He paused what he was doing and stared at her. She could tell he wanted to ask her about them. They didn’t sell the snacks in the States. The first time she visited Canada, she’d fallen in love with them.
River waited for him to demand an explanation, but once again, he shook his head with a smirk, indicating he expected her to ask her next question. “Favorite vacation spot.”
“Don’t know.”
“Now that’s ridiculous. You’ve been on vacation.”
Mathew shook his head. “Nope.”
“Not even as a kid?”
They were breaking the rules, but this time he didn’t seem to notice. His eyes had shifted past her, and she turned around to see him watching his father. “Nope, not even as a kid.”
“Well, that’s depressing. Why not?”
His eyes drifted to her, then snapped back to his father when they both heard the man yelp and grunt. “I’ll be right back.”
She watched him go, only getting snippets of the conversation this time. Something about his father not being as young as he used to be and needing to take care of himself so he could continue to take care of his mother.
Mathew’s father maintained his argument from the other day. He didn’t need rest. He was fully capable of doing the work, and he didn’t need his son butting into his business.
By the time Mathew returned, he was clearly agitated. She wanted the smiling, more charismatic doctor she’d caught glimpses of. The guy who randomly showed up to build a chicken coop after one off-handed comment.
The guy needed a break. It was clear he was very much his father’s son, solely by the fact that he threw himself into this project. The guy never sat still for even a moment. Was this what he was like at work?
River continued to watch him until a plan formed. She’d get Mathew to ease up, if only a little. She’d show him that life was too short not to enjoy it.
7
MATHEW
“It’s dead in here.” Aiden sighed, leaning against the nurses’ station.
“You can’t say that,” Mathew said quickly, his eyes darting toward the nearest ER rooms. “This is literally the emergency department.”
“What? It’s not morbid. It’s a figure of speech.”
Mathew groaned and shook his head at the nurse. “It’s the principle of the thing. Don’t talk aboutdeathwhen you’re in my department.” He whispered the word and glanced around again.
“I don’t know what you think is going to happen. I told you. The place is?—”
“Don’t say it.”
Aiden rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “It’s so slow today. Maybe you should cut out early. You were only supposed to come in for that consult a few hours ago, anyway. I’m sure the rest of us can handle things.”
“I’m not leaving.” There was nothing for Mathew to do at home. It was too quiet. And after he’d started building that chicken coop for River, he couldn’t shake the itch he had to keep moving. He was enjoying having a project he could work on with his hands.
And he’d made excellent progress. There were a few more things he wanted to add to the structure. Like the little accessories the birds would need. He also wanted to paint the wire black, so it’d be easier to see the chickens inside the coop. He wasn’t sure of the science behind it, but he’d watched plenty of videos on the subject and it worked.
Maybe that was the problem with his headspace today.
He was antsy because he wasn’t busy. He needed to be doing something so he didn’t dwell on the thoughts that constantly plagued his mind. The feelings of inadequacy. The fact that he’d been married but couldn’t keep his wife, whereas his father managed to keep his mother.
No, he needed to stop his mind from going there.
Immediately.
“Staffing okay everywhere else?”
