34. Dusty

I once attended a wedding in a metal outbuilding. They used duct tape to hang Christmas lights to the walls, and the groom wore cargo shorts and flip-flops.

This wedding is also in a barn, but it’s classier.

Like, a world away, classier.

If I’m honest, though, there’s a questionable amount of cow décor.

RayAnne’s new husband is a cattle rancher and I guess she took the theme and ran with it.

I spot Josh and Erin talking to the groom. It figures Josh would know him. He’s a cattle rancher, too. Lingering by the doors, I scan the crowd, looking for Bo and Andy.

I pause by the cake table, amazed by Marnie’s handiwork.

For all I know, RayAnne requested a cow themed cake, but what she got is a work of God-damn art. Marnie literally painted delicate wildflowers across the cake’s smooth surface.

I didn’t know cake could be that beautiful.

For the first time, I start to question if Marnie really would fit in around here. I just assumed she was a regular old baker, just like Edna Korra. But these cakes are really and truly on another level. She should be baking cakes for wealthy clients, or galas, or whatever people do. Her work is too good for a wedding out in the sticks.

I glance over at her. She’s having an animated conversation with the bride’s mother. I’d like to help her by carrying boxes or whatever she needs, but ever since the ball game, she’s been giving me the cold shoulder.

I guess we’re fighting.

Andy Reed stopped over earlier in the day, and I knew that could only spell trouble for me. That girl is a busybody with a capitol B. Lord only knows what skeletons she decided to yank out of my closet.

If those two are colluding now, my uphill battle just got a little steeper.

Someone puts their hand on my elbow, and I startle.

“Oh!”

Rhonda Lind laughs. “Didn’t mean to scare you, Dusty.”

“You didn’t. I’m just off in Lala land. How are you, Mrs. Lind?”

“Doing really well. How about you?”

“Staying busy.”

“I bet you are.”

Her eyes fill with concern. It’s her patented look. As one of the county’s few social workers, I imagine that expression has been permanently etched into her features. “How are you doing with Gus being gone?”

Having his name dropped when I’m not prepared feels a little like slipping off a ledge. I can’t quite keep the pain from flickering across my face. “We miss him.”

She nods, pulling me aside so that we’re in a little alcove. “Listen, Jerry said he stopped by the other day.”

I swallow, keeping my voice neutral. “Yep.”

Her eyes crinkle with worry. “I’m sure things must feel like they’re very up in the air these days. I just wanted to take one worry off your plate, if I can.”

“Okay. What’s that?”

She wraps her hand around my forearm, the daisy tattoo peeks from between her fingers. “I’m going to file for you to assume guardianship of Sienna.”

The breath whooshes out of me.

She pats my arm. “You should have had it from day one. I want you to know I had nothing to do with your petition being denied.”

I didn’t know that, and it eases something inside me. At the same time, I find myself wondering who was behind it if it wasn’t Rhonda.

“Gus and I were in the same class in high school. Did you know that?”

I shake my head.

“Went to Sunday School together, too. He was such a gentle soul, poor man. Should have gotten married. He would have been a wonderful dad. But that’s life for you.”

I’m still feeling a little shellshocked. I let her words roll right over me.

“After your mom passed, some concerns were raised about your past. You were always a wild one, but I knew you’d look after your sister. Nothing I said seemed to convince them of that. Anyway, I knew that you were already working for Gus. And he had that big old house all to himself.”

My gaze snaps to her face. “It was your idea for Gus to take over Sienna’s guardianship?”

“After they denied your petition, we came to the conclusion together. Gus and I. But I helped him file the paperwork.”

She pauses, searching my eyes. “I know you had a father. And Runner was a good man, don’t you ever doubt that. But you were important to Gus. He once told me he thought of you and Sienna as family.”

Her words lodge somewhere in the middle of my chest, making my eyes burn. I clear my throat a few times. “He was family to us, too. Pure and simple.”

She nods. “There’s the family you’re born with and the family you choose.”

Glancing over, she spots Jerry staring at us from across the floor. “Speaking of which, I better get on, otherwise Jerry’ll send the posse out. You have a good night, Dusty, you hear?”

“You bet, Mrs. Lind.”

I put my hand on her elbow. “And thank you.”

She smiles, sweeping away in a cloud of tulle and hairspray.