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She smiled through pursed lips. “Okay, but put him on speaker.”

They smiled at each other as they listened to it ring.

When Tanner answered with a, “Hello?” she knew that he was wary if it might be Ashton calling again. He usually answered with, “Hello, darlin’.”

She laughed. “Hey. You’re on speaker with Ashton and me.”

She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “Well, hello there.”

“Hi, Tanner. It’s okay, I told her that I called you.”

“Good. How are you guys doing? Are you home now?”

“We are,” said Everly. “I understand that this young man put you on the spot earlier.”

“I wouldn’t put it that way. He wanted to talk to me man-to-man, that’s all.”

Everly’s heart felt as though it melted in her chest when she saw the smile that Tanner’s words put on her son’s face.

“And I take it that you’re both happy with the way that conversation went?”

“Very,” said Tanner. “Speaking for myself, anyway. How about you, Ashton? Do you have any more questions for me? Anything you want to tell me, or anything you want to know?”

Everly raised her eyebrows at her son, curious as to what he might have to say.

“I do have a question.”

“Fire away, bud. Ask me anything you like.”

“When do I get to meet you? I want to come to Montana.”

Of all the questions he might’ve asked, Everly certainly hadn’t expected that.

Tanner chuckled. “I think your mom has to answer that one, buddy.”

Ashton turned to look at her.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to talk about it. I just got back from there, and you have school.”

Ashton blew out a sigh. “So, you guys are just going to talk on the phone all the time, and I don’t get to do anything?”

“You’re talking on the phone, now,” Everly told him.

“And we can talk any time you like,” added Tanner. “Do you have your own phone?”

“Yeah, but it’s only for emergencies. It’s a dumb old flip phone and it only has a couple of numbers in it.”

Tanner was quiet. Everly felt bad for him, even if he wanted to offer his number so that he and Ashton could talk, he wouldn’t know if that was okay with her or not.

“If you guys really want to talk to each other, we can add Tanner’s number to your phone.”

“That’d be cool,” said Ashton.

“I think so,” said Tanner. “And I…” He stopped abruptly, and Everly guessed that he’d been about to suggest something but didn’t know if she’d approve.

Ashton smiled at her. “I should go and get ready for bed, right, Mom? That way Tanner can tell you whatever he wanted to say, and you can decide if we’re allowed to do whatever it is.”

Everly shook her head at him. Tanner laughed and said, “Sounds like a plan to me, kid. Hopefully I’ll talk to you again soon.”