Lost and Lassoed

Teddy helps clean up after dinner before retiring to her room while Gus spends time with Riley. She checks in with Hank and discovers that Aggie is there. Teddy is happy that he’s not alone but feels a pang of guilt that she’s not there. Though Teddy worries that living with Gus will be awkward, she feels “at peace” in the house and her room.

After Gus puts Riley to bed, he finds Teddy sitting on the couch and reading a romance novel. She shares that she had a great first day, and it pleases Gus to know that she’s comfortable in his house. Gus’s work at the ranch has become increasingly stressful as they expand with Little Blue Ranch (his brother Wes’s project). Teddy says that Gus shouldn’t spread himself so thin—it’s not his job to help everyone. Gus feels that Teddy doesn’t understand his job. Teddy gestures to Gus’s stack of children’s books and jokes about his reading taste. Since he has dyslexia, Gus reads the books to himself several times before reading to Riley. Teddy jokingly calls him “Daddy,” which infuriates him but also arouses him, and he leaves the room in embarrassment.

Teddy settles into a routine. One morning, she decides to run on the ranch trails. When she returns, she removes her sweatshirt and walks into the kitchen, where Gus is having breakfast, in only her sports bra. He stares at her and chastises her for going out on his ranch nearly nude. Teddy reminds him that she can do whatever she wants, especially since she is there to help him. Gus angrily asserts that he doesn’t need her help, which leads to an argument. Gus gets close to Teddy, reminding her “of something [she has] tried to forget—something Gus ha[s] obviously forgotten. [She] wishe[s] [she] could forget it, too—since it obviously hadn’t meant anything” (88), but he’s only reaching for something in the cabinet.

Teddy can’t stop thinking about her exchange with Gus in the kitchen, especially how he touched her waist when he moved her aside to get to the cabinet. The thought is arousing, and she’s confused by her feelings and tries to replace her fantasy of Gus with the vet she’s been seeing. Teddy texts with her friend Dusty, Aggie’s son, and they plan to meet at the diner. After high school, Dusty left Meadowlark to travel the world, but he recently returned and now works on Rebel Blue Ranch. Even though she’s engaged to someone else, Dusty still carries a torch for Cam, as he’s loved her since high school. Driving into town, Teddy notices the rental sign on the boutique, a constant reminder of the loss of a dream to own a store for her designs.

Gus and Riley are eating with Nicole and her daughter, Sara, at the diner, and Teddy catches him staring at her. Teddy tells Dusty that Nicole has her eyes on Gus and says that they’d make a good pair since they have kids the same age. She asks Dusty if he feels like they are “behind” since they’re the only young people in Meadowlark who are not partnered or parents. Dusty suggests that they’re not behind, “[m]aybe everyone else is just ahead” (97), but he can tell that Teddy is bothered. She jokes with Dusty that they can marry each other if neither is married by age 40. Internally, Teddy worries that she’s running out of time to find what she wants in a partner and start a family.

Distracted by his jealousy that Teddy is having a good time with Dusty, Gus isn’t listening to Nicole. He didn’t want to go to dinner with her after soccer, but she followed him and Riley to the diner. Nicole comments that it’s fitting that Teddy and Dusty are together since they’re both “irresponsible,” but Gus counters that Teddy is responsible since she is now Riley’s caregiver. Gus keeps glancing at Teddy and thinking about the “Teddy-induced haze” affecting his mind since she started living with them part-time (102). Pushing aside thoughts of what happened in the past, Gus is beginning to see Teddy in a different light.

Teddy brings her father’s copy of the Rocky Mountain Native Plant Guide, and she and Riley mark the pages where they see plants they want to search for on the ranch. Gus arrives home and asks Teddy if she’s staying for dinner. Teddy offers to stay and help and is disappointed when Gus says that he can handle it. Riley pouts when Teddy says that she must leave to spend time with her father, but she promises that they’ll resume their plant study when she returns on Monday. Teddy leaves without saying goodbye to Gus.

Gus admits that hiring Teddy has been a good decision, and Cam agrees. Teddy is creative, different from Gus and Cam, and she brings excitement and whimsy to Riley’s life that she previously lacked. Gus and Riley go to Emmy and Brooks’s house for dinner, and Gus apologizes for their argument over breakfast with the family. After dinner, Emmy takes Riley fishing while Brooks and Gus relax with a beer. Brooks wonders how Gus and Teddy live in the same house without a disaster, and Gus notes how good she is with Riley. Brooks says that Gus is a good father and wonders if he will be a good father despite his own father being a failure. Brooks and Emmy discuss having kids, and Gus thinks that Brooks will make a great father. Gus loves being Riley’s father, but he can’t deny that he’d like to share his life with someone and have more kids. He hopes he’s not running out of time.

