Page 33 of Lucky Cowboy

She next sent him an image of it, and he grinned at it for two solid minutes until she texted him back.

Val: Please note that I’m sending you another one, as well. Bet you get mine before I get yours. *fingernail painting emoji*

Mark: You’re on. *thumbs up emoji*

The moment he got off work, he jotted down a quick letter and mailed it off. Suddenly, there was a sense of play and lightness to their relationship, and frankly, that had never been there before. Everything they’d encountered together from day one had involved aggressive ex-boyfriends, sick fathers, clogged schedules, and tons of distance. It felt wonderful to have something between them that they could enjoy for once.

He had a mixed reaction to receiving Val’s second missive the subsequent day. Glee at having another memento from her that he could keep, and the slightest flutter of disappointment that he’d lost the bet. Not that he cared all that much. This was pretty much a win-win all the way around. So, he fessed up.

Mark: Looks like you won.

He sent her the image of the unopened letter.

Val: What? You haven’t opened it yet? I tore into yours in one second flat.

That made his heart glow.

Mark: Fine, fine. I’m opening it as we speak.

He did, too, delighted to find more of that flowery writing of hers.

You should know that even though I was with Biggs for five long years—and with-him with him for three of them—this relationship, fraught as it’s been with absence is already leaps and bounds better. I’m so glad I met you. I’m so glad that you showed me how real men without massive chips on their shoulders treat those they’re dating.

His throat tightened at this. Not that he’d ever cop to it. As the feeling passed, his phone calendar dinged, notifying him of a reminder coming the next month. A week’s worth of paid time off. Yeah, right. If precedence stayed true to form, this year with be like every other in that his time off fell through.

It was why he never took any of his vacations. That first year when he was still a deputy sheriff, he’d attempted to, but something had come up. He’d been required to go in. Then, it’d happened the next year, too.

Such was the life of a small-town sheriff when staff was minimal and often, you were the only person trusted to handle the job. But, if he enlisted the assistance of Rusty this time around, he might be able to pull it off. Maybe. Regardless, he held his breath as he called Val directly over Zoom. He needed to see her face to face, even if it involved the cold touch of technology and a phone screen.

“Hey, there you are,” she greeted him, her amber eyes twinkling as she smirked at him with lips painted a delicate pink. He wished he could kiss them. What he chose to do. however, was get straight to the point.

“Tell me what’s on the docket for you in precisely four weeks.”

She blinked, disappearing from his screen presumably so she could look it up. Then, she was back. “Well, I have a rodeo on the fifth and on the sixteenth. Why?”

“The fifth and the sixteenth?” He had to doublecheck.

“Yeah.”

“So you’ll be in Billings on those dates in the middle?”

“That’s right. Then Dad is released from his skilled nursing care, so I’ll have to stay local again.”

“How would you feel about having a visitor? Or even visiting me?”

Her eyes became wide as saucers. “Are you telling me that you’re available at the same time that I am?” She sounded nervous, and he had to confess that it did seem too good to be true.

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

She squealed, jumping up and down. “I can’t believe it.”

“Me, either,” he admitted. “I’m almost afraid to say it too loud.”

She giggled, and he chuckled right back at her, her euphoria escalating his.

“Okay, so it’s a date. You coming here first, and am I going there?”

Her willing attitude had him grinning. He didn’t even know if he could stop. “I don’t care. How about you come here?”

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