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“I’m wearing a jacket,” he said. “Or we can’t get into dinner.”
“So sequins-dress-nicely.”
“I guess,” Tag said. “I’ve never been out with anyone who wore sequins.”
“Oh, I bet you have,” Opal said.
“When?” Tag challenged, as Opal had known him for less than a year, and he’d lived his whole life.
“A prom date,” Opal said. “Most prom dresses have sequins.”
Tag glanced at Steele, who cut him a look out of the corner of his eye too. “I never went to prom,” he said.
A small smile touched Steele’s face, and he shook his head. “Me either,” he murmured while Opal said, “You’re kidding.”
“Didn’t see the point,” Tag said.
“Didn’t see the point?” Opal repeated, her tone much more scandalized. “Taggart, the point is you would’ve made someone’s whole year.”
His face grew a bit warmer. “Is that what I’m doing for you this Valentine’s Day?” He half-turned away from Steele, wishing he could flirt in private. “Making your whole year?”
“I—why are you whispering?” Opal asked.
“Because I’m not alone.” Tag’s embarrassment grew, and he realized he’d been hunkered down and hunched over. He drew his shoulders back and lifted his head. “It’s almost passed here, honeybee. I’m sure you’ll be able to get to your appointment in no time.”
“I’m worried I won’t be able to get back to the farm.”
“You could stay with Jane,” he suggested.
“I’ll call her.”
Tag put his hand in his pocket and drew out his notebook. “Okay, sweetheart. I have to go, because we’ll have to get out and check a few things before we head home.”
“Okay,” she said. “Thank you, Taggart, for talking to me until I calmed.”
“Anytime, honey.” He hung up, and he pulled the pen out of the coil at the top of the notebook.
“Anytime, honey,” Steele mimicking, his voice just as slow and twangy as Tag’s had been. He chuckled, but not in a mean way. “No wonder she’s smitten with you.”
Tag flipped open his notebook. “Is that what she is?” He found his place and read the sentences he’d put there earlier. Worried about Opal buying land here and building a house, but I’m having a hard time articulating why.
Need to call Flint and Sawyer. Their birthday is coming up soon. Set an alarm for it.
“Seems like it,” Steele grumbled. “I don’t know how you do it. I can’t talk to women.”
Tag was going to write about the hail and his call with Opal, not sure why it needed to go into the notebook. But he’d stopped trying to figure out what got jotted down and what didn’t. When he felt like writing something down, he did it, no questions asked.
He looked over to Steele. “They make you nervous?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said.
“Why’s that?” Tag asked. “You’re a good-looking man. You work hard. Anyone would be lucky to go out with you.”
Steele looked up from his phone, which he texted on. Tag had never seen him actually speak to anyone on it, but surely he called his momma from time to time. Something else Tag needed to do.
“You mean that?” he asked.
“Of course I mean that,” Tag said.
