“Just cuts, but she’d better get her head straight about lariats, because she’s a lot more likely to be working the range rather than the show ring with the kind of scars she’s going to have now.”

Andra paced across the porch, the shock making her thoughts come slower even as her feet sped up. “Jason always starts right at six. What was he doing still riding at sunset? That’s nearly fourteen hours.”

“We’ve got a ranch that takes three trainers to eke by, and we have one, Cassandra. Why do you think he was riding at sunset?”

She flinched. “I’m sorry, Dad.”

“It’s not your fault. These things happen,” he said. “But I can’t spare you any longer. Right now, we’ve got a whole crop of horses looking to hit the circuit a year later than we can afford, unless we hire some help.”

She glanced back toward the house. “I can’t come home yet, Dad. LJ’s mom barely has the energy to make it to the bathroom on her own most days. She can’t cook, much less go back to work, and with LJ working to support them both, there’s no one to take care of her.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but you have your own family to look after, Andra. You think your brother’s having an easy time getting to the bathroom with six pins in his leg?” His voice rose.

“No, but—” She needed a few more days. Weeks.

Unfortunately, she knew the finances of the ranch even better than her father did. The feed bills, the new fence for the western pasture, the tractor they’d replaced last summer, their tab with the vet. They needed to sell this batch of horses to feed the ones who’d be born in the spring. There was a saying among ranchers: land rich, cash poor. She couldn’t justify selling off Lawler acres to stay here with LJ.

“Look, how soon can you get here? I’ve got interviews for new trainers lined up all day Wednesday. Now that you’re not minding having men on the place, we should be able to fill two or three spots without a problem, but I’d rather have you vet the candidates yourself.”

“Are any of them local? People aren’t going to want to move for a job that’s temporary. Jason will get better, and we have to hold LJ’s position open for him. In case he . . .” She glanced down the street, too embarrassed to admit she didn’t know if he was still planning on coming back. His mom’s health wasn’t the only thing calling him back here.

“He had a job up here, and he ran out on it. I’m not inclined to rely on someone like that.”