She opened up his cage and he wandered out, looking around and sniffing the air, his tail twitching. She ran her hand over his gray striped fur, then scratched him behind his ears. “Really, though, you could charge for this service,” she said. “You give me instant Zen.”
Toby just looked at her, as though to say he would be much more Zen if they were back in their bright, white apartment in sunny San Diego.
But then, Toby was used to following her around at this point, so she knew his indignation would be brief.
First order of business was to get Toby’s litter box out of the car. The second was to start making this place habitable.
Like it or not, ready or not, she’d made a five-year commitment, and she had to see it through.
“All right, Toby,” she said. “It’s time to do this thing.”
* * *
“There was a car over at the Catalog House. I saw it when I pulled in,” Eli said.
“Yeah.”
Eli glanced at his brother, who was at the kitchen table looking more sullen and antisocial than usual. Which was saying something.
“And there was a light on,” Eli continued, pushing for an explanation.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“No shit. I thought you were the law enforcement around here. You’d think you could put two and two together.”
Eli was tempted to hit Connor over the head with something, but it was June. And June was a bad month for Connor, since it was his anniversary month. But then, March was a bad month for Connor, too, because it was Jessie’s birthday. And April was a bad month because it was the month she’d died three years ago. August was when they’d started dating, ten years ago. December was when they’d gotten engaged.
So basically, there were a lot of bad months for Connor. And Eli got it, and he hurt on his behalf. But it didn’t mean he didn’t want to hit his brother for his obnoxious surliness sometimes.
“Would you care to explain?”
“Sure. We need some more revenue. I leased the house. Long-term.”
“What? Don’t you think we should have talked about this?” he asked.
“No,” Connor said. “Because while I respect that this ranch is yours, too, you have to respect that it’s more essential to me. It’s my only job, Eli. You and Kate have work outside this place, but I don’t, because someone has to run it full-time.”
“I know that, but you didn’t think about telling me you were going to lease out a house on our property?”
“I did think about it. I decided against it. Because I thought, at the end of the day, it was my damned decision.”
“Dammit, Connor, I say this with love, please get drunk and pass out. You’re impossible when you’re like this.”
“I’m always like this,” Connor said.
“Yeah, and you’re always impossible.”
“Why are you all growling in here?” Kate, the youngest of the Garrett clan, walked into the kitchen, her dark hair in a low ponytail. She looked like she’d been working hard all day, and it was probably because she had been.
“Because Connor’s in the room,” Eli told her.
Kate smiled and crossed to Connor, planting a kiss on his cheek. Connor grunted.
“I love you, too,” she said. “Did anyone make dinner?”
“No one made dinner,” Eli said. “We all have jobs. But I did bring a pizza, just in case.” Eli turned and put the box of pizza on the granite countertop. Kate started getting plates out of the cupboard.
This was Connor’s house, the main house on the property, which he’d shared with Jessie during their years as a married couple. He stayed because this was the family ranch, going back generations. Because he was the one who worked the land, and the one least likely to leave. This was his rightful place.
But Eli often got the feeling he hated it.
“I will take a beer now,” Connor said.
“Get it yourself,” Kate suggested. “I’m already dishing up your dinner, and I am not a waitress.”
“You wouldn’t get a tip if you were one,” Connor grumbled, getting up from his spot at the table and wandering to the fridge, jerking it open.
Eli noticed that there wasn’t much in it beyond beer and cheese. He wasn’t sure he liked what that said about his brother’s mental state. Or maybe it was just that Connor hadn’t had time to go shopping recently. That could be it.
“You should get a housekeeper,” Eli said.
Connor grunted, which was something he seemed to do a lot lately. “I don’t want a stranger rifling around in my stuff.”
“Then hire someone you know.”
“No.”
