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“Are she and Cirrus chipped yet?” Sam asked.

Eli scrubbed a hand across his jaw. In all the craziness of letting not just one but two horses back onto the property, he hadn’t thought far enough into the future of them staying on the property and needing to chip them. Usually that was a decision made by the owner.

“Shit,” he mumbled.

“He was supposed to chip Cirrus a few weeks ago, but then Trudy came in with Frederick,” Boone tossed out in his brother’s defense.

“I should have rescheduled you,” Eli admitted.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sam told them. “Ben’s on the property. He’s trained in the procedure and has chipped every stallion and mare in our barn. He can take care of Cirrus.”

And Eli would take care of Midnight when they brought her home tonight…or back to Eli’s property. Her temporary home.

He cleared his throat. “Thanks, everyone. I—just thanks.”

They started filing out of the still empty bookstore café and down the stairs, but Eli grabbed his brother’s arm once Sam and Colt were out of earshot.

“You think I’m crazy, right?” Eli asked him.

Boone shrugged. “I think you give a shit about Cirrus and Midnight…and Beth.”

Eli nodded. “And you think I’m losing my shit, right?”

Boone clapped his brother on the shoulder. “If you believe something’s up, then I believe something’s up, okay?”

Eli’s chest tightened, and he nodded. He didn’t know how to navigate this, his younger brother taking care of him when for all intents and purposes, Eli had been a father figure to Boone since his younger brother’s teens.

He tried to form the words, to thank Boone for what Eli never knew he needed from his brother, but nothing came out of his mouth.

“I know,” Boone told him instead. “I know.”

A few hours later, not one but two night-vision baby monitor cameras were installed, the sensors on Midnight’s stall door were tightened (with Eli conceding that normal wear and tear could have been the culprit), and Cirrus was chipped and surprisingly happy with the change of scenery. According to Ben, he’d even taken a liking to his horse, Loki, and the two were currently grazing on the Meadow Valley Ranch property.

So Eli, Sam, Boone, and Colt finished off the job sitting on the arena fence, each with a bottle of beer in hand.

“It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?” Sam declared, raising his bottle.

“We earned it,” Boone added. “Baby monitors are no joke.”

“Not when you mount them fifteen feet in the air with a ten-foot power cord,” Eli admitted.

“Not a fan of tall ladders, boys.” Colt took a healthy swig from his bottle. “Not a fan.”

Maybe Eli had gotten bent out of shape for nothing, but he wasn’t complaining about this—the four of them baking in the midday heat, cold brews in their hands. For years, he felt like he’d been crawling through a fog. But somehow, when he wasn’t really looking, the clouds broke and who knew? There was a goddamn sun after all.

They were only a few sips in when Colt’s phone chirped with a text.

“Shit,” he hissed. “Jenna’s car won’t start, and we need to get the girls to their dance class in Quincy.”

Boone’s phone went off next, but his sounded more like an alarm. “Dammit!” he added. “Casey has a client in fifteen minutes. Daddy duty starts now.”

Eli turned to face Sam, who had his head tilted toward the sun as he downed several sips of his beer.

“What?” he finally asked, rubbing his forearm across his mouth.

Eli shrugged. “Just waiting for you to get your bat signal.”

Sam laughed. “Why do you think I’m downing this thing so fast?” He shook his almost empty bottle. “Nolan’s napping, and Delaney is ovulating. Gotta head home to try for baby number two. Not sure if I’m ready for another newborn in the house, but the trying part is pretty enjoyable.” He winked at Eli. “Might want to come by to pick up your mare and your girl.”