Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
“Oh my God, I am so full I can barely breathe.” Ichabod leaned back in the kitchen chair, his hand on his belly, which he felt stuck out like a snake’s after they swallowed large prey.
“That was so good.”
“Thank you. I’m here all week.” Ellis bowed from the waist up, grinning.
After the cattle catastrophe, the uncomfortable conversation about how much the entire cowboy culture hated him, and a host of casseroles between. Ichabod felt as though they had all bonded.
So they ate together a lot, and tonight, Ellis had cooked. Chicken-fried steak fingers with gravy, green beans, rolls, and macaroni and cheese. It was a feast.
Ichabod wasn’t a bad cook — but he tended toward chicken fingers and burgers, meatballs or pastas. This had felt like diner food, almost, and he was loving it.
Hell, even Zane had eaten and had taken his plate to the sink without a single complaint.
It was either a miracle or a terrible portent. Often, a quiet, compliant Zane was a Zane who was plotting something, even though he’d been on his best behavior when Ichabod had needed him to of late.
But, to be fair, while they were trying to find hands to work on the ranch, Ellis had asked for more help, and Ichabod had assigned chores to the little girls, giving them a chart he could hang on the wall with gold stars, and more formal lists for each of the boys to make money with.
The structure seemed to be great for all of them, even Zane.
Michael was totally interested in helping Ellis around the ranch and specifically with the animals, while Zane was much more interested in hanging out with the girls and helping around the house proper.
He wasn’t sure if it was because Zane wasn’t interested in helping Ellis per se or whether his eldest simply didn’t like the ranch life. He didn’t remember Zane being particularly interested when they’d visited Vic, to be honest.
Should he know that?
Did he suck as a parent?
Being a single dad was so fucking hard.
“You cool?”
“Hmm?”
Ellis shrugged. “You’re like a million miles away.”
Ichabod chuckled and shook his head. “I was worrying about the kids. You know what, that’s not exactly true. I was worrying about me, and whether I’m doing a good job raising these guys.”
He wanted to be doing this right, but…
“They’re good kids. Zane’s just a teenager. He’s almost polite to me at least seventy-five percent of the time.”
“That often? You might be his new hero.” Ellis was his new hero.
Ellis shook his head, and Ichabod could swear the man was loving on him with those pretty eyes.
He had to stop fantasizing about Ellis. It was ridiculous.
“How is it going with your giant face for the doctor?”
“It’s finished and has done its time in the kiln. It’s cooling now. I’m working on some stuff for a gallery in Aspen for the Christmas season.”
“That’s good. Getting back to work can be a big help.”
Help with what, he wondered, but maybe Ellis meant in feeling like life was more normal.
“Well, once everyone but Chrissy is in school, I’ll be able to dig in and get some real work accomplished.” He’d put Chrissy in day care two or three days a week for a bit, let her get socialized, so long as he could afford it, but he wanted some one-on-one time with her too.
“Yeah. That’s coming up, huh? School seems to start way earlier than when I was a kid. Or maybe it just seems that way.” Ellis stretched, his back popping.
“It does. I think the summer keeps shrinking. I don’t understand why the kids can’t have their time. I used to love the summers. I spent hours reading and playing video games.” He’d been so happy—he’d gone to one art camp a year, and it had been his favorite part of the summer.
Ellis chuckled. “I spent a lot of time working, but we had a ball out in the middle of nowhere anyway.” Ellis got up to put stuff in the sink.
“Did you grow up on a farm?” He headed to the kitchen and started the water. He supposed he should ask the boys to do dishes, but he…didn’t want to.
“A ranch.” Ellis chuckled. “My dad still lives on a little piece of land, but he’s not into cowboying on his own anymore. He decided to sell and have the money to live on.”
“Oh. I wish Vic had done it that way. People were so mad at the reading of the will. My husband’s stepbrother expected to inherit and Vic was…well, he had another idea you—”
“Daddy? Daddy, I can’t find the baby.” Allie blinked at him, her eyes huge.
He slapped the water off and started moving. “What? Aren’t you playing in the playroom?”
“I had to potty.”
“Okay.” He wasn’t going to panic. “Chrissy? Baby? Where are you?”
The little girl didn’t answer, so he yelled for Michael and Zane. “Boys! Is Chrissy with you?”
“No, Dad.”
Zane came out of his room, face a thunder cloud. “What the hell do you mean? Where is she?”
“Watch your mouth,” he snapped. “Allie went to the bathroom and Chrissy’s gone.”
“Dammit.” Zane frowned and headed down the hall. “Chrissy?”
