Over the next few days, Jonah and I made that ranch so clean, so organized, so efficient that I couldn’t help but be a little proud of myself and the jobs we’d completed. Faye was so appreciative, by the third day, she was sending home enough baskets of baked goods to feed a small army. We kept trying to insist that it was not a big deal but she would have none of it.

Other ranches had followed our lead and sent hands to help out on the McAllen Ranch. We were all toggling a week at a time, and Jonah and I weren’t due back there for another six weeks. Although, the McAllen’s son suspected they’d have a permanent hand there by then.

The following Friday morning, I had to admit it was nice to wake up and not have anywhere to be but the Hunt Ranch. The day went by uneventfully. I hadn’t seen Cricket or Ethan for more than a week, and the separation from Cricket was a torment, but I was happy for it all the same. I needed to clear my head, and Jonah helped me do that by keeping me busier than I’d ever been in my life.

Before dinner, Ellie dragged Jonah and me over to the old Hunt buildings, the ones Cricket worked out of. I tried not to let that affect me, but being near her sculptures hurt my stomach.

“Here,” Ellie said, prying open a large sliding door to an abandoned-looking barn.

“What are we doing out here, Ellie?” I asked.

“There’s an auction tomorrow evening in Yellow Creek for Amos McAllen.”

I looked at Jonah, addled. What more could they need? I thought.

“Amos needs a prosthetic,” Ellie explained, rummaging through a carefully organized shelf at the back. “We’re going to see if there’s anything in here worth donating.”

“Isn’t this all family heirloom-type stuff?” I asked

“Yes, sir.” She winked.

“You’re going to give a family heirloom to strangers?”

“Does this surprise you, baby?” Ellie asked, setting aside a tool that looked very old.

“Frankly, I’m shocked, Ellie.”

She smiled at me and patted my cheek. “This is what we do for our neighbors, honey. We take care of each other.”

But they’re strangers! I thought, then I remembered the day Bridge and I came to ask for their help, how open and generous they were with us, how they welcomed us without any expectations of a return, and how they didn’t judge us. I felt utterly ashamed.

“I see,” I said, lifting something off the wall for Ellie.

Just then, the doors slid open behind us and Ethan and Cricket walked in. I smiled kindly at Cricket, then turned back to helping Ellie.

“Hi, Grandma,” Cricket chimed, and Ellie turned around.

“Hello, darlin’.” She smiled. “Hi, Ethan honey.”

“Ellie,” Ethan greeted, making my fists clench.

Ellie picked up a pile of old papers and a photograph slid out from underneath. She gasped and we all turned her direction.

“Oh my word,” she said, bending down and picking it up. She dusted it off and studied its subject with glassy eyes. “It’s my mama,” she said, running her fingers reverently over the surface. She turned it toward me and I almost choked.

The woman in the photograph was petite and slender, bobbed black hair, stylish and looked exactly like Cricket. She wore a flapper-style dress and a headband with a jaunty feather at the side. Her arm was raised and in her hand was a champagne glass. She looked beautiful and happy. Her smile looked as clever as Cricket’s.

“What was her name?” I asked, taking the photograph and trying not to feel crazy, like I was looking at a picture of Cricket.

“Caroline,” Ellie said, looking over at Cricket.

I did the same, and seeing her so close up made my chest throb, but I turned back to the task at hand.

Ellie picked several nice things for the auction, and I couldn’t believe how generous she was being.

She picked up my hand and squeezed it. “Would you mind using your nice truck, Spencer, and taking this over to Yellow Creek for me? I think you’re the only one here who knows your way around there, besides Jonah, and I need him.”

“Not at all, Ellie.” I smiled.

“Thank you, baby.” She turned toward Cricket. “Grandbaby, will you go with him and see that Faye’s sister Helen knows all she’s getting from us and what they are worth?”

Cricket’s eyes widened and she looked panicked. She turned to Ethan and his face was expressionless.

She swallowed. “Of course,” she answered.

“Thank you, baby,” she said. “Ethan? Jonah? Will you come help me in the horse stalls for a minute. There’s some readjusting I need done and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ethan responded, narrowing his eyes at me.

Jonah and a reluctant Ethan followed her out, leaving Cricket and me alone for the first time in a week. It was beyond awkward.

“I’ll get the truck,” I said, making my way out of the barn.

I thought I was alone until I heard the faint crunch of Cricket’s boots in the leftover snow. I twisted my head just enough to see her behind me but didn’t acknowledge her more than that.

When we reached the truck, I held open the door for her and helped her in as respectfully as I could, still not saying a word. I rounded the front and hopped into the driver’s side, starting the engine. My hand instinctively used the back of her headrest as I backed out, and that made her flinch. I wanted to laugh, but I checked it quickly. Goofy girl.

