“I wouldpayto hear that, Sam.About this or literally anything else.”
She rolled her eyes but chuckled in spite of herself as she finished up the little breakfast he’d put together.“I’m going to shower.”She slid off the stool, considered him and his rumpled hair and the fact he washere, day after day, and as much as she knew she shouldn’t like it or get used to it, shedid.
When it didn’t freak her out.
“You could join me.”Because he was still keeping that leg hidden, like at this point some scars were going to send her running.After everything they’d seen of each other over the past almost-year.
He considered it.
But it was going to take something more than the promise of shower sex to have him letting down that particular guard.She wondered what would do it.If there was anything in her thatwoulddo it for him.
“I’m going to go lay some salt down on the front walkway,” he said.
She nodded and tried not to internalize that particular refusal.She went through the shower and got ready for a day in the office.When she went downstairs, Nate was at his desk.
“I’ve got some emails to return about the stolen identity case,” he said.“Maybe a few calls.Then I’ll run out and get lunch.For the three of us.”He made a little finger wagging gesture.“Woo,” he said, deadpan.
It wasn’t funny.Itwasn’t, but she couldn’t bite back a smile as she shook her head and moved over to her desk.Sam dealt with a few of her own emails, while Nate got to work on his.
At five minutes to ten, Bo came through the door.He had the notebook she’d given him clutched to his chest.
“Morning, Bo,” she greeted, maybe sounding over-welcoming to compensate for Nate and all that stoicism.
“Hi.Morning.I… I brought you that stuff.I wrote it all up.I tried to be real thorough.”He crossed the room and handed the notebook to her, and she noted a slight shake in his hands.
So she smiled at him as she took the notebook.“Fantastic.”
He sent a kind of nervous glance Nate’s way.“I’m ready to work.Really.I want to pay my way however I can.”
“That’s what we like to hear.Come on, I’ll show you.”She showed him around the office, the list of duties, let him ask questions.Cleaning the office wasn’t rocket science, but it would require some organization and focus.They gave Nate a wide berth as he did his work, and Sam kept waiting for Bo to saysomethingabout him.
But he didn’t.
“We’ll break for lunch and then this afternoon we’ll go over the answers you brought me,” Sam said after Bo had replaced all the trash liners.
“Oh, but… I thought I’d work all day.If it’s only once a week, shouldn’t I work all day?”
“Next week.This week you’re still learning.And I’m still remembering all the things I want you to help with.Just like the investigation will take time, it’ll take time for us to figure out how this is going to work.”
Nate walked in from the back with a bag, no doubt the sandwiches.
“Pull up a seat at my desk and eat, Bo,” Sam instructed him.
It was awkward.Sam didn’t see any way around that.But she’d give Bo credit, he was powering through the awkward rather than bolting.Because he was determined to find his truth.
So she was going to help him.
“So, Bo…” Nate trailed off, then shrugged.“The fact of the matter is you look a lot like me and my brothers.”Blunt and to the point.Had Sam expected anything else?
Bo blinked, looked down at his sandwich.“I guess I do.”
“We’d like you to come up to the family ranch for dinner.Meet everyone.No pressure.”
Bo didn’t respond right away.He seemed to think it over, and then he looked at Sam.Like he was hoping for guidance.He was a grown man, but he just gave off the feeling oflost boy.
“I’ll be there,” she said reassuringly.“Look, maybe the resemblance is a weird coincidence, and you’re not related.Crazier things have happened, but it doesn’t hurt to get to know people.To have a home-cooked meal.And maybe if you all talk a little bit, we come across a reason you all look so much alike even without the DNA results.”
Bo shot another nervous glance at Nate, but his gaze quickly returned to Sam.His eyes weresad.“Well, if you think so, Sam.I… I think the DNA test should be coming back soon.It said four to six weeks and it’s been four now.Hopefully it’s… soon.”
