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Kevin looked over to him. “I don’t know. Whatever the realtor says the market value is.”

With a thundering heartbeat, Finn figured he’d already shown his hand. “Well, Mister Bentley, I’m interested in buying it.” He swallowed, his throat so, so dry. “I need a place of my own, and I’ve been looking all summer. This place is perfect for me.”

He realized then that he hadn’t been able to look straight at Kevin since they’d come outside. He forced himself to do so now, utilizing some of his military training to get the job done. Finn took a slow breath, another tactic he’d learned from his years in the Army. “You work it yourself, don’t you?” He nodded back toward the house. “With your wife, of course.”

“Yes,” Kevin said, the word barely slipping from his lips. He seemed shocked for some reason.

Relief sang through Finn as he looked away and back out to the ranch. “I think I could work it myself too,” Finn said. “By some miracle, maybe it won’t be too expensive for me.”

“Are you—you’re serious.”

Finn chuckled and removed his hands from his pockets. “Oh, I’m serious.” He smiled at Kevin. “Now, I told Ace I’d come help, so I better get out there and see what he needs me to do.” He took a few steps away from Kevin, then turned back. “You’ll call me when the realtor tells you a price? Or who are you using? I’ve got Jerry Bozeman looking for something for me.”

“I’m using Jerry,” Kevin said, his smile growing. It actually looked genuine now, and Finn felt the same rays of sunshine and heavenly light beaming down on him. Lighting the way through this summer of darkness he’d been treading.

As he went down the steps to the gravel path, he thought, Finally. Thank you, Lord, for finally putting a ranch out there that I might be able buy.

As he strode in the direction Ace and the others had gone, Finn definitely saw things that needed work. A leaning gate. Loose chicken wire in the corner of the coop. Barrels that looked wet and rotten, maybe from the flood. The ranch wasn’t in complete disrepair, but Kevin had spoken true inside.

It needed a lot of work.

And dang if Finn’s step didn’t have a bounce in it, because he wanted to be the one to do that work. “I can’t wait to tell Edith,” he muttered to himself as he rounded a corner and found Ace and the others working on pulling off planks from a cute little building that had obviously been damaged at some time in the past.

A pig pen, and Finn didn’t even mind the smell as he approached. He’d always liked pigs, and he wondered if Kevin was going to sell the farm with everything on it. Most likely, and Finn’s nerves hummed at him.

Cattle, goats, chickens, pigs, and horses would only add to the cost of the ranch, and Finn was more determined than ever to buy it.

Have faith, he thought. And rely on your family.

Since he’d gotten that message a couple of weeks ago, he’d talked to his momma and daddy about what he wanted—a ranch like this. He’d told them everything about Edith, and they’d actually hosted her for lunch one Sunday after church. They had plans for a double date in a couple of weeks, once school started again, and Finn knew Edith and his momma texted back and forth these days.

He worked with the others until lunchtime, and then he took his sandwich, his cold watermelon, and his macaroni salad outside to the shady deck. You’ll never guess what I found today, he texted to Edith. The perfect ranch. The one I’m going to buy.

Don’t hold out on me Shortstop, she texted back. Tell me everything.

He grinned and chuckled to himself, really enjoying her nicknames, even via text. He could just hear her saying it out loud.

Tonight, sweetheart. I’ll tell you all about it when I see you tonight.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Edith sipped the lemonade Kelly had given her and kept her eyes on the curve in the dirt road where Finn would drive when he finally got home. She’d just finished lunch when he’d texted about “the perfect ranch,” and then she’d made the drive to Courage Reins, worked with Reagan, and had her therapy session with Bull.

Her mind still felt a bit mushy, because the counselor kept challenging her to kick down her own barriers. It had been hard enough erecting them. Getting through every layer to break them down sure wasn’t easy.

When are you going to believe you can be loved again?

His hardest question from today’s session had sunk into Edith’s mind and refused to let go. She let her thoughts ebb and flow, move and still and wash away again.

She took another sip of tart lemonade, a slight sweetness right at the end. Kelly had said she could come to the homestead anytime, even if no one was there. Today, though, she had been home, stirring something in a slow cooker and providing Edith with the lemonade before she’d gone back out the door and down the lane to the administration building.

Edith sat in a chair on the deck, and from her elevated position, she could see so much of the ranch. She could see so much of her life a bit more clearly.

“I believe I can be loved,” she said, echoing what she’d told Doctor Bull today. And she did. Alex loved her, as did her other younger brother, the one still living in Florida. All four of her younger sisters, the ones that came after Alex and who all still lived at home in Florida, with her parents.

And of course, her parents loved her. The dachshunds couldn’t get enough of her. Reagan adored her, as did Cocoa and every other horse she’d ever worked with here at Courage Reins.

Levi had loved her.