“Well, I’ll buy a few a week at least for my B and B,” Sadie said, determined. No matter how good her cooking skills were, she wasn’t going to produce a pie as amazing as Alison’s. “And I’ll be around. Whatever you need.”

“And if he ever comes near you again,” Eli said, “if he hits you or threatens you...”

“I’ll report him,” she said. “I promise I will.” She took a deep breath and straightened, and for the first time, Sadie saw an echo of the girl she’d known in the woman who stood before her. Someone a little scrappy. A lot angry. Someone who was ready to fight. “Now, I have pie to serve.”

She turned and went back to slicing her pies and Eli, Connor and Sadie moved away.

“What are you doing out?” Eli asked Connor.

Connor shrugged. “Liss is going to meet me to watch Kate ride. You know I like to watch her do her thing.”

“Yeah,” Eli said. “She’s great.”

Sadie looked behind Connor’s shoulder and saw red waves bouncing just before Liss came into view, jogging up behind him. “I made it. I’m late but I made it.”

“You’re chronically late,” Connor said, turning to face her. “It’s an illness.”

“I’m bizay, Connor,” she said, poking him in the side. “You don’t know anything about that, obviously.”

“No,” Connor said, “I just run a whole fricking ranch, Liss. I know nothing of your busyness. I bet all that paperwork is a real strain. Wanna trade?”

“Eff no. I am not roping cows.”

The ghost of a smile touched Connor’s lips when he looked at his friend. “The cows don’t like you much, either, honey.”

“Glad to know it’s mutual. The cows and I can go on giving each other the evil eye. Then I’ll eat a burger because I’m human and I win.”

“Come on, then, let’s go,” Connor said, putting his hands in his pockets and jerking his head in the direction of the arena.

“We haven’t eaten yet,” Eli said, and his referring to them as a “we” made Sadie feel a little warm and fuzzy.

“Go get some food, then. We’ll see you over there,” Connor said, eyeing them both, and Sadie felt her cheeks heat a little.

“So that was Connor in a good mood?” Sadie asked, when he and Liss were out of earshot.

“Pretty much. He got to threaten bodily harm to someone so I fail to see how he could have had a better day.”

She started back over to the barbecue line, chewing on her lip. “Are you worried?” she asked. “About how all that might affect your campaign?”

He frowned. “I didn’t even think of that. Which is...weird. I usually think of everything.”

“Well, I don’t want to add concerns that you don’t really need.”

“No,” he said, “I think it’s interesting. I don’t care,” he said, meeting her gaze. “I just don’t care. Because I still want to be sheriff. I still think I’d do a damn good job, but I do a good job at what I do now. And...whether or not it was a popular thing or easy thing or good thing...punching that asshole in the face was the right thing to do.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, then quickly stepped back, embarrassed by her public demonstration. “It was,” she said.

“Somehow, knowing that, believing that, makes me not care very much what the consequences are.”

“I think you’re amazing,” she said, looking ahead, smiling. “I mean, if that matters.”

“It does,” he said.

“And...thank you. Because she’s my friend. Because she reminded me too much of my mom. And...I’m always afraid people like that will never leave.”

“A lot of times they go back,” he said, his voice rough.

“I know. But we’ll help her.”

“Yes,” he said, “we will.”

Yet again, she didn’t know what to do with him. She felt so close to him right now, and she couldn’t kiss him here. She wanted to ask him to hold her. She wanted to tell him something about herself. Wanted him to decide that, much like punching a guy in front of the whole town, she was okay, too.

And right then, she thought of the one place she hadn’t been yet. She’d driven by the house where she’d grown up, but she hadn’t been back to her clearing. Even though it was within walking distance of the B and B. She’d avoided serious thoughts of it since the first day back.

Again, a prickling sensation dotted the back of her neck.

There are no ghosts there. And if there are...maybe this will put some of them to rest.

She let out a long, slow breath, trying to gather her nerve. “Can I show you something?”

“My mom warned me about girls like you,” he said, a smile teasing the corners of his lips.

“Did she?”

“No, my mom wasn’t here.”

“That’s a dire punch line.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Sometimes life is so dire you have to make a joke about it, right?”

“I think you’ve learned too much from me.”

“Or not enough,” he said.

“Hey, I’ll get our food. Can you get a blanket for us to sit on?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

She finished waiting through the line and got small portions of everything on offer, making small talk with the men and women manning the grills and scooping up sides. It was hard to do, though, since she was all jittery and fluttery inside over what she was about to do.

And there was no real logical reason why. Just that it seemed like a big deal. Bigger in some ways than what she’d shared about her father.

Because this was something she’d avoided. The last bit of Copper Ridge she hadn’t revisited. And she wasn’t going to test it alone to be sure she was okay. To be certain she could visit it without betraying her emotions.

She was going to let him see. All of it.

She wandered over to where he stood on the edge of the lawn, where people were sitting at the tables that had been set up, and on blankets spread out like a rainbow patchwork over the green grass.