The only reason Shane made it through each day was because of Cinna. Strangely, though he’d broken up with Robin, he wasn’t nearly as angry as he was even a few months ago. Not carrying around fifteen years of fury stemming from his father was so liberating. Shane actually had room for his own life, his own problems.

The biggest problem was sharing the pup with his brothers—and everyone else on the ranch. Dwayne didn’t care who had what animals, as long as they didn’t interfere with the ranch dogs or livestock and that they were taken care of.

More often than not, Cinna could be found at Shane’s heels or with Kurt’s border collie, Patches. Since the two next-door neighbor dogs had taken a liking to each other, Shane and his brothers had been eating dinner more and more at Kurt’s too. May really was an excellent chef, and Shane could handle her questions if she kept the chili and chocolate cake coming.

As August dawned without any communication with Robin, Shane’s heart seemed weighed down with sadness. Perhaps he’d simply traded his madness for melancholy. Perhaps he wasn’t meant to find happiness the way he’d hoped he would with Robin.

One Sunday, he loaded up with his brothers and headed in to church. He’d been attending more and more often, the sermons bringing him comfort much the same way Cinna did. He thought church would be much more interesting with Robin’s interruptions, but he never brought her up. If he spoke about her, it was because May had asked, or Dylan had mentioned her.

He thought of her endlessly, and he wondered if he always would. A solution to their predicament hadn’t presented itself, though Shane had been praying nonstop for divine help for the past three weeks.

A giggly brunette latched onto Dylan two steps inside the church, and his brother threw Shane a helpless look that said help as much as it said I’m fine.

Not sure what to do, Shane continued to the row where Kurt and May already sat and slid onto the bench with Austin beside him. The woman took Dylan down the aisle to another row filled with more women, and Shane nodded toward them. “Maybe you’d like to sit by your other brother.”

“I’ll pass.”

“Yeah?” Shane looked at Austin now, his curiosity lifting. “Who is that?”

“Salina Brouchard,” Austin said. “And I’m not interested in her or her nail salon friends.”

“Is Dylan?”

“Dylan’s lonely,” Austin said. “It won’t last.”

Shane frowned, unsure of how to feel about Dylan dating someone he didn’t really like. That didn’t seem like Dylan, but Shane understood. There were no women on the ranch, and the men worked long hours without much time to meet people.

“How’d he meet her?” he asked Austin.

“Coupla weeks ago, after church.”

How Shane had missed that, he wasn’t sure. But a couple of weeks ago, he’d been deep inside his own depression about Robin and he couldn’t remember much for about a week’s time. Must’ve happened then.

Kurt leaned over from Shane’s other side and whispered, “Heard Robin’s back in town.”

Shane whipped his head toward him so fast, his neck sent a slice of pain down his back. “What?” He pressed his hand to the back of his neck. “Robin’s in town?”

“Sh.” Kurt glanced around, but the service hadn’t even started yet. “Yeah, Dwayne said she came to the ranch on Friday.”

“Friday?” Shane needed to go. Now. If Robin was in town—had been for two whole days—he needed to see her.

She didn’t come see you, a voice hissed in his head. She hadn’t even called. Heck, he would’ve taken a simply four-word text. Hey, I’m in town.

The room spun and his stomach felt tingly inside. She didn’t want to see him, and his jaw clenched as he vowed not to leave the service and find her. She knew how to get in touch with him. If she wanted to, she could.

“You didn’t know,” Kurt whispered, not really asking.

Shane shook his head, his teeth clenching too hard to speak.

“Hey, I’m sorry.” Kurt leaned over and whispered something to May, who also looked at Shane. He really didn’t need their sympathy. He’d been around when they hadn’t been getting along, and he’d just tried to be there for Kurt.

Pastor Gifford stood and the choir wrapped up their opening number. “Friends, welcome to our services today.” He beamed out into the crowd. “I love coming to the Lord’s house when the sun is shining so brightly through those stained glass windows.”

Shane focused on each word, spelling it out so he wouldn’t have space to think about Robin. But she was ever-present in his mind, just like always. Still, he managed to listen as the preacher began talking about relying on the Lord in times of trouble.

“People sometimes tend to forget the Lord in the easy times of their lives. We should always be grateful, especially when we have an abundance of blessings in our lives. We’re better at turning to God when things are hard, but we mustn’t forget to be grateful. You may feel like you don’t have anything to be grateful for. Or like God isn’t answering your prayers, for possibly something we desperately need.”

Pastor Gifford stopped, apparently overcome with a rush of emotion. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter, more sincere. “But, brothers and sisters, He is aware of you and He knows exactly what you need. Ask again. Be grateful and ask again.”

Shane closed his eyes, determined to do what Pastor Gifford had counseled. He started listing the things he was grateful for, starting with his mom, his brothers, his job at Grape Seed Ranch. His friendship with the other cowboys, and Cinna, and Robin.

Yes, even Robin.

I’m so grateful for those thirty-five days, he prayed. Please, please help me figure out how to get more time with her.

He didn’t think there was a ranch large enough in this corner of Hill Country that could employ her full time, but what if she could work one day a week at five different ranches?

With a plan—shaky as it was—Shane prayed thank you, and determined to call every ranch within a thirty-mile radius if it meant he could get Robin to come back and live closer on a more permanent basis.

The following day, he hung up with Joaquin Alvarez, the owner of Sunnyside Farms, where Shane knew Robin had worked each summer. He had men who could shoe horses. All he needed Robin for was to shape and build their supply of horseshoes, which she’d just done for the next six months.

He called Levi, who absolutely had said that he should hire Robin full time instead of having her teach his existing staff her skills, but the man didn’t answer. Frustrated and hungry, Shane turned his attention to making lunch instead of trying to find a job for Robin.

Cinna rang the bell though she’d been outside all morning with him while he moved hay from one storage barn to the farthest pastures where the yearlings grazed. This late in the summer, without rain for so long, they had to supplement the grass with hay, and it seemed a never-ending job to get the food where it needed to go.

He’d just slid the scrambled eggs he’d made onto a plate when Austin walked in, whistling. “Hey, bro, are those for me?”

“No,” Shane said. “But I’ll make you some if you want.”

“Yeah, sure. Where’s Cinna?”

“She rang the bell.”

“You know Patches is gonna get frisky with her, right?”

“Patches is neutered.” Shane cracked four eggs into the bowl and tipped in a bit of milk also.

“Not every dog out there is neutered,” Austin said, checking out the back door while Shane poured the eggs into the hot pan.

“Well, more pups like Cinna can’t be bad,” Shane said.

“Who’s gonna take care of them?”

“I will,” Shane said, mentally adding I’ve got nothing better to do.

By the end of the week, Shane’s sadness was only winning over his fury by a hair. He wanted to text Robin and find out if she was still in the vicinity, find out why she’d come to talk to Dwayne and hadn’t wanted to see him.

Not knowing was torture, and Shane found himself working around the ranch with the same furious fervor he’d had for the past three years. Cinna didn’t help, and a phone call to Doctor Sloan didn’t help, and Shane feared that the only thing that would curb the anger was something—someone—he could never have.

He honestly wasn’t sure what was worse: having a ten-foot wall around his heart or having a broken one.