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Ty laughed. “Yes and no. Yes, it’s totally out of character for you, but at the same time…”

“At the same time what?”

“I get it.”

“What does that mean?”

“Remember when I went to Salt Lake to meet Shay for the first time?”

“Yeah, why?”

Ty gave him a rueful smile. “I made a deal with myself before I went that no matter how things turned out between us, I wasn’t going to sleep with her that first weekend.”

Tanner raised his eyebrows. “No?”

“No. And you have no idea…” Ty laughed. “Although, then again, after last night maybe you do have some idea of how hard it was for me to keep my word to myself.”

Tanner had to laugh with him. “Yeah, I get it. We all know that I’m not used to exercising that kind of restraint. But … I did.” He frowned at his brother. “What I don’t get is why it seemed so important that I shouldn’t even try to sleep with her.”

“I know why.”

“Go on, then – explain it to me. I’m so far out of my depth here that I don’t even mind admitting it.”

“Because Everly’s different. The situation’s different. There’s more to this.”

“Exactly – there’s much more to this, so why did it seem so important that I should … dolessthan I would with any other woman?”

“Because this matters. You can go out and find a woman to sleep with any night of the week. You only go out and meet a woman like Everly once in a blue moon – maybe only once in a lifetime.”

Tanner swallowed. “Yeah, that whole once-in-a-lifetime thing, that … I mean, that’s like Kolby meeting Callie, or you finding Shay. It’s not…” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

Ty just smiled at him. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what it turns out to be, won’t we?” He checked his watch. “For now, I need to get a move on. Let me know how you’re doing, would ya? Shay’s excited to come out again tonight – but only because Everly’s going to be there. And you know, you could always bring her to lunch tomorrow if you want.”

“Maybe,” was all that Tanner could think to say. Yeah, Everly was different. The way he felt about her wasn’t something that he was used to, but that didn’t mean… It didn’t mean… Anything.

He dumped the last of his coffee down the sink and was about to empty the coffee pot the same way when he stopped and smiled. He took a travel mug down from the cabinet and filled it. He had no idea if Everly liked cream or sugar with her coffee – hell, he didn’t even know if she drank coffee. That didn’t stop him from driving by the lodge before he left the ranch. He filled a little baggie with packets of sugar, little pots of cream, and then he threw in some packets of sweetener as well, just in case.

~ ~ ~

Everly pulled her coat tighter around her. She’d been pleasantly surprised by the mild temperatures since she arrived, but it was cold this morning. Then again, she hadn’t been outside this early before. She probably should have waited inside, but she was too antsy. She was sitting on one of the rockers on the front porch of the lodge. Maybe she should go back inside and grab another cup of coffee from the breakfast area. The coffee in her room wasn’t bad but two little pods were only enough to get her started.

She checked her watch, wondering if she should run inside and grab a cup to go. It was five minutes before seven, so she decided against it. She didn’t even know for sure that Tanner would show. Maybe he’d think better of it this morning. That wouldn’t surprise her – she wouldn’t blame him. It’d suck, but maybe it would be for the best. So far, nothing about this trip to Montana had gone in the way she hoped it might. The interview had been awful – the only good thing about that was that she wouldn’t have taken the job even if they offered it. And her dad not showing…? That shouldn’t surprise her.

He swore that he’d changed. Even her mom was convinced that he had. Her mom was the one who’d encouraged her to see how things might go with him. As Everly lay in bed last night, staring out the window at the inky black sky full of stars, she’d alternated between berating herself for daring to hope yet again, and trying to convince herself that he’d get in touch today with some plausible explanation for why he hadn’t shown last night.

Well, she hadn’t solely been thinking about her dad. She’d spent just as much time, if not more, thinking about Tanner. Even now, electric tingles shot through her veins as she remembered that kiss. Wow! There was no other word for it.

She didn’t want to set herself up for disappointment, they’d talked about being friends. Tanner might have talked about wanting more than that, but… But nothing. She wasn’t going to try and talk herself out of anything. If he were offering more of those kisses, then she was all about it.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket when it beeped with a text. Her heart sank; she fully expected it to be Tanner letting her know that he wasn’t coming.

It wasn’t him.

Mom: How did it go with your dad?

Everly blew out a sigh. It was ridiculous for her to feel bad, but she did. She knew that her mom honestly believed that her dad had changed. She’d been so convinced that Everly had started to believe her. After all, he must have put on a good show to be able to convince her mom. They’d never been married – her mom had always been honest with her that as much as she loved him, her dad just wasn’t the kind of man you could depend on.

Everly: It didn’t. He didn’t show. How are you guys? How’s Ashton?