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  This wasn’t home.

  Rowan closed the door behind herself and dropped her keys on the end table. She set her bag down and looked around the empty apartment with her still-packed boxes. Then she dropped down onto the couch with a sigh.

  A glance at the wall clock told her it was too late to call her parents. She’d have to wait until morning to fill them in on her first shift. Alycia would still be awake, though.

  She pulled up Alycia’s name in her phone and hit the call button, eager to hear her friend’s voice. The apartment was a vacuum, lonely and suffocating. She needed to share her evening with someone she loved.

  The phone rang.

  Rowan’s smile returned to her face as she thought about telling Alycia how incredible her first night as a professional grill chef had been.

  Another ring.

  The smile slipped away. It hadn’t occurred to Rowan that Alycia might not be available to answer.

  Another ring.

  Please be there.

  Voice mail.

  Rowan hit “end” and tossed the phone to the far end of the couch, as though the phone itself was responsible for the call going to voice mail. Then she went to the bathroom to get ready for bed, not at all optimistic that she’d be able to climb off of the roller coaster of emotions that she found herself on in order to fall asleep.

  She was brushing her teeth when she heard the ding of a text message. She went back out to the living room to pick up her phone from the couch.

  Hey, sorry I missed your call. I’m just out at a comedy show with the girls. Will call you tomorrow. Hope everything is going well! XO.

  Rowan read the message over once, twice, a third time. Each time, the sting of the words hit her more intensely than the last. She didn’t message back.

  A part of her felt silly at the strength of her emotional reaction. She hadn’t expected her friends to stop everything when she moved and wait for her calls. But a larger part of her couldn’t stop imagining her friends out having a good time while she sat in her empty apartment.

  She went back to her bathroom, set her toothbrush back in its cradle, and rinsed her mouth. But she was unable to rinse out the taste of loss.

  Chapter Three

  Kate woke before the sun. Waking early had become a part of her body’s natural rhythm, so much so that she no longer needed to use an alarm clock. Even moving away from the ranch for university had not reset her internal clock. She’d never stopped being a rancher.

  She stretched lazily, extending each arm and then each leg, before pulling back the sheets and climbing out of bed. She stepped into a pair of slippers and then headed to the kitchen to make her morning pot of coffee. It was her favorite time of day— sitting out on the porch with her coffee and watching the sun rise over the pastures.

  As she stepped into the hall, she realized the lights were already on in the kitchen. It shouldn’t have surprised her to find her dad already awake as well. He’d been up before dawn since before she was born. Still, the past few mornings, he’d slept in until his home care nurse arrived to help him get up, dressed, and ready for the day.

  Kate stepped into the kitchen, and for a moment she just took in the sight. Her dad was at the sink, filling the coffeepot with water, his elderly Australian shepherd, Patch, right beside him. When her dad wheeled over to the coffeemaker, Patch followed right alongside him.

  She lifted a hand to her chest. As happy as she was to have her dad home, she suspected Patch was even happier. The dog had slept by the door every night since the accident, waiting for his human to come home. It had broken her heart all over again every night.

  “Somebody sure is happy to have his favorite human home,” Kate said.

  Warren looked up at her with the ghost of a smile and reached down to pat his dog’s head. “He’s a good old boy.”

  “He is.”

  She watched as her dad struggled to lift a pot of water high enough to pour into the coffeemaker. From his wheelchair he sat an inch or so too low to be able to fill the coffeepot.

  “I’ll help you with that, Daddy,” she said, and she stepped forward to take the pot of water from his hands.

  Warren frowned, but relinquished the pot.

  “Can’t even make my own coffee anymore,” he grumbled.

  Kate poured the water into the brewer and then went to the cupboard for the coffee beans.

  “We’re gonna have to make some changes to the kitchen. But we’re going to get it all figured out.”

  She ground the beans, added them to the mesh filter, and set the coffeepot to brew.

  “There,” she said. “Soon we’ll have coffee and all will be right with the world. Isn’t that what you always say? ‘Ain’t anything so bad a strong cup of coffee can’t fix it.’”

  “I might’ve proved myself wrong.”

  The defeat in her dad’s voice broke her heart. Kate found herself at a loss for what to say. Her dad had always been the optimist in the family, but the accident had been devastating.

  She took two mugs from the cupboard and placed them on the counter, then sat at the table while the coffee brewed. Gradually the rich aroma filled the kitchen, even the scent making her feel more awake.

  “Alex will be here at eight to help you shower and work on your exercises,” Kate said.

  “Fantastic,” her dad answered, but his bitter tone made it clear that it was anything but.

  “He’s no Cynthia, is he?” she asked, leaning forward conspiratorially, hoping to lighten the mood.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Her dad seemed genuinely perplexed, and she had to smother a laugh.

  “I saw the way you two looked at each other,” she said.

  Warren rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? Maybe if we’d met before this stupid accident . . .”

  “Right, because before the accident you would have had all sorts of reasons to be meeting pretty nurses up at the hospital.”

  Her dad’s lips pulled upward for a moment, but the smile was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared. “There’s no point thinkin’ about that.”

