Good Enough (Meet Me in Montana #3) - Kelly Elliott Page 0,82
mother beamed at me. “The best morning ever!”
“I’ll agree with your mother,” Dad said. “I think this has been one hell of a good Christmas.”
He glanced over the paper and gave me a smile. I returned it, then pushed off the counter. “I’m off to do some chores.”
As I walked out of the kitchen, I heard my father sigh in delight. “Yes, indeed, one hell of a good Christmas.”
After shooting the shit with Jimmy and finishing my coffee, I walked into the barn and came to a stop at the sight in front of me. Dirk was standing there in a yoga pose.
“Okay, what the fuck has happened to you, dude?” I asked, making him jump. “First you cried yesterday, and now you’re doing yoga? Who the hell are you lately?”
“You dickhead, you scared the piss out of me. And for the one-millionth time, I didn’t cry. Something was in my eye at that particular moment!”
“You cried. We all saw it.”
He sighed, then rolled his eyes. “Fine. It was a tear of happiness for Kaylee. You know how she’s like a sister to me. It was for her. And I quickly wiped it away.”
“There was more than one…it…and you didn’t wipe it quickly enough,” I mumbled.
“What are you even doing here this early?” Dirk asked as he balanced once again in a one-legged stance.
“Um, ranching. It’s like downward dog, but it’s called feed the horses,” I replied. As I walked by him, I barely touched his shoulder with the tip of my finger, causing him to go off balance again.
He put his other foot down and quickly recovered.
“What are you doing yoga in the barn for? Why didn’t you do it up in your room? You know if Brock and Tanner see you doing this, you’ll never live it down.”
He huffed. “Please, Brock is the one who told me how good it would be for my balance on the bull.”
I stopped walking and turned to faced him. “Brock does yoga?”
“Did. Past tense. I doubt he does it now.”
With a smile, I secretly contemplated how this little tidbit of info would benefit me. I also tried to figure out how I could gather any evidence of my older brother doing yoga.
“It’d be good for you as well.”
“I don’t ride bulls, Dirk, remember?”
He chuckled, and then switched his pose. “You still need good balance for roping. I can show you a few moves if you want.”
I reached for the feed bucket and answered him over my shoulder. “Hard pass, but thanks for the offer.”
“Your loss. It could improve your time.”
Once I got a few buckets filled with feed, I made my way back out into the stall area. We only had a few horses who were stalled, a mare who was pregnant, a stallion who was healing from a crazy jump over a fence, and foal who had lost her mother during childbirth and was now with a surrogate. “That’s not something I need to worry about anymore,” I stated as I opened the first stall door and poured the grain into the feeding dish.
“Come again?” Dirk said. His voice sounded closer, and I could tell he had made his way over to me.
I faced him. “I’m done. Retiring from roping.”
Dirk’s mouth nearly fell to the floor. “Tanner, you can find another roping partner. Just because Chance doesn’t have his heart in it anymore doesn’t mean you have to give it up.”
I smiled and walked out of the stall, locking it behind me. “I appreciate you giving me advice, Dirk, but my heart hasn’t been in it a hundred percent for a while now. I think I was actually ready to leave before Chance decided he was.”
“What?” Dirk asked, his voice laced with surprise. “But you love it.”
With a nod, I agreed. “I do…I did. But the last few months I’ve discovered I love this more. The ranch. My family. Being home.”
He grinned. “Does a little blonde, green-eyed beauty have anything to do with this decision?”
I returned his grin with one of my own. “She has something to do with it, yes.”
Dirk almost looked relieved. “I’m glad you both realized your attraction to each other like the rest of us did.”
“We’re taking it slow.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I really am happy for you, Tanner.” Dirk walked back over to his mat and got into another weird ass position.
“What about you, Dirk? You ever going to take the leap and settle down with one woman?”