Page 310 of The Brothers at Horseshoe Ranch

“I guess that’s better than you being mad at me.”

“Oh, I’m still mad at you,” I assured him, “but I’m getting over it.”

He walked to the side of the truck and opened the door for me. I looked at him in surprise. “I’m a gentleman, a true gentleman,” he said. “I open the door for ladies.”

“Well, that’s very nice of you. You’re a dying breed.”

“I like to think not.” He closed the door behind me. I reached over and unlocked his door and opened it for him.

“Hey, thanks,” he said as he got into the truck. “That was mighty nice of you.”

“Someone once told me that guys like it when you open the door for them.”

“It’s true. It shows that the woman is thoughtful.” He grinned. “So I guess we both have manners.”

“I guess we do.”

He started the truck, and we headed down the path behind the ranch.

“So you didn’t answer my question. Do you want to get married someday?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It’s not anything I’ve really thought about. I think women are the ones that care about that sort of thing. Men, not so much.”

“I don’t think that’s true. I think that’s actually quite sexist, Chet.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I’ve known guys that have talked about getting married and they seem quite excited. I think many men want to get married someday.”

“I’m sure they do. I can tell you, though, it’s never crossed my mind.”

“It’s never crossed your mind? You’ve never dated anyone who you thought, wow, I might like to marry her someday?” He looked at me and burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?”

I didn’t understand why he was laughing so hard. Was it really a joke to him that someone would want to get married?

“I’ve never been in a relationship where I’ve thought I would want to marry the woman someday. So does that make me an asshole?” He raised his eyebrows at me. “I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. I just think that’s really weird. What’s your longest relationship been?

“Maybe like a year and a half, when I was in college.”

“Okay. So I guess still pretty young. But you never thought to yourself, maybe one day?”

“Not really.” He shook his head. “She knew she wanted to move to LA. She wanted to be an actress. I knew I would never live in LA.” He mock-shuddered. “Ugh.”

“You really don’t like LA, huh?”

“Can’t stand it. All those people, the traffic, the smog. All anyone cares about is money and fame and looks. No, thank you. Give me Montana any day. I like to look at the sky and the mountains. I like to be able to drive my truck and not worry I’m going to sit in traffic for three hours.” He shook his head. “I’m a small-town man, and I like it that way.” He paused for a moment. “Don’t tell me. You want to be an actress and move to LA too?”

“No.” I laughed. “I can honestly say that I’ve never wanted to move to LA. I have wanted to be an actress, but that’s when I was young. When everyone wanted to either be an actress or the president.”

He laughed. “Elementary school, huh?

“Yeah.”

“I think every kid wants to be the president when they’re young. And then when they become an adult, the president is the last job you’d ever want.”

“Well, not for everyone. Not for politicians.”

---