It was a warm day for the area, the first in months. The temperatures were barely merciful, peaking in the high forties, yet, compared to the climate they had endured since early October, felt warmer than anything the town had ever endured. It was like this every year around this time, and yet, every year, it felt like the first time the town had ever seen the sun when March rolled around. It was only February now, but a few days always emerged that held promise for the warmer months to come. Such a day held the biggest decision of Foster Bichler’s life, one he hadn’t stopped to discuss with his siblings on foresight of what their unanimous reaction would be. Today was the day he finally signed the paperwork he and his lawyers had spent months carefully drafting with Caroline and her team. Today was the day their families combined properties, combined families, combined lives.

“It’s the sixth, correct?” Of course it was. He always knew the date, always. Still, a mild-mannered response fell through the air in his direction. He was doing less clarifying and more confirming signs of life from the woman across the desk. Though he didn’t mind the silence, the latest book he’d read about success had persuaded him to be more wary of putting those around him at ease, and he never missed an opportunity to put something to practice if it was for his own benefit. “Good, thanks,” he managed, a clear response with purposeful eye contact in her direction. He glanced back down and finished the last signature on the gargantuan document. His handwriting was smooth and precise, much like everything else he influenced.

Before anything else could be said, a young girl came running into the office. “Annie,” he greeted, his tone neutral. “I know you know better than to run into the office when I’m conducting business. What’s up?”

“Chase and Cheyenne are here,” she replied in a sheepish tone, avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room other than her older brother. “You told me to warn you-”

“I know what I said,” he replied, cutting her off before her honesty was at his expense. “Thanks, dear.” After she left, shutting the door on her way out, Foster stood to shake hands with everyon involved in the deal. “Thanks for everything, now, are we done here? I have some family business to attend to.”

—

“Now what, pray tell, is this? Could it be? Foster Bichler making another huge decision without anyone’s consent?” Chase’s words were sardonic as he gestured to the parking lot full of vehicles that lined their driveway. “Let’s just get back in the truck and go to Ruby’s. No way in hell I’m dealing with this shit sober.”

“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but it’s ten in the morning. Even if I wanted to support your noble cause, I wouldn’t do it by ordering off the lunch menu there.” She glanced at her reflection in the window of one of the cars. “Where’s Joseph, anyway? He probably knew about whatever this was.”

“Off…somewhere. On one of his little walkabouts. Nowhere in sight, as per usual, and no help to me, as per usual.” He kicked a few rocks with his shoe, attempting to prolong the inevitable bearing of news he knew was about to come. He was equally certain it wouldn’t please any of them, for if it would have, they would have known about it. Foster had a way of doing things his way whether it was the popular decision or not, and the level of consent he would receive determined how informed the rest of the family was. “This is like law school all over again.”

“Shh,” Cheyenne replied harshly, smacking her brother’s arm. “You know we don’t bring that up. Especially not to use it as a weapon in a situation like this.”

“No, no, I’m gonna try it Foster’s way for a change. I’m gonna do what I want, when I want, where I want, and I’m gonna do it regardless of who the hell knows or cares. We’ll see how he and his stupid little rules that apply to everyone but himself feel about that.”

“Chase,” she warned, only to have him jerk away from her.

“Don’t try me, Cheyenne,” he warned in the same tone, but with more fury and vengeance in his eyes. We both know what I’m capable of, but we don’t have to prove it to the rest of America. “I just want to talk.”

—

The next day, the movers came to take their things out of the rickety old barn and bring them to the Edwards’ property. It was larger, newer, and more expensive, and until the renovations were done on the Bichler property, it was a danger for everyone who stepped foot on the property. Chase’s argument was that it had been for years, and no harm had ever come to them. He refused to let them take all of his stuff, so Foster conceded to allowing him to keep a box of his things at the old homestead. Another three hours of arguing proved that he could also keep his old bed, and his pictures on the walls, and they’d argue about the rest later. Cheyenne and Joseph were already moved into the Edwards’ massive ranch house by the time Foster and Chase had agreed on exactly what could and couldn’t stay. By one or two in the morning, Foster finally joined the rest of his family, now sleeping, at the new location. Chase refused to leave their ranch, and drank himself to sleep, alone, in a cold and empty house.

