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Hell, if she stuck around for just a little bit longer she might be able to put down a deposit on an apartment.

Of course, she didn’t have any credit. And there was nobody to cosign for her.

It was always this. The circles. A little bit of hope, a little bit of a setback.

It was why she didn’t like to dabble in hope.

Then they broke ground on the four new cottages they were building as guest rentals. She was fascinated by the process. And she ended up staying as the foundations got poured.

And it got harder and harder to remember why she had ever been suspicious of any of them.

Being on the ranch began to feel safe.

She didn’t pile her plate quite as high with food.

She wasn’t worried about it being taken away tomorrow.

And still, she thought, as she went to bed that night, that in the morning she might decide to leave. But it would be on her terms. It would be her decision.

She had been at King’s Crest for about a month when Daughtry came home from his shift with the state police and told her it was town hall meeting night.

“What?”

“Yeah, you missed the last one by just a hair. Once a month we get together and have a big family meeting.”

“Don’t you guys do that every night?”

“No. I don’t just mean the Kings. I mean everybody else. Us, the Garretts, the McClouds and the Sullivans.”

“You mean, everybody?”

“Yep. You haven’t even seen the whole rest of the facility.”

It was true. She had pretty much been sticking to her well-worn route ever since she had gotten here. She hadn’t even ever gone into town. It was complicated. She felt safe here. There were people she was beginning to trust. It was nearly painful to admit that to herself, but it was true. It was just different here.

The idea of stepping into the broader ranch world did something strange to her. Because she was so... She was still going to leave.

But maybe it would be worth seeing everything first. Seeing all the things.

She and Daughtry hadn’t spoken like they had that night over three weeks ago again. They talked. But they kept it light. He didn’t ask her about dreams.

In fact, weirdly, even though they lived together, she saw him the least. He worked long hours away from where she worked. When she did see him, it was usually at group dinners, and then they had the occasional breakfast in the morning. But often he was out before she was, and sometimes Landry just swung by to pick her up on his way out to the barn. He drove over from Sullivan’s Point. He and his wife only came to about half of the dinners, because they had a child, and sometimes they just did dinner by themselves, but also she knew that his wife’s family was very close.

It was weird. To be in this position. Where she wanted to be closer to people, but also wanted to resist it.

“Yeah. I’ll go.”

“It’s great. There’s tons of food. Dancing. A bonfire.”

It made something shift in her chest. “It’s like a party?”

“Yeah.”

She had never really been to a party. Not a nice one. Sometimes there were get-togethers after her dad was done making a big batch, or they’d had a big sell-through. A celebration among all the men that had helped. But she didn’t feel safe during those kinds of things. Usually, she hid away.

She did her best to school her face into a neutral expression. “Okay. That sounds all right.”

“I was thinking.” He looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t quite know how, and that was strange. Because Daughtry always seemed to know exactly what he wanted to say. Even if she didn’t want to hear it.