"Boxes?" I ask, my voice rough. "You helped her move?"
Jenna's mouth tightens. "Yeah. She's out of that apartment because without the job, she can't afford it. So, she had to get a new job, a new place. It's nicer, and Emma's happy at least."
"Where?"
She folds her arms. "I'm not telling you."
"Jenna."
Her eyes flash. "Don't. Don't look at me like that. She's trying to start over, Asher. She's been through hell this week, and the last thing she needs is you showing up with more heartbreak. You should have told our brothers before it got this bad. And you should have told her you loved her before she walked away, thinking she ruined your life."
The words hit with the sharp, steady crunch of gravel under my boots. "She didn't ruin anything."
"Then prove it," Jenna says. "Because right now she thinks she did. And you sitting here in this house pretending you can fix it with paperwork isn't going to change that."
I rake a hand through my hair, pacing the porch. "You think I don't want to go after her?"
"Then what's stopping you?"
"Our brothers," I snap. "This ranch. Everything we've built. I can't just—"
"Yes, you can," she says, cutting me off. "You're Asher. My big brother. You've been fighting to protect this family your whole life. You don't know how to do anything halfway. You love hard or not at all. So don't you dare start pretending you can live with half of anything now."
Her words hang in the air.
I think of Kassi standing in my kitchen, her hands shaking as she handed me proof of everything that could destroy us. Of her face when she said she loved me and walked away anyway. How quiet the nights have been since.
Jenna watches me, softer now. "She thinks you need time to fix things here first."
"She's wrong," I say. "The only thing I need to fix is her thinking I don't want her."
Jenna's expression shifts, a mix of pride and worry. "Then go show her. I'm going to make you work for it because I know you’ll figure it out."
I look past her, out across the pasture. The sun's dropping low, painting the fields in that amber light that makes everything look touched by fire. For a long time, that land has been my whole life. Every fence post, every gate latch, every animal born and buried here. It's part of me. But right now, it doesn't feel like enough.
"Thank you," I say quietly.
She shakes her head. "Don't thank me. Just make it worth it."
When she leaves, the sound of her truck fades down the road until all I can hear is the wind through the grass.
I go back inside and grab my hat off the hook. My brothers' words are still echoing, but they don't matter as much as they did an hour ago.
They'll come around.
Right now, I need to find her.
After I check the folder once more and make sure it's safe, I head out to the truck. The seat still smells faintly of her perfume, something soft and clean that lingers even after days of dust and sun. I grip the steering wheel, jaw tight.
I don't know where she went, but I'll find her. I know this town. Every back road, every place a person might go when they want to disappear, but not too far. I'll start with the people who'd help her—Candy, North, maybe even Jenna again if she cools off long enough to give me a hint.
Because I can't let her think she has to carry this alone.
She's not the enemy. She never was.
For the first time in days, I feel as if I'm moving toward something instead of away from it.
I roll down the window and let the wind hit my face.