Page 64 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

“Are you saying that you want to?” He was totally lost.

“No. I’m saying that I feel … guilty maybe, working with you on the cabins. I have no experience with … decorating, or whatever we want to call it. Am I just latching onto you and what you’re doing? Should I be going out and trying to build more of a life of my own?”

He leaned on the console and cupped her chin in his hand. “If that’s what you want to do, then yeah. You should do whatever you want to. But if you’re thinking that us spending so much time together might get old – I don’t see that happening, not for me, anyway. I’m enjoying it and … you know what, fuck it, I’m going to say it. I’m hoping that we’re going to be together for the long haul. That what we’re doing is laying the foundation for the place. I like the idea that fifty years from now, when we’re welcoming guys to come and stay at the cabins for a time out, we can tell them how we put the place together. I like that it’s us doing it – not just me.”

He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips.

When he lifted his head, she was smiling. “Thanks. I love that idea. I’d love to think that it might work out that way. Although, don’t you think fifty years is a bit optimistic?”

He chuckled. “Nah. We’re just getting started. Give it another decade or two and people will be living well into their hundred and twenties and longer.”

She laughed. “I hope you’re right.”

“You’ll just have to stick around to find out, won’t you?” He checked his watch. “But for now, we’d better get you inside.”

He hung back while she checked in with the receptionist – a woman Travis hadn’t seen before. It hit him that he wasn’t keeping up with Trip as closely now that Retta was here. He decided that he’d ask him to come down for dinner one night soon.

The woman behind the reception desk told Retta that Trip would be with her in about ten minutes, and she looked up at him. “You might as well get going.” She held up the tray with her mocha and the vanilla cappuccino that he’d picked up for Trip. “I promise I’ll give him his coffee and not drink it myself.”

Travis laughed, and the woman behind the desk smiled at them. “You’re his friend, Travis?” she asked.

“That’s me.”

“He said to tell you that Deacon’s waiting, you should go, but he’ll see you when you get back.”

He had to laugh. Trip knew him too well – he knew that he’d hover here with Retta. “Okay. I know where I’m not wanted. I’ll go.”

“Aww.” Retta caught his hand and gave it a squeeze. “You know that’s not true.”

He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I do. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“I’ve told you – there’s no rush. I’ll be here.”

~ ~ ~

Retta watched him walk out of the office and back to his truck. She laughed when he drove right by the window and waved before he pulled away.

The woman behind the desk smiled at her. “Trip said that he might not leave you.”

“I wasn’t sure he would, but he has other errands to run.” The woman seemed nice. She was around Retta’s age. She didn’t strike her as the stereotypical doctor’s receptionist; she was friendly, and she wore jeans and what looked like a band T-shirt.

They smiled at each other, and Retta wracked her brain for something to say.

“Are you from here?” she asked after a few moments.

“No. I grew up in Pennsylvania. I’ve lived all around the country. Believe it or not, I used to be a lawyer.”

Retta raised her eyebrows. Going from lawyer to a doctor’s receptionist seemed to her like a move that must have a story behind it, but she didn’t want to ask.

The woman smiled. “I gave it up. I lived that life, made the money, suffered the stress, the divorce, and the burnout.”

“I see.”

The woman laughed. “Sorry. I’ve only been here for a few weeks – in Montana. I only started work here last week. I’m not sure that I have the hang of the job yet. I’m good at the organizing part, but not so much the people part.”

“You seem like you’re doing fine to me. Maybe a little too well. I tend to think of people who work in a doctor’s office as being less … friendly.”

The woman smiled. “Me too. That’s why I’m not sure that I’ll be a fit for the job. I’m Shelly, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

---