With five experienced cowboys, that including Renne, the work was quick and easy. All of their work was done by supper time. Kyle's wife had prepared a feast for them for supper, which was a blessing considering how hungry they all were since they had been working since early this morning with only a short break for sandwiches around 11am. Renne almost forgot all about how Swayde wanted to take her out to dinner when she walked inside of the house and saw the large quantity and variety of hot food on the table. Instantly, her stomach growled and her mouth watered in anticipation.

"This looks wonderful, baby." Kyle wrapped his arm around his wife, pulling her close to him and pressed his lips to her forehead despite how filthy he was.

"You go get washed up. You aren't getting a crumb of food till you at least wash your hands." His wife replied, swatting Kyle with the hot pad she was holding in her hand.

When Kyle obeyed, walking to the bathroom, Renne smiled. It was evident that Kyle's wife wore the pants in the relationship, but Renne figured that even though she may come across kind of rough to her husband, she was probably the nicest person you would ever meet in your life.

Renne's theory proved true; after Kyle's wife was done staring down her husband, making sure he actually went to get cleaned up, she walked over to where Swayde and Renne were standing between the kitchen and the table. With a huge smile, Kyle's wife outstretched a hand to Renne. "Hi, I haven't met you. Kyle told me you were coming out to help them today. I'm so glad that there is finally another girl here to help keep the menfolk in check." Taking a breath, she dropped her hand from Renne's. "I'm sorry. You must be Reagan. It's nice to finally put a name to the face that Swayde talks about all the time."

Renne chuckled. "Yeah, that's me. Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, sorry. I'm Maria. Well, come on, y'all. Y'all come find a seat!" Maria led the way to the table, motioning for Swayde and Renne to sit down.

Renne followed just out of respect, but Swayde was the one to break the news. "I'm really sorry, but we can't stay. I already promised Reagan that I would take her out to dinner."

"Nonsense. There's more than enough here. Y'all take some home with you." Maria walked into the kitchen, silently telling the couple to follow her.

"No, really, Maria, it's alright." Swayde replied with a smile on his face. Inwardly, he was so hungry that he wanted to reschedule dinner with Renne and just eat here, but he couldn't do that to her.

Maria stopped what she was doing to place one hand on the counter and another on her hip. "Swayde McAllister. You are not leaving here until you get some food to take home. You have never missed a meal here and I'm not about to let you start. Now, I'm not takin' no for an answer." There was the same tone that Maria had used on Kyle just a minute ago. Rolling her eyes at Swayde, Maria looked at Renne. "Reagan, make him let me give y'all some to take home. I made more than enough so there's no more arguing."

With a smile, Renne looked at Swayde and gave him a shrug. Looking back to Maria, Swayde smiled. "Okay, fine, we will take some home. Thank you."

"Good." Maria turned to pack up the food into plastic containers.

"This looks and smells delicious, Maria. Thanks again. We really appreciate it." Renne smiled, taking the bag of containers in her hand.

"No problem. I'm not sure where my husband ran off to, but he should be back here soon with y'all's checks. Thank you again for coming out and helping. Hopefully y'all were able to have some fun at least." Maria smiled, glancing over her shoulder to search for her husband.

"I had a blast. I have really missed doin' this kind of work." Renne replied with a smile.

"You will have to come over again sometime and we can do a double date supper. You and Swayde and Kyle and I. It would be so much fun." Before Renne could say that it would be fun, but that she was moving back to Montana soon, Maria called for Kyle in the same tone she used earlier. Right as she did, Kyle came out of the downstairs office with paper in his hand. "There you are." Maria said to her husband, wrapping her arms around his waist. Her six foot frame seemed to be the perfect height next to her tall husband.

"Here's y'all's paychecks. Thanks again, y'all. We really appreciate it." Kyle handed a check to both Swayde and Renne before adding, "I gave you guys a little extra. Swayde, you take this young lady out to a nice place for supper, and Reagan, you spend yours on whatever you gals like to. Treat yourself; you deserve it." Kyle smiled at Renne.

