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come?”
    Usually Mattie jumped at these offers. In all the years she’d been living here, she’d only missed out on a handful of roundups because the girls were sick, or once, when Wes was only home for a few days before heading out to his next rodeo.
    Today though she looked wistfully, she shook her head, no.
    “I’ve been neglecting my work here for too long. Poor Jake must be run off his feet.”
    “I saw him for lunch earlier today. Looks like he’s holding up.”
    “I guess someone around here has to.”
    The volume on the television increased, and they turned to see an ad for winter tires come on the screen.
    “I hate how the commercials are always louder,” Mattie said. Tears were forming in her eyes as she said this. Nat didn’t think she was worried about the volume of the television. Or the need for winter tires, either.
    “It’s going to be okay,” he told her believing with all his heart that this was true. Whether her marriage to Wes withstood this storm, or not, she’d emerge stronger than ever.
    But the look she gave him was full of doubt.
    * * *
    A fter Nat left, Mattie had to allow that his visit had done her good. Not only was her door better prepared to withstand the winter blizzards coming their way, but she was stronger, too. And she realized that cutting herself off from the rest of the world had to stop.
    Today.
    She’d start by phoning one of her sisters.
    Dani, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, was the closest to her in age and the most obvious first choice. But Mattie could imagine how that call would go.
    Dani would be cool and collected. She’d pass on whatever the statistics currently were for failed marriages and tell her this was not the end of the world. She’d give her a pep talk and tell her to protect herself and hire a good lawyer. She’d also suggest counseling—of course!—and putting her name up on an Internet dating site.
    Dani, for all her supposed insight into the human condition, would have no idea how it felt to be looking at the end of a nineteen-year marriage.
    Driven and career-focused, at thirty-four, Dani had never been in a serious relationship. She’d eschewed clinical practice for the joys of research and teaching. Nothing got Dani more excited than a bunch of data and the opportunity to run a statistical analysis.
    As for telling the twins the awful news—Dani would probably be full of advice for how to do this, as well. But Dani didn’t know how it felt to be a mother. She didn’t understand the need to protect.
    And she didn’t know Portia and Wren.
    This was going to crush them. Especially Wren, who was less social than Portia, and didn’t have a large group of friends for support.
    Mattie paced from the kitchen to the far windows and back again. Several times she reached for the phone, then hesitated.
    Callan was the youngest of her sisters, but also the toughest. If Mattie called her, she’d probably find her out on the range somewhere, repairing fences, or making other preparations for winter on the Circle C. Callan would be full of fury toward Wes. She’d talk about revenge and making him pay.
    And Mattie wasn’t up to that.
    Maybe she should be storming around having fits of outrage and indignation.
    But she was too sad and worn-out for such theatrics.
    So no. She wouldn’t call Callan yet, either.
    Which left Sage. Of course it did. The third of the Carrigan girls, Sage had a quiet way about her. She would listen to Mattie. She would be sympathetic. And best of all, she would not presume to tell her what to do.
    Though all of them had grown up in the saddle, Sage was the most talented rider. On horseback she looked like a ballet dancer, all strength and grace. Their father, seeing her gift, had convinced her to become a barrel-racer.
    Disappointed in his brood of females, he’d taken momentary pride in Sage’s rodeo accomplishments, until an accident had resulted in Sage injuring her knee—and giving up the