Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Ellis had to tell Ichabod about Rick.
The man deserved to know, and honestly, he loved this job. He didn’t want to lose it if Ichabod decided he’d been there under false pretenses. If he owned up now, he would still be in the safe zone, he thought.
Ellis headed to the house, Mavis following along dancing, her tail going ninety to nothing. She loved to go and see her pack.
The girls were in the front yard in their bathing suits, playing in the sprinklers. Ichabod was stretched out in one of the lounge chairs, holding a sketchbook and drawing away. He wore nothing but a tiny pair of cutoffs and tattoos.
It was what he imagined Hephaestus would look like. From the neck down, anyway.
Not Zeus, but that one god who made things.
It made his mouth dry and it firmed his intention. He was going to do this right. Damn it, he was gonna do this.
“Hey, boss, you busy?”
Ichabod glanced up at him. “Bah, you’re way more of a boss than I am, and I am sitting here planning my next big project and watching the girls play. Have a sit.”
He sat in one of the lawn chairs, trying to relax. “Where are the boys?”
“Uh, video games. Video games. And then there’s the video game part of their life that’s going on right now alongside the video games. Have I mentioned the video games? I might need to mention the video games.” Ichabod’s eyes rolled like thrown dice.
“You’re just mad that they didn’t ask you to play.”
“Oh, absolutely. I live for it. I actually don’t mind playing games. I’m pretty good at some of them. I just like sleeping more than I like them.”
“Now that I understand. So…you got a second to talk?”
Ichabod arched one eyebrow. “Are you quitting? Because if you’re quitting, no, I don’t have a second to talk. You’re not allowed to talk to me until you decide you’re not quitting.”
“I’m not quitting.” He was, in fact, fighting to keep his job.
“Then yes, I have plenty of time.”
“Perfect. I—I do have kind of a tough thing to talk about to you, though.”
Ichabod put his sketchbook down. “You’re all right, yes?”
Now that honored the hell out of him. That the very first thing that Ichabod would do was to assure that he was all right. That honored him on a deep level. “Yes.”
“So what’s up?”
He took a deep breath. “Do you know who Rick McIntyre is?”
Ichabod frowned enough to cause a line to form on his forehead. “I do. He was Chris’s stepbrother. Vic was married to his mom after Chris left home. He was furious about Vic’s will.”
That was sort of what he had been afraid of. “Yeah. You know him? I mean, did you meet him before—"
“God, no. I’ve met him once before the funeral, and he seemed like a nice enough guy.
I don’t know that Chris ever said much about him.
I mean, they weren’t close. I think they did that thing where you go and see each other on random holidays because your parents were married when you were adults, but you don’t even know each other’s names. Is he sick or something?”
“Not exactly.” Ellis felt a prickle on the back of his neck that was partly shame and partly worry that if he told Ichabod all about this shit he was gonna lose the easy friendship and subtle or maybe not so subtle flirtation they’d established. That would be worse than losing the job.
He forged on. “Anyway, Rick is pretty pissed at Vic for dying and leaving the ranch to your kids.”
“Yeah, he’s made that clear.” Ichabod’s eyebrows flew up. “It makes no sense. He was Vic’s stepson.”
“Yeah. I don’t know why. I didn’t say it made sense. I know that he wanted the land so he could sell it off to a developer.”
“Ew! I mean why would you put a development right smack out here in the middle of all of this ranch land? The people on either side would be negatively affected by that.” That nose wrinkle made him want to smile.
“I agree, and it would use up resources that the city doesn’t want to extend out this far.” Ellis shrugged. “Like I said, I didn’t say it made sense. I just said that was what he wanted.”
Ichabod continued to frown at him, and suddenly this frown deepened into a scowl and suspicion entered his eyes, which Ellis hated to see, even if he had to understand why it was there. “How do you know about all of this? Obviously you know this Rick guy, but how do you know him?”
Ellis faced Ichabod’s head-on and met his gaze directly. “He’s also my half-brother.”
Ichabod’s mouth literally dropped open, and he stared at Ellis as if he’d grown two heads. “Your half-brother.”
“Yep. Look, I know you have no reason to hear me out, but I’m asking you to anyway.” Ellis leaned a little closer, not wanting to get into Ichabod’s personal space so much as to impress on him how sincere he was. “Rick is the one who suggested I apply for this job when it came up.”
When Ichabod opened his mouth and drew in breath to say something, Ellis held up a hand, and he was surprised when Ichabod stayed quiet.
