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“Goodnight, Tanner. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Chapter Seventeen

Tanner was out in the round pen lunging one of the youngsters on Thursday morning. He looked up when he heard a vehicle approaching the barn. He smiled when he saw that it was Luke’s truck.

His old friend waved as he climbed out of the truck and came to lean on the fence to watch.

“Hey, what are you doing out here?”

“I thought I’d come and check in with you. See how things are going.”

Tanner nodded. “Better than I feared the last time I spoke to you.”

“I’m glad to hear it. What’s going on?”

“I’ve talked to her on the phone the last couple of nights.”

Luke grinned. “Good. I figured when I didn’t hear from you after Monday that your phone call might not have gone well.”

“It went better than I dared to hope. Sorry, I should’ve let you know.”

Luke shrugged. “I came over to say sorry that I didn’t follow up with you.”

Tanner gave him a rueful smile. “No worries. We’re still besties, it’s just that life has this habit of getting in the way.” He chuckled. “In your case, you have Laney to deal with.”

Luke laughed with him. “You know that I have no complaints about that. I figured that things must be going okay with Everly, since Laney stopped threatening to go down to Napa after her.”

“Yeah, most people have their big brother to look out for them, I have my vicious little sister.”

“Hey,” said Luke. “She’s not vicious. More like feisty.”

Tanner laughed. “Whatever you say. So, what’s going on in your world?”

“It’s business as usual for us. It’s kind of quiet at the moment. How about you?” He watched the horse that Tanner was working with move around the pen. “This one’s coming along well.”

“She’s a nice one. Things are quiet around here, too. The new mare’s doing well, after the scare she gave us.”

“That’s good. So, come on. What’s happening with you and Everly?”

Tanner grinned. “It’s weird. After we got off to such a fast start, we’ve slowed things right down. We’re talking on the phone every night and it’s… I like it.”

Luke laughed. “That’s a first for you, isn’t it?”

“It is. I didn’t get it before. Even when Ty first met Shay and he used to run up to his room at night with his phone and a beer, I didn’t understand it. I couldn’t figure out how they had enough to talk about all the time. I get it now.”

“Happy for you. And what about her kid?”

“Ashton. He sounds like a cool little dude. And get this, it turns out that he’s into cowboys.” He laughed. “You know what Imean. Apparently, he’s reading all about Montana and learning about ranching.”

“Because of you?”

“No. He doesn’t even know about me yet. Well, she told him that she met some cowboys while she was here. And get this, she said depending on how today goes, I might get to talk to him tonight. She told him that she has a friend who’s a cowboy.”

“Just a friend?”

“Yeah. She’s not even convinced about me for herself yet, there’s no point in making him think it’s a big deal.”

“But you’re still thinking it’s a big deal, right?”