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Mac followed her, close enough to catch her if she stumbled. Not that she deserved an iota of kindness from him after snapping at him.

The smell of coffee wafted down the hallway. Her coffeemaker was on a timer, but she wondered if Mac had gone through a pot already and brewed another, waiting for her.

“If you didn’t help yourself to coffee already, please sit down and have a cup before you go,” she said. “I can make you toast at least. What do you say?”

“Yeah, no, you’re right. I should just get going.” He gave her a gentle smile just before he opened her front door. “I just want you to know, though, Jodie, that it was no trouble at all, helping you. I really enjoyed talking to you yesterday.”

He opened the door and took a step outside, then paused again on her porch, and looked back over his shoulder, a huge smile on his face. “And it was good seeing you again this morning.”

Then he closed the door.

Jodie banged her head against the wall beside her front door.

She turned and headed toward her kitchen. At least she could drown her sorrows in fresh coffee before heading over to Arden’s.

Still getting used to her new lace-up brace, Jodie carefully navigated the steps of Arden and Kyle’s front porch. She shrugged her shoulder to readjust the tote bag carrying a heavy binder of records on the wild horses living in the Sand Wash Basin. She and Arden belonged to an independent wild-horse advocacy group that monitored the herd year-round and acted as a watchdog during Bureau of Land Management horse gathers. Jodie handled much of the group’s database work, tracking foals, bands, mares, fertility records, removals, and where horses ended up if they were taken off the range. Arden was the group’s certified fertility-control darter, which meant she usually spent more time in the field than Jodie did.

Camo was already there to meet her on the other side of the screen door. The black-and-gold Lab was a chimera, genetically two dogs in one, and seemed to have the energy, personality, and intelligence of two dogs combined as well. He wagged his tail at the sight of Jodie.

“Hey, buddy,” Jodie said as she opened the screen door. She leaned down to run her hands over the dog, feeling for any lumps or bumps or anything of concern, out of habit. “Where’s your mama?”

“I’m in the kitchen,” Arden called from inside the house. “And you were supposed to text me the minute you parked in the driveway so that I could come out and help carry your stuff.”

Jodie had called Arden earlier to warn her about the ankle, but of course the grapevine had told her first.

Thanks, Stephanie.

“Why? I’m fine, I promise.” Jodie followed Camo down the hallway to the kitchen, where Arden was preparing a snack board beside a pitcher of lemonade and one of iced tea. “But how are you feeling?”

Arden set a knife beside the board covered in cheese cubes, crackers, and thinly sliced meat. The two women hugged.

“I’m all right at the moment,” Arden said. “But earlier today…” She stopped and placed a hand over her belly. There was a slight roundedness there now, much earlier than expected. Everyone had been surprised, including Arden herself, when she’d discovered she was pregnant at their last book club. That surprise had doubled—literally—when Arden and Kyle found out they were having twins. It was no wonder she was already showing.

“Morning sickness is really bad?” Jodie asked.

Arden looked heavenward. “It’s more like morning, noon, and night sickness.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.” She looked over at the tray of snacks. “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble. Especially if it made you feel worse.”

Arden waved Jodie off. “No, no. Like I said, I’m fine right now. I’ve got some anti-nausea medication on board, and besides, I need to get something in my stomach. I’m eating for three.” She patted her belly again and pointed to the pitcher of freshly made lemonade. “I made you the iced tea because you might not want to try the lemonade. I made it extra sour. That seems to help, too.”

Jodie swooped in to pick up the snack board and the pitcher of iced tea before Arden could. “Are we going out back?” she asked.

“Absolutely. It’s gorgeous today.”

Arden picked up the lemonade and a couple of glasses, then Jodie, Arden, and Camo made their way out to the back deck.

Jodie set the food and lemonade down on a table in front of a couple of chairs. Arden poured Jodie a glass of iced tea and a glass of lemonade for herself. They clinked glasses as Camo settled between the two women, looking hopefully at the food with big, puppy-dog eyes.

“You are terrible,” Jodie told him, laughing. “Can I give him a little bite?”

Camo looked from Jodie to Arden with an expression that said Come on, Mom, let me have just one teeny-tiny bite.

Arden grinned at the dog. “He’d never forgive either of us if you didn’t.”

Jodie picked up a square of cheese. Camo immediately scrambled to his feet and sat patiently waiting.

“Catch.”