“I don’t want to be here.” He sets his jaw and crosses his arms over his chest. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”
“Aiden. I won’t warn you again. Get. Out. Of. The. Car.”
“Fuck off.”
That has me staggering back a step in shock.
“You want to speak that way tome, big man?”
I spin around and find Ryker at my back, his face mutinous, hands in fists, glaring at my boy.
When I turn back to Aiden, he swallows hard, but he still doesn’t get out of the car, and he doesn’t answer Ryker’s question.
Ry takes my shoulders in his hands and gently moves me aside, and then, with his forearm resting on the roof of the car, he leans in and says something in such a low voice that I can’t understand the words. Aiden shakes his head, and then Ryker says something else, and that has my nephew getting out of the car.
Aiden swallows hard and steps over to me. He won’t meet my gaze, but he says, “Sorry I told you to fuck off.”
God, he sounds so angry.
“Okay. Thanks for getting out of the car.”
He shrugs, and then he’s off, headed for the barn. Aiden’s always loved the horses, and he knows how to ride, how to tend to them, so I leave him be.
Maybe he needs some animal therapy.
“Hey.” Ry hooks his finger under my chin and tips my face up, and I’m fighting tears. “Are you okay?”
“Sure.” I lick my lips and swallow the tears down. “He’s just in a mood today.”
“He tell you to fuck off often, Trouble?”
I shake my head and meet his gaze. “That’s the first time.”
“That’s thelasttime,” he says. “Come on, I’ll pour you some coffee.”
“I should go check on him.”
“Leave him be. He’s fine in the barn. I told him to go brush and feed the horses. He said Dad showed him how.”
“He’s great with the horses,” I confirm, and Ry nods, takes my hand—sending sparks up my arm—and leads me inside. “What’s on the agenda for the day?”
I stop short when we get inside.
“Holy shit, Ry. There’s been so much done in less than two weeks.”
“I think the crew hates the drive out here every day. Most of them live fifteen minutes away in Paradise Valley, but they don’t even likethatcommute.”
Paradise Valley is a small community a short drive away. It’s the closest grocery store, schools, hospital, the whole nine yards. It’smuchcloser than Missoula. But it doesn’t surprise me that the workers don’t even love that commute. At least it’s spring and there’s no snow, and I know for a fact that Ryker is paying them well.
I smirk. “It’s pretty isolated out here. Makes sense they want to finish up quickly.”
“The few repairs to the barn are done, and they’re finishing the bunkhouse today.” He pulls a mug out of the cabinet and fills it for me, doctoring it up just the way I like it.
How he remembers the way I take my coffee after all this time, I have no idea.
“That’s great, Ry.” I accept the mug, doing my best to ignore his fingers touching mine, and then take a sip. “Where’s Gideon?”
“He’s using my office for a while,” he says. “Apparently, there’s trouble in DC with the First Daughter. She’s harder to deal with than Aiden.”
