But he had a burr under his saddle as he stomped into the ranch house, all the way through the kitchen, and up the stairs. She heard his cell phone ring, and then his voice rumbled in conversation, though she couldn't make anything out with the ceiling between them.
Well.
She couldn't force the man to be sociable. The coffee in the pot was cold, so she dumped it and put a new pot on to brew, then pushed open the back door for Iris.
The other woman brushed past her, and Molly gave a quick whistle to the dog, who'd been left on the porch.
She left the mudroom door open, the dog's padded blanket right in the doorway, and gave the animal some serious eye contact to know she meant business. The dog lay on the cushion with its head on its paws.
When she turned back to the kitchen, Iris was watching her with raised brows.
"It's cold out." Sure, it wasn't her house or her dog, but Cord wasn't a monster. He'd see that the dog should be inside.
"Mackie never let the dog in," Iris said. "Even when Cord and West were boys." The woman's gaze flicked around the room, lingered on the tree just visible in the living room. "This place hasn't changed at all."
Molly had found it strange that there were no pictures in the living areas. Not high school graduation or school pictures or even a family portrait. Nothing.
When she'd rushed out after Cord, she'd left her plate of eggs and bacon on the back of the stove. Not warm, but not gross.
"I didn't finish breakfast before the cattle got out," Molly said. "I can reheat this. Happy to share."
"I can always eat," Iris said.
Iris was maybe a little too thin. The fine lines around her eyes could've been from exhaustion or being in the sun too much. But her eyes were kind.
Molly reassembled the eggs and bacon on tortillas and stuck them in the microwave.
"So are you... Cord's girlfriend?"
There was no veil to Iris's curiosity in the question.
Molly glanced at the other woman, and when she saw the smile twitching at the corners of her mouth, Molly let her own smile spread. "No. How'd you know? Too young?"
Iris's smile grew. "Too chipper."
Footsteps hit the stairs, and Molly released a sigh she hadn't realized she'd been holding. He was coming back.
Through the door, she saw he'd changed his shirt, now wore a knit sweater with his jeans and sock feet.
For a moment, she flashed back to the seconds when he'd rushed downstairs with his chest bare.
That she'd had such a visceral reaction at all shocked her. She'd flushed hot and cold and was having a minor reaction now, seeing his shoulders beneath that shirt and remembering this morning.
After everything she'd been through, she'd thought she was too shaken to react so viscerally to a man. Maybe her body was a traitor, reminding her of what she shouldn't want.
He caught her looking, and she quickly turned to the microwave just as it began to beep.
Iris hadn't noticed him. "So if you aren't dating Cord, are you...?"
Molly reached to take the plates from the microwave. Her face burned a little. "I answered a 'help wanted' flyer, which apparently Cord didn't post."
Cord entered the room, and, for a moment that stretched long, he and Iris stared at each other.
Iris's smile had disappeared. "Asking for help isn't Cord's style."
A muscle in his jaw twitched. "You posted that flyer?"
Iris shrugged. "I knew you wouldn't. And this place is a mess." She didn't even wear a guilty expression.
