“Not as far as I know. The older we get, the more we want creature comforts. Dad is in great shape for his age, but he’s got a bad back and prefers to sleep in his adjustable bed.” He sucked down a mouthful of his beer. “Makes me wonder how he’s faring on the overseas trip.”

“Haven’t you heard from him?”

“Briefly to tell me the schedule was crazy busy and he’d fill me in after he returned home.”

Tanna cocked her head. “You miss him.”

“Yeah. Probably sounds stupid.”

“I think it sounds wonderful.” She sipped her beer. “I don’t miss my dad and I try not to think about him at all.”

“You don’t have any happy memories?”

“A few. But now, even those are tainted. Makes me wonder what I hadn’t seen as a kid. If he was just goin’ through the motions because he didn’t have a choice.”

“You are a glass-half-empty type.”

“In this case it’s beyond empty. The glass is cracked and put aside to see if it’ll shatter on its own. Anyway, I had my mom and she more than made up for it. Why don’t you ever talk about your mom?”

He immediately stiffened up. “Probably because I feel the same way about her that you do about your dad. Except I’ve felt that way since I was a boy. I didn’t know her well enough to be sad at her passing. And I never understood why it’d upset my dad so much.”

“He must’ve loved something about her.” She shot him a look. “Even if it was only that she gave him you.”

Fletch smiled at her and ran his knuckles down her jawline. “Thanks. My dad never married. I never thought he dated either, so the thing between him and Cora seriously blew my mind.”

“I, for one, am happy the old-timers are getting some. I never wanna be that woman who’d rather do ten household things than do my man. I hope to still be bangin’ the hell outta the headboard when I’m in my seventies.”

“Me too. Though I hope to Christ I’m not single living in some old folks home.”

“So you want the wife-and-kids life?”

He kept it light, but honest—besides confessing he wanted that wife and kid life with her. “I do. I’ve been a little envious, watching my friends settle down. But with the demands of my job, I fear Miss Ellie isn’t far off in asking me to wait until she grows up. Maybe things will have stabilized by then.”

Tanna rested her head on his shoulder. “Your fears aren’t justified, Doc. There are probably dozens of women who’d snap you up as a husband. But I have to ask if this break from your practice has changed anything.”

Meeting her had changed everything. “It’s reminded me why I don’t take time off. You can’t miss what you don’t have; know what I mean? When I get back into the groove on Monday, my mind will be on sitting in the sunshine drinking beer with a hot cowgirl.”

“Aw. So you’ll be thinkin’ of little ol’ me?”

Always. “I’ll also be remembering all the mornings, afternoons and nights we spent in bed.”

“Sex is one of our stronger points as a couple.”

“Relationships have been built on far less.” He drank half his beer, grimacing because it’d already gotten warm. “What about you? Ever been in love?”

“Dozens of times. Mostly in my late teens and early twenties. Every guy I dated became the one. Funny how I thought that about all of them and none of them thought that about me. At some point—and I can’t even tell you exactly when—I stopped looking for a guy to make me complete.”

“I’ll bet that’s when you really started winning on the circuit.”

“I’m not surprised you figured that out.” She sighed. “What about you? Ever been in love?”

Since the moment I saw you. “Thought I was once. Since then it’s been easier to—”

“Compartmentalize,” they finished simultaneously and laughed.

“As I was saying, it’s been easier to separate the need for sex from the need for a relationship.”

“We really are so much alike,” Tanna said softly.

“Well, there are a few obvious differences.”

“Such as?”

“Such as your accent.”

“Please. You Northerners are the ones who talk funny.”

“Okay. What about how you phrase stuff. Like . . . I’m fixin’ to . . . what does that even mean?”

Tanna laughed. He loved that she laughed so much around him.

“Then there’s your blind adoration of any and all Texas sports teams, regardless of how bad they suck.”

“The Dallas Cowboys are America’s team. No, the Dallas Cowboys are God’s team. God said so. It’s in the Bible and everything. You can check for yourself.”

Fletch snorted. “You Texans are so—”

“Uh-uh, cowboy, I’m fixin’ to go all wild-ass Southern woman on you if you slander the greatest state in the Union.”

“When did we start talking about Wyoming again?” he said slyly.

She shoved him. “Smart-ass Yankee.”

He brushed a hank of hair from her cheek. “In all seriousness, do you miss Texas?”

“Even if I never live there again and I’m a ninety-year-old lady, I’ll always miss Texas. I’ll always consider Texas home.”