He might even deserve it.
He hummed, making sure he had a relatively clean chin and a pair of jeans that weren’t covered in slip. Check. Okay. Time to go.
He headed out, amazed that his kids were all dressed, clean, and also ready. Ellis stood on the porch, and Mavis wasasleep on her dog bed, clearly not expecting to come with them.
Fun.
“Y’all all set?” Ellis asked.
“Yep.” He was happy to leave the cows behind for a bit. But he was taking the cowboy with them.
Chapter Eight
Ellis was having a little bit of guilt.
He knew Ichabod wanted to talk to him about his theories about the cows, but Ellis made himself scarce as hen’s teeth unless the kids were around. If they weren’t around, he was out working someplace on the ranch where Ichabod probably wouldn’t come looking for him.
But he didn’t know how to come clean, because honestly he hadn’t done anything wrong. At the same time, he was pretty aware there were rumors going around town, and even at the feed store an hour’s drive away, about how some of the cowboys were super aggravated about having to leave their jobs because of the new boss.
That sure as shit pissed Ellis right off, because they hadn’t had to leave their jobs. All they’d had to do was stick around and support Ichabod. They would have gotten paid, but he reckoned they didn’t want the humiliation of working for a greenhorn, which was damn stupid.
Who the Sam Hill knew? All he knew was that he was having a ball playing cowboy at this ranch and that Ichabod and his kids had been open and kind to him, inviting him tohave dinner with them, asking him if he wanted to go into town. They’d even gone to the movies together. So even though he was avoiding being alone with Ichabod, he was starting to do things for the man personally.
Not just for the ranch or for Ichabodandthe kids, but for Ichabod.
He’d fixed the wiring in the studio, for example. That kiln had been a danger to the whole system, but with a new circuit on the box for the shed, it was right as rain.
He’d also been delivering casseroles so Ichabod didn’t have to cook so much or take the kids into town.
If there was one thing his mom had cooked well, with five boys and her husband to feed, it was casseroles. Lasagna. Enchiladas. King Ranch. Chicken spaghetti. All the good shit.
And she had taught them all to him.
At some point, he would be going up to cook at the main house. But not yet. Right now he was sort of doing it stealthy-like.
Ichabod was walking out of his studio at the same time Ellis wandered up holding a casserole. The man’s silver hair glinted in the sun, light shining on him, and it made his mouth dry, so he licked his lips.
“You look like you’ve been having fun.” He had to grin. “I brought you food.”
“Oh, how cool. You’ll be coming to have dinner with us, right?” Ichabod got right up in his business, eyes laser-focused.
Ellis rocked back on the heels of his boots. “Sure.”
“Excellent. I’ve been having a ball. It’s throwing day. I love throwing day.”
Everything Ellis knew about pottery he could stick in a thimble. So he just nodded. “Good deal.”
“You want to see?”
He blinked, and then grinned, because he sure did. “Yeah. Let me put this in the fridge real quick. I’ll be right back.”
The kids were sitting in the living room on the couch. The little girls were watching cartoons and thinking about having a nap, it seemed to him.
“Hey, y’all. Casserole all ready for supper. Baked spaghetti today.”
Zane gave him a bit of the stink eye, then he took a deep breath and waved. “That’s damn cool man, thanks. Uh, I’m sure Dad’ll ask you for supper. I mean you cooked. There’s garlic bread and stuff for salad. Dad said he was making chocolate mousse for dessert, so…”
“I didn’t know your dad made chocolate mousse.”