  Kate exhaled. She wanted to say more. She wanted to convince him that just because his life was different didn’t mean it was over. But the coffeepot interrupted, spitting the last of the coffee into the pot and indicating with a beep it was ready.

  “I’ll take my coffee with cream, please,” she said. “Cups are on the counter.”

  Warren looked at her as if about to protest, but she held his gaze, daring him to challenge her. He knew better, and so he nodded once, then turned and wheeled over to the counter. With the counter set as high as it was, he had to pull the mug into his lap, then bring the pot down to his level to pour. He filled the first mug, set it on the counter, and filled the second. Then he wheeled over to the fridge to get the cream, which he added to each mug with the same slow procedure he’d used to pour the coffee.

  Kate watched as he balanced a mug in his lap and began to wheel over toward her. The coffee splashed over the top, and her dad cursed under his breath. She had to refrain from going to help him. Instead, she opened a newspaper and pretended not to watch as he struggled.

  It took a minute for the coffee to reach her, but she could see the pride on her dad’s face as he handed her the drink.

  “Thank you,” she said, and took a sip, relishing the rich, warm liquid.

  Kate waited for her dad to go get his coffee. Then she stood and headed out to the porch, walking slowly so that he could keep up, once again resisting the powerful urge to help him.

  It was still dark outside. Only the barest sliver of light broke across the horizon. She sat on the cushioned porch swing, and her dad wheeled in beside her.

  “A new day,” he said.

  Kate looked over at him. “Every day is.”

  She took a sip of her coffee as they gazed out at the sky together. Fiery pinks and oranges shot across the horizon, accented against the deep navy sh
ade of the darkened sky and the purple patches of clouds. The air was pleasantly cool, with a soft breeze blowing across her skin.

  “It’s been too long since we’ve last sat out here like this,” she said. For most of her life, it had been their morning routine.

  “It has been awhile,” Warren agreed.

  Some of their deepest conversations had been held there, but this morning they sat in companionable silence.

  As daylight stretched across the field, thoughts of the busy day ahead seeped through Kate’s mind. Her dad had home care visits and physical therapy at various points over the course of the day. She had to rotate the cows in the fields and mend some fences that were getting pretty worn. Their hands, Owen and Dean, would, thankfully, show up around seven to help with the day’s work. Then, midmorning, she was expecting a visit from Rowan Barnes from On the Range to pick up the restaurant’s next order of beef— a full order this time for their opening.

  Kate smiled at the thought of Rowan. Poor girl was so out of her element in Texas. Even from their brief interaction, Kate could tell Rowan generally carried herself with an air of confidence, bordering on cockiness. She’d seen it in Rowan’s body language, the way she stood with her shoulders back, chin raised almost defiantly, and the fire in her eyes when she did business with Kate. It was clear she tried hard to maintain that air of confidence, despite the fact that when it came to Texas she had no idea what she was doing. It was actually pretty darn cute. Kate had enjoyed watching her look around the ranch, dark eyes wide with wonder. She suspected that Rowan hadn’t spent much time up close and personal with any sort of livestock.

  Kate finished her coffee and allowed herself one more minute to sit before starting the busy day. Both she and her dad had a lot of work ahead. It wouldn’t necessarily be pleasant for either of them, but the end results would be worth it.

  “I guess I’d better get started.” She carried her coffee mug inside, changed into her work clothes, and pulled on her boots.

  Her dad was still sitting on the porch when she went back outside.

  “Do you need help with anything before I get to work?” she asked.

  He just shook his head.

  “Okay.” She tried to think of something else to say, wanting to prolong the moment together. “Well, holler if you need anything. Owen and Dean will be here soon, and they can help as well.”

  “I’m good, Katie,” her dad said.

  There was a wistfulness in his voice, though. Kate was tempted to sit back down beside him, but there was too much work to get done, so she patted him on the back and headed over to the barn.

  It’s going to take some time to adjust, she reminded herself. Besides, he’d gotten out of bed and made coffee on his own. That was the progress she needed to focus on.

  She wanted things to go back to normal as soon as possible. Of course, they were never going to go back to the way they’d been. They’d have to figure out some sort of new normal.

  But they’d had their sunrise coffee.

  Some things could be the same.

  ❊ ❊ ❊

  Kate did not have time for a jailbreak.

  She sat atop her horse, Stryder, and worked to rotate the cattle. The cattle rotation was done every few days to prevent the grass in the fields from becoming grazed too thin. It simply involved moving the cows from one pasture to another, and was typically a quick and easy task to complete. She had only started with the longhorns, however, when she noticed the first of the escaped cattle.

  “Darn it, not today,” she said.

  In defiance, a cow mooed from the roadway.

  Thankfully she hadn’t yet herded the longhorns out of their pasture, and she was able to make a quick exit and close the gate, containing them. Then she eased Stryder into a lope and took off toward the road. Owen was working on milking cows in the barn, and Dean was fixing a weak area of fence on the other side of the property.

