Dear Cowboy,

I recently started seeing a cowboy, and I am a city girl. He is the kindest man I have ever known and he always takes care of me in every way. Lately he has been introducing me to the country life, and I love it. My question is, how do you know when a cowboy loves you?

Hey there, City Girl, thanks for writing. It’s nice to know cross-cultural relationships are alive and well. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that if your fellow is taking care of you in every way, it’s a pretty safe bet he’s in love with you. The thing about cowboys is that they are kind of simple, in the good way; uncomplicated, you might say. The cowboys I know, and I know a lot, aren’t into playing games … unless of course it’s low-stakes poker like for matches or pennies.

If he wasn’t in love with you, he’d probably just be nice to you and then ride off into the sunset at the first opportunity.

Just sticking around, of course, ain’t reason enough assume love might be occurring.

Here are a few absolutely foolproof signs that a cowboy truly loves you.

• He shines his boots or at least puts on fresh duct tape
• He takes you out to a real sit down dinner in which the food ain’t wrapped in paper and served with fries
• He wears his “going to town” hat instead of his “going hunting hat”
• He introduces you to his mom
• He brings you wildflowers
• He missed poker night with his  buddies (see above) for movie night with you, and let you pick the movie
• He bathes his dog before movie night
• He listens to your music instead of just country
• He lets you drive his truck (that’s one step away from an engagement, by the way)

Most importantly, the single biggest sign that your cowboy — or anyone, really — is in love with you is that he listens. I mean truly listens. Once you strip away all the other stuff, love is about caring enough to listen — all the time, on any topic and not just the ass-covering kind of “recording for playback later” listening. Listening means taking in information, thinking about it and then acting upon it if necessary. If your guy is doing that, and doing at least one of the other examples from above, he’s in love. I hope you enjoy the country life because chances are, you’re gonna be getting your fill of it.aracer