“Mustangs?” Lance looks up from the calf with raised brows, acting normal enough.

“Mustangs,” Robbie confirms, and then clarifies, “Danny set it up, for the most part. Welcome to the Riverside Ranch, a Bureau of Land Management-certified, long-term holding facility, and the home of forty-nine horses that are the property of the federal government.”

“A long-term holding facility,” Lance repeats carefully, like he’s committing it to memory. “I’ve never heard of that. So, the government pays you?”

Robbie nods. “About two dollars per horse per day. The mustangs have free rein of the place, and I keep them fed and watered and try to check on them as much as I can, especially in bad weather. They’ve been here a few years now, but the winters still baffle them. Most of them were born in the desert.”

Lance looks fascinated. “Could I see them?” He immediately flushes and looks at the calf, stroking her faster. “If that’s—I mean, never mind—”

“Of course,” Robbie interrupts. “We’ll get saddled up and ride up there together. But first we’d better move her.” He nods at the calf. He remembers the calves his father brought inside being completely lifeless at first, but if she does perk up, he doesn’t want to imagine what she could get up to.

Lance helps him put the calf in the bathroom, then he turns down the woodstove, and they get ready to go outside.

This isn’t the respite Robbie wanted—not privacy to call Danny, deliver an update, and recalibrate himself somewhere away from Lance. When they’re together, Robbie’s brain only seems to function at half-capacity.

But he finds he’s glad Lance wants to come. It surprises him, but he wants Lance to see the mustangs.

Poco is more serious with Dusty along, like she’s his supervisor shadowing his shift.

Robbie loaned Lance a hat to help keep the snow out of his face, but it’s too big for him and sits low on his brow. He looks good, anyway. Dusty is Robbie’s most steadfast horse, but she always has a slight attitude when she’s asked to work. Since Robbie has made Poco his primary ride, only using Dusty when Poco is hurt or worn out, she’s objected to every disruption of her retirement.

When he saddled her for Lance, Robbie worried she might be a little grumpier even than usual, having to cart around a stranger. But so far, though she’s let out several opinionated sighs and her ears are permanently pinned, she’s behaving herself pretty well. Lance was never a confident rider, and he’s more tentative now than Robbie remembers, but he knows what he’s doing. Johnny taught him, after all.

“You doing okay?” Robbie calls over his shoulder as the horses clamber up the last slope in the trail before the meadow.

“Yeah,” Lance calls back. He sounds sincerely exhilarated. Sure enough, when Poco gets to the top of the incline and Robbie twists in the saddle to watch Dusty and Lance coming up, Lance is grinning with flushed cheeks.