Teddy arrives at Gus’s house almost doubled over in pain with menstrual cramps. Riley is at a friend’s house for a sleepover, and Teddy missed Gus’s text saying that she didn’t have to come. She tells him that she’ll go home, but Gus can tell she’s not feeling well. Gus gets her Midol and a heating pad, and Teddy is surprised that he knows so much about periods. Having a sister has prepared him well; he was in the delivery room when Riley was born and isn’t weird about female anatomy. Teddy sinks into the couch, adjusting to the comfort of having someone care for her since she is usually the caregiver for her father. She asks to hear the story of Riley’s birth, and Gus tells her everything, including how he fell in love with Riley when he saw her.

Teddy is surprised at this forthright and tender version of Gus that she’s never seen, so she presses him further and asks if he regrets that he and Cam never got together. Though they tried to be a couple for a few weeks, it didn’t work, and Gus is content with their friendship. He would like to have more children one day with someone he loves. Teddy says that she would like to have children, and it surprises her to say it aloud. She admits to Gus that sometimes the idea of childbirth scares her but that if she finds the right person, she wants to be a mother. Gus hopes she finds that person, and Teddy wishes the same for him.

Gus realizes that this is the first time he’s had a conversation with Teddy that didn’t end in an argument. He loves talking about Riley and appreciates that Teddy cares about her, too. He asks about Hank, whose health hasn’t been good since he battled pneumonia. Teddy tells him about Aggie with a smile. She mentions that their washer is on the fritz, and Gus says that she can do laundry at his house. Gus folds clean laundry and notices a hole in Riley’s jeans. Teddy offers to repair it, and Gus accepts. Teddy points out that it’s not difficult to ask for help, which Gus recognizes is true. Teddy falls asleep on the couch while they’re watching a movie. Gus carries her to her bed and thinks about the other time he held her. He realizes that accepting Emmy’s help brought him Teddy, which has benefited him.

Gus arrives home and finds Riley and Teddy sunning outside. He notices that Teddy is getting tanner as the summer progresses and wonders what her skin tastes like. After dinner, Riley begs to play Twister, and Gus is already uneasy about the new ways he’s thinking about Teddy, worrying about how he’ll hide his arousal if he and Teddy touch. Soon enough, they’re tangled on the Twister board, and Gus fakes falling to avoid getting any closer, but Teddy falls on top of him. He gently tucks her hair behind her ear and wants to kiss her, wondering “if she still taste[s] the same” (138). Riley breaks the moment by jumping on them, shouting “Dogpile,” and Gus realizes how much he’s enjoying this summer.

Teddy wakes up in her bed and realizes that Gus carried her there, and the tenderness of his actions overwhelms her. Teddy begins an embroidery project where she’ll chronicle each plant she and Riley find from the guidebook and gift it to her as a memento from their summer spent together. When Gus sees it, he is visibly moved by the idea. He also sees that Teddy repaired Riley’s ripped jeans by embroidering them with flowers. Teddy misses working in the boutique and longs to spend her life creating clothes that bring people joy, but without money to start the business, she doesn’t know how to make that dream a reality.

Teddy tells Gus that the more time she spends with Riley, the more she sees each of their family members in her personality. Gus explains that Riley sleeps like Emmy, with one leg propped on the other. He takes Teddy by the hand, surprising her, and leads her to Riley’s room. As they peek through the door, Teddy notices how Gus’s face lights up, watching his daughter sleep. Back downstairs, Gus and Teddy are close enough to kiss, and though she’s been this close to him before, she doesn’t know if she can go there again. She tells him that they can’t kiss on the mouth, but she kisses his neck and touches his chest. He asks if he can touch her and runs his hands down her back, hips, and butt. Though Teddy wants more, she pushes him away, saying she “can’t do this […] Not again” (148).

The story flashes back seven years to when Gus was at the bar with Brooks, drinking after a long day working on the ranch, battling drought conditions. He overhears Teddy’s voice in the bar, usually an annoyance, but he can tell by her tone that she’s in trouble. Gus considers Teddy a troublemaker, especially since she and Emmy got arrested for drunkenly trespassing on another person’s property. Gus had to bail them out of jail, but he never forgave Teddy for it. He finds Teddy in the bar facing off with a large man. The man has disrespected another woman in the bar, and Teddy wants vengeance. Gus shepherds her out of the bar as she fights him to get back inside. Gus assures her that Joe will take care of the man. Noticing Teddy’s beauty, Gus kisses her, and she kisses him back. He thinks it’s because he’s drunk too much and tells her to forget it happened before he walks away.