Ichabod blinked at him and then rolled his eyes. “God, right, sorry. I’m… Come on into the front room. There’s a bunch of rooms in here that we’ve got to clean out still and do some work on, but the girls both needed some daddy time. And so I was helping them make paper dolls.”
“Oh, so there are more little ones?” Somehow Rick hadn’t known much about these kids.
Ichabod nodded, “Yes, I have two daughters as well as my boys.”
“Well, that must keep you busy.”
“The paper dolls? Absolutely.” That got him glinting wink, a wicked grin. “Michael, do you think you could watch Allie and Chrissy for me?”
The kid gave him a nod. “Yeah, sure.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Michael tilted his head. “Do you appreciate it enough that we can have pizza for supper—like real pizza from like a pizza place?”
“You know what, yes, I think that I would absolutely appreciate it enough that we could all go have pizza for dinner tonight, or I can see if I can’t get somebody to deliver out here; surely it’s got to be a thing.”
“Cool.”
Ellis had to chuckle. “Man, I can remember I would havegiven my right arm for somebody to deliver pizza out to the ranch I grew up on,” he said. “Nobody ever did, but my mom made a pretty decent Domino’s knockoff.”
Michael gave him a sideways look. “Really? You can make a knockoff and make it taste good?”
“I sure thought it was good when I was a kid. It was a sight better than Chef Boyardee box pizza. But you guys ain’t that far out. I imagine you could get somebody to come on.”
Ichabod shrugged. “I’ll check on DoorDash. If not, we’ll go into town, okay kiddo?”
“Sure that sounds good. I’m off to make paper dolls.” Michael rolled his eyes and slumped off like tweens always seemed to do.
Ellis watched Ichabod, waiting, curious.
“Here, why don’t we sit down here and chat a little?” Ichabod said.
“Thanks.” He waited for the man to perch on the recliner before he sat on the ancient couch. Damn, that thing needed some help, or maybe to be hauled off and replaced with something else. It sagged under his ass like a thirty-year-old swayback mule.
“You’re welcome. Would you like something to drink?”
Ellis grinned, shaking his head. “No, thank you. I drank about two-thirds of a Big Gulp on the way in. I imagine I’m gonna have to ask you use your restroom here soon.”
That got him another grin in return, and, shit, Rick hadn’t said anything about this guy being so pretty. Like not feminine pretty, but nice to look at.
“Well, you’re welcome to that too, although I warn you that Pop never remodeled his guest bathroom, so it’s pink and green. I don’t know whether I should preserve that because it’s sort of awesomely retro, or whether I should demo it immediately.”
“Now, that I will have to see before I go.”
Ichabod tilted his head. “Are you having second thoughts about applying for the job?”
He met that worried gaze head on. “No, sir. Not even a single one.”
“Oh. It’s just you keep talking about leaving, and I wanted to make sure that you weren’t only here for the interview to be polite, or so that you didn’t mess up the Cowboy Wanted people. Tom and Koby seem to inspire loyalty in folks.” Ichabod waved a hand as he spoke.
Those hands did fascinate him. He wondered what this guy did for a living that made those hands all scarred up and bruised with chipped nails. They were clean, but man they were wrecked.
“No, I didn’t figure even if I got the job you’d want me to stay here right away. I mean, now I could be wrong but I didn’t know if you’d have quarters cleaned out for somebody yet.”
“Oh, I promise you the bunkhouse is in better shape than the house. The cowboys kept their living quarters perfectly pristine. Pop’s they didn’t help so much with.” Ichabod blew out of breath and gave Ellis a wry glance. “Sorry if I seem a little bitter about all of that, but they abandoned him as soon as they knew he wasn’t gonna do what they wanted him to do.”
“Hell, I sure am sorry for that. There’s a lot to be said for being loyal to the brand who pays your paycheck. In fact, it’s the cowboy way.”
