“We are. He’s joining us. There was some kind of delay on something he’s working on, so he has the afternoon free.”

She was glad she would be seeing him, but she also couldn’t help a slight stab of disappointment that only she and Maddie weren’t doing this. She didn’t exactly know why, or, to be more precise, she didn’t want to examine why she felt this way, and she suppressed the thought.

They had been driving away from the mountains this time—east, according to the compass, and were far out of town now. They’d turned off the bigger highway they were on and onto a small frontage road, well in the country again, with few houses or buildings visible. The sun was so blindingly bright off the snowy expanses, she was squinting even with her sunglasses, but it was incredibly pretty nonetheless. She saw some hopping animals in the distance—deer-like, but not quite—but before she could point them out to Maddie, they’d disappeared.

“Pronghorn, probably,” Maddie said after she’d described them. “Some people call them antelope, though that’s not technically correct. Like how some people call bison buffalo.”

“Antelope,” she said. She was still peering that direction, hoping to see them again. “I’ve never seen them before. Or bison, for that matter.”

“All sorts of interesting animals out here on the plains,” Maddie said, smiling slightly. “It seems empty, but it’s teeming with life.”

Maddie would know all about this, being interested in animals, and Ryann liked it when people shared their enthusiasms. She had so few interests herself outside of work, it was refreshing to hear someone talk about something else that mattered to them. She continued to stare into the snow, hoping to see something new.

A building finally appeared in the distance, sitting atop a slight bluff. Raised above the plains, it stood out in sharp contrast with the snowy mounds around it.

Maddie pointed. “That’s where we’re headed.”

She squinted a bit. “It looks like a barn.”

“It is a barn,” Maddie said, laughing lightly.

She was stunned. Never in a thousand years would she have thought Stuart might consider something like this for his wedding venue. Sure, it was gorgeous out here, but they were so far outside of town, she couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to get married here. Maddie had clearly seen her expression, and she laughed again.

“We don’t actually have that many venues here in our little town, if you can believe it.” She spoke with a slight hint of sarcasm.

“Ha, ha. I mean, I guess I realize that now, but…a barn?”

Maddie’s eyebrows furrowed.

Ryann had the distinct impression that she’d upset her, somehow. Maybe insulted her. Perhaps this place was as good as it got out here in no-man’s-land.