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C laire didn’t know whether to yell at Adam for claiming she was the only one, or yank Lala off his lap by her braid. But more than anything, she knew what she had to do — protect Adam and Peter. Even if it meant sacrificing her heart.

Instead of howling like a fool, she let out an exaggerated huff. “See, Peter! I told you he was okay. That guy never saw him coming.”

Peter glanced at her, brows furrowed, but didn’t miss a beat. “Claire said you had to take down one of the hands?”

Adam pushed Lala backward, firmly but gently. “Yeah. Frank tried to attack Clara —” Adam jumped off the stepstool. “Peter, what happened?” He was at his brother’s side in a second.

Lala looked confused.

And Claire still wanted to smack her cousin.

But seeing Adam push Lala off his lap and rush to Peter’s side gave Claire a moment of peace.

“What’s going on?” Lala demanded, as if upset that the two of them had interrupted her reunion.

Leave it to Lala to care about herself and not the fact that a fourteen-year-old had a gash above his eyebrow.

How could Adam even get close to her? Ugh ! She wanted to throttle both of them!

“Stop!” Peter pushed Adam’s hand away. “Same old, same old, man. Jerk asked why I wasn’t going to school on the res.

I warned him to back off, and he said, ‘Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is?

’ Whatever that means. So I put my fist where his mouth was.

Doesn’t matter that I’m not an Alaska Native.

It pisses me off that he’d insult someone who is… as if they weren’t here first.”

Adam rubbed his temple. “I get it. I do. But they’ll expel you.”

“It was after school, outside. Didn’t last but a few seconds. And wha’do I care? I should just quit.”

“You can’t quit, Peter. You’re only fourteen.” Adam lifted his hands. “You know what? We’re not talking about this right now. If you don’t want to work, get your butt downstairs and do whatever homework they gave you.”

Lala sighed, but Adam didn’t give her the time of day.

Claire suddenly understood. “Juanita,” she said without thinking.

Peter whipped around, shook his head, imparting a request.

Adam turned to her slowly, then back to Peter. “Juanita? What about Juanita?”

“Nothing, man.” Peter darted off, leaving the three of them.

Great ! Without Peter, they looked like one of those love triangles from Grams’s soap operas. Cue the music . Zoom in the camera . Commercial break .

“I gotta go!” Claire said. “Lots of homework.”

She turned and jogged toward the Cherokee before she broke into tears. While she didn’t believe for a moment that Adam was interested in Lala, he’d allowed her to straddle him.

“Claire!” Adam called.

She wanted to keep running, but if she did, Lala would suspect something.

“Yeah?” she said, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might explode.

Lala was behind him, waiting, arms crossed.

“Thanks for bringing Peter home,” Adam said audibly, but then she saw his lips form the words I love you , just like in those stupid dubbed movies she hated. But unlike the foreign movies, she could see the right words. She didn’t need to hear them.

Adam loved her, not Lala.

* * *

Claire really did have homework — studying, actually. Final exams were closing in fast.

The front door swung open, smacking the wall.

Lala .

As much as Claire wanted to slam headphones over her head and drown out the hussy, she was also curious.

Why was she home mere minutes after Claire?

Had Adam actually broken up with her?

A few seconds of sweet silence passed, and Claire got hopeful that Lala might flop down on her own bed and cry herself to sleep.

Whispered words made their way to Claire’s room, but she couldn’t make them out.

“Please, Daddy!” Lala begged.

Dear Lord, the big baby was crying to her father. Lala huffed a few times, but then just listened.

“Why not?” was her first audible reply.

Claire crept to the door and turned off the light.

She slowly turned the handle, slid to the floor, then pulled at the bottom, peeking through the crack.

Lala was pacing the floor. The long-coiled phone cord wound around her arm like a white snake, tight and glinting like an Egyptian bracelet.

“It does make sense, Daddy. You should do it.”

Claire gasped. Certainly her father didn’t care about a boy who hadn’t seen his daughter in two years.

“Okay. Love you, too.” Lala hung up and flung herself on the sofa.

Claire pulled the door closed. Obviously, Lala didn’t suspect Claire and Adam were seeing each other, or she would have been in here.

And Lala definitely wouldn’t tell Claire that a boy had broken up with her. She was way too proud for that.

Claire wanted to head back to the ranch right then. But if she did, Lala would definitely question where she was going.

Lala would fall asleep soon enough. Tomorrow morning, Claire would head back over, same as always. Maybe they’d even ride again.

* * *

Claire arrived at the ranch just after sunrise, boots still damp from the dewy grass outside Grams’s property.

She’d barely slept and couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d overheard last night.

Lala, phone pressed to her ear, whispering to her father about something that made sense , and he should do it .

It could’ve meant anything. Or nothing. But Claire knew better than to trust Lala.

Especially now.

She saw Adam near the back pasture, checking on the new fencing.

He looked up as she approached, his expression instantly softer.

“Hey,” he said, brushing off his hands.

Claire didn’t waste time. “Did you break up with Lala?”

Adam blinked. “I didn’t have to.”

Claire waited, arms crossed.

He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “She’s dating Roger. And Clara Mae doesn’t allow relationships with boarders. I reminded her of that. Told her I was too busy to deal with drama, and that if she didn’t get off my lap, Clara Mae would fire me.”

Claire’s posture eased, but she wasn’t letting him off the hook. She couldn’t think of one good reason that Lala was perched on his lap.

She leaned against the new fence. “So… not exactly a breakup.”

Adam stepped closer. “Claire, I made it crystal clear. Besides, there could never be anything between Lala and me. This is a case of mistaken identity, on her part. If Lala knew I was Thomas’s sixteen-year-old brother, she wouldn’t want me anyway.”

She nodded, half-smiling. “Good. Because last night I heard her tell her daddy he should do it , and it rattled me.”

Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Do what?”

“I don’t know. Sounded like she was trying to convince him to do something.”

Adam looked toward the barns, chewing the inside of his cheek. “He should do something … Oh,” he said, a nervous laugh escaping. “Buy the ranch…”

“Buy the ranch?” Claire asked, utterly confused.

“When I told Lala to get off my lap… that Clara Mae was going to fire me, she said her daddy would buy the ranch.”

“Well, that’s… a relief. I think. At least she didn’t order a hit on you.”

“Not yet. Clara Mae said something yesterday, though. Don’t mess with cartel families. Not their girls. Not their money. Not even by accident.”

Claire’s eyes widened. “Obviously, Clara Mae doesn’t tiptoe around what everyone else speculated.”

“Nope!” He shook his head. “Dang, Claire. I didn’t mean to get tangled in all of this. But somehow, I landed a trifecta of don’t mess withs .”

Claire reached for his hand, gripping it tightly.

They stood there a moment before she said, “We need to be careful.”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “But how do we go from losing each other to finding each other, only to not be able to see each other?”

“I don’t know. I certainly don’t want to stay away from you, either. We just need to be careful on the ranch.” She smiled as she backed away from him. “There’s always the meadow and, someday, maybe your cabin.”