Page 17 of Ignite

“Until one day he realized you were going to take over the place?” Ethan asked, taking the broom from me. I stood back, amazed as he even swept under furniture and moved stools around. Not even I went to that effort each day. Then he stopped, waiting for me to continue.

“Until one day my brother announced he was going out of town for university, and dad didn’t know who to leave the business to.”

“Changing your name and being here hadn’t been enough of a clue?”

I shrugged. “Dad always wanted me to have options. But once he knew this was the only option for me, he was all in.”

“About my truck?”

“Is it still at your place?”

“Yeah. I still have stuff in the back, but I can’t get the shell off the tray.”

“What do you want to do with it?” I needed him to ask the question. But he made me wait until he’d emptied the dustpan and brush.

“Do you think you can fix it? I don’t have insurance and even if we put it through your insurance, I don’t have the cash to buy something new.”

“Under the circumstances, as long as you can be patient and let me work around my paying customers, I’m sure we can figure something out.”

“So, how does this work? This is my first time.” He let the innuendo hang between us.

“Oh, I’ll be gentle with your baby. I’ll treat her as if she’s my only child.”

I nodded towards my work truck parked out in the dirt yard. “Want a lift home and we can see about getting that shell off the ute? Then I’ll make a phone call and get your truck towed here.”

“How much will that cost me?”

It would probably cost me a new paint job on Whiskey’s 1964 Triumph Tiger 100. He’d bought it in honor of Bob Dylan and never spent a cent on maintenance. Whiskey traded in favors and towing Ethan’s truck would be repaid with Whiskey sitting in the corner instructing me how to do my job.

Whiskey had been one of my father’s best friends and there wasn’t a story about my father that I didn’t want to hear again.

“Consider it my welcome-to-town gift.”

“Gee, you could have just bought me a drink at the pub.”

“I could,” I said, nodding. “But what would be the fun in that? Any girl can buy you a drink, but how many can get your truck towed?”

“You’re the only one crazy enough to hit my truck, so there is that.”

“So, horses and cars?” Ethan asked as we drove my work truck to his small townhouse. “I saw the framed photos on the desk.”

“Cider and Wildfire. My babies.”

“You don’t have other children?”

“No.” I shook my head. Darin and I had talked about children for after we’d gotten married, but now I’d probably die in the saddle or in the workshop. “My family have a property out of town. I sublease most of it but still have enough to keep me busy.”

“Just the two horses?”

“I let all my stock go with the drought.” I shrugged as if it didn’t hurt to admit defeat when Mother Nature kicked my ass. “It cost as much to feed them as I’d get at sale.”

“And the cost of feeding your horses?”

“My tenants have a teenage girl who checks in on them each day. I go out there when I need to get away.” I’d been in half a mind to drive out there after reading about Darin’s news. But then I’d hit Ethan’s truck and needed to deal with the insurance company about my wrecked car. “My horses ground me. When the business gets overwhelming, and I don’t feel like talking to people, they listen without judgment.”

“I hear you,” Ethan said simply as we got out of my work truck to inspect the damage I’d created.

Silently, we worked together to remove the crumpled shell from his ute tray. He didn’t try to order me around or demand I do things his way and I felt comfortable being a team of two. We didn’t need conversation to know what the other person needed and we didn’t need conversation to fill the silence. Even though we were working hard, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so relaxed.

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