“Oh, he’s gonna go pro this year,” Cash said. “He has to.”
“That’s what we were all saying last night,” Daddy said. “We had a big party to watch your boy.”
“He’s not my boy, Daddy.”
“You know what I mean,” Daddy said. “Cole and Rachel were here, and it was fun to get to see them together a little bit.”
“Yeah, they’re real cute,” Cash said. “Did they set a date for their wedding?”
“Yeah,” Daddy said under his breath. “It’s going to be down in Texas, because that’s where her family’s from, and in the rodeo off-season, so they’re looking at the end of March.”
Cash immediately thought of Boston. “Wow,” he said, making a mental note to call his cousin after this. He and Cora weren’t set to be married untilApril.
But everything about Cole and Rachel’s relationship had been faster than Cora and Boston. Cash would just need toremind Boston thatfasterdidn’t meanbetter, though it could feel like it sometimes.
He shifted in his seat. “Hey, can I ask you something?” he asked.
“You can ask me anything you want,” Daddy said. “What’s on your mind?”
Cash didn’t know how to put it delicately, so he blurted out, “Lark.”
“Mm-hm,” Daddy said, humming.
Cash didn’t quite know why he’d brought her up, but he wanted to be honest with his father in all things. He’d like to get his thoughts out and have someone he trusted tell him the truth. Though they have their differences, Cash trusted his father explicitly.
“I have really strong feelings for her,” Cash said. “And I don’t want to be a fool, but they feel a lot like love. And I know that sounds ridiculous. It sounds ridiculous to my own ears when I say it out loud.”
He sighed. “But I guess…I’m just wondering how you know when you’ve found the right person, the one you want to spend your life with?”
“And follow up question,” Cash said, plowing on. His daddy said nothing, and Cash could just see him sitting there, silent and still, the way Daddy did when he didn’t like what he was hearing. “How will you know if you can put up with the things you don’t like about them long-term?”
“What don’t you like about her?” Daddy asked.
“Well, like, obviously, we’ve only been together for a short time,” he said. “In the past couple of weeks, we haven’t even been in the same place.”
“Yeah,” Daddy said.
“But I’m more touchy-feely than she is,” he said. “She does acts of service as her love language, and I want to hold her handand kiss her and keep her right close to me. What if I smother her?”
“What else?” Daddy asked, still not offering any advice.
“She likes a plan,” Cash said. “When I don’t really need one. I know there will be work to be done at the cutting operation, and I’ll do the job, but I’m not going to have every minute of my day planned out. I think that drives her crazy. What if…my spontaneity becomes too annoying?”
“Has she said this stuff annoys her?” Daddy asked.
“No.”
“Have you asked her?”
“No,” Cash said. “I mean, I casually mentioned that I was worried I would suffocate her with all my calls and texts while she was in Idaho, and she’s told me I haven’t. But I don’t know, it’s something I’m worried about.”
“So you’re worried abouthernot being able to put up withyou?” Daddy asked.
“Yeah,” Cash said.
His father started to laugh, which so wasn’t the response Cash had been expecting. “Son, no woman can put up with her cowboy, and yet somehow they love us anyway. What I’d be more interested in is if there are things aboutherthatyoudon’t think you can stand long-term.”
Cash frowned, but he let his father continue.
