Page 43 of A Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas

The horses had begun with their heads over the stall doors, watching in case something interesting like treats were about to happen, but by her twentieth march past them, only Midnight was still waiting hopefully.

“Helicase unwinds the double helix. DNA polymerase adds complementary nucleotides in the five-prime to three-prime direction. Ligase joins the Okazaki fragments on the lagging strand.” She paused to rub Midnight’s nose. “In other words, and I’m sure you know this, helicase unzips. Polymerase builds. Ligase glues.”

The horse gave a soft nicker, batted his face into her palm, then turned away.

Sasha laughed as she turned back toward her textbook. “Tough crowd.”

Her return journey was slightly different this time. Up ahead, sitting beside the book, Emma had her legs pulled up and arms draped around her knees. “Don’t stop if you’re not done. I can wait.”

Sasha consider the textbook momentarily, then closed the cover with a decisive snap. “If I don’t already know it, anything I stuff into my brain now probably won’t stick.” She hopped up on the bale beside her sister, easing her back to the wall and looking out over the familiar scenery. “Good for you for being exempted from finals this year.”

“Means a boring June,” Emma pointed out before lobbing a grin at Sasha. “Boring is good.”

The provincial level exams weren’t that bad, and Sasha didn’t want to scare Emma, who’d be taking them the following year. “Physics, which is supposedly the hardest of them all, was a seven out of ten.”

“On the Sasha scale,” Emma pointed out. She made a face. “Which would be a ten out of ten for me and why I’ll be taking something other than physics.”

“You’ll ace this biology class,” Sasha said, leaning her shoulder into Emma’s. “Thanks for agreeing to be my grad date.”

“I’m excited to go,” Emma replied. She wiggled until she could look Sasha in the eye. “You sure you don’t want to go with one of the many guys who asked you?”

“Yup.” This answer was easy. “I’m friends with most of my classmates, but never anything more, so it’s not as if I need to pick one to make the celebration special. I’ve got far more memories of solving school problems and celebrating school successes with you. So you’re perfect.”

“That’s cool.” Her sister’s smile flashed bright, her blond curls bobbing. “Except for the part where you’ve never had a real boyfriend.”

Sasha waved a hand dismissively. “Even if I end up staying in Heart Falls, none of my guy classmates are boyfriend material. At least not in this current dimension.”

Emma laughed. “You need an alternate universe to find a guy?”

“Maybe.” New guys to get to know was on the pro/con list Sasha had started after “The Talk” with her parents. She hadn’t done a ton of work on the list, though, because her dad was right. Focusing on school until after grad was her priority. The summer would be long enough to make a decision.

Emma laid a hand on hers. “You’re daydreaming again. Worried about Crooked Creek?”

“Honestly, no.” Sasha crossed her legs. “Just thinking about how finishing school first before focusing on the decision was the right choice.”

“Makes sense.”

Her sister seemed to have something else to say, so Sasha took a page from their dad’s book and stayed quiet.

Emma looked around a little, squirmed a bit, then rushed forward. “Promise me even if you’re living at Crooked Creek, you’ll come back next year to be my date to the prom?”

Ah, now Sasha knew what was going on.

Sasha leaned forward and held out her pinkie. “I promise.” When Emma would have hooked digits with her, Sasha pulled far enough away Emma had to pause. “But? If some really sweet, cute, and into-you girl moves into Heart Falls this coming school year, I will not hold you to it.”

Her little sister rolled her eyes. “If some sweet, cute, and into-me girl moves to Heart Falls, I won’t know what to say to her because I’ll be too astonished.”

Sasha caught their hands together and squeezed pinkies. “If it does happen, I’ll be glad for you. If it doesn’t? We’ll go to your grad and you’ll have to wait for university to find the girl of your dreams.”

“Or at college. Or maybe Crooked Creek ranch.” Her unhappiness vanished, eyes brightening with her usual hopefulness. “You’re right. There will be lots of possibilities.”

Caught by surprise, Emma’s words didn’t register for a minute. Sasha scrambled to respond. “Crooked Creek? You’d come out there?”

A rude noise escaped her sister. “Duh. Of course, even if you don’t decide to go ahead with the big grand scheme. It sounds as if the ranches are going to work together more in the future, no matter what.”

It wasn’t a huge revelation—except with everything else bubbling in her brain, Sasha hadn’t considered that part of the equation.

She seriously needed to get that pro/con list started for real.