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“So?” He shook Finn’s hand. “It’s beautiful, right?”

Finn had driven past a pretty white fence on one side of the road, marking a pasture, and wide open fields on the other, on the way to this house among trees. “So far,” he said. He’d already told Jerry he didn’t think he could afford this place, so he swallowed the worry again.

“Let’s see the house first,” Jerry said. He led the way inside, and Finn appreciated that he didn’t have to go through things himself. He felt way less pressure to know what to look at, and Jerry knew things about the property the naked eye couldn’t see anyway.

“Brand new floors here,” he said. “Repainted in February.” He held the front door open for Finn, who stepped into a gorgeous home with deep, dark hardwood floors and bright white walls. The house had plenty of windows that let in a lot of light, and the first room to Finn’s right was an office.

That would be perfect for Edith, he thought, immediately wishing he hadn’t had that thought. He wasn’t sure why, other than he felt he shouldn’t assume she’d be here with him from the get-go. Or at all.

Yes, he’d been enjoying his summer with her, but he’d had romantic, kissing-filled summers with Edith Baxter before. Life had torn them apart, and such a thing could happen again.

“Beautiful staircase here,” Jerry said. “Leads up to three bedrooms and a bathroom. The kitchen is just past this half-bath here.” He opened the door as he went by, and Finn paused to look inside. Sink. Toilet. Functional and clean clean clean.

He followed Jerry around the house, asking questions if they occurred to him and staying quiet if he had nothing to say. In the backyard, he found plenty of room for Edith’s she-shed, and two twin barns stood tall and proud. Two twin red barns, which made his Texas heart happy.

“Enough stable room for a dozen horses,” he said. “Big equipment building, and a storage shed too.” Jerry pointed them all out from where they stood on the backside of the barns.

Finn could definitely see himself living and working here. “It’s four hundred and fifty acres,” he said, not really asking.

“That’s right.” Jerry turned his white-toothed smile on Finn. “One-point-one million—and it comes with two hundred head of cattle.” He looked as pleased as a child who’d gotten a cookie before dinner and rocked back on his heels.

“Who’s taking care of the cattle right now?” Finn looked into the distance, glad for the shade of his cowboy hat as he looked for the cattle. Like they’d just come lumbering in to see him.

“They opened the gate over to the ranch to the north,” Jerry said. “They’re wandering the Sunflower Ranch.”

“So the fields here are dormant. Fallow.”

“That’s right.” Jerry obviously refused to have his positivity swayed.

“All right.” Finn took a big breath. “I gotta be honest, Jerry. It’s great. Of course it’s great. It’s a million-dollar ranch, which is twice what I can afford.” He scuffed his boots in the dust along the ground. “I just don’t see how I’m gonna pay for it.”

“There are options,” Jerry said. “We can do a buy-down on interest rates, and apply for loans for people buying ranches for the first time.”

Finn nodded, though he didn’t really understand the things Jerry said about real estate. So much of it sounded like mumbo jumbo to him. They started back toward the house, and ultimately, their vehicles parked out front.

“Have you talked to your daddy about helping with a down payment?” Jerry asked. “Or co-signing with you?”

Finn shook his head. “I haven’t talked to him about it.”

“Well, bigger down payments help with the month-to-month payments,” Jerry said. “And if he co-signs with that big ranch north of town, I don’t think you’d have a problem at all.”

“Yeah,” Finn said, but he had reasons why he hadn’t spoken to his daddy about helping with his ranch. He didn’t want his father’s help.

Everyone needs help sometimes, he thought, and it certainly wasn’t in his voice. He thought about how he’d offered to help Alex and Edith and they’d immediately turned him down. Hadn’t he quoted to them that for people to be able to serve, there had to be people willing to accept the service?

Yes, yes, he had.

That didn’t mean he should ask his parents for a bunch of money, or to put their ranch up as collateral so he could get this place.

As he approached his truck, he said, “Thanks, Jerry. This place is really nice.”

“Let me know,” Jerry said. “I can pull some numbers for you in the meantime, if you’d like.”

“I mean, why not?” Finn asked. “Do that and let me know.”

“Will do.”

Finn got back in his truck and started it. The AC blew into his face as Jerry drove down the dirt lane, but Finn stayed in front of the big, two-story house at the end of this lane.