I prop my foot on the fence and look out across the fields. Heart Mountain gazes back at me, gray and monolithic even though the distance makes it appear small. There’s something about the mountain. It could be a pinprick on the horizon and I would still feel tiny in its presence. Between that landmark and me, hundreds of cattle graze with their heavy heads nestled into the grass.

What would it be like to be back here again in a permanent way? Any time I’ve thought about returning home a familiar sense of panic has filled me. I’ve dreaded ending back on Ello road working on my family’s farm.

But for the first time in my life I really question the reason why. I don’t hate ranch life. I’ve never thought about going to school or working in an office. I hate sitting still. If I wasn’t in the rodeo, I’d be working as a hand somewhere.

It all comes down to not wanting to feel like I’ve settled. Most of the guys I went to high school with followed the expected path. They married the same girls they took to prom, inherited their family farms, started popping out kids, and called it a day.

The thought of following the same route makes me disgusted.

But maybe things aren’t always black and white. Could I have the good parts of life on a ranch while skipping all the bad ones?

It’s an odd thought. All these years I’ve been running away from what I come from. It’s felt good... for the most part. I like not being tied down.

But I’ve never missed a place half as much as I’m going to miss this ranch.

Or the woman living next to it.

Nash and I haven’t seen Cheyenne since we brought her home from class yesterday. We tried to get her to come back to my place afterward, but she was adamant about going home. Last night I texted her and asked her to come over, but she said she was already in bed.

Having her out of my sight makes me sick. My stomach twists if I think about driving away from our little town and leaving her behind. We’ve only got a small number of days left here. Wasting time doesn’t sit well with me. Nash and I should be with Cheyenne.

She should be with us.

I push off the fence and stalk back to the house. The whole situation isn’t right. Cheyenne is the first woman I’ve wanted to keep around for more than a few days. She’s something special. It’s not likely I’ll find another girl like her soon.

If ever.

I rip the kitchen’s screen door open and forcefully slam it shut. “Damn it!”

“What’s the problem?”

I jump at Nash’s voice. He sits at the kitchen table, looking sullenly up at me.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

He looks all around him like he’s still figuring just that out. “Sitting, I guess.”

“And that’s all?”

He thinks it over. “Yep.”

I drop into the chair across from him and put my hat on the table.

“You got bags under your eyes.”

I glare at him. “So do you.”

Nash rubs his eyes. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Join the club.”

“I’m worried about Cheyenne.”

“No one’s going to get her.”

“I know,” he grumbles.

I look at my hands.

“The sheriff just called,” he says. “Emily’s being held on bond.”

“She’ll be there for a while.”

He raises his eyebrows. “I’m not paying to get her out.”

I shake my head and look at the table. “I can’t believe what almost happened. We should have been there to protect Cheyenne.”

“We were there.”

“I mean sooner. We should always be there.”

Silence follows my words. Nash crosses his arms and looks thoughtfully out the window.

“We’re leaving in a few days,” he slowly says.

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you ever get jealous of Mike or Dominic? You know, because they have their wives on the road with them?”

“You want a wife?”

“No. You know I don’t. But don’t you ever… You know, think it would be nice?”

I lean back in my chair and look at the ceiling. “Not once.”

“Really?”

He sounds like he doesn’t believe me.

“What are you getting at? Is this about Cheyenne?”

His eyebrows bunch together. He doesn’t want to say.

“Someone else will snatch her up,” I tell him. “She’s a catch. Next time we come through town she might not even be living next door. She could be married with a bunch of kids running around the place.”

Nash’s face grows red with jealously. “There’s no man good enough for her.”

“She could come with us. That’s what you were suggesting, huh?”

Nash locks his jaw and nods.

I give it some thought. The more I envision Cheyenne with us on the road the more sense it makes. She probably hasn’t traveled much yet. She’d have fun roaming across the states. As for Nash and me, we’d get the benefit of having her close. Not only would we get to taste her body each night, we’d get to know she was safe and close at hand each day.

We’d get to know she was ours for sure.

I study Nash. “What about other women?”

He looks at me straight on. “I haven’t been thinking about other women.”

“There’s no one else like her,” I agree.

“She does something to me, Clay. I get wild around her. Not having her here right now makes me think I’m about to go insane.”

“You don’t have to explain it to me.”

“So…we’ll ask her to go with us.”

My stomach flips. “Yeah, we’ll ask her to go with us.”

Maybe what we’re doing is crazy. Cheyenne might laugh in our faces. She might tell us we’re not worth her time.

But we have to go for it. We have to do everything we can to make Cheyenne ours.

If we don’t, I’ll never forgive myself.