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Story: Stormy Ride

The drinks came and Lucy was right, Tammy loved her drink. Olivia passed by our table and asked if everything was satisfactory.

“Of course, it is, Olivia. This is the best place in town.”

The girls took a while to decide what they wanted, but I went for the prime rib, and it didn’t disappoint.

When dinner was over and the table had been cleared, our server came around asking about dessert. I asked for the lemon mousse that I had become attached to. Harlan chose pie and so did Billy. Both girls went for chocolate mousse.

“The desserts here are so good,” I said. “Amazing.”

“Sounds like you eat here all the time, Travis,” said Lucy.

“Once in a while.”

Harlan smirked.

When dinner was over, Olivia tried to comp our bill, but I insisted on paying for my family. In my own best interest for the Inn not to go broke comping meals.

Dry Run Roadhouse.

After our celebration dinner, we went to the roadhouse for the big windup to our family outing. The Montana Marauders were blasting out country music from the stage and the dance floor was packed.

“Wow,” hollered Lucy. “So busy and so loud in here. Just like Boots when I help Mommy.”

“What’s Boots?” asked Harlan.

“Mommy’s roadhouse. It has a pool hall attached to it too. I’m learning to play. Jackson is teaching me. He got pretty good when he was on the rodeo circuit with Rowdy.”

“Stay here at the bar while I go find us a booth,” I said. There were so many people on the dance floor, I couldn’t see the booths and tables at the other side of the room.

Over near the band, I found an almost empty booth—one with just Savanna sitting in it and I asked her if we could sit with her.

“Sure, the more the merrier, and I’m not too merry right now.”

I winked at her. “We’ll cheer you up.”

“Who’s we?”

“You’ll see. I’ll go get them.” I hustled back to the bar area near the front door and Billy had settled on one of the bar stools.

“I’m good here with Jack,” Billy said. “It’s too noisy in there for this old cripple.”

I punched him in the arm and left to part the Red Sea. It felt like that trying to get through the dancers to where Savanna was sitting.

She grinned when she saw I had all the kids with me. “Is this family night out?”

“Yeah. We went for dinner at the Inn.”

“How’s your thing with Olivia going?”

“No thing.” I shook my head and Harlan grinned.

The band slid into a slow song and Lucy grabbed Harlan’s hand. “Come on Harlan, we can’t get wasted but we can dance.”

“I don’t know how to dance.”

“Neither do I,” I said, “but I do it anyway.”

“I’ll teach you,” said Lucy. “Then Tammy can have a turn with you.”

“You girls sharing Harlan?” asked Savanna.

“For now.” A bit of resignation in her voice and I knew why.

A young cowboy cruised by our table and asked Tammy to dance and that made her smile.

With only Savanna and I left, I had no choice. “You dancing with a broken-down lawman?”

“Sure am. Best offer I had all day.”

I laughed. “Must’ve been a bad day.”