Chapter 74: Miranda-Past

There were some pluses to having grown up in the same small town where everyone knew each other, and all my friends' parents were well acquainted. It wasn't unusual for ranchers to spend time helping each other, and they often came from other counties. It was even less rare to find kids hanging out at all hours of the night with each other tending to animals. Or maybe that was just in Mason Belle. Either way, it was a regular occurrence for other kids in the county, just not one I'd experienced before tonight.

Daddy loved the Burins and their sons, and he trusted Austin with my life. He didn't have any reason not to, although I wasn't sure Daddy remembered what life was like as a seventeen-year-old boy with raging hormones. If he had, I couldn't be certain he would have allowed Austin to spend the night in the barn with me while the two of us monitored Lacey...alone.