"How bad?"
Samuel cut in.
"That isn't the point."
"It usually is."
Peter exhaled.
"The feed order was wrong."
Hannah waited.
"Wrong how?"
Peter rubbed a hand over his jaw.
"Short."
"How short?"
"Near 20 sacks."
Samuel snapped.
"We don't need to give her every detail."
Hannah turned to him.
"You came here because you need something. If you want me to guess, I can go back inside."
Samuel stared at her, then away.
Peter said, "Two buyers refused payment, too."
"Why?"
"They say the cattle weren't marked right in the books."
"What cattle?"
"The December lot."
Hannah's eyes narrowed.
"The south pasture steers."
Peter nodded.
She remembered them.
Forty-three head.
Three-year-olds.
Red brands, left hip.
She had recorded them herself before their father died.
"Where are the original tally sheets?"
Peter said nothing.
Hannah looked at Samuel.
"You lost them."
"We misplaced some papers."
"How many?"
Samuel's jaw worked.
"Enough."
Hannah laughed once without humor.
"So now blood matters."
"That's not fair."
"You left me beside a mountain road."
"We thought you'd find work."
"I did."
Samuel glanced toward Nathan, his eyes hardened.
"This isn't proper."
Hannah felt something old and hot stir in her chest.
"What isn't? You living out here with a man you barely know?"
Nathan's hammer stopped against the hinge.
Only for a second, then started again.
Hannah said, "You left me alone on a road at sundown. Spare me your concern for what's proper."
Peter closed his eyes briefly.
Samuel stepped closer.
"We came to bring you home."
"No."
"Hannah, be reasonable."
"I am."
Samuel lowered his voice.
"The ranch needs you."
There it was.
Not we miss you.
Not we were wrong.
The ranch needs you.
Hannah felt the words land and settle.
She looked at Peter.
"Is that why you came too?"
Peter swallowed.
"We can't keep the book straight."
Samuel muttered something under his breath.
Peter ignored him.
"We thought we could."
Hannah said, "You thought I was carrying nothing."
Peter flinched.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
A loose piece of tin clicked on the shed roof.
Nathan set his hammer down.
Samuel looked toward him.
"Mr. Cole."
Nathan came over.
He was enormous beside Samuel.
Not threatening.
Just there.
Samuel straightened.