Page 83 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

After much shuffling and debating, everyone was finally seated, and Tanner went to the counter to put in their order. When he came back, Candy was with him, and Spider came, bearing a second tray.

As he sipped his coffee and tore a corner off his Danish, Travis watched everyone chatting and laughing. Ace and Ari were deep in conversation with Ty – Ty kept an eye on Ari’s daughter, Nessa, and it seemed that she had some new guy in her life. Ari seemed to think that Ty might know more about him than she did.

Candy and Libby had their heads together, no doubt scheming over something or other – the two of them were thick as thieves. Deacon leaned back so that they could talk over him and winked at Travis over their heads.

Trip was talking to Janey about something. Travis just hoped that it wasn’t about old man MacFarland. None of the siblings visited their father in the hospital anymore, but Janey had been the last one to give up on him. It wouldn’t surprise Travis if she still kept tabs on him through Trip.

Kolby, Ty, and Tanner were laughing together, and the sound of it made Travis chuckle with them. It reminded him of when they were just little kids. Their father had made those boys’ lives a living hell much of the time, but you’d often see the three ofthem laughing and joking together – they were resilient in the face of adversity, you had to give them that.

Callie was talking a mile a minute with Ty’s girl, Shayna. She was another one who’d proved to be resilient. Travis had liked her from the moment he met her. She was a good kid, and a hard worker. When she’d been taken, he’d searched the mountains for her with everyone else, his heart breaking for her and Ty the whole time. When she was found, he worried that she might not be the same after what happened to her. She’d been battered and bruised for a while, but she’d bounced right back to herself in no time.

He looked over at Retta and smiled when he saw Laney squatting on the other side of her wheelchair. He hadn’t seen much of her and Luke since he came back, but he had a soft spot for that girl. She was a fighter if ever there was one.

She grinned when she saw him watching. “What’s up, Trav?”

“Everything’s peachy in my world; how about you, Laney Lou?”

“Yeah. All’s well in my world, too. I was just telling Retta that you guys should come over and have dinner with Luke and me one night.”

“Thanks, kiddo. We’ll have to see what we can do.”

Laney made a face at Retta. “See, I told you he’d say something like that.” She looked at Travis. “I’m not expecting a return invitation. It’s not like that. We just want to hang out with you guys and catch up.”

Retta squeezed his hand. “I’d like that.”

He gave them a rueful smile. “I’m not trying to put you off.”

“I know! You’re just trying to conform to some social norm that doesn’t mean shit,” Laney told him with a grin. “No onearound here does anything just because ‘it’s the way it’s done’ or because you’re ‘supposed to,’ least of all me. It seems pretty dumb to let that get in the way of catching up with someone who you’ve missed.”

“She’s right,” said Retta. “And if you think about it, I’m going to want to invite people to dinner all the time once I’m back on my feet, so why not get a head start on going out now?”

“Okay. We’ll set something up.”

“Am I invited, too?” Travis looked up when Tanner spoke – he hadn’t noticed that he was standing behind him.

Laney laughed. “Of course you are.”

Travis gave her a puzzled look, but then it hit him – Luke might be Laney’s fiancé now, but he’d always been Tanner’s best friend.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Retta asked him.

It was an innocent enough question, but Travis and Laney laughed.

“Ignore them,” Tanner told Retta as he edged Laney out of the way so that he could squat down by the wheelchair.

Retta patted his hand. “I don’t know what the joke is, but it seems to me that if you wanted a girlfriend, you’d have one, right?”

Laney laughed. “That’s his trouble. He doesn’t wantagirlfriend – he prefers to keep playing the field.”

Travis was surprised to see a look of irritation cross Tanner’s face before he smiled at Retta again.

“There’s no hurry, sweetie. If you’re enjoying sowing your oats, then good for you.”

Tanner shrugged. “I’ve enjoyed playing the game for a long time.”

Hmm. Travis decided that he’d need to have a chat with Tan at some point soon. By the looks of it, he’d guess that playing the game might be losing its appeal. Maybe seeing his brothers and sisters settle down had Tanner thinking that it was time for him to do the same.

Travis kind of hoped that was the case – finding the right woman had certainly made his own life better. The only thing was, he couldn’t imagine what kind of woman might be right for Tanner. The types he usually went for wouldn’t last five minutes around here. He couldn’t see a pretty, city girl fitting in with the rest of the family either.

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