Alyssa and Beau were due back tonight. Rachel would be happy to see her friend and hear about her Hawaiian adventures. But Rachel’s time on the ranch was coming to an end too quickly. In less than a week she would be on the road headed to California to make her final arrangements to start school. She needed an apartment and to pay her tuition and buy books and look over the campus. She would be a freshman, so the course schedule was pretty standard, at least until she could see what she should test out of. Not much to do about that right away though.

After she got everything arranged she’d need to make a trip back to Washington to collect whatever she would need to spend the next four years in college. She planned to fly up, then rent a small truck to bring back down whatever she would need, depending on what she got as living quarters and whether they were furnished.

It was a lot to do, but frankly she was not looking forward to it. In some ways she knew the experience would be valuable and she would learn a lot, but her heart wasn’t in it.

She’d lost her heart right here in the Colorado mountains to a man she would never have chosen. He wasn’t at all the kind of guy she normally dated or was interested in. But her heart had a mind of its own.

He never talked about her staying. He managed their time, so she would have everything done in the time that was allotted. She wondered if he would be glad to be rid of her. Or if he was biding his time until she packed up and moved on.

She laughed. Cynical much? Just then he walked out of the house and grinned when he saw her.

“I hurried with my work, so, we could get stuff done before the newlyweds show up and distract us.”

“That’s probably a good idea. I’m excited to hear about their time in Hawaii. Someday I want to go, there is so much beautiful photography from the islands, but I would still want to take my own.”

“You would have a different slant on it and bring your own flavor. I will be watching for your famous photography from now on. Someday you’ll be a headliner, for sure.”

She felt her heart swell with his pride in her, while at the same time wished she wasn’t going anywhere. Did she really want to be a famous photographer? She didn’t know if she did. “Well thanks for your confidence, but I’m not sure I’m the famous type. I’m happy to be in the background taking pictures. Someone else can have the limelight.”

“When you do become famous, you can set your own standards and be eccentric. Refuse all the attention. Brush off reporters with a comment on how you lose your creativity when you give pieces of yourself away in interviews.”

She rolled her eyes. “You are so silly. Let’s get moving, we’re burning daylight.”

He rolled his eyes back at her. “Grandpa K has created a monster.”

* * *

Adam was having fun teasing her and it was keeping him from being depressed about her leaving at the end of the week. He was going to miss the woman. What he wanted to do, was to beg her to stay and marry him. He would love to take her to Hawaii and anywhere else she wanted to travel. He would happily become her pack mule for life. But he couldn’t derail her career.

She had so much potential and he meant it when he said he would be waiting and watching for her to become a top photographer. The work she’d shown him was amazing, and here he had her out photographing a bunch of animals any idiot could take pictures of. Nope, he wasn’t going to let on that he wanted her to stay with him. He was going to work with her up until the last day, then he was going to smile and wave as she drove her little silver car out of his life.

He couldn’t bear to think about that, so getting busy with work was the cure. They still had a couple hundred head of cattle to photograph. They would have to spend the last day hunting down all the ones that had been missed. He’d been thinking about a strategy for that. Maybe have everyone that was available spread out across the ranch and look for the missing ones. When they found the correct animals, they could text in their location and keep the cattle from moving until Rachel could drive around to the different locations.

They spent the day as they had many others, chatting as they took all the pictures they could before dinner. When they got back to the house Beau and Alyssa had arrived.

At dinner the newlyweds talked about Hawaii.

Rachel gasped. “You did not go all the way to Hawaii and spend half your time on cattle ranches. Please tell me I misunderstood that.”

Alyssa laughed at her best friend. “Nope, you understood perfectly. We went to the Big Island and it has one of the largest cattle ranches in Hawaii and very historic too. There were some up north and others down south. We had a great time.”

“But you were supposed to be swimming in the ocean and soaking up the rays and having sex. Not working.” Rachel whined.

“We did plenty of those things, too. And it wasn’t work exactly, it was interesting to see how they handle it on such a closed environment. We loved it, didn’t we honey?” Alyssa looked at Beau.

He nodded. “We did, indeed.”

Alyssa shook her finger at Rachel. “Besides, missy, if it was you on your honeymoon, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t have your camera out taking a zillion pictures.” Adam had to admit Alyssa had a point, Rachel would have that camera strapped to her hand the entire time.

Rachel huffed. “That’s different. Everyone takes pictures.”

“It’s not different at all. The ranch we went to has a visitor’s center and a lot of people go to it as tourists.” Alyssa shrugged. “We just asked different questions, and spent a bit more time there.”

“Fine. But I still think it was silly to go thousands of miles away and end up on a ranch.” Rachel folded her arms and Adam had to hold in the chuckle he felt as the two women argued. They were so darn funny together.

“Changing the subject.” Alyssa grinned. “So, you leave this weekend for college. I’ll help you with the last few days of picture taking so we can spend the time together. Okay?”

Adam felt his enjoyment plummet. He didn’t want Alyssa to push him out of his last few days with Rachel.

Rachel looked at him. “But Adam and I have a system down.”

Alyssa laughed. “And I can’t figure it out? I’m sure he’s got plenty of work to do since you’ve been taking up half his time.”

Adam shook his head. “Actually, I’ve been able to keep up just fine. I simply start a little earlier in the morning.”

“Well now you can go back to your regular schedule,” Alyssa said.

“If you insist.” He didn’t know what else to say and maybe Rachel would prefer to spend the last couple of days with her best friend. She didn’t argue with the plan, so maybe she was tired of him.

“I do. It will be fun.” Alyssa grinned at Rachel.

Rachel smiled back at her friend and nodded. Although the smile wasn’t as enthusiastic as Alyssa’s he could see it was genuine. He’d lost, and he’d just have to suck it up. He didn’t say much the rest of the evening as Alyssa and Beau continued to share their stories of Hawaii.