“I needed a job, and I thought when I applied at Cowboy Wanted that I would check out the situation and see what was what, and if it seemed like a good place for me then I would just stay.”
Ichabod hadn’t stopped frowning, but the wheels were clearly turning. “Right, but if Rick suggested that you take this job then there was something he wanted from you.”
That was what made his gut churn. “He did. He wanted me to inform on you—so to speak. He didn’t ask me to sabotage the ranch or anything, he wanted me to tell him if you were struggling or if you were gonna be able to stay here or not.
I haven’t told him dick, honey. I’ve been putting him off because that ain’t right.
I work for you, and the cowboy’s loyalty is to the brand.
That’s how it works. And I like you and the kids too much to do you even a little dirty. ”
Speaking of the kids, little Chrissy ran up to him waving her hands and shaking spray and water everywhere. “Bell! Waddy!”
He loved that they called him Bell. He wasn’t sure why, but it didn’t matter. “I see, little girl, you’re playing, huh?”
She nodded and pointed to Allie. “Uh-huh, Waddy. Sitter.”
“Yes.” Ellis chuckled softly. “You and sister are playing in the water.”
She nodded happily and ran off, and he met. Ichabod’s eyes again. “I swear to God, I got no interest in harming you or those kids. I wanted for things to be honest between us.”
“I appreciate that.” Ichabod sat there for a second, then he shook his head. “It’s weird. I mean, seriously, it’s weird.”
He detected no lie there. “It is.”
“Okay, so why does he want it? Is he a cowboy?”
“God no.” As if. Jesus. “I have to be honest, we didn’t grow up together or anything, but we do know each other. We saw each other once a month as kids, you know? But we aren’t friends. I think if I had to make any bets, then I would bet on money problems. I know he wants to sell.”
“Well, that’s stupid.” Ichabod still had lowered eyebrows, and he chewed his bottom lip.
“I have to be honest with you, I don’t like this a whole lot.”
“I don’t either, but I could have saved that dude a bunch of trouble.
The ranch is put in trust for the kids. It’s theirs.
So we don’t have to live here, sure, but honest to God.
I won’t sell the land. It belongs to my kids.
There’s nothing to say other than that, but literally, I could have saved him a ton of trouble, but then I wouldn’t have met you, I guess… ”
“I don’t know.” His cheeks were hot, but it seemed like maybe he was going to manage to skate out of this without losing his job or a good man. “But I didn’t want to lie.”
“I’m glad you’re not feeling like you have to anymore, and we’ll work this nonsense out.
I’ll get hold of him, tell him I understand how it sucks to be him, but there are no choices here.
” Ichabod shrugged, seeming utterly unconcerned.
“Schools fixin’ to start. We’ve got a whole schedule here with after-school activities.
I even found a daycare where I can take Chrissy two days a week for her to go ‘to school’.
Which means no more two a.m. work sessions unless I want them! ”
“That’s exceptional.” It was, and he was glad for it. Maybe that way Ichabod would have more downtime. “You could have a beer after supper sometime, maybe.”
“I totally could. Maybe you’d have one with me. Sometime. Maybe.”
“I would love that.” He moved closer still. “You’re the biggest part of why I love this job, honey.” No one had ever been as open and giving with him as Ichabod.
“Well, I think that—”
“Daddy!”
Ellis stepped back, making sure Ichabod had space. He would never want to interfere with Ichabod being a dad first.
“What’s up, baby girl?” Ichabod caught Allie as she barreled over to him.
“I need to go pee,” she whispered.
Ichabod glanced at him. “Can you watch Chrissy for a minute?”
“I can indeed.” He could sit and watch that little one play. She was sitting, not running, and he thought she might be making mud pies. “Watch, Mavis.”
Mavis lifted her head, woofing softly as if to say, “I’m on it.”
Ichabod disappeared with Allie and little Chrissy sang and splashed and laughed. Ellis watched, grinning, and he figured he’d done the right thing. Now was the time to tell Ichabod the truth before it got to be a big weird issue.
He didn’t want that shit between them, even if they just got to be friends and nothing else.
He was falling in love with this place, and he wanted to stay and work the critters and the land, help the brand grow and become what it had been, once upon a time.
And Ichabod made him a little stupid. The man was hotter than a two-dollar pistol, but he was also goofy and kind and a hell of an artist.
His phone beeped and he glanced at it.
He supposed he could be off work for the day. He had to feed tonight, but one beer wouldn’t hurt that.
Although, maybe it was a bad idea.
Maybe he shouldn’t have a beer with his boss, who he wanted to do terribly unboss-like things with.