Page 17 of Ethan
“Don’t stay too long. You’ve got an early start Monday.”
She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “Yes, boss.”
The corner of his mouth lifted before he could stop it. He straightened and looked away.
“Goodnight, Naomi.”
“Goodnight, Ethan.”
He walked back through the barn, out into the evening air and didn’t look back. He made it all the way to the back door before he realized he was still smiling and shook his head as he entered the house.
He hung his hat on the peg in the kitchen, then headed for the fridge. He wasn’t hungry but he needed something to do, so he pulled out a pan and started a burger anyway.
He’d just put the heat on when his phone buzzed on the counter. He glanced at it.
Cole.
He picked up. “Yeah.”
“How’d it go?”
Ethan moved the pan off the burner. “How’d what go?”
“Don’t do that. Seth told me you drove to Kalispell today to pick up your new trainer’s horse.”
“It was a long drive. Horse is here. Everything’s fine.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
Ethan leaned against the counter. “Then say what you’re asking.”
“Seth says she’s pretty.”
“Seth hasn’t met her.”
“Johnny has and he told Seth. Seth told me.”
Ethan said nothing.
Cole laughed. “That’s what I thought.”
“She works for me, Cole.”
“I know she does.”
“So, drop it.”
“Dropped.” Ethan could hear the smile in his voice. “For now.”
“Goodnight, Cole. Tell your wife to keep you off the phone.”
He hung up before his brother could say anything else and stood there in the quiet kitchen staring at the wall.
He put the pan back on the burner. Both his brothers were pains in the ass and being the youngest he’d never once been allowed to forget it. Forty years old and they still looked for every opportunity to give him a hard time.
Once his burger was done he put it on a bun, added mustard, and carried it to the living room. He dropped into the recliner, turned on the TV, and ate.
He didn’t taste a single bite of it.