His comment sounded so much like what Swayde had told her yesterday that Renne wondered if he had told Kyle to say it. With a glint in her eye, Renne looked up at Swayde. Before she could silently ask him anything, Swayde thanked Kyle and Maria once more, leading Renne out of the house.

Once in the safety of the truck, and back out on the road, Renne smiled at Swayde. "So you talk a lot about me, do you?" There was a teasing tone in her voice as she repeated what Maria had said when she introduced herself.

Swayde grabbed his sunglasses off from the band of his cowboy hat, slipping them over his eyes before he answered Renne. "Of course I talk about you all of the time. Why wouldn't I?" He cast a grin her way.

"I don't know. But this food Maria gave me is making me so hungry. My goodness." Renne looked down at the bag at her feet.

"I'm assuming you want to get supper now instead of going to the store first? You're gettin' kinda hangry again." Swayde's dimples popped out as he kept his eyes on the road, driving with his right on the steering wheel.

"I am not gettin' hangry!" Renne defended, swatting Swayde's arm when he just chuckled in response. "But...if I was getting hangry, I would say yes, supper before grocery shopping is good." Renne stared out her window as Swayde drove closer to town.

Renne loved the comfortable silence in the truck until it was interrupted by Swayde parking his truck in front of a steak house, hopping out to grab the door for Renne. With a grin, Renne thanked him, hopping down from the cab.

"Let's go get some supper. I'm starvin'." Swayde led the way into the restaurant, grabbing the doors for Renne as they walked in.

Thankfully, there was no wait for two people, so they were seated right away. Sliding into the booth, Swayde took off his cowboy hat, setting it on the table. The waitress handed them both menus, but after ordering drinks and an appetizer, Renne snapped her head up from the menu to glare at Swayde.

Feeling the heat of her glare, Swayde peeled his eyes upward. "What is that look for?" He asked, taken a back by her glare.

"You dragged me to Kyle's today because you told me that there was a mustang there. But yet, all we did was work with cattle. Was there actually a mustang?"

Swayde's face turned white. "Oh, Reg, I'm so sorry. I honestly forgot. Yes, Kyle actually did rescue a pregnant mustang. She wandered onto his ranch and got tangled in some barbed wire. He saved her life, and two days later, she had a foal. A very handsome colt. I didn't think we would be as busy as we were today, and I completely forgot to take you over to his foal barn. I'm really sorry. We will have to go back there in a couple of weeks or something."

"That's okay, Swayde." Renne watched him carefully. She had to tell him at some point that she needed to start heading back to her ranch in Montana. No longer did she fully trust Matt to take good care of it while she was gone. "But, Swayde..." She started in a sad voice, reaching across the table to grab his hand, bringing his eyes up to look at her. "I am fixin' to leave in-"

"Here's your appetizer. Are y'all ready to order, or do you still need a few minutes?" The waitress interrupted, setting down the plate of food and pulling out her menu pad.

Swayde, tearing his eyes from the hurt in Renne's, looked at the waitress. "I think we are both ready." He ordered his meal, and Renne did the same. Although his stomach growled loudly, Swayde made no motion to take a bite of their appetizer. What Renne had just said was more important. Folding his arms and resting them on the table, Swayde leaned slightly closer to Renne. "You're leavin'? When?" He knew she would have to leave at some point, but honestly, he had stuffed it in the back of his mind so he could better enjoy the time he had with her.

Renne swallowed her french fry before responding. "Probably in a week." She didn't look at Swayde, knowing if she did, his blue eyes would find a way to convince her to stay here forever.

"A week..." Swayde said quietly. He shot a quick prayer upward before giving Renne a response. Knowing he couldn't tell Renne how badly he wanted her to stay, Swayde settled for, "I understand that you have to go back to tend to your ranch, but just remember, you are always welcome back here."

