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“Sure you are.” She kept working on his muscles, keeping a respectful distance from anything she shouldn’t be too close to.
One thing, she’d told the truth. He wasn’t getting any younger and he still wanted to find therightwoman to marry, raise a handful of kids, and spend the rest of his life with the woman he loved.
He was likely dreaming an impossible dream and he needed to return to reality. His friends and fellow ranchers would tease the shit out of him if they knew how sappy his thoughts were at the moment.
Thirty-seven today—one more year had flown by.
By the time Lisa had finished working him over, he was almost wishing for a “happy ending,” like some of the girls gave in the trashy massage parlors in Phoenix. He’d never been, but he knew a couple of men who enjoyed it. They’d talked plenty about it, but that wasn’t Carter’s style.
Lisa left the room and he tugged on his jeans, western shirt, socks and boots. He grabbed his Stetson and pulled it low on his brow before he stepped out into the hall.
The real world came back in a hurry. A ninety-minute massage hadn’t been nearly enough.
He stretched, trying to keep that relaxed feeling he had while on the table.
Lisa’s words came back to him. Maybe he did need to have more fun in his life.
He forced it out of his mind, heading across the asphalt of the parking lot that would soon get hot enough that the heat from the sun would seem to curl up like smoke. He’d had an early massage, needing to get back to the ranch. He had plenty of work to do.
Carter headed out to his truck in the parking lot, his mind far away as he opened the door and climbed behind the wheel. The smooth leather seats reminded him of where he was for a moment.
Once he was on the road, he drove in silence for a few minutes then flipped on the radio. Soothing sounds of old country music filtered into the cabin.
Finally. Some real music.
Garth Brooks had a voice that brought him back out of his frown. He pushed Lisa’s words of him not getting any younger from his head and started to focus instead on the surroundings that he had loved for all these years.
He wasn’t sure if the new cook would be there yet, but he knew that something was probably getting planned for his birthday.
It’s probably a surprise.
He hated surprises. Family would keep trying. They loved to do surprises, probably thinking he secretly loved the attention. In reality he would rather have a nice dinner and enjoy being with his family. Nothing special, just being close to the people he cared about.
They always did pull something, though. Treated it like it was something kind of cute.
Ah, hell.They cared about him and that was why they went to all the trouble.
The scenery flashing by his windows was the same he had seen so many times that he barely registered it anymore. Thankfully the loud music helped drown out his thoughts.
Until his phone rang.
He grumbled and hit the button on his steering wheel to answer his phone after recognizing his sister’s picture on the screen.
The music died when the call started. It was right in the middle of one of his favorite Eric Church songs.
“What is it?” There wasn’t much need for standard greetings. Having fought her for the bathroom all those years kind of made that less important in the grand scheme of things.
“How’d it go?” Her grin came over the phone, loud and clear.
“Fine.” He kept his eyes on the road, but wasn’t focusing as much as he should have.
“Thought you’d like it.” She was pleased with herself. She had made a good choice, even if the conversation had turned south on him.
Not getting any younger, my ass.
“Yeah. Went well,” he said. “Feeling pretty relaxed.”
“What’s got you all grumpy?” She sounded concerned and he could imagine it all over her face, wondering if something bad had happened.
