The next morning, Liam waited for Nathan on the farm. He checked his watch. It was four-thirty-five. No sign of Nathan. The first traces of sunlight cracked through the dark sky. It didn’t matter how much this mysterious stranger charmed his family last night. He had a job to do. And that job started at quarter past four in the morning.
Liam stormed across the field. Right before he reached the side door off the kitchen, it swung open, and Nathan popped out. It was a surprise to Liam, who thought he’d have to do the water trick again.
“Good morning!” Nathan said. He wore his jeans, which were matted with dirt and grass stains from yesterday, and a black v-neck shirt that hugged his chest, showing off lean muscles just under the fabric.
“You’re late.” Liam crossed his arms.
“I don’t know what happened. My snooze alarm never went off.” Nathan breezed past him to the farm.
“Did you hit the snooze?”
“You have to hit it?”
“Yes.” Liam clicked the side door shut. “It doesn’t snooze automatically. When your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze button—” Liam didn’t waste his breath. Nathan seemed like someone who was always fashionably late. He marched across the field, wobbling a little bit, but that seemed like normal tiredness and not inebriation. Liam clocked his perky bum in those designer jeans and did not mind the view.
Nathan waited for him outside his shed while Liam grabbed gloves. There was no front porch. Liam had put out two turned-over buckets. That was the extent of his outdoor furniture.
“We’re starting in the hoof house,” Liam said, handing him a pair of thick gloves he remembered from yesterday. “You’re going to scrape the hay off the floor, like you attempted yesterday.”
“Would it be all right I start off with a cup of coffee?”
“You just got here.”
“You’ve seen what I’m like without coffee.” Nathan cocked his eyebrows at Liam, as if he needed a reminder of the mess he was yesterday. “All I need is one cup.” Nathan seesawed his head. “Two cups.”
“All right.” Little did he know, but Liam already had a fresh pot going. He figured Nathan would need the caffeine jolt. But he chose to play the part of gruff boss.
Nathan pulled open the screen door, then front door, and sprinted to the kitchen. He picked up the empty mug next to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup.
“This is the best coffee I’ve ever had.” Nathan took a whiff of the coffee before inhaling half of it. He picked up Liam’s mug from the sink. “Want a refill?”
“Sure. I’m glad you like it,” Liam said. Nathan handed over the mug and sat on the kitchen island, which should’ve annoyed Liam, but he let it slide. “I want to thank you for last night.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Mariel’s chair.” Liam thought about the prayer Nathan said for his late sister-in-law, how surprisingly heartfelt it was. There was more to Nathan than sarcasm, apparently.
“I get it.” A wave of seriousness washed over Nathan’s face as he shook off the nice words. “She sounds like the dog’s bollocks.”
“She was kind of a rebel. It’s not hard to be when your parents have enormous sticks up their arses.” Liam stood against the wall where the kitchen became the living room. “Speaking of…Mark told me, about your parents.”
“Right.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s nothing. Well, not nothing. Just…in the past.” Nathan’s face went from normal to red immediately. Liam figured it was hard for him to hide with his light skin. He found it endearing. There was one part to Nathan that couldn’t be hidden in charm and bullshit.
“Mine carked it when I was a teenager. Two heart attacks, a year apart. Bloody strange.” It felt like yesterday still. Liam never stopped thinking about them. “Do you ever forget that they’re gone? Like, you’ll be doing laundry or something, and suddenly it’ll hit you all over again.”
“Right,” Nathan said awkwardly. The pain seemed to be coming back to him, judging by the continued blush on his cheeks. Liam cursed himself for revealing that.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“You may want to work on your smalltalk topics,” Nathan said.
“I don’t find too many people in my position, so I try to connect with them when I can. I know how rough it can be.”
“I prefer not to talk about it, frankly.” Nathan poured himself another cup of coffee, walked into the living room, and sat on the arm of the couch.