  Kate shook her head at herself. She should have done the fences a week ago. She’d helped on the ranch growing up, but she’d never been solely in charge before, and the enormity of the task settled heavy on her shoulders. There were a million moving parts, and she had to learn quickly how to juggle them all at once.

  A handful of cattle meandered along the side of the road, snacking on grass as they went. It appeared only five or six had gotten out, and they wouldn’t be able to go far, with cattle grates along the road only a few meters away from where they grazed. She was confident she could get them rounded up and herded back into their pasture— one without a broken fence— while her dad was still in his physical therapy. The last thing she wanted was for him to find escaped cattle his first week home. She needed him to know that she was in control of the ranch. He had enough to worry about without also worrying whether or not his daughter was going to run his home and livelihood into the ground.

  Kate made quick time as she worked to steer the cows back to the ranch.

  “Come on, girls. I don’t have time for this today,” she said to them as she rounded them up.

  She heard the low rumble of a car on the road in the distance, and her heart rate quickened.

  “Let’s get you ladies back into the field where you can enjoy a nice sunny afternoon with some fresh green grass. How’s that sound?” she asked, with increased urgency.

  The cows plodded from the road toward the ranch and she breathed a sigh of relief. She just had to get them into their fenced-in field.

  The car turned off of the highway and into the ranch drive.

  “Of course,” Kate grumbled. “She comes now.” This was not helping to present the ranch as operating as smoothly and professionally as ever. Her only saving grace was that it was Rowan Barnes, not Daniel Stanford, picking up the beef, and Rowan had never seen the ranch, or any ranch, operating any differently.

  Because a bunch of cows running loose screams professional in any instance, Kate thought.

  The car pulled in to park just as she was getting the last of the cows rounded up near their field. Rowan stepped out, pushing her sunglasses up onto the top of her short, dark hair, and taking in the sight before her. For just a moment, Kate forgot about the cows and took the time to watch as Rowan looked around. She wore a black tank top with ripped jeans and appeared to have stepped through the looking glass into some unknown world. She was more attractive than Kate remembered, with her outfit highlighting the contrast between her bold attitude and soft curves.

  “Do me a favor and get that gate?” Kate called, bringing her attention back to the task at hand. She might as well make use of the extra set of hands.

  Rowan froze, her eyes locked on the cows with a comical expression of horror. She hadn’t even closed her car door yet, and from the look on her face Kate wondered if she was going to get back in and drive away. She looked as overwhelmed as Kate felt, and in that moment she wasn’t the hotshot chef that Kate was supposed to impress.

  “They won’t bite, I swear,” Kate said, softening her voice. “They’ll just moo and get on with it.”

  Rowan didn’t seem convinced. She appeared to have paled somewhat at the thought of getting anywhere near the cattle.

  “You’d better be right,” she said.

  Kate watched her hesitate for a moment longer, before going to the gate— making a wide arc around the cattle to get there— and pushing it open for Kate to herd the cows inside. She pressed herself flat against the gate and squeezed her eyes shut as the cows meandered past her. When one cow turned its head toward her out of curiosity, Rowan practically leapt out of the way, but she managed to stay with the gate and pushed it closed once the last of the cows was inside.

  Kate let out a breath of relief and dismounted Stryder. She tied his lead to the wooden fence.

  “Thank you,” she said, turning to Rowan and wiping the sweat off her hands on her dirty jeans. “This lot decided to make a run for it this morning.”

  “They’re all accounted for now?” Rowan asked, looking out at the cows. K
ate did a quick count and then nodded. “They’re all here.”

  She took a moment to watch Rowan study the cattle, her dark eyes wide with interest, and she tried to imagine feeling the same awe Rowan felt. As Rowan turned her gaze to Kate, her breath hitched slightly at the depth in Rowan’s chocolate brown eyes. Or at the embarrassment at having been caught watching Rowan. Yeah, Kate reasoned, probably just the embarrassment.

  “I’m glad I was able to help.” Rowan smiled, warm undertones shining through in those brown eyes of hers. She had a dimple in her left cheek when she smiled.

  Kate thought back on Rowan’s look of fear as the cows had walked past, and she laughed. “You were really scared.”

  Rowan blushed and then straightened, pulling her confidence back into place. “They’ve already tried running away to avoid becoming steak dinner. The next step is clearly a revolt, and I have no doubt that in a fight between me and one of those massive things, I’d lose.”

  “They’re gentle giants,” Kate said. “That long grass out by the road is one big buffet to them. They’re too full and happy to start any rebellion.”

  “You don’t know that.” Rowan set her hands on her hips. “Facing down an angry herd of cattle is a risk I’d rather not take.”

  Kate didn’t know how Rowan managed to maintain a straight face, but she had her shoulders back and her chin raised ever-so-slightly. The utter confidence she attempted to project was too much for Kate, who was the first to break into laughter.

  When was the last time she’d really laughed?

  “How did the launch go?” Kate asked, not really wanting to shift back into work mode, but genuinely interested in the new restaurant and this new chef.

  Rowan lit up. “Wonderful. We got a lot of great comments. The steak dinners were a hit. If everything runs this smoothly during our full launch, then we’ve got nothing to worry about.”