The night came and went, and Joseph was the first one up, before the sunrise. He was drinking coffee in the kitchen and drawing something of a mirage on a worn sketchbook as the others made their way down to check on the horses, who were still adjusting from the transition to the new property. “Morning, J,” Cheyenne greeted, kissing his forehead as he mumbled something of a greeting, barely looking up as she poured herself some of his coffee. She put some in a thermos for Foster, instructing her twin to ensure their eldest sibling remembered to grab it on his way out, because, as they both knew, he wasn’t very conscious in the morning. He agreed, though he spoke little, and was soon left in only the company of the rising sun. He’d help later, he wasn’t needed now. The most helpful thing he could do was sit and wait for Chase to turn up.

Though the frigid February mornings were detrimental to her enjoyment of their lifestyle, even Cheyenne had to admit that this one was particularly exquisite. The warm tones that framed the edges of the indigo sky were filled with colors she’d never seen before, oranges and reds and yellows and greens she wished she could capture and place in a mason jar to keep on their kitchen table. As she studied it harder, she realized that Joseph had been sketching this–the serenity of the view from the Edwards’ kitchen window–and that later in the day he’d be trying to replicate the colors of the sky with paint, solely from his memory. And a good memory he had, better than anyone else’s in their family. Though he spoke little, he was always the one ensuring everything was running the way it was supposed to be behind the scenes, from knowing whether every gate and stall door was latched to memorizing reining and dressage patterns for his siblings. Though it was easy for her to find things she liked about each of her siblings, she had always admired the way Joseph did the most for their family while simultaneously being the most silent about it.

Cheyenne made her way to the barn after several wrong turns and a few stops to enjoy life in the present moment. When she finally figured out where she’d gone wrong and reached the parking lot off the main path, she noticed a new car had pulled up in the absence of the evening. She wondered if it was a client or a family friend, or a family member she’d yet to meet. She didn’t think it had been parked there the day prior, but then again, her memory typically failed her.

Just as she reached the barn doors, she came face to face with a slightly taller, muscular man who had been walking briskly from around the corner. Her quick reflexes saved her, causing her to step aside to avoid a collision. The more she observed, the more glad she was that her quick thinking had saved her–he seemed very stressed, though his expression softened as he stopped to listen to what she had to say. “My bad,” she’d said in the moment, but as he hesitated, she did too, and she realized it would likely be best for a formal introduction to occur now–in her control–rather than later on at the hands of someone else. As they lingered, she found it within herself to smile somewhat brightly, pale eyes studying the figure before her. He seemed about her age, and somewhat resembled the two Edwards sisters she’d met the day prior. “You must be Caroline and Penelope’s brother,” she almost offered him her hand to shake, but it was far too cold outside in her opinion. Instead, they lingered outside the barn doors like young lovers who didn’t want to say goodnight. “I forget your name, sorry.” That was a lie. His name was Sebastian, and he owned a bay warmblood gelding she hadn’t yet seen. He was the head instructor and coordinator of the english affairs at their barn. In other words, Sebastian was the Cheyenne of the Edwards’ estate, and the person she knew she'd be spending the most time with now that their properties were combined.

Emma-Lynn had arrived not long after Caroline and Sebastian had returned and immediately went to check for herself if Jinx was in fact lame, despite Penelope stating they had already come to a solid conclusion that he was. Ellie stood beside Penelope as they watched in silence as Emma lunged Jinx first one way, and then the other. The chestnut gelding moved like he was dancing across clouds, but it was obvious that he wasn't comfortable doing it today.

They kept watching as Emma-Lynn slowed him to a halt, traded the lunge line for a lead rope, and handed the gelding back off to Penelope after exiting the central indoor arena. "I guess just put him back in his stall until the vet and farrier can see him." Emma-Lynn said, her voice on the verge of ice. Penelope didn't answer her, only turned to bring Jinx back to his stall.

Ellie stayed where she was, her hands still resting on the railing of the indoor arena, as she listened to the heels of Emma-Lynn's boots on the bricked aisle that ran between the stalls and the indoor arena. She wondered why Emma insisted on never taking their word, especially when Penelope had yet to be wrong. When she heard Penelope shut Jinx's stall door, she turned to her sister and raised an eyebrow, a silent "Who pissed in her cornflakes?". Penelope responded with a shrug, a silent "I don't know".

"Are you coming up to the house?" Penelope asked as she walked back towards Ellie. Ellie shook her head, "I think I might go take a walk through Jinx's feild... see if theres some stupid big rock in there he keeps stepping on or something..." She sounded lost in thought as she answered.

