Page 134 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

Deacon grinned at him. “We do. She didn’t have that before she came here, did she? People of her own – family.”

“No, sounds like she hasn’t had it since she was a kid. She had Callie young, and her family disowned her. She’s been all by herself ever since.”

“Well, she’s not by herself anymore. It’s like you said – she’s one of us now.”

Travis paid for the ring and took the pretty little bag that the girl put the box in.

“I know that look on your face,” said Trip. “You’re like a big kid – all excited. Do you want me to keep the ring for you till you’ve figured out how you want to ask her? Otherwise, you’ll give it to her as soon as you see her just because you can’t wait.”

Travis laughed. “Nah. Even if I do that, it’ll be the right moment.”

“You’re not worried about making a premature proposal?” asked Ace with a smirk.

Travis punched his shoulder as they made their way out of the jewelry store. “I’ll have you know …” The sound of his phone ringing cut him off. “It’s Zeke,” he announced.

“Put him on speaker,” said Deacon. “I want to talk to him.”

“Hey, Zeke. Be warned, you’re on speaker with Trip, Deacon, and Ace listening in.”

Zeke laughed. “Hey, guys! I’m looking forward to seeing you all.”

“When will you be here?” asked Deacon.

“I’m here now. At least, I’m at your place, Trav. Turned out that I was closer than I realized when we talked this morning.”

“Awesome! I’ll be back in about half an hour. Did you see the restaurant building when you turned off the road? Ty should bein there – you can hang out with him while you wait if you like. Retta’s up at one of the cabins.”

Zeke laughed. “I don’t think so.”

Travis frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I imagine it was her I crossed paths with when I came in. I waved, thinking that I’d stop and introduce myself, but she drove straight by – probably wise not to stop and talk to a stranger.”

“Yeah. Listen, can Trip call you back? I want to call her and make sure everything’s alright. She wasn’t going to leave the cabin she was working on till I went back for her.”

“Sure.” Zeke chuckled. “Tell her I’m sorry if I landed her in it.”

The other guys laughed, but Travis was starting to feel uneasy.

Trip picked up on it and told Deacon to call Zeke back. He came to stand next to Travis while he dialed Retta’s number and waited.

Travis frowned when the phone rang and rang before it went to voicemail.

“Retta, darlin’. Call me back when you get this, will you? I’m worried. Zeke said he saw you driving. Is everything alright?”

He ended the call and scowled at Trip. “I’m going to head back down there – see what’s going on. I don’t like this.”

Trip nodded. “I’ll come with you.”

“Don’t you need to get back to work?”

“I’ll call Shelly and tell her to reschedule my appointments – I only have a couple this afternoon.”

“Thanks, bud.”

“I’ll follow you,” said Ace.

Deacon frowned at them. He was still talking to Zeke. “Looks like we’ll see you soon.”

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