He’d have one hell of a drive every day, back and forth, but he’d do it if that’s what she wanted.
And there it was, his thoughts and plans turning to make her happy. Sure, he’d been accommodating and generous with other women. Now he thought, “What would Liz want?” before he made decisions.
He didn’t want to fast-track their relationship just because they’d been friends forever, but he was getting impatient to move things to a more permanent status.
Which led his thoughts to rings and vows and a life of making decisions together. And that led him to thoughts of how he didn’t want to screw this thing up because it felt too important.
He didn’t know what his life looked like without Liz in it, and he didn’t want to find out.
Tate jumped in the truck, searched the floorboard and seat but came up empty on his phone. He drove back to the stables anxious to find it so he could call Liz, check in, and make plans for tonight. Maybe he could convince her to come out to the ranch for dinner and a sunset ride. He’d kiss her under the stars. And beg her to stay the night.
At this point, he was desperate to be with her.
He pulled into the yard and sighed with relief to see Declan. He parked the truck and met his brother in front of the stable doors.
“I can’t catch a break.”
Tate stopped in his tracks and stared at Declan. “What’s wrong?”
“The guy I hired to help out got a better offer.”
Tate shrugged that off. “You’ll find someone else.”
Declan glared. “It took me three weeks to find this guy. We need help now.”
Tate understood Declan’s worry. They had fallen behind and spent every day trying to catch up and keep the operation running smoothly, but taking care of a herd the size that they ran on the ranch required more hands than they had right now.
“I’m happy to help any way I can. Let me call a few guys I know and put out some feelers. Maybe something will come of it. Right now though, I need to borrow your phone.”
“Did you forget to charge yours again?”
“No. I can’t find it.” He accepted Declan’s phone and hit the speed dial to call his as he walked into the stables. He didn’t hear it ringing before voice mail picked up. “Maybe it’s up at the house.” Until he went up there, he used Declan’s phone to call Liz.
Strange, it went right to voicemail. “Hey sweetheart, it’s me. I lost my phone. Call me back at the ranch number or Declan’s. I can’t wait to see you tonight. Missed you today.”
Tate handed the phone back to Declan. “If she calls back, find me. I’m going to check up at the house for my phone, shower, then head over to see her.”
“Tate, we need to talk about the ranch and prioritize what needs to be done.”
“I hear you, man, but I need to see Liz.”
“First Drake, and now you.”
Tate cocked his head and stared at Declan. “What does that mean?”
“A woman walks into your lives and you ditch work for them and leave me to handle everything.”
“I just spent all fucking day working my ass off to check things off your list. If you’ve got something that needs to be done right this minute, I’ll do it, but I’m worried about Liz. That damn ex of hers hasn’t gone away quietly and without my phone, I don’t know if she called today.”
Declan threw up his hands and let them fall. “Fine. Go check on her. I’ve got this.” He turned and walked down the stable alley to the back office.
Tate nearly went after him. Declan was under a lot of pressure, mostly because he shouldered the responsibility for the ranch and had a hard time letting loose the reins to someone else. But the need to talk to Liz outweighed Declan’s concerns about the ranch. They’d been dealing with those for months now. Declan could wait. His need to see Liz couldn’t.
He searched the house for his phone and came up empty, even when he called it from the house phone to see if it ringed in one of the rooms. He really couldn’t believe he’d lost it. He could have sworn he tucked it in the front pocket of his jacket when he headed into town this morning to pick up their order at the feed store. He remembered