Around the middle of June, Kennedy invited Jen out for a tour of the ranch, and he was so excited about her visit that everyone else seemed to catch the disease. Vickie, whose greatest talents lay in the kitchen, planned an outdoor ranch dinner. Wooden picnic tables were unearthed from the barn. A grocery run into town culminated with the bed of Slade’s pickup billowing with bags filled to the brim. Every hand on the place helped Vickie unload, including Wyatt. Even the ranch common got groomed. Of an evening while supper was being cooked in the bunkhouse by one person, the other five were outdoors, picking up, weeding, and raking gravel. Tex even advanced on the lawn around the main house, which brought Vickie racing from her kitchen to protect her flowers from a Texan with a Weed Eater.

* * *

Kennedy was nervous the day of Jen’s visit. Vickie had even called the girl’s parents and invited them, which totally threw a wrench in Kennedy’s fan blades. He’d spent a lot of time with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, but while in their environment, Kennedy minded all his manners, never cussed, and just went with the flow. On the ranch, things never went that smoothly. Tex was given to outbursts of temper at unforeseen moments, and the madder he got, the worse his language became. Wade and Richard, the new hires, who’d turned out to be brothers, were big young men, and they got along like two male cats in a gunnysack. Kennedy didn’t worry about Erin. As his mom would say, the lady knew how to comport herself. And Wyatt never changed, no matter what was happening around him. But the way Kennedy saw it, he had three loose cannons he would have to control, and he wasn’t sure anyone could keep Tex in line.

The day of Jen’s visit, she arrived two hours before her parents to take a tour of the ranch. Kennedy had washed the side-by-side, and he’d put a pillow on the front seat to cushion Jen’s right arm when they drove over rough ground. Jen was healing. She had some color back in her cheeks. But she seemed fragile to Kennedy, and she was also easily spooked. She trusted him. He knew that. But she still seemed to expect boogeymen to jump out at her from hidden places, and she grew nervous if she thought Kennedy might kiss her. He understood how she must feel. Her last boyfriend had turned on her, and now she felt vulnerable in a way she never had before.

She dressed appropriately for the ranch in blue jeans, sneakers, and a simple cotton top. Her hair hung loose around her smallish shoulders, because she still couldn’t use her right hand to do a French braid. Kennedy liked seeing her hair down, and sometimes he fantasized about how it would slip over his skin like silk if they ever made love. As if that could happen any time soon. He guessed he should be glad sex wasn’t a part of their relationship. If he got a girl pregnant, it could ruin his whole life. Well, he guessed it wouldn’t ruin it, but it sure would change his plans for college and a future in wildlife management.