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I grimace. "Daddy's going to have some words for you."

His face turns solemn. He nods. "Yeah. I'm sure."

"That doesn't scare you?" I ask.

He shakes his head and squares his shoulders. "No. I'm a man. Your daddy can say whatever he wants to me, and I'll respectfully listen, then prove to him whatever bad notions he has about me are wrong."

I stare at him, thinking about all the things I assumed about him over the last year that seem to not be true.

"So you'll come? Or is my family too much right now?" he pushes.

I admit, "I never had siblings growing up. It was just me and Mama and Daddy on the farm. It got quiet a lot. Watching your family, all that noise and chaos and everybody up in each other's business because they actually care, it's kind of wonderful. I would've loved having brothers and sisters like that."

His expression turns softer, and he studies me a beat longer than necessary. "You're really okay with it? Not just saying that?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's kind of overwhelming, but it's just because I'm trying to remember names and things."

"Good." He leans down and kisses me, slow and thorough, one hand cradling my jaw like I'm precious cargo. When he finally pulls back, his smile reaches all the way to his eyes. "I better get back out there. I'll go first. You wait a few minutes. See you later."

"Okay."

He steals one more kiss before he goes, whistling on his way out of the barn like a man without a single care in the world.

I wait a bit longer, touching my own mouth, still trying to process how different my life has become in the span of two days.

After a few minutes pass, I walk out of the barn. The afternoon sun's dropped low enough to throw long shadows across the yard, and the ranch still hums with the leftover energy of a full day of decorating. The kids are chasing each other around inflatables. The radio still blares out tunes.

I do a final therapy round with Two-Step and quickly check Renegade's stifle. I throw myself into the work and finish as the sun sets. By the time I make it back to the Butterfly House to shower, Mama's in the kitchen peeling potatoes.

"What are you making?" I ask.

"Pepper jack scalloped potatoes. Jacob and Ruby invited us for dinner."

"I heard. Can't believe this weather, can you?"

"It's perfect for a cookout." She looks up and goes still, knife pausing mid-peel. "You've got hay in your hair, Lainey Marie."

"Do I?" I reach up, feigning surprise. Guilty heat climbs up my neck.

"Mm-hmm. Stuck in your braid a few places." Mama's eyebrows climb slowly toward her hairline, the exact look she used to give me in high school when I'd sneak in after curfew, smelling like campfire smoke and bad decisions. "Got that in your hair while working with the horses?"

I shrug, lying, "Must have."

"In the barn."

"That's usually where the horses are, Mama."

She doesn't argue further, just goes back to her potatoes with a small, knowing smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Where's Charlie?"

"Napping."

"Okay. I'm going to take a shower."

She mercifully lets me pass her without any further interrogation.

I escape down the hall before she can ask anything else, shower away the last evidence of the barn, and try not to think too hard about how thoroughly my whole body's still humming from the last hour. I get ready and wake Charlie up.