"Deliberate," he says quietly.
Cole's land runs right along this fence line. We both know it. Neither of us says it out loud.
The ride back to the ranch is quiet. Not strained. Not hostile. Just full. The kind of quiet that sits heavy between people who have too much to say and no idea where to start.
I can ignore the way my pulse kicks when he glances back at me. Ignore the tension that hasn't faded with time. I can set all of that aside if it means getting him back. The Eli from before everything cracked open.
Part of me wonders if nothing actually changed back then.
If I just finally saw what was already there and got scared enough to run.
The thought makes my stomach twist.
Back at the ranch, we unsaddle in the late-afternoon light, the sun slipping low and gold behind the hills. Leather thumps softly as gear is pulled free. Blaze nudges my shoulder, impatientfor his grain, and I laugh despite myself, the sound small but real.
Eli works beside me in silence, efficient and controlled. When our hands brush passing a saddle blanket, the contact sends a spark through me that I pretend not to feel.
We lead the horses toward the barn, the smell of hay and warm animals wrapping around us like a memory.
That's when the sound of tires on gravel cuts through it.
I turn, one hand still on Blaze's reins, as a truck comes down the long drive. Slow. Deliberate.
Eli goes still beside me.
"Who is that?" I ask.
He doesn't answer. But his jaw sets in a way I recognize.
He knows.
The truck settles to a stop at the edge of the yard, dust lifting around the tires before drifting back down.
For a second, everything feels suspended.
Then the door swings open.
Cole Maddox steps out, all boots and hat tipped low, that practiced half-smile already in place.
"Hazel," he says, his gaze landing on me with easy confidence. ”I heard you’ve been working hard helping Eli.”
Eli is beside me before I even register him moving. Not touching, not quite, but close enough that I feel him there, solid and steady at my back. Whatever tension has been eating at us all day vanishes the second Cole opens his mouth. This isn't between me and Eli anymore.
This is something else.
Cole's eyes flick to Eli, linger, then come back to me. "That's real good of you, considering you've got that job waiting in Denver."
The implication lands clean: You're temporary.
"I'm here as long as Mae needs me," I say.
"Is that right." His smile doesn't waver. "Well, that's sweet of you. Mae's lucky to have family stepping up." He pauses, just long enough. "Even if it's just for a visit."
Heat creeps up my neck.
"Watch it," Eli says flatly.
Cole just laughs, soft and easy. "Relax, Dawson. Just making conversation." He looks back at me. "Though I gotta say, Hazel, it's interesting timing. You show up right when things are getting tight around here. Almost like you knew."
