Page 139 of Dusty Spur Ranch Cowboys

My eyes drift back to Sadie. She hasn’t looked up once. “Your best keeps breaking her heart.”

Silence hangs between us before Tori sighs. “That’s a cruel thing to say.”

I rest my hand on the counter and watch Willy stroll past the window, still singing with absolute confidence despite missing every note. “I wish it wasn’t true.”

“I can’t have this conversation while I’m working.”

“I’m not asking for an argument.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I wanted you here.”

Another pause stretches between us before she speaks again. “Tell Sadie I love her.”

“I always do.”

The line goes dead.

I set my phone on the counter and turn back around.

Sadie’s swapped to a yellow crayon. She colors one of Cinnamon’s wings before asking, without lifting her head, “Mom has to work?”

“Yeah, sweetheart.”

“Oh.” She colors a little longer. “Maybe next week.”

I pull out the chair beside her and sit. “You don’t have to be brave for me.”

She shrugs and keeps filling the page with yellow.

I brush one of her curls behind her ear. “You can be upset.”

She stares at the drawing for another few seconds before giving the smallest nod. “I don’t want to be.”

She carries the drawing down the hallway instead of racing there. I watch her disappear around the corner, count to five, then follow.

Her bedroom door sits half open. I hear a sniff before I reach it.

Sadie’s curled up beside her bed with Cinnamon’s pink halter hugged against her chest. She presses her face into it, shoulders shaking while she tries to keep the sound in.

My heart sinks.

I step inside and crouch beside her. “Hey, sweetheart.”

She scrubs her cheeks with her sleeve before looking anywhere except at me. “I’m okay.”

I settle onto the carpet beside her. “You don’t have to be.”

She grips the halter tighter. “I waited.”

“I know.”

“I cleaned my room.”

I swallow hard. “I saw.”

“I brushed my hair, too.”

I smile, though it doesn’t last. “It looks beautiful.”

I wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her against me.