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Tanner smiled. “I don’t know about that, but I do love them, and I love working with them.” He glanced over at his brother and Everly. “How come you call him Uncle Ford?” He didn’t want to come right out and ask if Ashton or Ford had been the one to come up with that, but he was curious.

Ashton’s little brows drew together. “I dunno … He’s your brother, so… Sorry. I won’t say it anymore if you don’t like it.” He looked so worried that Tanner went to him and squatted down beside him.

“Hey, it’s not a problem. I do like it.” He waited until Ashton met his gaze before adding, “To tell you the truth, I guess I’m a little bit jealous.”

Ashton gave him a puzzled look.

“You call him uncle, but I’m just Tanner,” he explained.

“Yeah, but that’s because … You know. He’d be my uncle if you were my …”

Shit! Tanner knew he should have figured that out for himself. “Right,” he said slowly.

“Sorry.” Ashton looked so crestfallen that Tanner felt terrible.

“Hey, no sorries. There’s no need for them. I’m sorry for being such a dipstick and not figuring out what you meant.” He didn’t know if the kid was too old for it, but he held his arm out and asked, “Want a hug?”

He needn’t have worried about offending him; Ashton flung himself at him, wrapped his arms tight around his neck, and clung on as if his life depended on it.

As Tanner closed his arms around his skinny little body and hugged him back, he had to swallow around the lump in his throat. He’d liked Ashton as soon as he’d spoken to him on the phone, but the warm, buzzing feeling that filled his chest as he held him in his arms like this caught him off guard.

He squeezed his eyes tight shut when Ashton whispered next to his ear, “I want you to be my dad.”

He hugged the kid closer and whispered back, “I want that, too, kiddo. I just need to prove to your mom that I’m up to the job – for you, and for her.”

Ashton leaned back so that he could look into Tanner’s eyes. “You are. I know you are. She’s pretty smart – for a girl. She’ll see it.”

Tanner chuckled and gave him one last squeeze before he let him go. “So, we’re in this together?”

“Hell yeah!” Ashton held his fist up, and as Tanner bumped his against it, he knew that he now had even more riding on this – the kid had already claimed a place in his heart, right alongside his mom.

By the time they were done with dinner, Ashton was yawning nonstop.

“We need to get you ready for bed, sweetheart,” Everly told him.

“Not yet! Me and Tanner still need to bring the bags in from the truck.”

“He’s right,” Tanner agreed. “But it won’t take us long.”

“Okay.” Everly smiled. “But remember that the later you go to bed, the later you’ll sleep in in the morning. And the day starts early on a ranch.”

Tanner was impressed. Her words had the desired effect on Ashton. It was obvious that he was weighing his options, and he reached the conclusion that he’d rather go to sleep now than miss out on whatever tomorrow might bring.

“Let’s go and grab those bags, shall we, bud?”

When they came back inside, he was tempted to hang around while the kid got ready for bed, but he didn’t want to intrude on their routine. He hadn’t forgotten that Ashton had said they could read his cowboy book together, but he didn’t know if that’d be too much for tonight.

He hung around on the landing, listening to them chat. He loved the relationship they shared – and that warm, buzzing feeling filled his chest again as he hoped that he might come to be a part of it.

When he heard Everly saying goodnight, he couldn’t resist any longer. He went and popped his head around the bedroom door.

“Are you going to be okay in here? Do you have everything you need?”

Ashton gave him a sleepy smile. “I’m great. This is awesome.” His smile faded. “Where do you sleep?”

“Right at the end of the hall. If you wake up in the night and you need anything, you take a right out of here and come knock on the very last door – that’s my room.”

“Okay. And you’ll be there too, right, Mom?”