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“Go to hell, Will” He pushed the words through his clenched teeth and headed for the front door

Will called after him, “Dammit, Beau! You can at least sleep on it”

He didn’t waste any breath answering hi until the front door closed behind his back and the chill of the night air washed over him He paused and drank in a deep breath of it and wondered why he had bothered to come home for Bull’s funeral

“Fixing to run away again, are ya?” Jasper’s voice caht Beau jerked his head around, quickly locating the old cowboy’s dark shape sitting on the long bench “Can’t say I’ this wouldn’t be the first time you did it”

“And I’o to hell, Jasper,” Beau muttered

Wisely, Jasper didn’t immediately respond He waited a couple beats, then released an amused sound that fell soives a whole new h, the tough get going’ ”

“Don’t try to lay souilt trip on me, Jasper It won’t work,” Beau stated “I don’t knohat Kool-Aid you two have been drinking, but the visions you’re getting have no basis in reality I’ve been gone too long”

“It’ll come back to you quick,” the old cowboy countered in an idle tone

“So what?” he challenged “For you and Will, this ranch is the center of your universe, but it isn’tfor me back in DC I’ve made a new life for ive it up?”

“Your brother needs you”

“Sure he does” Beau didn’t try to keep the mockery out of his voice

“You don’t believe that, do you,” Jasper stated “I guess you have been away too long or you’d remember a Tyler breaks his own horse, no ets thrown Nobody else does it for him Will can’t break this one by himself That’s a hard fact to s So he did thein the world—he turned to family”

For the first ti Jasper’s calmly issued stateht’s darkness just beyond the porch Overhead, the sky was a glory of stars—stars that, with all the light pollution, didn’t show up in DC’s night sky

Here on the ranch, the constellations greeted hi Dipper, the North Star, Orion, and the Seven Sisters And stretching across the Texas sky in a breathtaking spill of light was the Milky Way

Again Jasper’s easy drawl invaded the silence “ ’Course, you’re right It is daht come to his rescue Why should you care that we’re short of hands and it’s past ti roundup? I’m sure you’ve already used up all your vacation time, and your job’s too vital to expect any extra leave—”