“Jesse is picking me up in about ten minutes,” Cody answered. “After being wakened every hour all night, I thought you could use two full hours of sleep. If you have a concussion, it’s a minor one. Mia says to call her when you get dressed, but not to bother with breakfast. They’ve got waffles up at the ranch house.”

“Did you already eat something?” Stevie threw off the blanket, sat up and glanced across the living room at the bunk beds. “Your bed hasn’t been slept in.”

“I sacked out on the floor beside the sofa in case you needed me in a hurry,” he said. “It was better than the floor in the tack room. I had several blankets under me, a real pillow, and the room is warm.”

“Thank you for doing that for me.” Stevie remembered being downright grouchy a few times when he woke her from a deep sleep to ask her a stupid question like what her mother’s name was, or what the name of the ranch was where she was staying.

“No problem,” Cody said, “you would do the same for me.”

Would you? the voice in her head asked. After all these years of being angry with him, would you take care of him if the roles were reversed?

“Have a good day.” Cody put on his coat and settled his cowboy hat on his head. “Weatherman says this is supposed to start melting today, so maybe by the weekend we can get into town.”

She cut her eyes over at him. “You ready to get rid of me and have your bunkhouse to yourself again?”

“Been kind of nice having someone around, so that would be no,” Cody answered as he shoved his hands into his gloves. “And there’s Jesse. See you at noon.”

“Be safe,” she said. “There’s potholes out there.”

“I will,” he threw over his shoulder as he left.

Stevie stood up slowly, but there was no dizziness. In her opinion, she didn’t have a concussion at all, but all those symptoms she had experienced were from having the wind knocked out of her, and from lying so long in the extreme cold. She went to the bedroom and changed into jeans and a sweatshirt, then sat down on the edge of the bed to put on her boots. She had sat right there in that same spot when Cody dressed her in the flannel pajamas. She closed her eyes and got the same sensation of his hands on her bare skin as she’d had the evening before. The time had come for her to figure things out where he was concerned, but she didn’t even know where to begin.

Her phone pinged and she picked it up from the nightstand to find a message from Mia: Call me when you’re ready. I’m waiting to have breakfast with you.