Chapter 170: Austin

Austin stared at his book, the words swimming around, chasing each other on the page. It had been – he looked at his watch – 58 hours since Ivy had run out of his house like her ass was on fire, and he was no closer to understanding what had happened now than he was 58 hours ago.

Girls. You couldn't live with them, and you couldn't live without'em.

Well, actually, that wasn't true. He'd lived without them for years. He could totally live without them again. In fact, he'd fully planned on living without them. Ivy had just been a slight deviation in those plans, but that phase was behind him. He'd learned his lesson. No girls ever.

Except for horses. Bob needed a girlfriend.

Oh, and Austin should get a dog. What red-blooded cowboy living in the mountains of Idaho didn't have a dog? He could adopt one. Michelle Winthrop down at the pound was always trying to get pets into a good home. He should drive down and pick one out. A male one, though. Just to be on the safe side.