“You’re good for some things,” Kate said. “Not as much for others.”

“The same could be said for anything,” Connor pointed out. “Badgers. Great for being kickass in the woods. Bad for sharing a shower.”

“Connor...” Kate groaned.

“Krazy Glue. Good for sticking things together. Bad for personal lubricant.”

Kate scrunched her eyes shut and stuck out her tongue.

“I rest my case,” Connor said. “Men are gross.”

“You’re gross,” Kate said.

“Your mom is gross.”

“My mom’s hygiene is open to interpretation because no one has seen her in nineteen years.”

“Sorry,” Connor said. “Bad joke.”

“Sure,” Kate said, looking dismissive, “but she’s your mom, too.”

“Barely,” Eli said.

She was the woman who had left them all to drown in chaos. His father slipping away on a wave of alcohol while the kids were left to pull themselves up from the wreckage of glass bottles, unwashed clothes and garbage.

To say that Eli had come out of it a little bit of a neat freak was an understatement. Order and control had become essential to survival, and bleach had been a weapon he’d employed early on.

If Connor had become the man of the house, Eli had become the housewife. No thirteen-year-old boy wanted that job. But they had Kate to worry about. And dammit all, worry didn’t even begin to cover it.

But Eli and Connor were both old enough to realize that if rumors about their dad’s drinking got passed around, there was a high likelihood CPS would step in. There had been too much loss for them to be split up. For Kate to be taken away from them. For them to be taken from the ranch.

And so they’d done whatever they’d had to.

School days had been torture for a while. He’d been in hell wondering if his sister was being cared for while he was trapped in a classroom, Kate in a crib while his father drank the day away.

Fortunately, Connor did more with the ranch as a fifteen-year-old than their father had ever done, and they’d earned enough money to put Kate in full-time day care.

So Connor would get up before school and do what needed to be done on the ranch, and Eli would get up and wake Kate. Give her a bath, wash and braid her hair. There was too much to do for him to allow chaos, too much at stake to ever let Kate look like she was less than lovingly cared for.

Connor and Eli had kept up appearances until the old bastard had driven off one of the winding Copper Ridge roads five years ago, drunk as hell, and nobody had been in the dark after that.

In so many ways, it was easier with their dad dead. At least they didn’t have to take care of him now, too.

Well, you did a terrible job of taking care of him in the end.

He shook that thought off. What the hell was wrong with him today? Sex against a wall and this stupid stuff.

He didn’t like reflecting on the past, and he wasn’t really sure why he was doing it now. Maybe just because today sucked like that.

But did it really suck? Because, be honest, you’ve never had sex that good.

No, he hadn’t. And that made it even worse.

Because no matter how bad of an idea he thought it was, he wanted more. The temptation to shove her down onto the floor, hook her legs over his shoulders and have his way with her had been way too big, which was why he’d stormed out of there as quickly as he could.

Because he didn’t trust himself. He almost didn’t know himself, and for a guy like him, that was a terrifying admission.

“Well, genetically,” Connor said, “I think we can all agree that other than in the looks department, we lost the parental lottery.”

Eli almost laughed at that since Connor was currently looking shaggy enough that it would take a very close inspection to decide whether or not he was good-looking.

“But seriously,” Kate said, “brothers are actually good for a lot of things. So...I’ve never felt like it was so bad.”

Eli cleared his throat. “Dammit, Kate, why’d you have to get all sincere?”

“You have to warn a guy, Katie,” Connor added.

“Call me Katie again, and I won’t say anything nice to you for the foreseeable future.” And it was all back to normal already.

Okay, he’d screwed up earlier. No denying that. And things were going to be weird for a while. And hard for a while, which was a potential double entendre Sadie would have enjoyed. But he still had Kate and Connor. And his run for sheriff. So most areas of his life were fine. He was just going to rope off that little disaster labeled Sadie and avoid it for the time being. Pay attention to the good and ignore the wreckage.

The incredible, mind-blowing wreckage.

He took a bite of pizza, even though he wasn’t hungry. Tomorrow he was back to work. And with any luck, that would help keep his mind off things he had no business thinking about.

* * *

Campaign signs and posters weren’t enough, it seemed. Not for the general election. TV ads and radio spots were needed. According to Lydia at least.

He knew those things were probably necessary, and he’d done some checking into it already, but there was something about the way Lydia talked about the election, filled with spark and enthusiasm, that made it seem like a very daunting reality.

Made him fear it was just too damn much to take on. The feeling he was sinking beneath a pile of endless work was one he’d had for most of his life, so it wasn’t new. But it didn’t mean he had to like it.

He ought to slap a campaign manager button on her chest and hire her right here in the coffee shop. But that would mean constant exposure to this level of energy and ideas, and he wasn’t sure he could handle that now.

Not with hurricane Sadie encroaching on his borders.

Eli was starting to think he needed to buy coffee somewhere else. But other than The Grind the closest place with decent caffeine was fifteen miles away and it wasn’t his usual assignment. And he basically had no reason ever to drive there for a latte, even when it meant avoiding Lydia’s too-keen eyes.

After what had happened with Sadie it felt exposing, and made him feel a little guilty. Which was stupid, because if Lydia was interested in him, he’d never given her a reason to be. And he shouldn’t feel at all like he’d somehow led her on.

But he did. And he felt even worse because she was helping with the Independence Day Community Whatever and because she seemed so invested in his campaign.

And if she found out he’d slept with Sadie...well, the help would likely be withdrawn from both endeavors. Which, when he thought about it, was more tempting than it should be.

“I think you should do a full-color spread,” Lydia was saying now.

“Excuse me?”