He supposed he could be off work for the day. He had to feed tonight, but one beer wouldn’t hurt that.
Although, maybe it was a bad idea.
Maybe he shouldn’t have a beer with his boss, who he wanted to do terribly unboss-like things with.
Yeah, that would be a bad idea.
Ellis stared down at his phone, where he had texted back,. Okay then. He guessed he’d made a decision.
Chrissy came wandering over to him, leaned very close, and stared. “Bell?”
God, the cuteness. “Yes, baby girl?”
“Luff you.” She blew him kisses with her filthy little fingers, waved, and then ran back off to play in the water.
Good Lord and butter. That made him swallow a bit, because that was some honest shit. And it proved to him he’d done the right thing.
Ichabod came back out, two Fat Tires in hand. “Does this work?”
“Course it does. Thanks.”
Ichabod nodded to him. “I figure it’s too hot to work, and by the time you have to feed and everything tonight, the beer will be gone.”
They watched as Allie ran over to Chrissy and sprayed her off with the hose, fussing about the mud.
“She’s your finicky one, isn’t she?”
“Oh, yes. They’re all four very different. Zane has got dark and brooding down like his dad did. He’s gonna end up being like a corporate raider or something, I have no doubt.” Ichabod opened his bottle and leaned back, the sun making love to that lean body, making him gleam. “Michael. I’mvoting veterinarian. He’s smart enough to do it and determined, and he loves the animals. Allie’s gonna be a little mommy.” Ellis got a sheepish grin and a bit of a shrug. “I mean if she decides when she grows up, she doesn’t want to, I won’t bitch. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not that dad, but she is very maternal, and I’m imagining happy days for my children when they grow up.”
“And what about the little one?” Ellis asked. This was fascinating.
“She’s making mud pies. This is my child of my soul. This is the child who is going to further my artistic line and become a potter like me.” Ichabod waved his hands around, hair flopping, the silver glinting in the sunlight.
And Ellis lost it. Just boom, lost it. That was some funny shit right there. No question. “Well, you got yourself some opinions.”
Ichabod took another deep pull on his beer. “I do. They change a lot. Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I have opinions that are absolutely horrible and one hundred percent not right.”
“You?” he teased. “No way.”
“Yeah. You know, I was gonna grow up to be— well, I wanted to be a doctor, then I wanted to be a dentist, and then I decided that maybe I could go be one of those warriors for the environment because that would be way easier and more fun than being a dentist. Then I thought, no, craft beers. Then I turned eight.”
Ellis sat there, his teeth in his mouth, staring at Ichabod “All right. I’m, with you so far. Why pottery?”
“I’ll be honest, I don’t know that I ever had a choice in what I did. As much as I joke, I did know without a doubt that I was going to be an artist.” Ichabod turned to face him more fully. “Both of my parents are artists. My sister is an artist.”
Oh, that was cool. “And where are they again?” Ellis was sure Ichabod had said, but he couldn’t drag it out of his brain.
“My sister’s in Santa Fe, and my folks are in San Francisco right now. Mom’s doing a residency at a studio there.”
Sometimes Ichabod talked, and Ellis realized how little he knew about lives that weren’t ranching. It was at once cool and lowering. “And so do they both do pottery?”
Ichabod shook his head. “My mom’s into textiles, and so is my sister. In fact, that’s what Mom does. She teaches weaving, and my dad is fine artist—watercolors—so he can follow Mom around when she does all these in-studio projects. He likes to find a park somewhere and paint and then come home and watch football. Or basketball. Or baseball. Or hockey. Whatever’s on in the hotel.”
“That’s fascinating. You’re very close, then?”
“Sure. I mean, we’re not in each other’s pockets. We don’t talk every day or anything, but we’re not estranged by any stretch of the imagination. We’re busy, and they love the kids. Of course, the kids love them.” Ichabod stretched tall, and that belly made Ellis want to dive right in. “I imagine they’ll stop by on their drive back to Denver when they’re done. Unless Mom gets another position somewhere else. She does love to travel. They can be gone from their little condo for months at a time.”
“I don’t know how I would like that.”