“Does she ever hide as a game?” Ellis asked.
He shook his head. “She never has, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t start.”
If there was anything he’d learned about kids, it was they didn’t care what he thought.
“Okay. Well, I’ll check her bedroom windows and all. She’s awful small for that, but—”
“Yeah.” He would not panic.
“She’s not back here, Dad! Michael, check the closets.” Zane’s voice was a roar. “Chrissy!”
“I’m going to check the studio.” The doors should be locked, but accidents happened. At least the kiln wasn’t on.
“Chrissy!”
Ichabod headed out of the sunroom, heart sinking when he noticed that the door out to it was unlocked. He checked the windows and the screen door, though, and they were all latched. So she couldn’t have gotten out that way…
“Dad! Look!” That was Zane, calling him Dad, not Ichabod, for the first time in ages. He pointed to the floor of the sunroom, where Mavis the houndlab slept in a dog bed.
Chrissy was holding Mavis like she was a huge stuffed animal and was sound asleep, right in bed with the dog. Mavis was also unmoving except for her snores, perfectly content.
He blinked at his oldest son. “Huh.”
“Right? Damn.”
“I’ll get Mavis to find—” Ellis came to a halt, staring. “Well, hell.”
“She’s not going to get fleas, right?” Zane asked. “Isn’t that the thing my dad always said, lay down in a dog’s bed and get fleas?”
“Mavis is flea-free, buddy. She’ll be fine.” Ellis chuckled, his grin infectious.
“Cool. I’m going to play my game.” Zane turned to go.
He offered the kid a quick smile. “Thank you for your help.”
Zane grunted, but it sounded more pleased than grumpy, so he’d take it.
Ellis didn’t say anything, and Michael ran in, looking around wildly. “Oh! There she is. I’m sorry. I came out to see Mavis, and I left the door open. It’s all my fault!”
“I guess she wanted to hang with Mavis too, huh? The important part is that you left the outside door locked, right?”
“Still…Why’s she sleeping with the dog?”
“Because kids love dogs,” Ellis murmured. “And Mavis wasn’t about to let that little girl go outside alone.”
“Did you find…” Allie blinked in. “Oh. You did.”
“Yes, I did.” He glanced at his oldest daughter. “How long were you in the bathroom, honey?”
In other words, what the hell were you doing up there long enough for your sister to crash with the dog?
“I don’t know. I was singing.” She bit her lip.
“Oh. The acoustics in that bathroom are kind of amazing, aren’t they?” He didn’t know whether to pick Allie or Chrissy up.
“What’s that?”
“Acoustics? It makes singing sound so good.”
“Oh! Yeah, Daddy. It’s good.”
“You want me to take little bit there to bed?” Ellis asked.
Ah, that made his decision easier. “Thanks, yeah.” He picked up Allie. “Next time, though. Let me know, and I’ll get your sister.”
“Okay, Daddy. I’m sorry. I forgot.”
“She was okay this time, baby girl. But what if she’d made it outside?”
Ellis picked up Chrissy and rubbed Mavis’s ears while was there. Her tail thumped. Yeah. She was a good girl.
They took the girls to wash up, and he smiled at Ellis. “Thanks. I got this now. And don’t worry about the dishes.”
“Oh, I bet Michael will do them.” Ellis winked, sending a buzz up along his spine.
He had to laugh. “I bet he will.”
Lord help him.
He shook his head, peeking in at his youngest son, who was leaning back with his iPad, dozing.
Hard work tired a young man out.
He would do the dishes. As soon as he got the girls settled completely.
Of course, when he went back to the kitchen after all that, Ellis was finishing up the last pan.
“Dammit. Ellis, you cooked!” The man was too nice to them.
“Well, yeah, but you got kids to run you ragged. I just got one lazy houndlab.”
That name made him laugh every time. He guessed it was better than bloodbrador.
“I love that dog, and obviously so do the kids. I’m glad she’s so easygoing.”
“Me too. She loves kids so much.” Ellis hung the dish towel over the edge of the sink. “Thanks for letting me make supper. I like to cook and just for me it’s no fun.”
“Well, we benefit from it.” Suddenly he wanted a hug so bad he could taste it, but he had a feeling that was inappropriate with Ellis.
“Me too. Night, Mr. Ichabod.”
“Just Ichabod.” Ichabod grinned.
“You got it.” And Ellis waved before going to get his dog and heading back for the bunkhouse.
Which sucked. He hadn’t had near enough adult time. But he totally had high hopes he would get some more tomorrow.