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“Hey, Bubba.” He shot Dustin a grin. “How goes?”

“It goes.” Dustin eased down to the weird couch thing. “Bored. Booooooooooooored.”

“You should have done walk-through. I got to pull my whip out.”

“Well, shit. I would have loved that.” Dustin was a closet sadist, he thought.

“Scared the hell out of a couple kids.”

Ben chuckled. “We were all those kids once.”

“Bubba and I were those kids a lot, eh, Dustin?”

“Shit. I thought Pops was going to beat us to death that time in Taylor.”

“You two and me and… who was with us, Dalton?”

Dalton frowned and tried to remember. “That redheaded boy, the one with the freckles.”

“Uh-huh. Ansel.”

They’d teased him mercilessly about becoming a photographer.

“He did my wedding shoot,” Ben said.

“We were there, buddy.” He’d been best man, and Dustin had been the other groomsman.

“Well, yeah. I was just sayin’.”

They all grinned at each other. There wasn’t a story of one of theirs they didn’t all know, up to and including Ben’s baby birth tales.

“Let’s play, y’all. Overall loser buys lunch tomorrow.”

“I like it.” Ben pulled out new scorecards. “Where are we tomorrow after we leave here?”

“We’ll all head for Durango Monday morning,” Dustin said. “We can pull in as late as next Sunday. We’re doing the big fair from Tuesday through the weekend.”

He liked that. Maybe he’d go get some fishing in. Colorado was almost every Texan’s second-favorite place.

A little trout fishing, a little Rocky Mountain high. It was all good. Estes maybe. He loved the park, and the road up had a hundred places to stop and toss in a line.

It was a plan. He wasn’t going to share it, though. Maybe this once he didn’t want company. He glanced sideways at Dustin, who was grinning at him, a knowing look in his eyes.

He stuck his tongue out at his twin. Dustin would head to Telluride. He knew it. They weren’t fooling each other.

“I’ll be going home, then.” Ben would drive insane hours to get home, then come back. Wife and kids would do that.

“Shit, you can just take the whole thing, buddy. This is small potatoes.” And Ben needed to heal.

“Maybe I will. Save my entry fees for Wimberley.”

“There you go.” They all loved cowboy Christmas. Central Texas was home, and they could just stay, visit Momma, stuff themselves with good food.

“Who’s doing Belton this year?” Ben asked.

“Cervi. They’ve got two touring units now.” Dalton liked the other big family rodeo company a lot. They were good folks.

“Cool. I’ll have to stop on the way home and get goodies for all my girls.” Ben was already on his way home in the pit of his heart.