Steven had received his card from Caller Bob. He thought well, this is different but it should be fun. He knew he would have fun. "Thank you mayor. I�m glad to help."

Caller Bob nodded, "Your welcome." as he rode off towards town.

***************************

Instead of eating lunch at the boarding house, Steven decided to eat at the hotel. Since Buck was in town, Steven would see if he would like to join him. It might be a good chance to get to know him better.

Buck looked up and smiled when he saw Steven walk in, "Hello Mr. Johnson, in need of a hair cut?"

"No, actually I thought you might like to join me for lunch." Steven said.

"Sure, I'm not very busy." Buck smiled at Caly�s father.

Steven nodded, "Okay, let�s go."

Buck followed Steven over to the hotel. They chatted with Laura a little bit before ordering.

Buck was curious to as to why Steven had invited him to lunch. But he had been seeing a lot of Caly and Corey both. He didn�t know which one of the girls he liked more, but he was in no hurry to make up his mind either.

Steven looked across the table at the young man that had stolen his daughter�s heart. He knew Buck was a good man and would never hurt Caly. Taking a deep breath he then said, "Buck, I wanted to know how you feel about my daughter? I mean I know you�re close friends with her. I just want to know. I trust you with her."

Buck swallowed hard. He had known that this would come one day. Licking his suddenly dry lips, he said, "Well, sir I�m not sure if I feel more then friendship for Caly. But I know one thing. No matter what happens, I will always be her friend. We have helped each other through too much for me to let anything get in the way of that. And I just want to say whoever does court Caly will be one very lucky man, but I�m taking my time deciding how I feel. That way I don't hurt her. "

Steven smiled at the young man, "I thank you for your honesty. I only ask because she�s my only daughter, and I don't want her to get hurt. I do trust you fully with her."

Buck smiled with relief knowing that Steven trusted him with Caly. He also knew that he had to take his time deciding between Corey and Caly.

The two men ate and talked all through lunch. Then both started to pay when Steven stopped him saying, "Let me pay. You save your money to take Caly to supper one night. "

Buck nodded and smiled knowing that Steven would love to see Caly get the man she wanted but he wasn't going to push him to decide now. "Thank you sir. I had planned to ride out and ask Caly to supper one night next week."

Steven smiled and paid. Then Buck went back to the barbershop, and Steven went back to work at the saloon.