Penelope nodded to her, and headed out of the barn, and back up to the house to make herself a coffee.

______________________________

Sebastian had begun to leave the barn the moment Emma-Lynn began slowing Jinx. In a hurry to get a breath of fresh air away from the ensuing meltdown Emma-Lynn was sure to have, Sebastian had walked as briskly as his legs could take him towards the entrance of the barn, and quickly outside. He nearly barreled over the poor young woman who had been just outside, but in his urgency to get outside he couldn't stop his forward momentum. Thankfully, she sidestepped before they made contact. Internally, he cursed himself for his lack of attention.

"I'm sorry, that's my bad, actually. I should have been paying more attention to my path..." He pivoted to lean against the wall just beside the doorway, rubbing his hands over his face as he quickly let out a sigh. As he dropped his hands, he pushed himself off the wall and stood straight, looking down at the brunette standing before him. He couldn't help the split second thought that she looked like a character from a novel, but he pushed the thought away before he could start contemplating what kind of novel she could have been from. The way her gaze took him in made him follow her eyes, wondering vaguely what her thoughts were of him. For the life of him, he couldn't remember if he had met her before, but he didn't think he had...

When she mentioned his sisters, Sebastian nodded once in confirmation as he pocketed his hands. "Yeah, I'm Sebastian, but mostly everyone just calls me Bastian." He introduced himself. "And you are...?" His voice trailed off as a polite smile spread across his mouth.

"Bastian!" Emma-Lynn's singsong voice came through the still open doorway a split second before Emma herself appeared, her arms crossed over her chest. Despite her crossed arms, the smile on her face was bright and warm, though Sebastian was more than sure it was only an act. He would hear her entire rant later, he would bet just about anything on it.

Sebastian turned towards Emma, "Yes?"

"I was going to ask you if-" she started, and then her eyes turned to the woman who was standing in front of him. "Oh, some new help?" She said brightly, giddy like a child in a candy shop, still looking at the other woman. "Perfect! Perfect, really. Maybe I can put Jinx and Dove in your care, seeing as Penelope seems to be incompetant. I mean really, it can't be that hard to just make sure he doesn't hurt himself." Emma ended with a sigh, dropping her hands dramatically to her sides.

"She is not new help, Em." Sebastian started carefully, and he watched as Emma-Lynn's bright blue eyes narrowed just a fraction as she continued to look at the new woman. He didn't have the energy to argue with her about Penelope's abilities, and he knew better than to do that in front of a bystander.

"Then what does she do here?" Emma shot back, peeling her eyes away from the woman to eye Sebastian instead. "Irrelevant. Has the vet been called to check on Jinx?" Sebastian was quickly growing annoyed with Emma-Lynn's ever jealous personality. Emma-Lynn shook her head "no", and produced a phone from one of her pockets, turning to head back inside as she scrolled to find the right number.

Before Cheyenne even had an opportunity to ask Sebastian what was wrong, the answer to her unspoken question stepped out from behind the looming barn doors. A rueful smile tugged at her lips, threatening to diminish her stark professionalism and her glowing first impression. If she were her brother and lacked certain impulse control, she would have easily let a comment slip about the way people barreled through doors here, or at least the two she’d met so far. However, based on the way his calm demeanor and likable personality–at least the small bit which she’d seen thus far–shrunk in her presence, the businesswoman concluded that this particular client needed to be treated with kid gloves. After enduring the grueling interaction between the woman, ‘Em,’ and Bastian with all the saintly patience and professionalism in the world, she responded.

“It’s so nice to meet another one of Bastian’s sisters,” she said it innocently enough that no malicious intent could be extracted. Still, it was there, a subtle ‘mess with me, see what happens.’ Without lifting eye contact, she offered her hand for the woman to shake. “I’m Cheyenne Bichler, I’m sure you’re familiar with my family and our farm if you’re from around these parts.” Though she didn’t mention much, she spoke with a resigned confidence that left no questions on the table. She didn’t feel threatened by the woman, she didn’t need to stoop down to her level.

Throughout the entire interaction, she felt Sebastian’s eyes pressed on her, an anxious bystander in his girlfriend’s ruthless antics. He seemed like a good guy, and she wondered how and why he’d ended up with Emma-Lynn. There was definitely a story there, she concluded, even if it was as simple and disappointing as the man being more superficial than he seemed at first. Still, she chose to believe it was something greater, that being a good person had somehow gotten him tangled up in her mess. It was for this reason, and for the desire to start off on the right foot with her new business partner, that Cheyenne omitted exactly that information. If she had any sort of interest in her boyfriend’s life beyond controlling it, she’d find out they were working together soon enough. She didn’t need to stir the pot on the first day, she had no interest in the drama or the theatrics of that. It wasn’t worth the headache.

