Page 44 of Dusty Spur Ranch Cowboys

I’ve always liked that.

Mobility means freedom. Freedom means nobody gets the chance to leave me behind because I’m already halfway to the next town before they can try.

“Where’d you grow up?”

The question pulls me out of my thoughts.

I look across the table at Emmett. Sadie is still busy coloring beside us, tongue poking out in concentration while she carefully adds glitter pen details to Rover the dragon.

“My hometown?” I ask.

Emmett nods. “Or whichever place feels closest.”

I laugh softly. “That answer’s a lot harder than it should be.”

“That’s usually a sign it’s interesting.”

“Or a sign it’s messy.”

He smirks. “I grew up with rodeo people. Messy doesn’t scare me.”

Fair point.

I close my notebook and tuck the pen between the pages.

“My mom was a singer too.”

His eyebrows rise. “Really?”

“Yep. She got successful when I was pretty young. Once that happened, we moved constantly. Tours, temporary houses, hotels, rental properties. If we stayed somewhere longer than a year, it felt permanent.”

“That sounds kind of amazing.”

“It was sometimes.”

He catches the wording. “Sometimes?”

I smile. “Told you it’s a messy question. I mean, I loved seeing new places,” I admit. “New cities, new food, new people. I got to see things most kids never do.”

“But?”

“But eventually every place starts feeling temporary. You stop unpacking all your stuff because you’ll just have to pack it again. You stop getting attached because you’ll be leaving soon anyway.” My fingers wrap around my coffee mug. “After a while, it gets easy.”

“Leaving?”

I nod. “Really easy.”

Emmett studies me for a second before asking, “What about your dad?”

“Never met him. My mom and I were always enough,” I say with a shrug. “At least that’s what she used to tell me.”

“Were you angry about it?”

I think about it before answering. “When I was younger? Sure. I used to imagine all kinds of reasons why he wasn’t around.”

“And now?”

I look out the window toward the pasture. “Now I don’t spend much time thinking about him.”