"Thank you, Swayde." She risked a glance at him. Surprisingly, Renne only saw care and understanding in Swayde's eyes even though she expected to see him pleading, trying to get her to stay in Wyoming with him. Part of her had wished that he had begged her to stay; nearly every part of her wanted to be here, with Swayde, but Renne knew she had to get back to her ranch...and to Matt.

With a quick jerk of a nod, Swayde looked away from Renne to the food on the table. "Let's pray, then dig in. I'm starvin'." For the first time since she was back in Wyoming, Swayde made no motion to hold Renne's hand when he prayed.

Their dinner was quiet, mainly because Swayde and Renne were famished after their long day working at the ranch, but the air was quiet between them because both were deep in thought. Renne knew that whatever had happened between her and Swayde these past few weeks was closure, and that was it. She really did love Matt, even if he was making some bad decisions with her being absent right now. But, she couldn't really blame him though, right? Her time being back here with Swayde had made Renne's heart falter as well, but it was time that she put all of her eggs in one basket and figure out what it is that she really wanted.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

With full bellies, Swayde drove him and Renne to the grocery store down the street from the diner. Grabbing the grocery store door for Renne, Swayde smiled. "I'm so full right now. That was delicious."

"It really was. I'm full too, but the only problem with that now is that we aren't goin' to be in the mood to get a lot of food. Shopping when you're hungry is dangerous, but it's better when all you have at your house is pasta and frozen dinners." Renne teased Swayde, grabbing a shopping cart, leading the way down the aisles.

When they walked down the canned food aisle, Renne grabbed a couple cans of peaches, pineapple and pears, but turned to look at Swayde when he didn't start following her further down the aisle. "Do we need anything else down this aisle?" She stared at Swayde as he slowly walked towards her. "Why are you lookin' at me like that?" Renne cocked and eyebrow, looking at Swayde over her shoulder. He was strutting towards her, running a finger over one of the shelves.

Glancing at Renne, and the confused look she had on her face almost made him smile, but instead, Swayde quickly placed one hand on her back and the other under her knees, lifting her into his arms.

"Swayde, what on earth are you doing?!" Renne chuckled, looking down the aisle to make sure that no one saw them.

"Well, you asked if there was anything else we needed down this aisle." Swayde walked to the side of the cart, about to drop Renne in it.

Grabbing the side of the cart, Renne tried hard to not laugh as she protested to Swayde putting her in the cart. "Swayde, no. Do not put me in there."

"Let's see...we need one Reagan..." Ignoring Renne's pleading, Swayde still lowered her into the cart, then turned to grab a can pf peaches off the shelf. "A can of peaches." Facing Renne, Swayde reached out to hand her the can, but she was giving him a mean scowl. "What? What did I do wrong?" Swayde let out a chuckle.

"I don't want to sit in the cart. I look like a child! And, I already got you some peaches." Renne couldn't contain her smile.

"Oh, sorry about that." Swayde gave the shelf back the can he held in his hand. Instead of helping Renne out of the cart, Swayde made his way to the back of the cart, pushing it forward.

Renne, instead of protesting more, just chuckled, no longer caring if she looked like an idiot riding around in the cart.

Throughout the shopping trip, Swayde would hand things to Renne as the cart got more and more full. Eventually, there was no more room in the cart for any more groceries, so Swayde pushed the cart, in which Renne still sat, to the checkout line.

While they waited for the customer in line in front of them to finish paying, Renne began handing Swayde the items from the cart.

Just as Renne was about to put the last can on the belt, a voice behind her saying her name made her hand stop in mid air. She felt her eyes widen as she recognized the voice behind her, even though she had only heard it once before in her life. Slowly lowering the can onto the belt, Renne looked up to see Swayde not paying attention to what was going on.

