The Cowboy Way

Chapter 10-Before and After

-Four POV-

Monday starts like any other. I roll out of bed, shave, shower, and then cook something to eat while coffee brews. Grabbing a large cup, I head out the door and drive over to the ranch. A smile spreads across my face when I think about spending the afternoon with Tris. God, I'm becoming a sap. But, I can't help it. I've never met someone like Tris.

As I pull up to the barn, I clear my head and jump into the morning chores. I don't even realize that the day has flown by until I see Tris standing in front of me. "Hey, what's up?"

She quirks an eyebrow at me, but doesn't say anything. This causes me to glance at my watch. "Shit. It's 4:00 already?" Chuckling slightly, Tris just nods.

"If you want to go get Cisco," I tell her, "I'll grab the tack." Still not saying anything, Tris turns around and walks toward Cisco's pen. I find myself watching her retreating figure before I shake my head to try and clear it.

By the time I have all of the tack out, Tris has returned with Cisco. We work together to quickly get him saddled. Tris finally breaks her silence, "So what were you working on that caused you to lose track of time?"

"Nothing significant. There are always things to be done and often when you start working on one thing, it leads to another, which leads to another. You know how it goes." Cisco is saddled and ready, but unlike yesterday, I was not able to lunge him to warm him up first. The warm up will need to be part of Tris' practice. I grab the reins and lead Cisco and Tris to the arena.

I have them work through the basics so they can get to know each other better. I try to change up what they are doing so they are both learning, but not getting bored. The training goes quickly and before we realize it, 6:00 has rolled around. I walk to the arena gate and hold it open so she can ride through.

As we head back to the barn, me walking and her riding, she smiles at me and suggests, "Go feed. I'll get him cleaned up and put away."

"You sure?" I ask.

"Yep. Go."

With that I veer off and work on feeding everyone. I'm just finishing up when Tris walks up. Thinking about how feeding yesterday went, I start to smile. Looking at Tris, I tell her, "Thanks for not helping tonight. I was able to finish on time."

Tris snorts out a sharp laugh. Grinning at me, she says, "You're welcome."

This makes me laugh. "Tell you what. Since you helped me by not helping me, why don't I pay you back for last night's dinner?"

Tris looks at me carefully. Finally she asks, "I'm not sure. I can't tell if this is just dinner or if it is the start of a bad joke."

"While I may later regret not using this time to play a joke on you, I was being serious about just getting together to eat. Plus, you can look over my DVDs to see if there is anything you want to borrow." We have both been walking toward my truck. When we get there, I turn and look down at Tris questioningly.

Tris sees my look and looks awkwardly at the ground. "Come on. You know you need a break from studying."

"Okay, okay," she relents. "But only if you have Lords of the Rings on DVD. I've been wanting to re-watch it lately."

Smirking, I tell her, "Theatrical version or extended? I have both." Her head pops up and I see a large smile on her face. "Do you want a ride or do you think you can find the place?"

If anything, her smile gets larger as she replies, "Oh, I think I can find it. Assuming you weren't lying to me about where you live."

I shake my head. "I'll get started on dinner."