“This is Jamie’s horse?” he asked, gesturing to the trailer. Wyatt started getting ready to open it up.

“This one,” he said, gesturing to Gem. “She’s hers. Soon enough, she can have her back here if she wants.”

“She told me. That she’s planning on taking off and racing pro.”

“Did she?” Gabe asked.

“So,” Wyatt said, assessing him closely, “you knew about it.”

Gabe shrugged. “She mentioned it to me when I hired her on. When I was asking how long I would have before she left.”

Suddenly, the words felt like they might have two meanings, and Gabe wanted to stay well out of that territory with Wyatt.

“Jamie is a tough nut to crack,” Wyatt said. “I don’t know how long she’s been planning it. But she certainly didn’t let me in on it until it was all final in her head. To be honest, I’d rather not have my sister out running with that crowd.”

Yeah, if Gabe thought about it too deeply, he didn’t particularly want Jamie out with that crowd, either. Considering he had been part of it until recently, he knew a little bit too much about the guys who were still there for his own good.

“But you know, she’s a Dodge. Once we put our mind to something...”

“Jamie particularly,” Gabe said.

And he realized that that had probably been a little bit too far, considering Wyatt was looking for tells that Gabe knew things that he shouldn’t.

“Yeah, she’s hardheaded, that girl.”

He cleared his throat. “More than that, though. The way that she’s helping me out with the ranch is proof of that. She’s compassionate. She’s had lots of ideas of what we could do for the boys that we’ll be bringing in.”

“Well, that’s good. I’ll help you get the horses out.”

He worked with Wyatt getting the horses unloaded, and then tacked up and in their pens for before the event.

It was a fun group of people that had turned out. Jack Monaghan was there from Copper Ridge with his wife, Kate. Kate did barrel racing professionally off and on, and Jack was retired from bull riding. Jack was holding a toddler on his hip, and Kate was standing next to her horse, clearly ready to do a run. Sierra Thompson was there, too, another barrel racer from Copper Ridge. Along with Dane, Wyatt, Grant, Bennett and Dallas, Bennett’s son.

The barbecues were fired up, the whole party being made out of the little mini rodeo event that had been included with the stay of those who were at the dude ranch this weekend.

It had also pulled in a small crowd from town. In spite of the late notice.

A testament, he thought, to the unwavering popularity of the Dodge family. The Daltons were revered, but they were whispered about. It wasn’t quite the same as it was for the Dodge family. Whose patriarch had earned the unending sympathy of the town, along with his four children, when he was widowed. Quinn Dodge was a salt-of-the-earth man, and if his sons had ever raised a little hell, it was all because of what they’d gone through way back when.