Ox slammed the posthole digger into the ground just as the steer butted into his hip, sending him into the barbed wire and tearing up his gloves. He kicked at the steer and yelled, “Fucking piece-of-shit bovine asshole!”

The steer snorted and turned, trotting off and leaving a trail of shit behind him.

Ox turned in place, surrounded by mud and new grass and fucking cows and rocks and broken fences, and wondered how the hell he’d come back to this place. How the hell was he still doing the shit that had brought him and his grandfather to blows when he was seventeen?

He dug the posthole digger into the ground again, tearing up his hands so badly he knew he’d be in pain when he went to work on the second half of Clyde’s cover-up the next night.

Fucking cows.

Fucking mudslides.

Fucking ranch.

He heard the hoofbeats a moment before Melissa crested the hill. It was too muddy for the quad cab to make it up to the north pasture, so they were both riding that day.

“You need any help?” she called. “I’m done with the oranges for today.”

“Good.” He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. It wasn’t Melissa’s fault his life was shit. She didn’t ask him to help. It was just something he had to do. “I’m almost done with this hole. Then I need to restring the wire.”

“You don’t have any clients today?”

“I told you it’s been slow.” It had been slow because he told his clients he needed to work less hours and he wasn’t getting any walk-ins, but Melissa didn’t know that.

“I’d really feel more comfortable with you working all these hours if you let me pay you,” Melissa said. “I told you, we have the money—”

“It’s not about the money, okay?” He wasn’t going to take money from his sister that she needed for Abby. He threw the posthole digger to the side and went for the new post. “That’s not why I’m doing this.”

Melissa was silent as he fixed the new post in place and restrung the wire, looping it around the far fencepost and twisting it in place before he secured it with pliers. The fix hadn’t taken as long as he’d feared, but he was still frustrated, angry, and in pain.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“What?” He tore off his gloves once he was done and stuffed them in his jacket pockets. His hands stung in the cold, damp air.

“Why are you doing this, Ox?” She saw his hands. “You’ve torn up your hands.”

“Yeah, one of your asshole steers shoved me into the fence.”

She threw out her hands. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I need to.”

“Why? You’re an artist and you’re tearing up your hands? That’s just stupid.”

“Glad to know you think I’m stupid.”

“Oh, shut up!” She slid off her mare. “You know that’s not what I’m saying. You couldn’t wait to escape this place, so why are you doing this? You were finally going after what you wanted. What changed?”

“I’m the only one left!”

Melissa frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“First it was Grandpa and then Calvin. And now Mom’s sick too. She’s not gonna be around forever. If we hadn’t gotten her to the hospital, then what would have happened? She could have died.” His voice caught. “And then I’d be the only one left to take care of you and Abby. We’re all we have left, Lissa. Of course I have to be here.”

Melissa stood staring at him, not saying a word.

Ox cleared his throat and sniffed. “I’m the only one left. You won’t ask for help from anyone else. Not when you really need it. So it’s just me.”

There were tears in Melissa’s eyes. “You hate cows.”

“But I love you and Abby.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have started my own business. It wasn’t fair to Emmie. I worry every day I’m away from here. And I worry about Emmie taking care of everything in the shop when I’m away from there. But you’re my family, and I have to take care of you. I hear you crying at night. I know I’m not Calvin, but I don’t want you to be alone. I don’t want you to have to do this by yourself.”

Melissa walked toward him. “Because you are the biggest softie in the world regarding your niece—don’t argue with me, hard-ass, you know you are—I will excuse your bullheaded macho assumption that I am not capable of running this ranch on my own. Of course I miss Calvin. I miss him every day. And every day I get up and I feed the goats and check the fences and order the parts for the tractor. Because the ranch is what I want. It’s what Calvin wanted. It’s what keeps me sane. That and Abby.”

“I know.”

“But this is not what you want. It never has been. And… you’re right.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “You and Cary are both right. I’m too stubborn about accepting help. There are a dozen out-of-work cowboys who could be doing what you’ve been doing, but I’ve been too distracted to hire any. I’ve been using you here as a crutch, and that’s not fair to you.”

“I’m your brother. You can always ask me—”

“If it’s an emergency, I will call. I promise you. But this isn’t an emergency.” She looked around the pasture. “This is a job. And it’s not yours.”

He crossed his arms. “So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying you’re fired. And you should go get cleaned up and head back into town to your real job and apologize to your girlfriend for being an asshole for the past few weeks and probably take her out for a very nice dinner.”

Ox’s face fell. He couldn’t stop thinking about his fight with Emmie that morning. She’d been right. The ranch was not his family. His mom, his sister, and Abby were his family. The ranch was a business, and he’d been putting his sister’s business before the promises he’d made to Emmie. He’d told her she could depend on him, and then he’d failed.

He’d fought with her, and then he’d walked out the door.

Ox grabbed his head in his hands and cursed a blue streak.

“What did you do?” Melissa asked. “You idiot, what did you do?”

Ox knocked on Spider’s door as soon as he made it into town. He’d called Daisy for the address and she’d told him, but she’d also told him not to bother calling because Spider was with a client until two and wouldn’t pick up the phone even if she called. Ox also had to listen through an impassioned bitch session about the man refusing to get a cell phone. Since Ox had a sister, he knew when to make the right sympathetic noises and when to shut up.

He then managed to tease enough information out of Daisy to confirm that a very grand gesture was called for. He’d fucked up big time. It wasn’t so much the fighting, he realized now, it was the walking out.

That was the big mistake.

Ox heard movement in the house, then a rustle in the curtain beside the door. Multiple locks unlatched and Spider opened the door.

“Hey, man. What’s up?”

Ox looked around. “Your house looks like Leave It to Beaver.”

“’Cause my wife is a fucking goddess, so don’t track mud on her carpet. Why are you here?”

“Because I finally figured out what I want. Then I really fucked up.”