“My advice is that you shouldn’t move anything but Stevie’s personal things out today,” Jesse suggested. “The insurance adjustor should see things as they are. You can come back after he’s been here to take down pictures and think about the stuff in the kitchen cabinets, and such.”

Stevie wanted to argue with him, but common sense said he was right. By Monday, maybe things would be dried out enough that she could make better decisions about the rest of her things. “Okay,” she agreed, “I’m sorry you’ve brought so many vehicles. My clothing can probably all be loaded into the SUV. What about the rest of my vet stuff in the garage?”

“I checked out there,” Jesse said. “It’s backed up to the kitchen so the water from the pipes seeped through the wall, and whatever is on the floor is wet. The water didn’t get up into the car or on the shelves where you keep supplies. Maybe you could just take what you have to have, like any medicines or that kind of thing.”

“Want me to go out and start your mother’s car for you?” Cody asked.

“Yes, please,” Stevie said. “Keys are on the rack by the garage door. If it starts, I’ll drive it out to the ranch.”

She turned around and went to her room again, and started tossing all the dry things from her dresser and chest of drawers into one of the big garbage bags. “I’m a lucky woman to even have a place to go,” she muttered, “so why…”

“Because this is your home,” Mia said as she breezed into the room. “I’d be sad if this happened to the ranch house. It would even upset me if it happened to the bunkhouse or the empty place sitting over on the other property that Poppa owns.”

“What other place?” Stevie asked.

“When my grandparents, Mama’s parents, sold their ranch and moved out to the Panhandle, they sold their ranch to Poppa. It’s got a house on it that hasn’t been lived in in a long time,” Mia explained.

Stevie made a mental note to herself to ask Sonny if he would rent that house if she had to tear down her family home. Then she said, “Your dad and Cody think it would be best if we just take my personal things until after the insurance adjuster looks at the place.”

“I don’t know anything about all that stuff,” Mia said, “but if Daddy says that’s the smart thing to do, I’d trust him.”

Cody appeared at the door with a grin on his face. “The car started right up. That’s the good news.”

“And the bad?” she asked.

“Whatever was on the floor of the garage will probably have to be thrown away.” The smile faded. “I hope it wasn’t anything super important.”