living in a permanent place wasn’t going to be the only brand new thing Tex would have to learn how to do this summer.
He’d always had Bryce with him in the summers, and he’d loved taking his son around to various cities in the US as he traveled with Country Quad, the family band he’d founded and headed for the past fifteen years.
He smiled at his son and said, “Maybe something that isn’t country.”
“Are you insane?” Bryce asked with a chuckle. “There is no music other than country that’s worth listening to.” The twangs of guitar came through the speakers, and Tex did love a good guitar. He’d been playing since he was four years old, and he never felt quite as at-home as he did on a front porch with an instrument in his hands.
Even better was when Bryce sat next to him and sang the songs Tex had written over the years. Otis, one of his brothers in the band, wrote a lot of music and lyrics for the family band, and Tex admired his brother’s gift.
Tex shifted in his seat, a question on his mind. He reached to turn down the radio, which also drew Bryce’s attention. “You sure you want to stay here for senior year?” he asked.
Bryce looked away, out his passenger window. The boy had been growing facial hair for over a year, and he hadn’t shaved since the last day of school, over a week now. Tex had landed in Boise to pick up his son, and they’d spent a handful of days there getting everything packed and loaded into the truck or the trailer currently attached to the hitch behind them.
“Yeah, Dad,” he said.
“You never have told me why,” Tex said as gently as he could. “Your mother’s had you for years.”
“Only because you traveled so much,” Bryce said. “I came over to your place on every break when you were home.”
“Yeah.” Tex had traveled three hundred days a year, and while he maintained a residence in Boise, he’d sold that house and rented one in Coral Canyon, Wyoming. He glanced around at the town, noting all the changes. “Wow, look at this medical center.”
He’d brought Bryce to his hometown before, when his father had announced he was going to sell the family ranch. Tex had seven brothers, but none of them had felt a deep love for Wyoming land, and no one had wanted the ranch a decade ago, Tex included.
They’d all converged to help Daddy pack, clean, and move out of the farmhouse and into a more sensible place in the middle of town. He lived with men and women his own age now, without any yardwork, animals to be fed three times a day, or howling winds and snowstorms to navigate to the barn.
Tex actually missed the cowboy life, and he wanted to get back to it. The house he’d rented sat on the other side of town from the ranch where he’d grown up, and he suddenly decided to drive by the farmhouse he’d known so well.
“How are you feeling? Need to use the bathroom? Can we drive by the farmhouse?”
“Sure,” Bryce said. “I’m good.”
Tex watched the new developments pass by the window, and he saw several new restaurants along this extension of Main Street. “Looks like some great new places to eat,” he said.
“Let’s try ‘em all,” Bryce said, referring to a summer he and Tex had spent together a few years ago, where they’d tried as many new restaurants as they could, in as many towns and cities as possible.
“Deal,” Tex said with a smile. He passed the road that led back to the high school, then City Hall, then the library. Tex couldn’t remember the last book he’d read, and he wondered if he should make a list of things he wanted to try this summer.
Reading would go on it. Getting back to his cowboy roots would too. Writing a new song, getting and riding a new horse, and hiking would definitely be on it.
“Maybe we should make a summer list,” he said, glancing over to his son. “Things we haven’t done it a while we want to do, or things around Coral Canyon we can’t do anywhere else.”
“Like the balloon festival,”
“Yeah,” Tex said, grinning. “Like that.”
“I heard there’s a police dog academy here,” Bryce said. “And they do tours.”
“We’ll look it up when we get to the house.” Tex made another turn, and the road led past a couple of office buildings and then