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“Who loves you and wants you to stay.”

Ray scowled down at his tea and refused to meet her eye.

She stood to go. “You may think you can just disappear, Ray. Fade away and no one will notice. But you’re wrong about that. So, don’t get too comfortable being a ghost on my ranch. Because I see you. We all see you. You’re still alive, and you’re finally free. That alone is something to fight for.”

That was when Cooper burst through the door and stopped dead at the sight of her and his father obviously having words.

“Uh,” he said, his gaze seesawing between them. “Oh. I-I forgot my, uh—Hi, Sarah.”

Tight lipped, his father looked away.

“Oh, hello, Cooper,” Sarah said.

“I’m sorry,” Cooper said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt—”

“No, I was just leaving,” she said with an even smile. “Bye, Cooper. Ray?” Then, she walked out and let the door snick quietly in its frame.

Cooper turned to his father. “Everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine.”

“Looked like you two were in the middle of something. You look . . . upset.”

“Nope. What’d you forget?”

He could deny it all he wanted, but Cooper sensed something had happened between them. “My digital protractor. I left it in my bag.” He glanced at the two cups of tea still steaming beside each other. “Why did Sarah stop by?”

“It’s her ranch. She can go wherever she wants.”

“Just that you look a little . . . flustered about it.”

“Flustered? I’m not flustered. And do I get any privacy around here without you asking a hundred questions?”

“Okay, McCrabby.” Cooper knew surrender was his only option. “Might as well drink that tea, since she went to all the trouble of makin’ it for you.”

Ray gave Coop the side-eye. “How do you know I didn’t make it for her?”

“Just a hunch. But next time, maybe you should.”

Ray took a sip of tea and winced at the heat. “Next time, maybe I will.”

*

Another busy week passed on the ranch with building projects, cattle moving, and finally, a quick trip to the Marietta rodeo for all of them. That was a time to connect with friends they hadn’t seen in a while and to just let loose for the finals night and watch the show. There were incredible bull rides, calf-roping, barrel racing, and more. The horses and bulls were every bit the extreme athletes the riders were and fun to watch. Mostly, the animals kept the upper hand, which—when they weighed that much in pure muscle and strength—is as it should be.

Cooper noticed that Ryan seemed more interested in a pretty, dark-haired girl from his school than in the show. And Cooper didn’t miss the looks she was giving Ryan either.

Somewhere around ten that night, he spotted them sharing cotton candy near the stables, deep in conversation about a particular horse. Cooper marveled at how fast a transition kids made from being just kids to being interested in each other. At fourteen, Ryan was already not a little kid anymore, but moving into that next stage. Precursor, he supposed, to the one where your heart either got broken or you found yourself at last.

Cooper wasn’t quite sure where he himself landed on that spectrum. Perhaps he’d find his answer right here in Marietta. That, or he’d be done with this place for good.

Shay chose a seat next to him in the bleachers and seemed to enjoy herself, cheering the athletes on. Once or twice she even grabbed his arm in alarm when a bull pulled some dangerous stunt with a rider. He tried not to feel encouraged by her unsolicited squeezes that night, but he was happy to be her touchstone whenever she needed him.

Will and Izzy came to dinner a few nights later and, over dessert, the conversation turned to the wedding that everyone was expecting to happen sometime during the Christmas holidays. As the women discussed colors and catering, Will, Ryan, and Liam zoned out over fantasy football picks. Which was actually fine with Izzy.

She was the one pushing back on any formal ceremony, considering her sketchy history with weddings. Only last summer, she’d endured a humiliating wedding debacle, from which Will had rescued her, driving her in his limo from Texas to Seattle, with a rather life-changing pit stop at the Hard Eight. Turned out, they were meant to be. Now, wild horses couldn’t pull those two apart and Shay was happy for them. Izzy had become like a sister to them all and Shay already loved her like one.

With long blond hair and dark violet eyes, Izzy couldn’t be more the antithesis of her moneyed background. She was down-to-earth, funny, and had a laugh that was contagious. She fit right in here, like now, jumping in to wash the dinner dishes and catching Shay up on their recent visit to Seattle.