Page 125 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

When they reached the dealership in Bozeman, Deacon made a face at him. “You really want to get her a Subaru?”

“I don’t know. I did some reading, and these came out as the best smallish SUVs – she’s going to need something that will hold the road in winter.”

“Chevy makes a whole bunch of little SUVs.”

Travis looked up at the sign on the front of the dealership and then climbed back into his truck. “You convinced me. Let’s go.”

Deacon laughed as they pulled away. “You know, while we’re looking, I’m going to see if there might be something that would suit Candy. She insists that she’s only comfortable in that little fart can that she calls a car, and anything else would be too big for her. I haven’t argued since she doesn’t go far, and if she does, she’s with me or Libby. But Ace bought Ari that Navigator, and now you’re going to get something that Retta can drive – I feel like a bad husband.”

Travis raised his eyebrows. “Husband?”

“You know what I mean. We might not have tied the knot yet, but we might as well be married.”

“Have you made any plans for a wedding?”

“She says she wants to do something quiet in the summer.” Deacon cocked an eyebrow. “Do you? Have any plans for a wedding?”

Travis chuckled. “I’d marry her tomorrow if she wanted.”

“She doesn’t want to?”

“I think she does. I just have to get a ring and ask her.”

Deacon laughed. “I should warn you – it’s become something of a tradition that we help each other out when it comes to the ring buying part. When you’re ready, you can’t just go and getone. You have to let us know. We’ll be as bad as the girls – we’ll all have to go on a shopping trip together.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. Ace and Trip came with me. When it was Ace’s turn, he was holed up on the mountain with Ari, so Trip and I went and bought it for him – we had him on a video call so that he could choose it.”

“Well, I’d hate to break with tradition. I’d say that we could look while we’re here, but I wouldn’t want to leave Trip and Ace out.”

“No. We can’t. We have to include everyone who’s here in town.”

“What about Emmett?” Travis asked.

Deacon made a face. “You know what he’s like. I’d love to have him along, but I feel bad. I doubt he’d come, and just asking feels like its reminding him that we’re moving on, and he still doesn’t want to.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Travis pulled into the lot in front of the Chevy dealership. “For now, we’re focused on finding the right little SUV – when it comes to finding the right ring, we’ll figure it out.”

~ ~ ~

By lunchtime, Retta was happy to settle on the sofa with her lunch and put her feet up. She’d had a busy morning, and she’d probably spent too much time standing. She pointed and flexed her feet and drew circles with her toes while she ate her sandwich. She hadn’t done any harm, she just needed to start being more sensible. There was a fine line between doing enough to speed up the healing process and doing too much.

She reached for her phone when it rang, expecting it to be Travis. She was surprised that he’d taken this long before checking in.

She narrowed her eyes when she saw a 478 number on the screen. She didn’t know whether it was Jamie or Marty and didn’t particularly want to speak to either one of them. If it were Jamie, she needed to tell her to stop with the harassment.

“Hello,” she answered cautiously.

“Hi, Retta. It’s Marty. I’m calling to apologize. I talked to Jamie yesterday – or more honestly, she yelled at me yesterday. I had no clue that she’d gotten this ridiculous idea in her head about… Well, you know, about you and me. I’m sorry.”

“Okay.” Retta didn’t know what else to say.

“The girls and I will be in your neck of the woods tomorrow. We’ll be driving through Paradise Valley on Wednesday. I looked at the map, and it seems that there’s a restaurant just off the highway halfway down the valley. Would you be interested in meeting us there – just so that the girls can give you their gift? I think, given the situation with Jamie, that it’ll be best if we just give you the gift, say a quick hello, and then be on our way.”

Retta pursed her lips. She wasn’t sure if even that was a good idea.

“The girls have their hearts set on seeing you.”

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