"Alright, that should do it." Swayde double checked everything on the trailer hitch to ensure that it was properly hooked up.

        Renne stepped around from behind the trailer where she was double checking the latches, and making sure the horses were secured safely. "I can't believe that this is goodbye." She let out a deep breath, taking in the scenery of the ranch that was once her home. 

        Looping an arm over Renne's shoulders, Swayde encouraged, "This isn't goodbye; it's just 'till next time'." Facing his girlfriend, resting a hand on each of her shoulders, he reminded her, "We will be back here, Reggie. Moving the headquarters back to Alpine Ridge really is the best decision for you, for us, and for Healing Hearts. God doesn't waste anything, so feel confident in yourself that you are makin' the right decision." 

       "You're right. I am just glad that I have you here with me. I could not do any of this without you, babe." Renne stood on her toes as she leaned forward, wrapping her hands around Swayde's neck, pulling him in for a kiss. Tapping his chest after their kiss, she grinned, "Time to get this show on the road." After one more quick peck on the lips, Renne pulled away, walking to her truck. Opening the truck door, Renne's eyes looked over the door as she took in the scenery, making sure she got one last good look at the place that she had built form the ground up. This place had been home for her for five years. Though it had many negative memories, it also held many good memories. 

         With a whisper, Renne sighed out, "Goodbye. I will see you again." Closing her eyes and opening them again, Renne slid into her truck, starting the ignition, and buckling her seat belt. Giving Swayde a thumbs up, Renne dropped the old Ford into drive, lightly pressing on the gas pedal as she made her way down the driveway. Not once did she look backwards, not even to adjust her mirror. This was now a time of moving forward, and moving on, not looking back. 

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

          Renne had been humming along to a song on the radio when her phone's ringtone played. After a couple taps of a button, the call was answered, and on speaker. "Yellow."

          "Yellow to you too, cutie. Nice butt." Swayde chuckled from his seat in the old Ford behind Renne. 

          Chuckling, Renne peeked out her side mirror, looking back at the driver of the truck behind her. "You're a goofball. How is the old girl doing?" She trusted her boyfriend to not drive the old Ford home if he thought there would be problems. 

           "It's doing great, actually. Just louder than that truck, but you know I would never complain about a loud truck." 

            "Good. And the horses?" That was Renne's biggest concern. At the start of this trip, she wasn't expecting to bring home more horses, but once she got to her ranch, it only made sense to bring her babies home with them. Besides, it saved an extra trip back to Montana.

       "They're doing great. Safe, sound, and quiet." Swayde ran a hand over the worn steering wheel, giving his knuckles a chance to relax from being tightly wrapped around the wheel just a minute before. "I really do like this truck. Maybe I should buy it off you and keep it for myself. We could always use another truck around the ranch."

       Renne rolled her eyes, grinning as she glanced in her rearview mirror. "Whatever you want, babe. But you don't need to pay me a penny for her. Considering you bought all new tires and did all those repairs. Heck, I'll even throw in the trailer, too."

         "Deal!" Swayde agreed without hesitation. "But technically, I didn't pay for the tires."

          "Yeah yeah." Renne flipped on her turn signal, checking the lane three times before maneuvering the truck over to the left to avoid a broke down truck on the birm.

         "Hey you hungry for lunch yet? I'm starving." Swayde asked after a few seconds of silence.

         "How are you hungry? We haven't even been on the road for more than an hour?!" Renne couldn't help but chuckle. The way Swayde could scarf down food and never gain a pound was still a mystery to her.

          "Yes, this is true, but it has been several hours since we even ate anything for that snack you called breakfast." As an exit sign came up, Swaydr squinted, leaving over the steering wheel to read the restaurant options. "Ooh why don't we stop here? They have some good food options."

       "Yeah, but no place to park one trailer, let alone two. Sorry, cowboy, keep driving. There's a trucker's station about 60 miles up that would be a good place to stop. Think you can wait another 50 or so minutes?"

         "Only for you." Swayde audibly smiled. He liked teasing his woman, if it meant getting that bossy rise out of her. 

    
            About an hour later, the couple turned off the freeway, pulling their trucks up to the fuel pumps to top off their tanks of gas before parking them on the other side of the building in the truck parking lot. Shutting off the ignitions, Swayde and Renne walked hand and hand into the big truckers stop. This particular one housed two different fast food restaurants, in addition to the usual snacks and food and drinks that most of these places had. Various sueveniors lined the shelves and counters while tshirts, hoodies, and ball caps decorated the walls.

