Jasper hovers at her back.
Boone presses into my leg again.
“Calm down, bud,” I murmur to the dog, but I’m not sure if I’m comforting him or myself.
CHAPTER TEN
Billy
I pull into the lane,my boots hitting the dirt before the truck fully stops. I’m running before I even take a full breath.
The sight hits me like a punch to the chest.
Cows litter the pasture, some lying on their sides, legs splayed like they’ve forgotten how to hold themselves up, others wobbling, bellies bloated, labored breaths that make me want to drop to my knees.
The smell hits next, sour and heavy.
Jasper’s here, his face red, eyes wide. He’s pointing toward the cows that are struggling the most. “Billy…they’re all?—”
I don’t want to hear the end of it. My jaw tightens. My pride, my goddamn ego, flares even as my stomach twists.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“They’re sick,” Jasper spits out. “Started with one, then another, then?—”
His voice cracks as he gestures to a heifer shivering on the ground, eyes rolling slightly. Boone barks sharply, tail lashing.
I shove my hands in my hair, breathing hard. “Sick? That’s…that’s impossible. Not all of them.”
Jasper shakes his head. “They’re collapsing, Billy. We can’t?—”
Tex’s voice cuts through, sharp as a whip. “Billy! Your phone! What the hell, man?”
My head snaps toward him. My chest tightens.
“I’ve been at a meeting!” I yell. My pride won’t let me fold in front of them, won’t let me admit my mind’s as scrambled as the pasture. “I can’t just drop everything, Tex!”
Seth’s voice joins in, booming and fierce. “Everybody shut the hell up!” His hands rise, waving us down. “Focus! Right now, we deal with the cows!”
I watch another one slump sideways, legs giving out in uneven spasms. Boone bolts forward, barking, and Jasper runs after him. My fingers twitch, craving to grab and fix something, anything.
Sedona Archer.
Older now. Hair darker. Shoulders squared.
Her gaze finally lands on me, and she freezes.
I freeze too—for a different reason.
She looks almost the same. Same mouth. Same sharp intelligence in her eyes. Same presence that could fill a room even when she wasn’t trying.
But there’s grief in her face now. And something else I can’t name.
She steps forward.
I hold up a hand. “You have a lot of nerve showing up here.”
“Billy—” Tex warns.
