Page 23 of A Little More Forgiveness

He stiffened slightly and focused his gaze past my shoulder. “It was a long time ago.”

I got the message loud and clear not to press him any further so gestured over my shoulder with my thumb instead. “Okay, let’s get started, shall we?”

We worked in companionable silence, opening the stalls and leading the horses out of the stables. Once they were safely in the corral, we set to work, each taking a stall, and for the next hour or so we lost ourselves in the mundane. He was good. I’ll give him that. Efficient, too, and we managed to complete the work in far less time than I generally took on my own. Having him work so closely beside me made me uncomfortable to begin with, like an enemy stepping into my territory. But I had offered, needing to cheer him up and couldn’t deny how much he’d helped.

“I forgot how damn hard cleaning out the stalls was,” Leo moaned. He glanced down at the horse manure all over his boots, before scrunching up his face. “And how smelly and messy too.”

We both laughed, and despite last night when I kept telling myself to keep my distance from them both, Leo’s easygoing nature made it far too easy to forget my decision. Just when I thought I’d gotten myself under control, Gabe sauntered around the corner, making me laugh even more to see him dressed in his cashmere coat and designer suit, mud spattered on his knees and up his legs where I’d manhandled him out of the cabin yesterday.

His brows furrowed and his mouth tightened, eyes narrowing briefly at the two of us. I squinted at him as I’m positive a flash of hurt flickered across his face. I blinked a couple of times wanting to make sure, but his reaction had already disappeared, replaced by a mask of neutrality I found odd. Gabe always wore a definite expression: anger, humor, arrogance, or total smugness, generally the most popular one. Now, though, his face remained blank and unreadable, which I found unnerving.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, his voice too bright as he tried not to betray his emotions.

“Me,” Leo jumped in, his overeagerness to take the blame, while endearing, also appeared slightly obvious. “I was helping Mitch with the horses. It’s been such a long time since I last cleaned a stall, I’d forgotten how much I’d stink—” He raised his left leg. “—or how much shit I’d get covered in.”

The answer soothed Gabe somewhat, and his beaming smile dazzled as bright as the sun. “Yeah, thought I smelled something when I walked in.” He moved in and sniffed the air in front of Leo. “Thought maybe it was your aftershave.”

Leo’s mouth dropped open, and he guffawed loudly.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Gabe continued, stopping abruptly, his cheeks turning pink when he realized how his question might sound.

Leo’s grin turned evil. “I decided after the stresses of yesterday, you needed your beauty sleep.”

“Oh, it’s like that, is it?”

“Darn right,” he replied.

I reluctantly enjoyed their interplay, and shockingly, even though I was determined to keep an emotional distance, I still wanted to be a part of the lightheartedness happening between them. After so much time alone, I assumed I’d lost the ability to mix with people, to interact on a fundamentally human level. I’d accepted the loss as one of those things, and part of the sacrifice I had to make to do what I needed here. I realized now how much I’d missed being sociable and wondered, going forward, if there was a way to have both.

“Hey,” Leo’s hand on my arm made me jump.

I looked down where it rested, logging his pale and blue-tinged skin. His hands must have been freezing, as only now did I register he wasn’t wearing any gloves. He’d had his hands in his pockets when I’d first seen him this morning, and now I figured out why. Immediately, I took mine off and handed them over.

“Put these on and warm up your hands. You’ll get frostbite, otherwise.”

Leo took them from me. “Thank you,” he replied, genuinely pleased, and slipped them on. His fingers curled in the wool-lined interior at the same time a possessive streak rocked my core, knowing they were my gloves he wore, the heat from my hands warming his own.

Absurd. Absolutely absurd.

“Hey,” Gabe moaned. “What about me? I’m fucking freezing too.”

I chuckled as I gave him a brief once-over. “You’re not exactly kitted out for manual labor. Come on, I’ll see what I’ve got in the closet. Don’t want your posh suit and expensive shoes getting covered in horse poop, now do we?” I walked out of the stables toward the house.

“Smart-ass,” he mumbled, but followed obediently behind me. Both him and Leo.

Rummaging through the clothes in my bedroom closet, I found a plain white tee and a plaid shirt for him. Was there any other type? I added a thick, navy, cable-knit sweater, a pair of dark-blue jeans, a belt, and some of my old work boots. I threw in a couple of pairs of thick socks, too, as looking between us, I noted my feet were a size or two bigger than his.

Turns out, I was bigger all over than him.

“You coming out of there anytime soon?” Leo called through the closed door of my bedroom where Gabe had gone to change.

He grumbled an unintelligible response and cursed. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” A moment later he yanked open the door, and an affronted-looking Gabe stepped into the room. “I look fucking ridiculous. Totally fucking ridiculous.”

The tails of the shirt hung halfway down his thighs, as did the thick cable knit sweater they were poking out from beneath. He’d also had to roll the sleeves up quite a few times to see and use his hands, while the jeans were so baggy they made him look like a nineties skater boy.

We stood there, silent, for a few seconds, trying to contain our mirth. When I heard Leo’s stifled giggle and watched the irritated scowl spread across Gabe’s face, I released my own laughter with a loud snort, letting it out until tears ran down my face and my stomach hurt.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gabe griped, but he had a smile on his lips too. “Eat it up, assholes. You’re both so going to pay for this. Ya hear me?”

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