       "Man, this has got to be one of the nicest stops I have been at." Swayde remarked.

        "Yeah it was actually built maybe 3 or 4 years ago? I usually stop here whenever I had to make a long haul out this way." Renne filed into line behind a few other people who are waiting to order food.

       After 10 minutes, Renne and Swayde had ordered their food, taking the bags with them to a small two person table against one of the walls of windows.

       Only a few minutes later, the couple tossed their trash, Swayde bought a few road trip snacks, while Renne looked around at all the fun sueveniors and trinkets, then they were back on the road, back on their way to Montana. 

       The trip didn't seem to take as long as usual, but being weighted down with fully loaded trailers, Renne and Swayde didn't want to push the trucks too hard, so they stayed in the slow lanes, trekking on, taking their time making their way back to the ranch.

      As Renne pulled in first to Mamaw and Papaw's, a grin couldn't help but tug on her lips. A feeling of relief and comfort swept over her, giving her a feeling that she was truly home. This was where she belonged, without a doubt, and there was no question that Renne was doing the right thing, moving back here.

       Glancing down at the clock in the truck, Renne saw that it was already nearly dinner time. She hadn't realized that her and Swayde had been driving for that long, but apparently they had. After their initial stop for lunch, the pair did not have to stop again, surprisingly. The urge to get home must have been stronger than they originally thought.

        As Swayde and Renne parked their trucks and trailers, backing them into their respectable spots, Renne noticed the screen door on the porch open. Mamaw walked outside, waving excitedly at the couple. Though she was far away, Renne could see the whites of her grandma's teeth, only proving how huge her smile was. 

      Renne smiled and waved, walking over to the horse trailer to help Swayde unload the new horses. "Mamaw's awfully excited to see us." Renne chuckled. Oh, how she loved her family.

        Swayde smiled and waved back to Mamaw who was watching the couple, excited for them to be home. "Where do you want these guys?" Swayde clicked his tongue to the horses, asking them to back out of the straight load trailer.

        "Let's just put them in the side paddock for now. I'll start introducing them to the other horses tomorrow." Renne hooked up a lead rope to one of her horse's halters, leading him, alongside of Swayde and the other horse, to the pasture.

        Unclipping both of the horse's halters, Renne and Swayde turned out the horses into the small green field. Smiling, happy her horses were back home here, Renne took both of their halters and lead ropes back to the truck, setting them in the cab, before heading up to the house to greet her grandmother who still stood on the porch.

       "Hey, Mamaw." Renne's tired body dragged up the porch steps, pulling her beloved grandma into a hug.

         "Hey, baby." She walked to Swayde. "We missed y'all." Mamaw wrapped her arms around Swayde before dropping them to her side. "Well, I hope y'all are hungry. I made dinner! Y'all are just in time." She announced, almost too excitedly.

         Looking at her boyfriend, Renne gave Swayde a look. Honestly, she was still full from lunch, but she knew better than to turn down her grandma's home cooked meal. Renne was positive that she had been planning it since yesterday.

         "Good thing, too, cause I'm starvin'!" Swayde announced, without surprise, for both him and his girlfriend.

       Walking into the house, he removed his cowboy hat, leaving it on the bench by the door. Taking in a deep breath, his nostrils filled with the aroma of Mamaw's house. Though he couldn't pinpoint exactly what she had cooked for dinner, Swayde could already tell it was going to be delicious.

          Pot roast, warm, fresh baked sourdough rolls, sweet corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and fresh salad covered the table. Renne smiled as she took a seat at the table. Like always, Mamaw prepared a feast. 

       Taking Swayde's plate, Mamaw loaded it up with a hearty portion of the tender pot roast, drizzling it with the hot juice before handing the plate back to Swayde. "Now, make sure to save y'allselves some room. I have fresh apple pie in the oven, and some vanilla bean ice cream in the freezer to go with it." Mamaw smiled as she doled out more roast to Papaw, Renne, and herself.

          Swayde wiped his mouth with a napkin, sitting back in his chair. Rubbing a hand over his stomach, he wrapped the other around the back of Renne's chair. "Well, Mamaw, thank you for dinner. Everything was delicious, as usual."

         "Are you sure you two got enough? There's plenty more here." Mamaw lifted up a spoon full of taters. "Renne, darling, you hardly ate anything."

