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They’d been forever friends in high school, and that bond had been there again, after seven years apart. Aggie’s sister had passed away in a terrible car accident, and after Levi had gone, Aggie had invited her to the grief meetings in town.

She’d met Christie Hedger and Joanna Finch, and the four of them had become fast friends. They got together a couple of Fridays every month, and Edith really looked forward to her time with her friends. They provided her a similar type of relief from the cares and weight of the world that working with the horses at Courage Reins did.

JoJo had lost an infant at full-term, and she’d been hesitant to try for another baby. Christie had lost her mother, and the four of them had formed a bond through their tragedy. But Edith liked how they didn’t dwell on the bad. They tried to help each other see the good that still existed in the world, in the blue sky above them, in the scent of raspberries on the air that kept attracting a naughty dog to tromp through burrs to get to them.

“She told you?”

“She told Christie, and swore her to secrecy, so of course, she texted me immediately.” Aggie laughed again, and Edith waited for Gumbo to streak inside before she entered the farmhouse and sealed out the afternoon heat.

“Of course,” Edith teased. Everyone knew not to trust Aggie with secrets. Of her own admission, she couldn’t keep anything to herself for longer than sixteen seconds.

“So I want to do a little celebration. Nothing crazy, because JoJo will hate that.”

“Most likely.” Edith exchanged a glance with her brother before he bent down and started loving on his border collies, both of them right in front of him, begging for his attention.

“So I’m wondering if you can make those cupcakes shaped like booties. It’s way too early for her to know if it’s a boy or a girl, but you can do green or yellow or whatever you want.”

“Okay,” Edith said, though it added to her to-do list. “I can do that.”

“Grams is coming over with dinner,” Alex said, and that felt like the biggest miracle of Edith’s life. She nodded to Alex and let Aggie chitchat with her for a few more minutes, one ear on that conversation and one listening to the radio Alex had on. The announcer there talked about the heavy rainfall this spring and warned everyone that the rivers flowing through town were still closed to the public due to dangerously high water levels. When the call ended, she put down her phone and picked up the boxes of cereal Alex hadn’t put away yet. The radio announcer had moved away from the possible flooding and now played a country music ballad, and she moved over to the pantry with their breakfast items.

Alex had done all the fridge and freezer food, and she asked, “What’s Grams bringing for dinner?”

“Gramps has been smoking chicken,” he said. “And she made mashed potatoes and pea salad to go with it.”

Edith’s stomach grumbled for some of her gram’s sweet pea salad, because she liked nothing better. They didn’t have it back East, and while she’d enjoyed other delicacies that the Texas Panhandle didn’t offer, she’d missed pea salad the most.

“I don’t feel any more burrs,” Alex said.

“I think I got them all,” Edith said as she pulled out a barstool and sat down. Her legs and back thanked her instantly, and she sighed.

“Busy day with Cocoa?” Alex asked, watching her. They did take good care of each other, because she kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn’t working too hard and didn’t slump into a depression, and he made sure of the same for her.

“Yeah,” she said, reaching up to run her hand through her hair. “And Pete has a new horse for me, and—” She cut off, the words about meeting Finn surging forward. She decided she didn’t have anything to hide, least of all from Alex. “And I met Finn Ackerman again after ten years apart. He’s back from his military service.”

Alex straightened, his eyes locking onto Edith’s easily. “Finn Ackerman, huh?” His eyes danced, and Edith wished they wouldn’t.

She smiled and ducked her head. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” Alex teased. “You should see yourself. You’re glowing.”

Edith didn’t deny it, because she couldn’t see herself. “He asked for my number.”

“Oh, yeah? Just like that?”

“Just like that.” She watched her brother for his reaction, because Alex hadn’t dated much this year, since his last girlfriend had decided she didn’t want to marry a rancher and be a cowboy’s wife.

“And I suppose you gave it to him.”

“I did,” she said. “I made him work for it a little. I mean, we haven’t seen each other in a decade.”

“Has he texted you?”

“Yeah.” Edith looked down at her phone on the countertop. “Just once though.”

Alex came around the island and sat down beside her. “What did he say?” He’d been friends with Finn too, because Finn was fun-loving and kind, and he’d always been nice to Alex, despite their five-year age difference.

She nudged her phone toward him, now a little embarrassed she’d brought up Finn when there didn’t seem to be anything to tell. Alex looked at her, then the phone, and then he picked it up and swiped it on. She didn’t have a code on hers the way Finn did, and Alex got to the messages pretty easily.