Page 131 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

“I feel like I brought it down on you. Anyway, good luck to you here.” He smiled at Travis. “To both of you. Come on, girls. We need to get going if we want to have any daylight left to see the park by the time you’re done in the souvenir stores.”

Travis chuckled as he watched them go.

“That was easier than I thought,” Retta said as they waved them off.

“Yeah. I don’t think he was ever your problem.”

Her lips twitched into a smile. “I believe I may have already told you that.”

“You did – I just needed to see for myself.”

“And now you have. We can put the whole thing behind us.”

“Gladly.”

~ ~ ~

Retta smiled as she placed the team photo that the girls had given her on one of the shelves in the dining room on Thursday morning. She was glad to have it; it was a nice memory, but that was all it was. She felt as though seeing the girls yesterday had been like drawing a line under her old life.

Travis came and kissed her cheek. “You ready to go, darlin’? I’m going to drop you off and then I need to run up to town.”

“I don’t need to go – at least, not until I can go to number six.” She hadn’t pushed for him to take her when they got back from seeing the girls yesterday, but she wanted to get started on it today.

He checked his watch. “I can run you up there if you want – but if I do, you’ll be stuck until I get back. Well, you could call Ty if you need anything. I know he’s in the restaurant this morning.”

“I could drive myself so that I have my SUV if I want to come back.”

“I told you, I want to make sure that you can get in okay and …”

She made a face. “I have a key. The parking space is right by the front door at that cabin. I …”

He blew out a sigh. “And you can’t wait till this afternoon?”

“I’d rather not.”

“Alright, I’ll take you before I leave.”

She reached up to kiss him. “Thank you. I know I’m being a pain in the ass – I could take myself.”

“I’m not thrilled about leaving you out there, but I’m less thrilled about you driving out there by yourself.”

“I could follow you, that way I can come back if I need to – I won’t be stuck there.”

“Okay, let’s do that.”

She loved the drive over to number six. It felt so much more remote than the other cabins. It was tucked in at the beginning of the foothills. It felt as though it was out of sight and out of mind. You could forget that the rest of the world existed when you got there.

Travis climbed out of his truck, and she parked next to him. He waved a hand to indicate that she should wait there while he walked up the path to the front door and unlocked it. He went inside and came back out a few moments later.

He opened her door for her and smiled. “It’s all fine. The path’s flat and easy to negotiate. The inside’s dusty but not bad.” He helped her out. “I’ll see you inside and then I’ll stop playing mother hen.”

“Aww, you’re the best.”

“I’m a pain in the ass and I know it, but … once you’re back to full mobility, I’ll do better.”

Once they were inside, she looked around with a smile. “I have my work cut out for me, don’t I? You won’t need to worry about a thing. I’ll be so busy that I probably won’t have looked up by the time you get back.”

“I’ll be a few hours.”

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