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Finn studied her, though. “That’s a great idea, Edith,” he said slowly. “Why don’t you sell your books to the townspeople?”

“They don’t even know she writes books,” Alex said.

“Of course they do.” Edith threw him a poisoned look. “My name is on the front of every single one.” She flicked a dangerous and sharp look at Finn. “And I’m not going to stand there for ten hours, trying to get parents to buy a book for their kids. Everyone around here knows about horses. My books do better in more populated areas, where little girls dream of being horse-riders and seeing a pasture. The very pastures we have steps from our backyard.” She waved her hand toward the windows. “It’s not—I’m not doing it.”

“Then I’m not signing up for a class.” Alex stared at her, and Edith stared right back.

Finn cleared his throat. “Anyone got any ideas for what I should be doing with my life?” That brought the silence to another level, and then he started to laugh. Thankfully, Edith did too, and Finn threw his arm around her on the left and Alex on the right.

“Now, are we going to get along today or not? Because I’m not wandering around in this heat while you two bicker.”

“We’ll get along,” Edith said, and Finn dropped his arms.

“I’ll sign up for the furniture class,” Alex grumbled. “I want to do it anyway.”

“Edith?” Finn asked.

“Can you imagine me in a booth?” She shook her head. “It’s akin to torture. I can’t do it.”

“Maybe you could talk to the bookstore owner about doing a one-hour signing,” he said. “In her booth. Remember how incredible you are when you turn on?”

“I like that idea too,” Alex said from down the counter.

From the puckered eyebrows and blazing hot expression in her eyes, Edith didn’t like that idea, but she said nothing.

“Okay,” Finn said. “You can tell me why later.”

“Janice doesn’t like me,” Edith mumbled. “And she doesn’t know how to plan an author event. You should’ve seen this little shop in Coral Canyon. This woman named Georgia Young owns it, and she does the best events in the whole world.”

“Coral Canyon…like where Wyatt Walker goes in the summer?”

“Yeah.” Edith smiled. “She loves my books, and I did this class there. It was really fun.”

“I said you were incredible in person.”

“Janice can’t do that.”

“I’ll admit Janice isn’t great,” Alex said.

Edith gestured to him and finally picked up her fork to eat her waffle. Finn just enjoyed being with her so much, and he pulled out his phone and started swiping, his smile growing across his face and throughout his soul.

“I wanted to go to this booth,” he said, finally landing on the Boutique page that listed all the booths. “Number thirty-seven.”

“Yeah? What is it?” Edith leaned over and looked at his phone while he tilted it toward her. “Bozeman Real Estate?” She looked up, concern firing in her eyes. “Like Bozeman, Montana?”

“No, the guy’s name is Gary Bozeman,” Finn said.

“Oh, I was gonna say, I thought you were going to stay in Three Rivers.”

“He’s got a few places listed right now.” Finn set his phone down and pierced a strawberry with his fork. “I mean, I can’t afford any of them, but I thought I might meet him. Talk to him about what I’m looking for, and just yeah.” He took a breath to try to find what he meant to say. “So he knows me, and maybe if something comes along that’s a fit for me, he’ll call me first.”

“Are farms and ranches moving quick these days?” Alex asked.

“No,” Finn said. “But interest rates are high and so are prices. So.” He swiped a sausage through his syrup and put it in his mouth, so he didn’t have to say anything else.

“We’ll stop by and see him,” Edith promised, and the three of them finished breakfast. As Finn helped Alex rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, Edith put festive red, white, and blue bandanas on the dachshunds.

“So we’re bringin’ ‘em?” Alex asked with his eyebrows up.