Yellowstone: Love and Cowboys

Hot Springs

Katie forced herself to look Ryan straight in the eyes. It wasn't easy, it was hard, but she had to do it.

"What do you mean, what do I think I'm doing? I'm going to ride to the hot springs and sit and soak. I don't want to be around anyone right now. All this happiness, and I can't share in it. I look at my sister and her baby and it makes me realize that's what I want for myself. I never thought I was ready but now I know I am."

"How do you know," said Ryan, "You'll even get that far. You ran out on me, you ran out on your husband. It seems that running away is the only thing you're good at."

"That's not fair, Ryan," she responded, her temper rising, "That marriage was a mistake. We were drunk and I was on the rebound from you. If we'd stayed together, it would have been a dysfunctional mess. I'm glad we both came to our senses. He didn't want to be married, he wanted to be a rodeo cowboy and chase  buckle bunnies. We had it annulled, and we parted friends which is more than I can say about us."

"Do you know that I looked for you?" It was Ryan's turn to lose his temper now, "I was worried about you, I didn't know what happened to you. I reached out to everyone I knew and no one knew where you were."

"I'm sorry about that, Ryan, but after that fight, you hadn't exactly made me feel wanted. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a horse to saddle." She turned away from him, still angry, but she didn't want to fight, fighting was how the trouble had started in the first place.

"Katie, come and eat breakfast, then I'll go with you. You don't want to ride alone, what if something were to happen to you? "

"I'll be fine. I'm not in the mood to be around happy people. Monica and Coralee are there with their babies, and everyone is fussing over them. And I'm sorry, I don't want to be around them or you, the memories of what happened are too painful. I'm going to ride to the hot springs then sit and soak. I need to be alone, I can always eat when I come back. Excuse me but I have a horse to saddle."

Ryan watched as she disappeared down the aisle and into the stall to saddle her horse. He felt bad, he knew he still had feelings for her, but he wasn't ready to try again. That was the problem with Dutton women, you never knew what you were getting.

The fight had been a bad one, but by the time he'd cooled down and was ready to talk, she'd disappeared. He'd looked for her, afraid something might have happened to her, then when it was clear she was no longer in Montana he'd given up. He was angry, and no longer wanted anything to do with her. If she wasn't even going to make an effort to communicate with him, then to hell with her.

She emerged from the stall leading one of her horses. She opened the barn door and then passed through, making sure to close it behind her. He heard the sound of hoofbeats disappearing into the distance, then turned around and headed back to the bunkhouse.

"Hey buddy," said Walker, "You're missing a great breakfast, you better come in or there won't be anything left."

Ryan shrugged his shoulders, he'd lost his appetite but years of cowboying had taught him to eat when food was there because you didn't know when you'd be getting your next meal. He sat and filled his plate with eggs, bacon, ham, and biscuits but the food didn't seem to have any taste. Damn that Katie, he should never have gotten involved with her, but her blue eyes and golden hair had beckoned him like a siren.

He never had any intentions towards the Dutton girls. Katie and Coralee were known to be flighty and interested in horses and rodeo. He watched as they learned barrel racing, and then Coralee, upon the encouragement of Travis, had learned reining and cutting. They loved to rodeo best of all, and after obtaining their college degrees had returned to competing.