What his dad didn’t understand is Fletch didn’t have a say in Tanna’s decision. After she’d finally had a breakthrough with the possibility of returning to the career she loved, he couldn’t put additional pressure on her to stay in Wyoming with him.

“Now that my fatherly duties are done, what’re we watching? Europe is lousy for any kind of real sports.”

“Gotta be a baseball game on. Or since you’re a big-spending international traveler these days, maybe we could see if there’s a boxing match on pay-per-view.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

“I see Eli’s still babying you along.”

Tanna turned toward Sutton and rolled her eyes. “He wants me to ‘reconnect’ with my love of horses. In the past four hours I’ve ridden two mares and a gelding.” She smirked. “I was gone a while the last ride. Did he send you out here to check on me?”

“Busted. Tell me the truth; were you secretly out cutting a clover leaf pattern around the rocks?”

“No. I just lost track of time.”

Sutton grinned. “That’s good to hear. So are you running barrels?”

“Finally.”

“How’s it feel?”

“Slow. But good. I’ve been gone a couple of days, so I had a moment of panic when I got back in the saddle and wished I hadn’t sent Fletch away, because the man can convince me to do anything.” They’d been apart for only five hours and she already missed him.

“Eli mentioned something about you and Fletch bein’ off on a romantic getaway.”

“Yep.” Tanna led the horse through the gate.

Sutton fell in step beside her. “So I don’t get the down-and-dirty details of your sexcapades?”

“Nope.” Tanna hadn’t seen Sutton since the day she’d spilled her guts. As much as she liked him, after her conversation with Fletch, she had to reestablish some boundaries.

“That sucks.”

“I thought you were off rodeoin’ during Cowboy Christmas?”

He shrugged. “A couple here and there. Nothin’ big. What about you? Need some help setting up barrels?”

“I’m done for today. I know Sunday is Eli’s day off and I’m determined to ride every day, so I wanted to get riding in early so he didn’t spend the whole day worrying about me. Plus, I’ve got plans for this afternoon.”

“With Fletch?”

“With friends.” Tanna set about unsaddling the horse, her mind elsewhere.

“You’ve made a lot of progress since the last time I saw you, Tex-Mex.”

“Yes, I have. Still got a ways to go, though.”

“You’ll get there.” Sutton clapped her on the back. “Holler if you need anything. I’ll probably be here this week.”

She smiled at him. “Will do. Thanks.”

Although she’d been in Wyoming two months, this was the first day Tanna’s schedule had meshed with Lainie and Celia’s. After Lainie had married Hank almost six years ago, Celia had stepped into Tanna’s life to fill that friendship void. But that’d changed once she’d married Kyle and quit the circuit. Their lives had taken divergent paths; still . . . she’d missed their close friendships the past few years.

Lainie and Hank had a wonderful house. Their home embraced you as soon as you walked in the door. Tanna preferred houses that were homes, not an ostentatious showplace where you couldn’t sit on the living room furniture, the dining room got used twice a year on holidays, and the family areas were separated rather than small enough for everyone to be together.

Her childhood girlfriends in Texas who’d married and started families—it was their goal to live in one of those McMansions in a suburb. A large brick and concrete box, with a manicured lawn, two top-of-the-line SUVs in the triple-car garage. The kiddos attended private preschool, suffered through scheduled piano lessons, dance class, club soccer practice and church on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Kids didn’t get dirty; they weren’t allowed to explore. They lived by the color-coded weekly calendar on the refrigerator.

So it did her heart good to see Brianna, Lainie and Hank’s almost four-year-old daughter, spinning and dancing across the open field adjacent to the house, an energetic dog following her.

Celia sat on the porch, her feet on a footstool. She waved. “Hey, stranger.”

“Hey, yourself, mama.” Tanna stopped beside the porch support and watched Brianna. Her copper-colored curls bounced as she jumped, twirled and sang. “Is Brianna always like that?”

“She’s a happy kid. But how couldn’t she be? Her mama adores her, she’s got her daddy wrapped around her little finger, aunts and uncles who spoil her rotten, a baby brother who worships her and her very own dog.”

Tanna grinned at Celia. “The dog was your doin’?”

“Yep. When Patches’s mom had more puppies, I gave Brianna the runt of the litter for her birthday. She named him Flutterbee because that’s what she called butterflies. Flutter keeps an eye on her because the girl does like to explore.”

“She’s beautiful. Lucky to be raised around family.” Tanna glanced at Celia’s rounded belly. “And hopefully lots of cousins.”

Celia groaned. “Gotta get through this pregnancy first before we talk about more.”

“How you feeling?”

“Tired. Which is stupid because Kyle won’t let me do anything while I’m gestating baby G. I’ve even learned to crochet, if you can believe it. I’ve turned into this home-cooking, housecleaning, crocheting, waiting-for-my-man-to-come-in-from-the-fields kind of ranch wife.”