Page 68 of His Eighth Ride

“Taggart!” The cowboy on the other end of the line could drawl—and laugh, which Sawyer did next. “How are you, brother?”

“Good,” Taggart said, turning left along a dirt path that sat between two dormant fields. He’d plant them this year after a year of soil rest, and he suddenly remembered he needed to meet with Keith to go over his planting plan. “Getting ready for planting. Getting the farm cleaned up from winter. Pretty standard stuff.” He walked away from the mountains now, but the shadows they cast draped over the land in front of him.

I love it here, he thought. Out loud, he asked, “You? How are you and Flint?”

“That’s why I’m calling, actually,” Sawyer said, and he sobered quite a bit.

Tag tilted his head, something in his brother’s tone he didn’t like. “Yeah? Trouble?”

“No, not trouble, exactly,” Sawyer said. “We want to come up there for your birthday. Could you house us?”

Tag didn’t know what to say for a moment. Then, a sense of being cared for, of someone thinking about him, of him not being the lone wolf, the odd man out, the last one to know everything, filled him. “Yeah,” he said. “Of course.”

“Do you want us to come?” Sawyer asked. “I know May’s a busy time on any ranch, especially one in spring and moving into summer. It would be a weekend or three days. And we can help you work in the morning and evening or whatever.”

“Of course I want you to come,” Tag said. “I’ll talk to Gerty and Mike. We’ve got Steele now. I might not have to work at all.” He swallowed, because he hadn’t even told the twins about Opal. “And you can meet my girlfriend.”

Sawyer let a beat of silence go by, and then he said, “Hoo, boy, you have been holdin’ out on us!” in his party-boy voice.

Tag laughed this time, because Sawyer always made having a girlfriend into a big deal. Tag supposed it was, but at the same time, it wasn’t. He made it back to the main dirt road that would lead him to the farmhouse—and now past Opal’s house too—as he grinned and grinned.

Sawyer told Flint about Tag’s girlfriend, and he listened to the two of them tease him for a couple of minutes. “All right, all right,” he said. “Do either of you animals have girlfriends?”

“Nope,” Sawyer said.

“No wonder you think it’s a marvel or a wonder,” Tag said dryly. “Believe it or not, I’ve been out with women before.”

“Yeah, but after Talina,” Sawyer said, once again bringing the mood back to level.

“Yeah,” Tag said and nothing else. Ahead of him, Boots trotted along with Max, and then both dogs looked to their left. Tag followed their gaze too, but he couldn’t see anything.

Max barked and broke into a run, with Boots hot on his heels. Tag’s adrenaline kicked up a notch, especially as he made it past a copse of trees and Opal’s SUV came into view. She’d parked in front of her foundation, but he couldn’t see her anywhere.

Then a cry filled the air, and Tag dang near dropped his phone. “I have to go,” he said, remembering he was on a call.

“Tag—”

“I’ll call you back,” he barked, and he didn’t bother hanging up before he broke into a jog too. He knew that sound, and with Opal’s car in front of him, he felt certain she needed help.

Right now.

twenty-one

Opal yelped as she tried to get to her feet for the third time. This time, her right foot slid even further right, causing her to fall into the splits. Oh, she couldn’t do the splits, and certainly not in the mud.

Max barked again, and Opal looked up to find the dog. Perhaps she could grab onto him and get herself up. She pulled her legs together, beyond trying to stay clean. Her clothes held about as much mud as the entire plot of land she planned to use for her vegetable garden. Her house wouldn’t be done, but Opal could raise peas, carrots, and corn without it.

“Opal?” Tag called, and her heart sank right down into the earth. Of course he’d be the one to find her. She wasn’t even supposed to be here tonight, but Jane hadn’t been feeling well after a spaghetti-and-meatball lunch had caused some acid reflux.

She and Cord had canceled dinner, which was okay with Opal. She’d come back to the farm after getting a hamburger from The Burger Babe, a restaurant her daddy had helped fund and start through the foundation at HMC when he’d been the CEO.

Then, she’d collected her garden map from her purse and come to the house. The foundation would be done curing in a week or so, and then the framing would begin. Opal had chosen an open layout on the main floor, with a master suite and a small connected room that could be a nursery, and then turned into an office once the kids moved either to the upstairs bedrooms or the basement ones.

She couldn’t wait to see it, to go through every choice for flooring, paint colors, curtains, furniture, and more. And she wanted to start doing something with the land she’d purchased from Gerty and Mike, thus, her visit to the garden tonight.

“Opal?”

“I’m in the garden,” she called as Tag came into view. She lifted one muddy hand over her head and waved. Tag saw her and slowed. He kept coming, but not quite at a run.

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