Once they were on the road, quiet settled in around them. Hopefully, she hadn’t annoyed him. Apparently, Seth didn’t like to acknowledge he was in pain.
With an internal sigh, Mara shook off her worry about him. She didn’t want to lose the progress they’d made in their friendship by being intrusive. “There’s a lot more to raising chickens than I expected.”
He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “I didn’t expect them to need so much protection. If you want to forget the whole thing, we can. But if you’re up for sharing the duties, I think we can handle it.”
She smiled across the cab of the truck. She doubted she could refuse this man much. If chickens made him happy, she’d be all in. “I am. Ford will help us with the coop, so it shouldn’t take too long to get it prepared.”
He grinned back at her. “Daily fresh eggs. Another thing for Amber to use as advertising.”
“Farm-fresh veggies, herbs, fruit, and eggs. This place is amazing.”
“Sure is.”
The smile they shared made her toes tingle. The smile remained on his face as he turned back to the twisting road.
Sure felt like a date.
Seth should have taken his cane along for the tour of the farm. He hadn’t thought about it before they’d left the car. He’d been too focused on learning about chickens and spending more time with Mara.
Even if he’d thought about the cane, he doubted he would have taken it.
Dumb male pride being what it was, he didn’t use the cane often. His stubbornness might cost him some pain, but it had also given him back the ability to walk, so he wasn’t complaining.
Mara’s offer to drive back to the farm had surprised him, but maybe it shouldn’t have. He hadn’t expected her to notice, not when there’d been so much to see at Shaggy’s Place.
Instead of heading to the farmhouse, she walked with him when he moved toward the inn. The turkey had to come out, and he had more prep to do before dinner.
In the kitchen, she washed her hands at the sink after he did. Very domesticated of them.
He checked the turkey and decided it could use a few more minutes. After double-checking his decision with the thermometer, he reached for the potatoes.
Except Mara was already at the sink scrubbing them.
When he glared at her, she smiled. “We’ll have to check out the area between the inn and the property line tomorrow. That way, we can decide if it’s doable, and then rope Ford into helping.”
He nodded and grabbed some turnips. He’d roast them with cranberries and apples, adding a honey glaze.
Mara had left the stool she’d been using at the prep sink. She was now using a different one while peeling potatoes.
Feeling a bit like an idiot, he used the stool she’d left. Even the temporary break worked. He could stretch out the muscles while he sat.
Mara kept up the chatter, probably not giving him space to tell her his leg was fine. Even though it obviously wasn’t.
They talked about chickens and egg breakfast options that would be good to add to the inn’s morning menu. About how to divvy up the chicken tasks, and whether they should add in a guardian animal, or if they should wait to see if the coop was enough to protect them. Ford had probably learned a lot from building his duck coops and they hoped that would translate into solutions for their chicken coop.
“An IED exploded when I was working overseas.” Holy shit. He hadn’t expected to say anything. Certainly not that.
Mara kept working. “I’m so sorry.” Her quiet voice offered comfort without pressing for details.
Still, he found himself talking. “One of my teammates died, and the rest of us sustained injuries.”
“That’s horrible. I’m sorry you lost your friend.”
Seth’s heart wobbled at that. “Me too. He was a good kid, developing into a top-notch soldier. He had a good perspective on life, and never let the bad times get any of us down for long. In a few more years, he’d have made a hell of an officer.”
“Can you tell me his name?”
“Caden, but we called him Maki.” Saying it out loud had the loss running freshly through his veins again. Would he ever get used to the slam of pain at the thought of seeing Maki disintegrate in front of him?
