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Then Wyatt added, more quietly, “It bought us a month.”

Cash nodded.

The apology and the thanks passed between them without either word appearing.

Wyatt looked at me. “Congratulations on the registration, Ms. Nair.”

“Thank you.”

“The filing address is correct?”

“I checked it three times.”

“Of course you did.”

“Four,” Cash said.

I looked at him. “The fourth was verification.”

Wyatt’s almost-smile returned. “Welcome to Montana.”

He turned before I could answer.

The front door opened. Closed.

His boots crossed the porch. The truck started after a moment and moved over the gravel toward the drive.

Cash watched through the front window.

Boone stood beside him.

The brothers did not wave. Wyatt did not look back. His clean hat was visible through the windshield until the truck passed the cottonwoods and dropped out of sight.

Boone returned to the playroom first.

Josie held up his green pen.

He sat beside her and resumed ruining horses.

Cash stayed at the window.

I got up and went to him.

He put an arm around my shoulders automatically. I fit under it, cheek against his shirt. Outside, the dust from Wyatt’s truck hung over the drive and thinned in the sunlight.

“He didn’t come about hay,” I said.

“No.”

“He didn’t come about water.”

“No.”

“The note?”

“Maybe a little.”

“But not really.”