"Hey, where are you?" he said when she answered.
"I'm on my way. I’m almost there."
"I thought you'd be here."
"I had to go back to my trailer, and I was all the way at the stream—you're early, anyway. You said thirty minutes, and it's been twenty-five."
"I drove fast," he said.
"I'll be there in two minutes," she said.
He went to the door that looked out toward her trailer. He saw her walking his way from a distance. The lights were still turned down in the barn, and he could see her better than she could see him. He wanted to go to her, but there were people at the ranch, and he knew it was best to greet her once she made it into the barn.
"Hey, why didn't you go to Butte?" was the first thing he said to her as she approached the door. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and she had her hair half-up. She was adorable, and he felt like he simply had to have her. He didn't know where to start, so he had asked the most obvious question.
She shrugged. "Because I wasn't sure if I was going in the first place." She paused and shook her head, smiling and glancing away from him as she walked inside. "I was just going there to get the attention of some guy, anyway. It's dark in here."
"What did you say?" he said, coming inside and letting the door close behind them.
"I said it's dark in here."
"Before that."
"You know what I said. You heard me."
"No, I didn't."
"I was just joking around."
The two of them were inside the barn now.
"Did you say it was about a guy?" he asked.
She grinned at him and pushed at his shoulder. "You said you didn't hear me." Their eyes met. They had looked at each other earlier, but not like this. Their eyes really met this time.
"Who's the guy?" he asked.
She shrugged, messing with him. "You don't know him."
"I better know him," he said.
He wanted to take her into his arms, and he didn't know how to do it. He wanted to hold her so badly he feared he might crush her.
"I saw your sister at the restaurant, and I thought she was you."
She smiled and shook her head. "Don't tell her that. She can't wait for this to be over so she can cut and color her hair. Did you talk to her?"
"Yes. I touched her back."
She smiled at him, those white teeth, that beaming smile, lighting up her face. His heart was racing.
"You did not."
He grinned. "I did."
"Did you think she was me? What did you say?"
"Yes, I thought she was you, and I just pretended like the whole thing was an accident. I apologized."
