Page 31 of Ethan

He was quiet for a moment. “Everything. Nothing.” He glanced at her. “Lately, more than usual.”

She held his gaze and he knew she understood what he meant.

She looked back at the creek. “I can see why you’d come here for that.”

They sat there a while longer, the horses drinking from the creek, neither of them in any hurry to leave.

“Do you want to get down, stretch your legs a little?”

“Yes.” Naomi dismounted and he did the same. They gathered the reins and walked along the creek.

“You said you had a half-sister you’d never met. Why is that?”

Naomi shook her head. “I don’t speak to my mother at all, so I’d have no reason to speak to my half-sister. My mother didn’t want me but probably doted on the baby she did. I never understood it. How can you just abandon one child, then go off and have another one you keep?”

He didn’t answer right away. He let her words settle.

“I don’t know,” he said finally. “I don’t think there’s a good answer to that.”

“There isn’t.” Her voice was matter of fact, but he could hear the old wound underneath it. “My grandmother never spoke badly about her. She’d just say that some people aren’t built for certain things.” Naomi watched the water. “I used to think that meant there was something wrong with me. That I was the reason she left.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“I do now.” She glanced at him. “It took a while.”

He said nothing. He just walked beside her and let her have the space to say what she needed to say or not say it.

“My grandmother was everything,” she said quietly. “She more than made up for it.” She sighed. “I still miss her every single day.”

“How long has she been gone?”

“Two years.” She reached out and let her hand trail through the tall grass at the creek’s edge. “She was the only family Ihad and when she died I just felt—” She stopped. “Untethered, I guess.”

He looked at her. “Is that why you took the job? Fresh start?”

She considered that. “Partly.” She looked up at him. “Partly because of the horses. Partly because of the apartment.” A small smile. “And now partly because of the burgers.”

He laughed, and she laughed too, and just like that the weight of it lifted a little.

Chapter Five

Naomi was still smiling when they turned back toward the horses, but underneath it she was acutely aware of how close he was walking beside her. Close enough that their arms brushed once and neither of them moved away.

She wanted him to kiss her.

She was fairly certain that wasn’t taking it slow, but she wanted it anyway. She kept stealing glances at his profile, the strong jaw, the way his hat sat on his head, shading his face, the easy way he moved even on foot, and she thought that if he turned and looked at her right now she might just close the distance herself and deal with the consequences later.

He didn’t turn.

He gathered Vulcan’s reins and checked the cinch. She did the same with Jewel, and the moment, if there had been one, passed quietly without either of them acknowledging it.

She put her foot in the stirrup and mounted.

He swung up onto Vulcan and looked over at her.

“Ready to see the rest of it?”

She looked at him sitting there in the morning sun, easy and unhurried, completely unaware of what was going on in her head.