       "I'm good, Mam. Thank you." Renne responded, feeling more and more full the longer she looked at all the food.

       "Swayde, do you want another piece of pie? I know it's your favorite." Mamaw offered.

       Swayde held out a hand almost as if to push away the thought of another bite of food. "No, thank you. It was out of this world, but if I eat another bite of anything, I am surely going to burst."

          "Oh, that's alright. At least take some leftovers home with you tonight." Mamaw offered.

         "Now that, I will do. Thank you." Swayde placed his cloth napkin back on the table, running a hand over it before looking to Renne, then back to the table. "I'll help you clean up, Mamaw." Standing, Swayde began gathering plates and silverware. 

      Mamaw waved a hand in front of her face. "Oh nonsense. Y'all have had a long week. You go relax; Papaw and I will clean up everything."

         Swayde knew she would say that, as she always does, but Swayde was raised better than that. "Well at least let me take everything out to the kitchen for you." His hands were already stacked full with dirty plates, silverware, and a couple napkins.

          Mamaw nodded with a smile, following Swayde out to the kitchen. Both her hands carefully carried the plate of pot roast back into the kitchen. Immediately, Mamaw began searching for a couple plastic containers with lids for Swayde to take some leftovers home in. 

         With four sets of hands, dinner was quickly cleaned up, and the group made their way into the living room to sit and catch up for a few minutes.

         "So," Mamaw started, sitting down in her favorite chair. "How was your trip?" A smile rose on her lips; she was beyond happy to have her granddaughter and Swayde home. "What was your favorite part? Did you get to do anything fun?"

        "It was good." Renne scooted closer to Swayde on the love seat. Wrapping an arm around Renne, Swayde began softly rubbing her shoulder. "The best part was just getting to show Swayde the town and the ranch and everything. And we visited some fun little shops in town. Besides that, we mainly spent all our time packing up stuff." She looked at her boyfriend, the tiredness evident on both of their faces.

      To be polite, the couple stayed and talked with Mamaw and Papaw for a few more minutes before Swayde announced, "Well, I best be heading out. I need to tend to my ranch; I'm starting to go through withdrawals of seeing my animals. Plus, I'm sure Kyle and Bernie are ready to get back to their ranches, instead of worrying about my ranch, too." He chuckled, but was also serious. This was the longest that he had been away from his ranch for as long as he could remember. Any other time he was away for this long, or longer, it was usually ranch, or rodeo, related, so he would get to at least take his horse with him. It was weird being away, but he wouldn't have traded it for anything since he got to spend it with Renne. 

        "I'll walk you out." Renne followed Swayde's lead, standing from the couch.

        "Thanks again for dinner and everything, Mamaw and Papaw. I will see y'all in the morning." Swayde bent down, giving both of them hugs before heading towards to door, grabbing his cowboy hat on the way.

         "Man, what a beautiful night." Renne looked up at the starts in the black lit sky.

        "Yeah, if I wasn't so tired, I would say let's take a walk, but man, I am pooped. There's just something about driving in a truck for hours at a time that just wears me out."

          "It's been a long week for both of us." Swayde remarked, stopping their trek to his truck to wrap both of his arms around Renne, pulling her close against him, breathing her in. "Mmm, man I love holding you. I have missed it."

         Renne knew he meant that he missed holding her this last week, since they certainly got next to no alone or cuddle time, but she also knew Swayde meant he missed holding her those almost six years that they were apart. Even though she was home for good now, her and Swayde were back together, and everything was great, the pain from their breakup years ago, and then the short time they spent together when Renne came home because her sister passed away, followed by another separation and heartbreak, the pain was still there, and neither was sure if it would ever go away.

        "I know. I have missed it, too. We need to spend some time together soon." Renne held Swayde close; she loved how good she felt in his arms.

         "Yes, we do. Don't worry, I have plans for that." Pulling back, Swayde gave Renne a smile as he kept one had around her waist, the other stroked her cheek. Looking deeply into her eyes that could be made out thanks to the bright stars and moon, Swayde whispered, a double meaning to his words, "It feels so good to be home."

       Renne took in a deep breath, closing her eyes momentarily as she leaned in to kiss Swayde. It was a long, soft kiss. Pulling back, Renne rested her forehead against Swayde's as she replied,  "Yes it does. We are home. Home at last."