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“Oh, I...” Quinn’s parents hadn’t seemed to care at all. She didn’t quite know what to do with this very certain...fire from him about wanting the people he’d helped raise to be happy.

“My brother didn’t go to college, and I’m proud as hell of him.”

“What does he do?” she asked.

“He’s in the army.” He laughed. “Not my first choice. We’ve lost enough. We don’t need to go losing any more, and the military is dangerous, but I’m proud of him.”

“Right. I get that.” She felt a little bit...bad. Because now he had mentioned his losses, and his role in taking care of his siblings. Because now suddenly he wasn’t just a scowling caricature. Now he seemed more like a real human being. “But either way, you were going to use my research, my binder, to get your sister to do what you wanted.”

“She’s worried, and it’s silly. She’s twenty. She needs to finish school. She doesn’t know what the hell she’s even talking about. She’s nearly done with her second year and she just needs to finish it out and stop being dramatic about it. I think she misses being home. I think it hasn’t been the easiest change for her. But she’s just got to finish. She’s got to get through. She’ll be glad she did when she does.” He paused for a long moment. “Like you said. Nobody will be able to take it from her. And there’s plenty of things that life can take from you, so you’ve got to hold on to what you can.”

That resonated in her soul, and she hadn’t expected that. For him to say something that felt...wise.

She shifted. “Don’t you have another sister?”

“Yeah. Jessie. She doesn’t live here anymore. She’s out a couple hours away with her boyfriend. My best friend. The tool.”

“Oh,” said Quinn. “That must have been dramatic.”

“Not really so much. He’s a good guy. And he’ll take good care of her.”

Well, there, that was sort of an annoying, male thing to say. It made her feel a little more balanced to be irritated at him again. “Does she need to be taken care of?”

“No. Jessie can take care of herself. But I think every older brother wants his sister with a man who will take care of her instead of a man who might cause her harm.”

She wasn’t sure that man existed. “Good point. But I don’t believe that you can count on other people to take care of you.”

“Really?”

“No. You can’t. Life is too uncertain. You can’t pin anything on other people. You can’t hold out hope that they are going to give you what you need. You have to be prepared to manage all your own stuff. It’s the only way to go. The only way to be.”

“Well, that’s quite a perspective.”

“One you don’t agree with?”

He shook his head. “No. I agree to a point. Though, I have to say, my siblings became more important to me after my parents died. But the buck stops with someone. Someone was in charge. When you’re the one in charge...you aren’t really leanin’ on anyone but yourself.”

That made her unexpectedly uncomfortable, because in their family, Fia was the oldest. Quinn had gone and gotten the education stuff taken care of all on her own. They hadn’t been able to count on their parents to help them, and yes, they did have each other for emotional support, and Quinn had done a lot to keep Sullivan’s Point going, but it was different from taking care of your younger siblings.

“My sisters are important to me,” said Quinn. “Don’t get me wrong.”

“But when push comes to shove, and you had to fight, you would expect to do it on your own.”

She nodded. “Yes. In the end, that’s what you have. You have to expect that. Nobody else can fight all your battles for you.”

“And yet you need to have an agreement with me. So in that sense, you can’t fight this battle on your own. You’d just be boxing in a corner.”

Irritation ignited and she did her best to tamp it down.

“Also different,” she said. “You’ve necessitated this...this thing. But I aim to make it a fair trade so we don’t owe each other. I’m not trying to hustle you. I’m not asking for a favor.”

“We’ll see, Quinn Sullivan. We will see.”

They drove on, until they reached the edge of the field. And she found herself looking at how large and firm his hands looked on the wheel, then let her gaze drift to his jawline, square and rough, like maybe he hadn’t shaved that morning.

“This is the field where we had a cover crop until recently. I’m reinforcing the fence line along here so we can expand some of the pastureland for the cows.”

“I think you should plant hemp,” she said.