“He’s earned his keep this week, no lie, but what about next week?” Davis leaned his butt on the counter, his arms folded, and eyed me.
“I’m not deluded. I know the boss said just one week.”
“Tell me you’re not scheming how to keep him longer.” When I remained silent, Davis nodded. “Want me to develop a bad back for a week?”
“Huh?”
“Just bad enough to keep me from heavy chores. It’d give you a bit longer for the boss to work with Austin, see how he might be worth keeping.”
“Why would you do that?” Davis was a compassionate guy, but that was way above and beyond.
He came and sat in the chair across from mine, tapping my foot with his. “I like the boss. Kendrick’s a good man. But he sees the dollars and cents of the place, first and foremost. You? You’re my friend. I haven’t seen you happy like this since before Zachary got hurt. I’d do a lot to keep that for you.”
“Thanks.” My throat went tight. “I wouldn’t ask you to lie, though. Anyhow, dating someone I work with is still a bad idea. Look what happened last time.”
“You just got done telling me Austin isn’t Miguel.”
“But I’m still me. It was me that got distracted. Me that let my dick take priority over my brain.”
“For what? One second? Five? Jesus, Seth, we’ve talked about this. You could’ve had a sneezing fit, or got distracted by a deerfly buzzing around. Shit happens. It sucks that your distraction happened right when Zachary screwed up, but it also sucks that you’re still blaming yourself.”
We had beaten the topic to death over the years. No amount of words had changed how I felt. I shrugged.
“What does Austin want?” Davis asked. “Does he have goals? Kid like that, he might go into acting if he had the talent and the drive. Gorgeous face.”
I lifted an eyebrow in Davis’s direction. “I thought you were a hundred percent straight.”
“I am. Doesn’t mean I don’t have eyes.”
“I don’t know if Austin has real goals,” I said slowly. “He was escaping his dad and his life when he washed up here. His goals were to be safe and have enough to eat. I don’t know if he thought beyond that.”
“So maybe you should ask him.”
Of course I should.Except I wasn’t sure if it’d be worse to hear him say he had other goals, out there on the coast. Or to hear that he wanted to stay on the Star & Bar, where the boss wouldn’t keep him and I’d be a better cowboy without him.
Davis fixed his gaze on mine. “If he leaves, would you go with him?”
I stared. “This is my home. I’ve known Austin a week.”
He shrugged. “I decided Erin was the one half an hour after we met.”
“She left you, though.”
“After fifteen good years, and mostly she left the ranch. I didn’t blame her. She wanted a city life and kids I couldn’t give her. Her clock was ticking. I don’t regret meeting her, and I wasn’t wrong that first day.”
“It’s not like that with Austin and me. Anyhow, you didn’t go with Erin.”
“This ranching life gets under a man’s skin. I still love it, even if my hips don’t love me some mornings.” He turned to look out the kitchen window at the snowy landscape. “But there are moments I wish I’d chosen her.” Davis forced a grin. “Just moments, mind you. And you’re not me.”
Would I follow Austin somewhere else? To another ranch, maybe, but if he said,“Come with me to San Francisco?”A shot in the dark, to a place where I’d always felt like an uncouth country boy? “No, I wouldn’t follow him.”
“Then maybe you should talk to him.”
“He doesn’t expect me to leave with him.”Does he?
“Kid doesn’t expect much of anything. He didn’t even expect enough food out of us to keep him alive. Talk to him anyway. Before the boss gets back tomorrow.” Davis stood and flapped a hand at me. “Now go back to work. I’ll have the cookies baked for lunchtime. Tell everyone to come on up and eat something hot.”
“Will do.”
