Page 32 of Christmas with the Cowboy
“Ready?” he asked as he headed to the vehicle.
“I am.” Reed patted the fence and the colt danced. “Go easy on my dad, okay?” he muttered to the animal before starting after Henry.
The colt blew hard, and Reed let out his own long breath.
Daughters, fathers, old flames. He was going to be gray before his time.
*
“This one’s inbad shape.” Lex frowned down at the disintegrating paper she held, then carefully set it on the “extra care” table before reaching back into the box in front of her.
Lex Keller was a clone of her father in many ways, and although Trenna was doing her best not to notice such things, it was kind of impossible not to in these close quarters. The girl’s profile was what really got her, along with the way her eyebrows knitted together as she studied the paper she held before determining which category to include it in. Pure Reed, there.
“Another letter from Miss Abercrombie,” Lex said, holding up an envelope.
“We’ll read it later,” Audrey promised.
It appeared that Reed’s great-great-grandfather had arranged for a mail-order bride to travel from Scotland, and Scottish history was Lex Keller’s jam.
They’d agreed to sort first by type and year, then dive into the meat of the matter. Lex, who’d managed to lay claim to a box with more interesting contents than the ones Audrey and Trenna were working on, wanted nothing more than to sit on the floor and read the correspondence she’d unearthed, but had grudgingly agreed to do things Trenna’s way.
“By the way,” Audrey said, as she set some tax receipts from 1919 on the table, “my book club is having a get together tomorrow evening at the library. Lex and I are going. You could join us if you wanted.”
“I’d love to,” Trenna said honestly, “but I have a date.”
“A date?” Lex gave her a curious look. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”
“Not all dates are with boyfriends,” Trenna said mildly.
“Is this one?”
“A group of us are going out.” Jill had pinged her while she was talking to Reed, which had put her off her game. She could think of no other reason for agreeing to a group date in which she would partner the odd man out. She’d wanted to go out for drinks, but not like this.
It’s good to meet new people.
Right.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Lex asked. Audrey gave the girl a look, and Lex shrugged before reaching back into the box. “I’m just curious. If I’m going to live in the community, I should know the dynamics.”
“No dynamics here,” Trenna said with a smile. “How about you? Anyone special?”
“I wish,” the girl said.
“There’s so much time for those things later,” Audrey murmured.
“After I’ve graduated college and gotten my first paycheck?” Lex asked.
“Exactly. Trenna has to leave soon, so let’s get at this.”
A timer sounded in the kitchen, and Lex carefully set down the papers she’d been sorting. “I’ll get it, Grandma.”
“Thank you,” Audrey called after her granddaughter. She set an old Montana road map on the desk where they were keeping non-ranch-related items. “Do you have plans for the holidays, Trenna?”
A red flag popped up at the older woman’s question, but Trenna ignored it. “Probably something with the people I just had Friendsgiving with.” Jill and a few of the teachers at the community college.
“You didn’t go home?” This time it was Audrey asking the personal question, but Lex looked equally curious.
“Dad and Dawn went to visit her son and his family in Santa Barbara, so I was at loose ends.” She glanced over at Audrey. “Thank goodness for friends, eh? We had a great time.”
