“We need to get back.” Sierra stood, suddenly needing movement. “I want to check on the cattle before evening chores.”
“I need to stop by the hardware store and pick up some supplies,” Rowan said. “I’d like to set up some security around the house.”
And weirdly, just like that, the dream shattered. Right. He was here because he thought she needed his protection. She couldn’t take care of herself.
Not because…well, not because they might be a family or something crazy like that. Clearly the sunshine had gone to her head.
“Sure,” she said and dumped the picnic wrappers into the garbage.
They stopped at the hardware store, and Rowan picked up most of his supplies. Then they drove home, the sun sliding down to the backside of the day.
Huck stared out the window, humming. She hadn’t heard him do that in ages. So maybe it wasn’t such a terrible thing to have Rowan around. Even if it might not be permanent, he could be good for Huck.
As they turned up the gravel drive, Sierra’s peaceful mood evaporated. Two official vehicles sat parked near the barn’s charred remains—Detective Martinelli’s unmarked sedan and a white SUV with Colorado State Fire Investigation emblazoned on the side.
“What’s all this?” Rowan asked, his voice immediately alert.
“I don’t know,” Sierra said, pulling up beside Martinelli’s car.
Mike Martinelli approached as they climbed out of the truck, his expression professionally neutral. Beside him walked a woman in her mid-thirties, wearing khakis and a polo shirt with the state fire marshal’s badge.
“Sierra, sorry to show up unannounced,” Martinelli said. “This is fire investigator Robbie Swenson. She wanted to take a look at the barn while the scene was still fresh.”
“We can’t confirm it was arson,” Swenson said quickly, apparently reading the worry on Sierra’s face. “But we’re running some tests on the burn patterns, just to be thorough. Insurance companies like documentation.”
Sierra’s shoulders sagged with relief. “So someone didn’t deliberately?—”
“The damage pattern does suggest accelerant, but it might simply be flammable material that caught fire—paint cans in the rubble. But it could be an electrical origin, faulty wiring in the back corner. Old barns, rodent damage to insulation—it’s more common than people think.”
“We already talked to your hands,” Martinelli added. “Tomás and Jake said they left around five, didn’t see anything unusual. Morrie was out in the north pasture working on the hay bailer until after dark, didn’t notice the fire until he came back and saw the flames.”
“That’s a relief,” Sierra said, and meant it. The thought that someone had deliberately tried to destroy her family’s legacy…
Well, that sort of meant that maybe Rowan didn’t need to stick around, didn’t it?
“I don’t know,” Rowan said. “Her grandfather updated that wiring about ten years ago. I helped him.” He shook his head. “How long before the results come back?”
“Lab results take a few days,” Swenson said. “But based on what I’m seeing here, I really think you’re looking at an electrical fire. Probably been smoldering in the walls for hours before it finally caught.”
Rowan nodded, gave a grunt, not of agreement.
And suddenly, painfully, Sierra realized that…shoot, she didn’t want Rowan to leave. And maybe that showed on her face, because Rowan glanced at her, his voice low.
“You okay?”
“I guess so. I was so afraid someone had done this on purpose.”
“No matter how it happened,” Rowan said quietly, “you wouldn’t be facing it alone.”
Oh. Oh. And she didn’t know why she drank up his words, why she nearly turned to him to throw her arms around him.
But standing there beside the ruins of her barn, watching her son chase fireflies in the gathering dusk while investigators documented the end of one chapter of her family’s story, Sierra realized something had shifted. For the first time in ten years, she didn’t feel like she was carrying the weight of the world by herself.
Maybe that was worth risking everything, even her secrets, to keep.
If Sierra wasn’t in danger, he didn’t have to stay, right?
The silence stretched between them as they walked back into the house, Huck racing ahead to wash his hands.
