Lou joined him.
Within twenty minutes a thin stream reached the first trough.
Then another.
Cattle crowded.
They watered in shifts through the night.
Slow.
Painfully slow.
But they watered.
Lou sat beside the final trough near dawn.
Exhaustion blurred the horizon.
Emmett lowered himself beside her.
Neither spoke.
Finally Lou said:
“You knew this because of Circle P.”
“Yes.”
“That saved us.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t erase what you hid.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
He looked older after the drive.
Dust inside the lines around his eyes.
Beard longer.
Shirt torn at one shoulder.
“I don’t know what to do with you.”
Emmett gave the faintest smile.
“Forty dollars suggests work.”
She almost laughed.
Then stopped.
“You hurt me.”
His expression changed.
“I know.”
“That is inconvenient.”
“I’m sorry.”
Lou looked toward the cattle.
“I trust you with my herd.”
Emmett waited.
“I’m not sure I trust you with me.”
His voice was quiet.
“Fair.”
She expected him to argue.
He did not.
That made it harder to remain angry.
Ash left Sage Hen before sunrise.
His cattle entered the thirty-mile desert first.
Lou waited six hours.
Not because she wanted to.
Because her herd needed water.
Every hour threatened the delivery deadline.
Emmett supported the delay.
That mattered.
At noon Bitter Brush began the crossing.
Heat shimmered over the flats.
No grass.
No trees.
Only dust and distance.
They traveled until midnight.
Rested four hours.
Moved again before dawn.
By the second afternoon several animals slowed.
Lou’s mare stumbled twice.
They had conserved water for people and horses.
None for cattle.
There simply was not enough.
Late in the day they found Circle P tracks veering north.
Emmett studied them.
“They changed route.”
“Why?”
He looked ahead.
“Dust.”
A cloud stood on the horizon.
Ash’s herd.
Stationary.
Lou’s stomach tightened.
“What stopped them?”
They found out two hours later.
Black Rock Wash had collapsed.
A flash flood days earlier had carved a deep channel across the trail.
Circle P had attempted crossing.
Two wagons stuck below.
Cattle scattered along both banks.
Ash stood shouting orders.
Lou stopped beside Emmett.
Their competitor had lost nearly half a day.
Perhaps more.
Ash saw them.
His face hardened.
“Trail’s closed.”
Lou looked at the wash.
“No.”
Ash laughed.
“You blind?”
She studied the north bank.
A narrow shelf climbed toward basalt ridges.
Emmett followed her gaze.
“Old freight path.”
Ash said sharply, “Doesn’t go through.”
Emmett looked at him.
“You sure?”
Ash became quiet.
That was enough.
Lou turned toward her crew.
“Tomás, take twenty lead cattle.”
Ash rode forward.
“You take that shelf, you’ll lose animals over the side.”
Lou looked at him.
“You worried?”
“I’m warning you.”
“First generous thing you’ve done.”
She started uphill.
The path was terrible.
Loose rock.
Narrow turns.
Steep.
But it went through.