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I snort. “You just got here, too.”

Tucker tosses me a bucket. “I knew I should’ve stayed in bed and let you do all the chores.”

“You could have. I can take care of it. You know I’m serious about helping out and earning my stay,” I call as I start filling up the buckets with grain.

He grins as he heads toward the first stall. “Nah, I love this time of morning. Everything is quiet, and I get good time in with the horses.”

He’s right. The quiet before the rest of the ranch wakes up is the best time. There’s something comforting about the rhythm of chores and the quiet. It’s the best time of day for thinking. And thinking is what I’ve been doing a lot of lately.

Horses don’t care if you’re going through it. They just want breakfast.

We work in comfortable silence for a while, tossing hay, filling grain buckets, and checking water troughs after last night’s freeze. I get to work cleaning out all the stalls, and every now and then, Tucker points out something that needs fixing, to which I grab a wrench or hammer without either of us saying much.

It’s easy and methodical. We work well together and always have.

“When it warms up a little more, we’ll head out and check the cattle in the pastures,” he states.

I nod as Tucker watches me. He leans against the stall, resting his forearms on the top rail.

“So.”

I laugh. “There it is.”

“What?”

“The ‘so.’”

He smirks. “You know what comes after the ‘so.’”

“Unfortunately. I’m ready for you to hand me my ass.”

He studies me for a second before asking, “What’s going on with you and my sister?”

Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long. I knew it was coming.

I hang the brushes up on the wall and shrug. “I don’t know.”

He frowns. “That’s a stupid answer.”

“It’s the honest one.”

He watches me. “Okay, so you’re gonna make me pull it out of you. Got it. You like her.”

I don’t even try to deny it. “I do.”

Those two words don’t feel nearly big enough. Like her? Hell. I look forward to waking up because she’s right there next to me. I don’t know how much longer we’ll have that, but I love it. I catch myself wondering what’ll make her laugh today.

Yesterday, she smiled, and I swear I could watch that smile for the rest of my life.

I clear my throat. “I really like her, Tucker.”

Tucker watches me for a long moment.

Then he smiles with understanding. “Cami told me how she set y’all up. She’s the mastermind that one.”

I groan. “Of course she did.”

“You don’t know Cami and the people at the ranch. Big time meddlers. They like to fix people up when they see a pair that needs fixin’.”