He dialed Merry Anna’s number, then hung up. It took him two more times before he actually pressed send and let the call connect.
“Hey, Adam. Everything okay over there?” she asked.
“Yeah. Can’t a guy just call?”
She snickered. “Do you want to borrow a cup of sugar?”
“Maybe.” He laughed. “No. I’m trying to come up with that backup plan I promised I’d be working on.”
“I’m sure it’s hard to sleep with all this on your mind. Word’s whisking through town about Zan.”
“Good. The sooner everyone knows, the sooner they can talk about something else. That’s the good thing about small towns. Something else will happen tomorrow to replace yesterday’s news.”
“I guess that’s a good thing.”
“It is if you’re the topic,” he said. “I wanted to tell you that I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me lately.”
“It’s been my pleasure.”
“Yeah, but no, I mean…look, I know some people have been speculating”—he gulped back his ego—“that maybe Iwas spending a lot of time with you just to have you help with Zan. Merry Anna, I’m a lot of things, but I’m not like that.”
“I know that, Adam.”
It wasn’t as though he and Merry Anna had slept together or anything. She wasn’t the kind of woman you treated like that. He knew that right off. She wasn’t like most of the women he met—the ones who just wanted to tame a cowboy. He’d learned quickly that most girls who wanted to be with cowboys had no interest in what real cowboy life was like. They didn’t want to deal with the farm, mucking stalls, and all the dirty work that went with it.
“I miss you when you’re not around,” he said. “I don’t even know what I’m trying to say, and right now I’m out of promises, but I do want to spend time with you. I have to ride tomorrow night.”
He heard her sigh.
“I know,” he said before she could say anything. “I’m going to make a decision. I’m talking to someone tomorrow. I think I have a good option.”Ihopeit’s a good one.“Merry Anna, I was going to have someone else watch Zan here while I rode, but it might be my last ride.”
“Really?”
There was no mistaking the surprise in her voice. Or maybe it was hope. “I don’t know for sure, but if it is, I’d like for y’all to be there. You and Zan.”
“I didn’t know people were talking about us,” she said. “That makes me feel a little foolish.”
“Don’t feel that way. It’s all my fault. I’m sorry. I promise they are wrong. It’s not like that. I’d never use you like that.”
She hesitated. “I guess we prove them wrong, then.”
“I’d like that chance.”
“Yeah, I’ll go. But I can’t watch you do this over and over, not under these circumstances. You can’t—”
“I know, I know. This is a one-night thing. One and done. I won’t ask again.”
“Okay, I’m holding you to it.”
That was fair. “What time will you be home from work?”
“I’m opening tomorrow, so I’ll be home around three thirty.”
“Can Zan and I pick you up at the bunkhouse at four?”
“I’ll be ready.”
He hung up the phone.Please let everything fall into place.
