would have left of him would be those memories.
    She picked up a handful of wrapped needles from the box in front of her and held them out. “Here. Take as many as you need,” she said, her voice short.