Life is weird.
Charli’s expression softens.
“And for the record?”
I wait.
“You do have a home. The road is where you work.”
I open my mouth.
She cuts me off, “The rodeos are where you work. The motels are where you sleep.”
Then she points toward the ranch house. The barn. The pasture. The mountains. Everything around us.
“This is your home.” Charli smiles. “We are your home. And when you’re all done chasing the thrill, it and all of us will still be here.”
I look toward the porch. Toward my family. Toward laughter drifting through the summer air.
Toward a white sundress glowing in the sunlight.
Charli follows my gaze and adds quietly, “And whoever you bring back with you.”
“I thought you were trying to talk me out of something stupid, not into it.”
Charli laughs. “Oh, I am. The warning still stands. But I know how warnings go in a cowboy’s ear and out the other. Whatever you do, just make sure it’s worth the consequences.”
On that note, she turns and starts toward the house.
Jovie
The whole gang is headed into town for the Wildhaven Summer Concert Series since we’re all off the clock for once.
At least mostly.
A ranch never really sleeps.
There are always horses to feed, fences to repair, cattle to check on, and a hundred other things that need attention.
Tonight though, we’re all free to be normal twentysomethings on a warm Wyoming summer evening.
I end up squeezed into Cabe’s truck with Harleigh, Porter, and Royce.
Royce claimed the front passenger seat before anyone else could get there, leaving the three of us spread across the back seat. Porter grumbled but somehow folded his long legs in behind Cabe.
“You’re rich,” Royce says, looking back at Porter. “Buy your own truck.”
Porter looks offended. “I have a truck.”
“Then why are you in Cabe’s?”
“Because Harleigh told me to be.”
Harleigh grins. “I want him to be able to drink tonight.”
Royce snorts. “You always do what you’re told?”
“You’ve obviously never been in love,” Harleigh says. “He makes me happy now, and I make him very happy later.”
