"So..." JJ said leadingly, a mischievous grin on her face.

"So, what?" Emily asked, not quite sure what conversational road JJ was attempting to lead her down. She'd met her childhood best friend for coffee in town that afternoon, partly to catch up and partly because she wanted to get away from the ranch and all the chaos.

JJ rolled her eyes. "So," she repeated, "Alex is pretty cute, right?"

Emily groaned, things becoming very clear very quickly. "Really? Is this really what you called me here to talk about?"

"It's not not what I wanted to talk about..."

She shook her head, sighed. "You really haven't changed since high school, have you?"

She shrugged as if she failed to see the problem with that.

And, realizing that JJ wasn't about to let the conversation be done with until she'd gotten at least something out of it, Emily relented, "She's gorgeous."

"And?" JJ prompted with a triumphant grin. "Have you hooked up yet?"

She felt her cheeks flush, giving away far more information than she would have liked...

JJ crowed with laughter. "You slut," she teased. "Was it good?"

"Jayje!" Emily hissed, mortified.

She shrugged as if she couldn't help her but ask.

Emily shook her head, "We're not having a conversation about my sex life." A beat. "Besides, it doesn't really matter, since I'm pretty sure she's done with me."

"What did you do?" JJ asked, face falling from mirth into solemnity. She was already shaking her head like she was somehow preemptively disappointed in Emily.

"Nothing!" Emily insisted, even though that wasn't entirely true... "I mean, nothing she didn't already know I was planning on doing," she backpedalled, already feeling JJ's judgment.

JJ raised a brow. "What exactly does that mean?"

She sighed. "It means, I made it very clear I intend on selling the ranch because...well, for a lot of reasons...but when I brought in an investment banker to look at the property, she freaked out. I tried apologizing, but I think she's secretly still mad at me, but trying to hide it for the sake of professionalism."

Slowly shaking her head, JJ clicked her tongue scoldingly. "Oh, Em..." Her tone was that of a parent disappointed in a very small child.

"What!?" she practically yelped. "What did I do that's so wrong? It's not like I sprung this on her out of the blue, I told her when I arrived that I'd be selling the place, so I don't understand why she's acting like I blindsided her..."

JJ just stared at her, gaze extremely pointed.

"What?" Emily said, more of a whine this time, feeling every inch the petulant child JJ was making her feel.

JJ continued to stare at her.

Emily huffed, frustrated – more that JJ's tactics were working than anything else. "What else am I supposed to do?" she wanted to know, "Quit my job in London and move halfway across the world to run and bed and breakfast in the off chance it would make a woman I barely know happy?"

"Well, it's not like you're happy in London," JJ pointed out.

"That's beside the point," Emily muttered, annoyed that she was right.

JJ ignored her. "Does Alex make you happy?" Emily said nothing, just narrowed her eyes to glare at JJ. "Well? Does she?"

"Maybe... I don't know," she said, throwing her hands up in the air in surrender. "She doesn't make me unhappy."

"Well, if there's even a small chance that Alex is the person you want to be with, you better do something about it. Like yesterday," JJ persisted.

Emily cocked her head, curiosity piqued. "Why?"

"Let's just say, you're not the only one in town who's sweet on Alex..." she said vaguely.

"Who?" Emily demanded, grabbing JJ's wrist and gripping it tighter than was entirely comfortable...and giving away far more of her emotional state in the process than she would have liked.

JJ smirked to herself, the tactic having worked perfectly. "Let's just say, the town's farrier has been known to make more trips to the ranch than entirely necessary."

Emily didn't seem convinced. "How do you know it's not Derek they've got a crush on?"

That appeared to be all JJ had to say on the matter, though, judging by the mysterious way she shrugged, mimed zipping her lips.

"Damn you, Jennifer Jareau," Emily muttered darkly.

Emily had always had something of a nose for trouble...at least, that's what her mother always said. And, in that particular instance, she would have been right. There was no good reason for Emily to drive down to town's blacksmith/farrier workshop, but that certainly wasn't stopping her from driving Derek's truck down a gravel road marked by a rusted metal sign that said "B ACKS IT", the L, M, and H having long since fallen off.

The pit in her stomach gradually grew as she drove...and she was doing her level best to avoid examining why the simple fact that someone else was romantically interested in Alex had her stomach in knots. That was a Pandora's Box she really couldn't handle looking in just then.

When she climbed out of the truck, she could hear the clanging sound of a hammer working molten metal and she approached the open workshop, knowing full well that this was a bad idea, but doing it anyway.

"Hello?" she called out, raising her voice to be heard over the clanging.

The man continued hammering for a few moments – since the metal was hot, he had to finish shaping it before it cooled – then stopped his work, turning and lifting his face shield, flashing a brilliant smile as he did so. "Can I help you?"

Emily's heart sunk. There was no way she could compete with this – the man was extremely attractive and very well-built; in fact, he could give Derek a run for his money... "Are you the farrier?" she asked, already dreading the answer.

He chuckled. "I'm Matt, the blacksmith. You must be looking for Clara..."