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Beth nodded, still out of breath.

“Are you still scared?” her sister added.

Beth nodded again.

“Good. It’s a scary thing to go through. But, Bethy…” Delaney pressed her palms to her baby sister’s cheeks. “You are you whether you’re onstage doing a kick line, running Eli’s clinic like the impeccably scheduled ship you’ve turned it into, or riding Midnight.” She shook her head with a laugh. “I swear the last thing I expected when I lured you to Meadow Valley was to see you on the back of a horse, but you always surprise me. And I know you will again.”

Beth exhaled a long, steadying breath. “I need to check on Midnight before we leave,” she told Delaney.

Her sister glanced at the clock above her head in the kitchen. “We’ve got time.” Delaney lifted her tumbler. “Coffee first. Check on Midnight. Then show the doctor who’s boss.” She shrugged. “And if you’re really good, I’ll even take you out with the girls for an adult beverage tonight. I hear Boone makes a pretty fabulous virgin daiquiri.”

Beth laughed, and her shoulders relaxed as she lifted her own coffee to her lips. She took a long overdue first sip and smiled as her taste buds awoke to the familiar sweetness of the caramel-flavored syrup.

“Are you disappointed Eli’s not joining us?” her sister asked, a knowing look in her eye.

Beth scoffed in protest. “Why would I want my boss and landlord to go to the doctor with us?” Because as far as Delaney knew, that was all Eli was to her.

“Oh, Bethy,” Delaney replied. “Did you learn that scoff from me? We both know it’s my biggest tell when I’m lying.” When Beth didn’t respond, her sister simply tapped the bottoms of their tumblers together and said, “Cheers, little sis. Everything changes today.”

Chapter 14

Eli stared Trudy Davis right in the eye and shook his head. “I can’t believe you lied about a new puppy.”

Trudy waved him off and slid a to-go cup across the café counter of her bookshop, Storyland.

“I didn’t order anything,” Eli continued.

“Café rules!” Boone called from the table over Eli’s shoulder where he sat with Sam Callahan, Sam’s brother Ben, and their buddies Colt and Carter. “We get the place to ourselves from seven to nine until the shop opens, and Trudy gets to try out whatever new caffeinated concoction she’s got brewing.” Boone pointed at the Stetson on his own head and then nodded toward the similar one that Eli wore. “Glad you remembered the dress code too.”

Remembered the dress code? Eli hadn’t remembered shit other than dressing for another morning at the barn with Beth. Whatever dress code Boone thought Eli was abiding by, Eli did so against his own free will.

He lifted the cup and took a whiff of the steam pouring from the small spout. “Smells sweet,” he grumbled. “I don’t like sweet.”

Trudy laughed and then shooed him toward the table of men he was meant to join.

“Go on. Boone said he’s been trying to get you here for weeks, so I agreed to give you a little nudge. It’s not like you had anything else planned this early on a Saturday, right?”

Eli sighed, thinking of Beth alone in the arena with no one to help her onto Midnight’s back. He should at least text her that he’d been kidnapped—or lured to the kidnapping site by a willing accomplice he used to trust.

He begrudgingly accepted Trudy’s coffee. “Thanks, I guess,” he told her and then spun toward the real culprits, his brother and the rest of the lot. “Don’t you all have wives and children to spend your weekends with?” he asked accusingly.

Boone didn’t bother to look up from whatever monstrosity he was weaving together with two long wooden knitting needles. “Casey gets up with Kara on Saturdays so I can come here, and Sundays I take the early shift so Casey can sleep in.”

“Nolan spends Friday nights at the ranch with our mom,” Sam added, nudging his brother Ben with his elbow but continuing with an equally hideous design on his own knitting needles. “And Delaney’s taking Beth to her doctor’s appointment.”

“Right,” Eli lied. “Her doctor’s appointment.”

What appointment? Was Beth okay? How did he ask without sounding overly concerned? Wait, he couldn’t ask, not now that he’d just made it sound like he knew what the hell was going on. Which he didn’t.

Ben at least had the decency to look up and offer Eli one of those bro nods. “Charlotte and I don’t have kids yet, and she works Saturday mornings anyway.”

“Jenna and our kiddos help with the Saturday morning breakfast run at the ranch,” Colt said, referring to his wife and the two teens they were currently fostering.

Finally, Carter looked up from the scarf or blanket or whatever he was working on, but Eli cut him off before he could speak.

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Ivy’s not due for another few months.”

He finally gave up and strode toward the three small tables pushed together and the empty chair that had apparently been waiting for him.