Sadie watched Eli’s retreating back and fought the urge to throw her coffee at him. She imagined it, though. Imagined the cup landing smack in between his broad shoulders and spraying that uniform with dark brown liquid.

She would mourn the loss of such a gorgeous, well-fitted garment, but it would be a small price to pay for how satisfying it would be in terms of venting her frustration.

No, she hadn’t talked to Connor yet, but when they’d discussed the agreement—granted, over email—and come to an understanding about the percentage of her income he would be entitled to, they’d also discussed taking steps to ensure that it was a very profitable venture.

Connor wasn’t the friendliest guy, even via email, but one thing he had talked about was the ranch, and why he was interesting in leasing the house. Ranching was hard and increased restrictions made it even harder. Selling their product wasn’t as simple as it had been when the ranch had first started, and the cost of getting cattle to official USDA stations wasn’t negligible.

One thing she’d picked up about Connor was that the ranch was the most important thing to him. And she felt like he would be on board with her plans when he saw the merit in expanding what they used their property for.

Of course, the chance remained that he was as unreasonable as his younger brother.

She huffed and headed down the street, the opposite direction from Eli, toward the Farm and Garden, where Kate Garrett was currently working her shift. And no, Sadie was not above using the youngest Garrett in a bid to get her way.

She pushed the door open, a bell tied to a string resting above the entryway signaling her presence with a soft, pleasant sound.

Being back in a small town was jarring and strange, but comforting in a million little ways she hadn’t let herself imagine it might be. From gas station attendants who knew your name—and pumped your gas for you, welcome to Oregon—to little bells in doorways.

“Hi, Sadie, what brings you in today?”

Sadie smiled at Kate, who was behind the counter, her dark hair in a simple braid, her figure disguised by a plaid flannel shirt that was tucked into a pair of tan Carhartts.

The urge to strangle your brother is what compels me today, thank you very much.

“Flowers, actually. I need to get the front flower beds in order and I know absolutely nothing about anything leafy or petally.”

“Well,” Kate said, coming out from behind the counter, “you’ve come to the right place. Because I know a lot of things about plants.”

“Good. So...you sort of know where I’m talking about, right?”

“Just the boxes in front of the porch?”

“Yeah, um...what can I plant there?”

Kate laughed. “I’ll help you out. Just come out to the back with me.”

Sadie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, adjusting the paper bag she was holding as she did so, then took a sip of coffee as she followed Kate out through double, automatic glass doors to the back patio. Plants were hanging from metal scaffolding overhead and more pots were on pallets raised up from the ground. Flats of flowers were stacked into racks, and against the chain-link fence in the back rested bags of potting soil and fertilizer.

“I’m going to have to have you load up a cart for me, because I don’t know what I’m looking at,” Sadie said, surveying the plant life.

“I’m more than willing to do that. And I will even give you my employee discount.” Kate looked around, her expression shifty. “Just don’t tell.”

“Don’t do it if you’ll get in trouble. Otherwise, please and thank you, because I’m not that well-off.”

“It’ll be fine. It’s for Garrett land, after all.” She grabbed the handle of a flat metal cart and turned it, then stuck a flat of dark purple flowers onto it. “This will get you started. And...” She started hunting through the displays.

“So,” Sadie said, feeling ridiculously adolescent for what she was about to say, but unable to stop herself from saying it, “what is your brother’s deal?”

“Which one?” Kate asked.

She could always deflect now, and say it was about Connor, which should in no way make her feel less awkward, but it did. Probably because, as handsome as he was, in that grieving, several-weeks-old-beard kind of way, she just didn’t want to look at Connor’s butt. Eli’s, on the other hand...

“Eli,” she said, grimacing at her honesty and thankful that Kate was still eyeballing plants.

“Uh...” Kate straightened and flipped her braid over her shoulder. “I’m not sure he has a deal.”

“He doesn’t seem that happy to have me around. Furthermore, he got a little...testy when I suggested we might have some events on the ranch.”

“Oh, well...he’s private. I guess. I mean, I never really thought about it, but it’s not like we have parties or anything at the ranch. Birthday stuff we do at Pappy’s Pizza, and for stuff they don’t include me in they go to Ace’s. So...yeah, maybe that’s it. Maybe he just doesn’t like to have people out. I never do, but that’s not really a choice. More of a happenstance. Because...you know, this town is really small and everyone knows I have a brother with the power to arrest them. And one who would probably shoot and bury someone with no blip of conscience.” She frowned. “Anyway, I’m sorry about Eli. Usually it’s Connor we all have to apologize for.”

“No, don’t...apologize for him. But...is there, like, a plant I could get him?” she asked. Maybe a peace offering was the way to go. Right now she seemed to just be going the Purposefully Ruffle His Feathers Route, which was honestly really stupid and wasn’t going to solve anything.

“Well, sure...you could get him an azalea,” Kate said.

“An azalea?”

“Yeah, it’s a flower, but they grow native here so it’s less...groomed and more...manly. A manly flower.”

“Okay,” Sadie said. “A manly flower. I’m down with that. I’ll get him an apology azalea. And then maybe we can try to talk again. Like adults instead of sniping children.”

Kate winced. “Was it that bad?”

“I don’t know. But some of it was my fault. We just...rub each other the wrong way.” And she had a feeling that a lot of her annoyance boiled down to the strange tightening in her stomach whenever he was around.

Of course, putting it like that made it seem like she didn’t know what that was, when she knew full well what it was. It was just...unusual in this context.

Usually she felt that level of excitement, that sort of low, giddy tug, when she was about to have sex. A brief little flash of anticipation. If she remembered right. It had been an awfully long time.

She was not used to it in regards to a man she wasn’t interested in. Was not used to it being connected to a man she didn’t like, much less a man she wasn’t in a relationship with.

She was something of a serial monogamist. She’d meet a guy, they’d go on a few dates and they’d have fun while it lasted. And when things got...un-fun, they’d stop. There was no second-guessing, or yelling at each other. There were no question marks. She liked it straightforward and simple.

Her most recent ex, Marcus, was a classic example of that. They’d met at her gym. He was hot. He was fun. They’d gone on some dates, and then slipped easily into a physical relationship. And then, he’d gone and screwed it up by asking for a drawer. The man had never spent the night, and he wanted a drawer in her dresser.

It had been, to Sadie at least, a clear sign that they wanted two different things. And while her instinct had been to placate him or string him along, she knew that it wouldn’t benefit either of them. And a lovely time in their lives would only be remembered for the discord in the end. She said a big no-thank-you to that.

It was always better to let someone go too soon than to hold on too long.

She liked it clear. And she liked it simple.

There was nothing simple about the way Eli made her feel. And there was nowhere for it to go. So, it could just stop.

But then, even when she’d been a teenage miscreant, loath to deal with his presence, she’d found him hot. So, if she knew anything about herself, it was that her body was die-hard stupid for Eli.

“Well, Eli really is a decent guy,” Kate said, adding a plant with fuchsia flowers to the cart. “So I’m sure once you get on the same page he’ll be reasonable.”

“You think?”

“I don’t know. But I’m just his sister. So often he’s not reasonable with me, but I tend to think that’s genetics at work.”