Page 15 of Choosing the Montana Cowboy

And, to keep the peace with her project’s most vocal opponent thus far, play nice with Mr. Miles.

“Thank you.” She eased into the seat across from him and summoned a smile. “So, do cowboys usually spend sunny afternoons hanging out in coffee shops?”

He snorted. “Only the ones who have grandmothers requesting rides into town to meet with her quilting ladies.”

Natalie couldn’t help but grin. “Eli doesn’t drive?”

“Oh, he does.” Sam paused to thank Lily as she set his drink in front of him. She nearly curtseyed before leaving them again. “But he wasn’t… available this afternoon.”

“I see. But your grandma doesn’t?”

“No.” Sam took a careful sip of his coffee. “Gran doesn’t see the best. She does fine inside, but we don’t trust her behind the wheel anymore. Ran their truck off the road one too many times.”

“Yikes. Probably a good idea.”

He leaned back in his seat. “How about you? Your grandparents still around?”

Natalie shook her head, heart aching at the thought. “No, both sets have been gone for some time. My favorite grandpa—is it bad to have a favorite?—was the last to go. He’s been gone about eight years now.”

“Sorry to hear that. I know it’ll happen eventually for me, too, but I’ll never be ready for that day to come.”

She studied him for a moment. “You all seem very close. Do you live near your grandparents?”

That brought a chuckle, breaking the somber moment. “Oh, yeah. See, we all live at the ranch. My grandparents have private quarters at the back of our lodge. The rest of us have our own homes, built on slices of land gifted to us when we were old enough to leave home. I suppose the thinking was, if we had land, we’d have no reason to leave.”

“Wow, that’s actually really cool.” Natalie took a drink, envious of their close-knit family. “Did it work?”

“For most of us.” Sam grinned. “My parents built a home and stayed. I built a home and stayed. My sister built a home and stayed. But our youngest brother—well, he built a home. Doesn’t use it much, being on the road a good chunk of the year with the rodeo, but it’s there for whenever he decides he’s done being a celebrity.”

“Wait—your brother is some kind of rodeo star?”

“Sure is.” Sam sat a little taller. “He and his buddy Rhett have been in the top five for team roping for a number of years now. Hoping this will be their year to hit number one.”

“Team… roping?”

Amusement lit on Sam’s features. “You know what roping is, right?”

“Um, like with a lasso?”

“Atta girl,” he said with a nod. “So, basically there’s two cowboys on horseback—the header and the heeler—and one cow trying to outrun them. The header cowboy ropes the steer’s horns, and the heeler comes up behind him and tries to rope the steer’s hind legs. Clock stops when the roping is done and the horses are facing one another.”

“So, how long does it take to rope both ends of a steer? A couple of minutes?”

“More like a couple of seconds. I think their fastest time was under four.”

“Seconds?!” Natalie tried to picture it but just couldn’t.

Sam chuckled. “When you need a break from work later, google team roping. Better yet, google Jaxon Miles and team roping, then give his YouTube page a like. I guess he gets paid for stuff like that.”

“Is it weird? Having a brother who’s a celebrity?”

“Nah. ’Round here, he gets treated like anyone else. Well, until someone needs a celebrity endorsement or wants to put his face on an advertisement to get people to come and support our own rodeo. But on the ranch, he’s gotta pull his weight like the rest of us.”

“Oh? So, you guys have assigned responsibilities?”

He smirked. “Something like that. My dad does the financial side of the ranch; I run the day-to-day activities. My mom, she used to oversee the lodge, but she’s slowly been handing those responsibilities over to my sister, Norah. Now Mom spends more time helping Gran in the kitchen. And Jaxon, well, when he’s not on the rodeo circuit, he’s playing grunt for the rest of us.”

“A celebrity grunt. Gotta love it.” Natalie shook her head. “So, what about your grandfather? What does he do?”

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