Maggie called Chase as soon as she hung up with her sister. He didn’t answer, and she padded down the hall and into the kitchen, disappointment heavy in her lungs. Her father turned from the fridge when she entered. “Who was on the phone?”

“Heidi,” Maggie said. She waited until he stepped out of the way and then she retrieved an ice cream sandwich from the freezer.

“Sit by me,” he said, and Maggie groaned inwardly. She sank onto the barstool anyway, her frozen treat the only thing keeping her from making an excuse about being tired and retreating to her bedroom.

“You’re doing a great job at the store,” her dad started. “I know these past few months have been difficult, but….” He put his hand palm-down on the counter and carefully slid it away, leaving a key behind.

She stared at it, her heart doing the quickstep beneath her breastbone. “Daddy.” She lifted her eyes to his. “Chase came by the store today.” She swallowed, the dairy coating her tongue and throat and making her words feel sticky. “It’s the first time he’s come by, and he wants to get back together.”

Her father’s face turned stormy, and his frown seemed so deep that he’d never straighten it out. “Maggie.” His voice sounded tired. “I thought you enjoyed working at the store.”

“I do, Daddy. It’s just….” She shook her head and licked the edge of her ice cream sandwich.

“He has no way to provide for you.”

She inched her fingers toward the key until she touched the cool metal. “Maybe he’d move here and run the store with me.”

Her dad stood. “You’re an adult. Your mom keeps telling me I can’t forbid you from dating that man.” The fact that he wouldn’t even say Chase’s name wasn’t lost on Maggie. “But I can’t let him have my store either. I’ve worked my whole life at that store, and my daddy started it.” He slowly swiped the key off the counter. “I’m sorry, Mags.” He disappeared down the hall, leaving Maggie more conflicted than before.

She finished her snack and headed back to the phone. When Heidi had been faced with a bakery or Frank, she’d struggled to make the decision to choose Frank. But she’d dreamt of owning a bakery her whole life, and she’d sacrificed a lot to move out to the homestead at Three Rivers Ranch.

Maggie had never fantasized about owning her father’s supply store. She was good at it, and she did enjoy it. She didn’t know what else to do with her life. She’d never tried college, didn’t get professional training the way Heidi and Bridgette did. Had never even wanted to. She was content in Amarillo, and when Chase had first walked into her father’s store, her whole world had changed.

She tried Chase again, worried sick when he didn’t pick up. She called her sister back, relieved when she answered. “Daddy just tried to give me the store.” She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall just inside her bedroom door. The phone cord was stretched as far as she could pull it. “I told him about Chase.”

“How did he take it?”

Tears pressed behind Maggie’s eyes. “Not well.” Her voice came out steady. “How did you deal with this?”

Heidi chuckled and said, “You helped me. You said I had enough faith to make the right decision.”

“I think I’ve already made my decision,” Maggie whispered. “But I can’t get a hold of Chase. Have you seen him pull in yet? Maybe you could go check the lot for his truck.” She hated that she was resorting to such tactics, but she felt turned inside out.

“He’s standing right here,” Heidi said. “Want me to put him on the line?”

Maggie’s heart bounded to the back of her throat. “Yes, put him on.”

The line shuffled and static sounded, and then Chase said, “Mags? You okay?”

Her muscles tightened and then released. A smile formed on her face at the simple sound of his voice. “I’m fine,” she said. “I tried calling your cabin.”

“I came over here for dinner. Sorry.” The line crackled again. “Did you tell your dad I stopped by the store?”

“Yes, I did,” she said. “I told you I wasn’t going to lie to my parents.”

“I said I didn’t want you to.” He exhaled heavily. “I feel bad, though. I don’t want you to have problems with your family because of me.”

“I’m an adult,” she said. “I can do what I want.”

He chuckled, but the sound carried no humor. “Maggie, your family is important to you.”

“You’re important to me.” Maggie didn’t know what to do, or which step to take. A noise sounded outside her bedroom door, and she had the distinct impression that she needed to start acting like an adult if she wanted to be treated like one.

“When can I see you again?” she asked.

“First dance is two weeks from Friday. I can try to get away before then, but—”

“Two weeks from Friday,” Maggie confirmed. “I’ll meet you in the park.” She hung up, a plan forming in her mind. In two weeks, maybe she’d be the adult she needed to be in order to prove to Daddy, to Chase, and to herself that she was ready to start a life of her own.

* * *

Chase yawned when he got up on Monday morning. Only five more days until he would see Maggie again, and he wanted some news for her. So he pulled himself from bed, got dressed, and went to feed the cattle. It was an hour earlier than normal, but Frank had okayed the schedule change. That way, Chase could go back to his cabin mid-morning to make phone calls. Frank had given him a couple of names of realtors, and Chase had calls out to everyone who might be able to help him find a ranch.

When he returned to the cabin, Matty was long gone, so Chase got right to work. “Clyde,” he said when the realtor picked up. “Got any hits on a ranch like we talked about last week?”

“Chase,” the realtor boomed. “I was gonna call y’all a bit later. I just had something come across my desk.

Chase smiled. “Great. Tell me about it.”

“It just landed on my desk, but it looks promising. A fair bit of land, already with a homestead and a few thousand head of cattle. Let’s see…the ranch was put up for sale a few months ago…the buyers struggled to find funding, but proceeded anyway. But they’ve now backed out. Could be a great time to snatch this place up.”

Chase thought so too. His stomach seemed to be swooping from the front of his body to the back. He didn’t have funding either. He’d been working on that too, from the banks in Amarillo to the institution here in Three Rivers. His next call would be to the loan manager in Three Rivers.

“Tell me what to do,” Chase said.

“When can you get down to Hill Country?” Clyde asked.

He spun as if Frank would be there, able to give Chase the time off on the spot. He wasn’t there, of course. “I’ll need to work it out with my boss.”

“Let me know,” Clyde said. “And in the meantime, I’ll start the paperwork to put in an offer on this ranch.”

“Do you have pictures?”

Paper shuffling came through the line. “Right here.” He whistled. “This is a nice place, Chase. A real beaut.”

Chase hung up and instead of calling the bank, he dashed out the door to find Frank. He found him in his office in the administration trailer, just like he knew he would. Frank was nothing if not scheduled.

“Hey.” Chase knocked on the open door and waited until Frank looked up. “There’s a ranch down in Hill Country. If I left today, I could look at it tomorrow, be back on Thursday for work.” He swallowed, not allowing too much hope to infiltrate his voice.

“Hill Country?”

Chase entered the office and leaned against the door. “It’s far away, I’ll admit.”

“Cattle?” Frank leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.

“Yeah. A few thousand head.”

Frank nodded. “That’s a nice sized start.”

“I could call you tonight and you could walk me through the employee requirements,” Chase said. Frank had graciously offered to tutor Chase on what it took to own and operate a cattle ranch in Texas, and the two men had been meeting nightly at the homestead.

“Sure thing, Chase.” Frank stood. “Where’s the ranch?”

“Outside of a little town west of Austin,” Chase said. “I didn’t get the name of it.”

“In that part of Texas, it’ll probably be something about peaches or wine.” Frank smiled. “Hill Country is beautiful. I hope it works out.”

“Thanks.” Chase left the office, more than hopeful that buying this ranch would work out. He was almost desperate for it. A healthy dose of gratitude also poured through him. Gratitude for Frank, for the knowledge and experience Chase had gained from working Three Rivers Ranch, for the opportunity to even look at this new place in Hill Country.

He hustled back to his cabin, a couple more phone calls to make before he would pack and hit the road.