Page 84 of Wild, Wild Cowboy

She twisted as she talked so she could address the whole audience. Every time she changed direction, a glimpse of her ankle appeared. Once I even saw her knee.

“Zack, you need to stop looking at that girl like you’re going to take a bite out of her,” Dad muttered next to me. “This is a family event, son.”

“Dad.”

He held up his hands. “Hey, I’m not the problem here. I’m just pointing it out.”

I groaned under my breath, applauding with everyone else as Hannah wrapped up her pitch for the library.

“She’s a good one,” Dad said. “And you did good helping her pull this thing together. The two of you make a good team.”

I pushed away from the fence and lifted my hand to get Hanna’s attention. We needed to get the contestants lined up forthe calf-roping event. She nodded and started across the arena. But of course she got waylaid by folks offering their help at the library.

“I was thinking your cabin might be a tad small for you now, if you’re planning on being at Lodestar for good.” He rubbed the back of his neck and pretended to be interested in the weeds poking out by the fence post. “Think you’ll be sticking around?”

It was a good question. We hadn’t really discussed what my role at Lodestar Ranch would be. Right now, I did the same job as the other ranch hands. I took a smaller paycheck, but I also had a cut of the ranch profits and my own cabin on the property. I had never said it was temporary, but I had never said it wasn’t, either.

I still missed the rodeo, but with the season starting in earnest, I’d already been sought out by a couple of the big events looking for guest commentators. I had lined up two rodeos for later this summer, and I was looking forward to it. Maybe Hannah would come along for a road trip. And in the meantime, I was having a good time with Hurricane Red. Some day he might even be ridable.

The truth was, I still didn’t entirely know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I knew that Hannah was in Aspen Springs, so I wanted to be here, too. I knew I was happiest outdoors. I knew I enjoyed variety and tended to get restless doing the same thing every day. Outside of that…fuck, I didn’t know a damn thing.

But I was okay with that. The not knowing.

As long as I had Hannah, the Colorado Rockies, and a horse, the rest would work itself out.

“Yeah, Dad,” I said, after a pause so long Dad started to look nervous. “I’m back for good.”

He grinned at the weeds. “In that case, there’s a quarter parcel set aside for you to build on.” He tipped his hat toHannah, who had almost reached us, and his grin turned sly. “I suggest four bedrooms. You can grow into it.”

The sun slunglow in a pink sky by the time the last outhouse was loaded up on the truck. The driver thumped his horn and that was it. The rodeo was officially done. We wouldn’t know the final dollar amount for another week, probably, but right now, we had a sense of accomplishment. After a day full of raucous animals, loud music, and happy people, Lodestar felt oddly quiet now that was all over.

The whole lot of us had ended the day on the front porch of the big house for a round of much-deserved beers. Eventually, the group disbanded, pair by pair. First Dad walked Essie’s mom to her car. Brax and Essie were the next to go, opting to crash at Brax’s old cabin instead of making the drive back to their house in Aspen Springs. When Adam, James, and Ben headed inside, Hannah and I decided to sit on my front step and watch the stars come out.

“Stay the night?” I asked.

She yawned. “If you want me to.”

“I always want you to.”

“Then I’ll always stay.”

I sat motionless, as though the slightest change would make her take it back. But all she did was rest her head on my shoulder and snuggle closer.

“I could build us something bigger,” I said carefully. “And then maybe youcouldalways stay.”

She lifted her head and looked at me. There was hope in her eyes, but also a hint of apprehension. “Are you…are you saying we should live together?”

“I think it makes sense. But we’d have to keep going as we are for a while yet. Building a house takes time, and I want to do it right. Four bedrooms. Maybe a library with a rolling ladder.”

Her eyes bugged out. “Fourbedrooms?”

“Yes, four bedrooms. I don’t care what you say, Hannah Bell, five cats is alotof cats. We need the space.”

She laughed. “They don’t need four bedrooms!”

I shrugged. We both knew those bedrooms weren’t really for the cats, but neither one of us was ready to say it out loud. For now, it was enough to think about it. Hope for it, some day in the hazy future. We knew where we were headed, even if we didn’t know the precise timeframe.

“So? What do you think?” I asked. “Should I start making plans?”

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