She felt the couple’s growing agitation with each other, which only led to more questions she assumed would be answered sooner rather than later. Emma-Lynn seemed like the kind of person to publicly air her drama in front of any willing audience, and enough people were bustling in and out of the barn at all hours that she knew it was only a matter of time until she felt like an extra in their reality television show. To her surprise, though, the woman was gone in a matter of moments, and without the insistence of her boyfriend’s company. The pair were left in awkward silence, each unsure of whether to address the elephant in the room or not. “Well, it seems like you have your hands full this morning, but I’d love to discuss our strategy and our partnership and everything at a time that’s convenient for you. Since we pretty much did the same job for each respective property before the merge, it’s going to take some finessing and open communication to run things smoothly here. If you don’t have my contact information, here’s my card, everything is on here.” She handed him a business card from her other company, smiling gently and reiterating pleasantries before walking back the way she came, partially to avoid the drama in the barn, and partially to greet Foster, who was approaching her from a direction she must have traveled in her efforts to find the barn in the dark this morning. She wasn’t entirely sure where that path led, or where Foster had been. She only knew that the expression on his face meant serious business.

“Where’s Chase? Has anyone heard from him?”

She shook her head no. “With any luck, not finding a new way to ruin his life.” She hesitated, then added, “if you want to know what my plan was, I was gonna give him until night checks tonight, and if nobody hears from him by then, I’m gonna go get him. It’s not like he’s not gonna be at the rodeo in town, drunk off his ass and trying to add insult to injury.”

Foster nodded solemnly, mentally trying to get on board with a plan that had been created by someone other than himself. “Fine,” his focus shifted to the vet, who was pulling up and parking beside the main barn. “Just,” he paused, choosing his words carefully, “take someone with you.”

—

The rest of the day ran fairly smoothly despite the fact that neither Joseph nor Bastian were anywhere to be found, making Cheyenne’s workload more strenuous than was really necessary. She wasn’t exactly sure where Bastian was–she didn’t even know him well enough to make an educated guess–but she and Foster realized sometime in the afternoon that Joseph had gone off on one of his wanderings, leaving any responsibilities he had to fall on the shoulders of his siblings. Well, the two that were present here, anyway. No one was surprised that Chase went the entire day without so much as a text or call.

Still, the siblings made it through their day without too much difficulty, other than a temperamental mare here and a missing piece of equipment there. The primary task was to finish unpacking their things, then to handwalk and lunge the horses, which typically fell on Joseph. He much preferred the companionship of a horse from the ground despite his intrinsic riding talent, and Cheyenne and Foster much preferred to spend their time doing anything other than the menial tasks of horse maintenance. Still, they finished their to-do list just before the evening feed, making it back inside in time for dinner. The Edwards siblings seemed scattered and on separate schedules, where the Bichlers were used to being more of a family unit when it came to things like barn routines and family meals. Though, everyone seemed scattered, it was just part of change. Cheyenne and Foster couldn’t judge the Edwards for not having a family dinner when half of their family had disappeared without so much as a goodbye text.

After a condensed version of their typical family dinner, Cheyenne and Foster split off to do their own things. Foster ended up in the barn office working on some paperwork for a competition horse for Chase, and Cheyenne was mentally and physically preparing to go get him. Because their entire town and surrounding counties centered around the rodeo scene, Cheyenne knew that being there meant representing their business, and now their partnership with the Edwards family. By eight in the evening, she’d changed out of her barn clothes into something more presentable, put on makeup, and curled her hair. She looked like a different person than the person who’d been lunging horses and unpacking boxes for the majority of the morning and afternoon.

As she left the house in pursuit of the barn to tell Foster she was leaving, she nearly bumped into Sebastian–again. As she’d gone to open the front door, he’d opened it from the outside. This time he was the one to move out of the way, though he looked exhausted. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” she muttered, glancing up at him with a rueful smile. “How was your day?” Then, before she could stop the words from leaving her mouth, she added, “I’m actually on my way out the door to get Chase from the rodeo in town. Do you want to come for the drive?”