Turning around in the cart, Renne looked behind her. It was exactly who she thought it was. "Marjorie, Kenny! Hi!" Renne felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment.

"Reagan, how are you, dear?" Marjorie seemed to ignore the fact that a 24 year old was sitting in the cart.

"I'm good. I don't think y'all have formally been introduced. Swayde." Renne reached out, grabbing his arm.

Turning, Swayde finally saw what was going on. "Oh, howdy, y'all. Y'all must be Miss Marjorie and Kenny. It's nice meeting y'all." Swayde shook their hands. "It's a pleasure." There was that famous swoon worthy smile of Swayde's.

Renne quietly called Swayde's name. When she had his attention, Renne asked him to help her get out of the cart.

Carefully standing, Renne reached; Swayde rested his hands on her hips, carefully holding her against him as he lifted her from the cart, setting her on the ground.

"Thank you." Renne gave Swayde a teasing glare for leaving her in the cart for so long. Focusing her attention back on Marjorie and her husband, Renne said, "It's so good to see y'all again. How are you guys?" Renne and Swayde had met Marjorie and Kenny at a ice cream parlor a couple of weeks ago when her and Swayde took Mallory's kids there. Marjorie had seen Swayde and her with the kids and thought that the kids were Renne's. Continuing the conversation, Marjorie had said that she thought that Swayde and Renne were the cutest couple she had ever seen, that they reminded her of her and Kenny, and that whatever is keeping Swayde and Renne from being together should be ignored. "Your love is true love, and not many people get to be blessed with the kind of love that y'all have." Marjorie had told Renne that day. It was something that Renne thought about daily, yet still wondered if it was true.

"We are doin' well." Marjorie cast a loving look up to her husband. Looking back at Renne, she added, "Well, listen. I know this is only the second or third time that we have met, but if it's okay, I would love to give you my number and maybe we could get a coffee sometime and catch up?"

Without hesitating, Renne smiled, pulling out her phone and handing it to Marjorie to put her number in. "I would love to grab a coffee sometime. However, I am moving back to my ranch in Montana in about a week or so, so hopefully we could meet up sooner rather than later?"

"Of course, dear. Just feel free to text me whenever you want to meet up." Marjorie smiled, giving Renne a hug.

"I certainly will. Thank you so much. It was great seein' y'all again."

"It was great to officially meet y'all." Swayde added a smile, waving as they walked away after paying for the groceries

Once outside, Swayde stopped the cart. "Just like old times?" There was a mischievous look in his eye.

Letting out a groan, followed by a chuckle, Renne agree. "Alright." Standing in front of Swayde, Renne stepped onto the shelf like thing under the cart, holding onto the sides of the metal structure for dear life.

Stepping back behind Renne, Swayde wrapped his arms tightly around Renne, and the cart. "You ready?"

Letting out a giggle, Renne nodded, preparing for Swayde to take off running with the cart like he always used to when they were younger. Checking both ways for any oncoming cars, Swayde made sure it was clear, taking off at a sprint through the parking lot and to his truck.

By the time they arrived at Swayde's truck, both him and Renne were laughing so hard they couldn't talk. It was the same way for most of the drive home, as well. Renne didn't even know what Swayde was saying, but it made her laugh nonetheless.

Once they got home, their laughing had only subsided a little bit. As they grabbed the groceries to take into the house, Swayde said, "I thought you were goin' to kill me after you introduced me to Marjorie, but I didn't offer to take you out of the cart." With a laugh, Swayde added, "You should have seen the look on your face!" Taking all of the bags he was carrying into one of his hands, Swayde opened the screen door of Mamaw and Papaw's house for her. They had a few bags of groceries for Renne's grandparents, then they would be off to Swayde's ranch to drop off the rest.

Renne was laughing too hard to notice the extra vehicle that was parked in front of the house, but when she walked into the kitchen, she wished she had seen who's car it was. But then again, nothing could prepare her for the surprise that was in the kitchen.