Hays was up on the fence when the SUV came up the drive, boots hooked on the rail, openly watching the arriving group like this was already the best entertainment he had had all morning. Thirty days. Four of them in that car and three of them already arguing about the window.

Hiram stood in front of the porch being serious. Griff was leaning on the railing beside him with his sunglasses pushed into his hair, saying something about thirty days getting interesting, and then,

Hays grinned.

Then the doors, the bags, the friends. Griff going for the first suitcase himself, Hiram saying the orientation is in twenty minutes, the way he says it every single time. Hays came down off the fence and took a bag too, mostly to see the face of whoever had packed that much for a working ranch.

he said, when Griff told them all that Hiram makes everything sound like military training.

And while your friends were already laughing, Hays saw Hiram’s attention catch on you for one second too long. He saw Griff see it, and had to put his teeth together to keep from saying anything at all about it.