LATER THAT MORNING Katie updated some of the cows’ medical logs they kept in the small addition at the back of the house that they used for an office. As she left she found Brendan laughing in the yard with Rob. She had missed the joke, but she didn’t miss the way Brendan’s whole body lit up when he laughed. His hair was standing on end where he’d run his fingers through it, and there were streaks of mud and probably manure on his jeans. Katie had never expected to see him like this, so easy and happy, off the ice and unaware of her. She had to stop in the office doorway to stare.
Suddenly she could picture the rest of her life looking exactly like this, dirty and happy and strong. But that was fantasy. Brendan would get tired of the animals eventually, if he wasn’t already; they could be
