“Mama told Daddy that you had spent some time cleaning the tack room,” Cody said. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It was either that or clean the bunkhouse, and the tack room needed it worse,” she told him. “I was working through some issues.”

“Get it all settled?” Cody asked.

“Not one bit,” she answered, “but I’ve got until Monday, and we’ll talk about it when you get home.”

“Oh…kay.” He hoped that this talk wasn’t to tell him that she’d found a house in town to rent. He didn’t want her to move out of the bunkhouse. “Will you save me a hug to go with the talk?”

“Of course,” she said. “I meant it when I said I missed you. Mia has arrived. I should go now.”

“Good night…love,” he said.

“Good night, Dr. Cowboy,” she fired back.

He could have talked with her until midnight about anything or nothing, teasing or serious, and he felt just a little cheated when they had to end the call after only a few minutes. He watched a couple of reruns on television and then went to bed. The next morning, he woke up five minutes before six to find his father already up and dressed.

“You going to sleep all day, son, or are we going down to the restaurant for some breakfast and then get on out of this place? I’m ready to go home,” Sonny said.

Cody sat up and rolled the kinks out of his neck. “Me too, but you’ve still got a couple more appointments today. The last one should be over by noon.”

“I’m glad these things are only once a year,” Sonny groaned. “I don’t like hotels and being away from my own bed and pillow.”

Cody thought of all the places where he had slept on a canvas cot without a pillow, maybe catching a couple of hours of sleep at a time. He would have been so glad for a spotlessly clean, warm or air-conditioned hotel some of those nights.

“Give me time to take a shower to wake me up, and then we’ll go get some breakfast,” Cody said with a yawn. “How hungry are you?”

“I could probably eat half a ham and two dozen eggs,” Sonny said with a wide grin. “I’ve been up for an hour and already had that last slice of pizza and talked to your mother. She’s making me an apple pie, and we’re going back to our regular way of doing things. I love all you kids, but I like my regular routine.”

Cody made his way to the bathroom. “Me too, Dad.”

“Think anything will ever come of whatever this is between you and Stevie?” Sonny asked.

Cody turned on the shower and adjusted the water, then stepped back to the door. “Who knows? She’s a complicated woman.”