I slowly made my way toward the old barn and the silence felt deafening. I hopped out and began to gather the things Ellie wanted to donate to the auction, fitting them into the back of the extended cab. At the end, I let Eugie jump in on my side.

The half-hour drive to Yellow Creek was so restrained, the sexual tension so palpable, I almost demanded she roll down her damn window, anything to relieve the strain. I had to drive around the stupid town for five minutes longer than I’d anticipated because I was having trouble finding the old schoolhouse they were using for the auction and dinner.

“Thank God,” we both breathed at the same time when we pulled in.

Click.

We hid our smiles and went inside as Eugie followed. We looked for Faye’s sister Helen, but it didn’t seem she was around.

“Truck,” I said and she nodded.

We began unloading everything and laid it next to all the offerings. I hoisted myself up to sit on the edge of the old stage and wait for Helen. Cricket made a move to do the same but she was so short, she couldn’t get her leg over the edge.

“Oh my God,” she said, laughing.

She was giggling so hard she couldn’t get a grip and kept struggling to get up.

“‘Oh my God’ is right,” I teased.

I jumped off and tossed her by the waist onto the edge, making her squeal. Trying hard not to snicker, she adjusted her clothing.

She sighed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, setting Eugie next to her.

I leaned back on my elbows but she stayed sitting, her hands wedged between her bouncing knees.

“Nervous?” I asked her nonchalantly.

Her knees stopped bouncing. “Uh, no. Are you?”

“Not even in the slightest,” I said coolly.

“That’s good,” she replied.

“It’s great,” I said, teasing her.

She shook her head but didn’t say anything.

“You look just like your great-grandma,” I said, changing the subject.

She faced me and smiled. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry. Was that too intimate a compliment for work colleagues?” I needled. “I wouldn’t want to cross any boundaries.”

She pursed her lips, huffed and faced the open space again.

“How do you think Patches is doing today?” I baited. “I know Ellie found an abscess in his right hind hoof.”

“He’s fine. Pop Pop treated him. He’s resting.”

“That’s good news. Who is Drew riding then?”

“I don’t know,” she puffed.

“When do you think we’ll be able to turn the cows out to summer pasture?”

“If we’re lucky, the end of April.”

Her short, bland answers were cracking me up.

“That’s superb,” I answered sarcastically.

She nodded.

“Hey,” I began.

“Spencer! Stop talking to me about the ranch!”

“Oh, so I guess we can’t talk about anything at all then? Awesome! What awesome company you turned out to be.”

She sighed and her head fell. “I’m sorry. I-I just needed some boundaries with you. We were getting close, if you catch my drift, and it was disrespectful to Ethan.” She faced me. “I just needed you to know that it needed to stop.”

“That’s fine,” I lied. I mean really, really lied.

She regarded me and opened her mouth to say something, but a loud clang came from the front of the schoolhouse.

“What the hell was that?” I asked. “Stay here,” I ordered her.

I jumped down and made my way toward the front, Eugie tight on my heels. No one was there, but when I made an attempt to look outside, the weather had taken a drastic, dangerous change. The wind was so strong I couldn’t open the door more than a foot. Snow blew so strongly and so heavily, I couldn’t see but a few inches in front of me.

I shivered from the cold that had seeped through and met Cricket back at the edge of the stage. “You should probably come see this,” I told her.

She hopped down and she beat me to the door. “Holey. Moley.”

“Will it calm down any?”

“Uh, um, I don’t think so. This, Spencer, is a blizzard in Montana.”

“Should we try to book it out of here?

She gawked at me like I was daft.

“So, we’re stuck here then,” I concluded.

“Uh, that’s a big yes.”

“For how long?”

Her eyes widened as if she just realized something. “Um, awhile,” she said vaguely. “Excuse me,” she said, pulling her cell from her back pocket.

I stayed planted by the door with the little glass windows and watched the white attack every inch of Yellow Creek with Eugie at my feet.

“Are we going to be here all night, boy?” I asked him, to which he licked my hand.

“I take that as a yes then.”

“Hey,” she spoke into her phone, “yeah. Yeah, I know, Ethan.” She blew at her bangs. “Let me talk to Pop.” There was a brief pause. “Hey, yup. No, I didn’t see it coming. We were in the old schoolhouse waiting for Faye’s sister Helen.” Another pause. “I know. We’re not going anywhere.” She looked around. “It still has power, but we’ll start rummaging for provisions here in a second, just in case. Uh-huh. Okay, yup, tell her I said I loved her too. Yeah, sure.” A longer pause. “I know, Ethan. I know.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re just going to have to trust me then, Ethan, all right? Okay, I will. Love you too. Bye.”

She hung up then rounded the foyer. “Got anything in your truck worth retrieving?”