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Mac opened her door for her. “Come on. He survived before we got here, and now he’s got Hank watching for him. Give him a chance to decide Hank’s place is a good deal.”

Jodie climbed in, but she kept watching the barn until Mac pulled onto the road.

A few miles later, she took off her boots and socks, settled back in her seat, and propped her feet on the dashboard, giving Mac a lovely if distracting view of her legs. “So how was your exciting trip to the hardware store?”

“Educational.”

“Uh-oh. That sounds ominous.” She grinned at him.

“Hank and Virgil were both there.”

Jodie dropped her feet back to the floor as she sat up and turned toward him. “Oh, God. Did they fight?”

“Not exactly.” Mac smiled. “Apparently they’ve known each other long enough to insult each other and still take advice about gate latches.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

He told her a little about the drive with Hank and what he’d said about his father trying to sell the ranch while Hank was serving. Then he told her Hank’s comment about Virgil trying to ‘recruit’ him.

Jodie settled her feet back on the dashboard. “He’s not wrong about the land.”

“No. He isn’t.” Mac glanced over. She was looking out the window toward the basin disappearing behind them.

“I just wish everybody would stop acting like one thing has to matter less for the other thing to matter at all.”

Mac thought about horses running gold over a ridge, sheep needing grass, and two ranchers who disagreed about almost everything except how much the land mattered.

“Yeah, babe,” he said. “Me too.”

THIRTEEN

By Wednesday, Jodie had been back behind Watchdog’s front desk for three days, answering phones, fixing schedules, and checking the FHDH database often enough that she was beginning to annoy herself.

Luna still hadn’t been seen.

Neither had two other horses Jodie had been watching closely, younger, healthy animals she was keeping an eye on for Arden if they were removed and eventually became available for adoption. That was why, when Arden asked her to come out and look over the nearly finished mustang setup after work, Jodie brought her tablet with her. She also gave Camo a ride from the office. He liked to divide his time between Kyle at the office and Arden at home, but lately, he’d been spending more time with his mama like the protective dog he was.

The place looked different from the last time she’d been there. The pasture was fully fenced now, the gates hung and swinging cleanly. The shelter was finished except for one strip of trim along the roof, and the handling area had gone from stakes and measurements in the dirt to actual rails and separate pens that could be closed off for quarantine. Arden’s rotating chute was in place.

Arden rested one hand beneath the curve of her belly as they walked. “I still can’t believe everybody got this much done this fast.”

“You bribed them with barbecue and biscuits.”

Arden narrowed her eyes. “There was no bribing. I fed them.”

“Same thing.”

Arden laughed. “Yeah, okay. Guilty.”

Jodie stopped beside the quarantine pen and tested the latch even though she knew perfectly well Bear had installed it and Ben had checked it afterward. Between those two, it would hold until the end of time.

“This’ll be perfect for four horses,” she said.

“That’s the plan.”

Jodie frowned. “If the right four come through. I’m not so sure now.”