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“Hey, look! That’s Grady’s car. Do you think Ava’s with him?” Ashton asked.

“It looks like we’ll find out,” said Everly as she watched the car approach them.

When they drew level, it turned out that Ava and Hannah were both with Grady.

She stopped and put her window down, and Grady did the same. Ashton and Ava waved madly at each other.

Grady smiled, and Hannah made big eyes at her from behind him.

“You made it back, then?” Grady asked.

“We did, and we brought Tanner with us. Guys, this is Tanner. Tanner these are our friends, Grady and Hannah.”

“And Ava!” Ashton added. “That’s my best friend Ava I was telling you about.”

“It’s good to meet you all,” said Tanner.

“You too,” said Grady. “How long are you here for?”

Tanner chuckled. “In theory, I was only supposed to drop these guys back home again, but I managed to persuade them to let me stay for the week.”

“That’s great,” said Hannah. “I hope you all have a good time. And don’t forget, Everly, if you need us to watch Ashton…”

“Tanner’s going to watch me!” Ashton called.

Grady and Hannah both smiled at that. “That’ll be fun for you guys,” said Grady. He looked at Tanner. “Let me know if the two of you want to hang out with Ava and me. Everly can give you my number.”

Everly was pleased to see the way Tanner smiled at that invitation. “I’ll do that, thanks.”

Hannah leaned around Grady so that she could see Everly better. “Give me a call, and we’ll see if we can’t all get together.”

“Will do.” Everly wanted to laugh. Whether they got together or not, she could tell that Hannah wanted to ask her all about Tanner.

Everly checked the rearview mirror and saw another vehicle coming down the driveway behind them.

Hannah laughed when she saw it. “It’s up to you, but you might want to get going. That’s Willow and Slade. If they catch up with us, this might turn into a party that will last all evening.”

“We should probably go,” Everly said hurriedly. “Say hi to them for me, but we still have to get everything ready for tomorrow.”

Hannah gave her a knowing smile. “Yes, you guys should get going.”

When they made it back to the house, Ashton helped Tanner get the bags from the trunk while Everly opened the front door.

Once they were all inside, she smiled at them. “What do we want to do, then?”

Ashton blew out a big sigh. “What I want to do is go back to Montana now. I’m glad that Tanner’s here, but I’d be happier if we were there.”

She was tempted to agree with him – she felt the same way. But despite having spent the weekend in Tanner’s world withhim, they were now back in the real world, and they had to face it.

~ ~ ~

By Wednesday, Tanner felt as much at home with Everly and Ashton as he did with his family. He smiled and thought – the rest of his family. After just a couple of days, he was determined to make the two of them his family.

He sighed as he pulled back into the driveway at Everly’s townhouse. The thing was, he wanted them to be his family, but he didn’t want this to be his life. He missed the ranch, missed the horses, his siblings, maybe most of all, he missed Montana. Napa was nice enough, but he felt claustrophobic here.

He climbed out of the car and smiled when the front door opened. “Hey, honey. I’m home!”

Everly laughed and held her arms out to him. “How did it go?”