Page 23 of A Cowboy's Bride
“Will do.”
They went about their tasks quietly. Jake finished then filled his coffee mug and dropped into a chair at the table.
Aiden glanced at him. “You’re brooding.”
Jake glared back then released an enormous sigh. “God, I hope this works.”
“You need to trust karma a little,” Aiden offered with as much positivity as possible. “One person at a time. One day at a time.”
“I know, and I believe in what we’re doing.” Jake made a face before meeting Aiden’s gaze. “I thought we’d have more time before things got rolling. I mean, we won’t have the artists’ retreat rooms ready for months. I’m guilty of using that as my target to get my head wrapped around…everything else.”
“I hear you.” Aiden flipped the pancakes on the grill and considered. With Jake’s need to get everything lined up properly, and all his checklists done, the huge change in plans had to be making his brain whirl. “If I can offer a suggestion?”
Jake snorted. “I recognize that tone. Don’t try to counsel me, counselor.”
Amusement rose. Maybe in some other life Aiden would have taken official training. For now, all he did was run on gut instinct. Still, people seemed to listen when he followed through on his hunches. Part of the reason they were here in the first place, setting up High Water.
“Advice as your kid brother then. We have all the time in the world to get everything in place for the paying guests. The ranch hand who’s about to arrive? She’ll need things to do to distract her.” Aiden watched as Jake’s eyes widened with understanding. Jake was great at lists. Not so great at remembering the human element that went with them. “Danielle will give us the details we need to know to keep the woman safe and help her to find her independence, but too much time to wallow in memories of what went wrong is not what we want.”
“Solid thinking. I’ll make a list of current chores that even a newbie can handle on their own. Good idea?”
“It’s a great place to start,” Aiden said.
Jake’s gaze darted to the side, then he rose to his feet as Petra entered the room. “Morning.”
Petra pulled to a stop. Her smile took in Jake before her gaze bounced to Aiden, who’d just transferred the first batch of pancakes to a plate. “Morning. Anything I can do to help?”
“I’ve got it under control. I’m first cook today,” Aiden informed her. “Grab a coffee then go ahead and relax. Declan will be here soon.”
“Okay.” She stepped past him, opened the right cupboard, and grabbed a mug.
Nice. She was already figuring the place out. “I take it you got settled in fine? How did it go with your friends last night? Other than the thumbs-up you sent—thank you for that.”
“Really good.” She filled her cup then turned back to the table and paused. “Jake, I hope you don’t plan on standing every time I get up from the table.”
“Just when it’s the polite thing to do,” Jake assured her with a grin.
“You’ll get used to it.” Aiden poured the next batch of batter and flipped the ham as he spoke. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see Petra’s amusement as she found a seat and Jake settled back in place. “Our dad was a stickler for manners. If Jake kept his ass in a chair when there’s a woman standing in the room, Jeff would reach out from beyond the grave and whack him one upside the head.”
“A love tap I learned to avoid quickly while he was raising us to not be hellions,” Jake informed her.
“If I’m supposed to be family, you don’t need to be formal around me,” Petra reminded him.
“Not being polite to family is worse than not being polite to a stranger.” Declan spoke firmly as he closed the door behind him and stepped across the room in his stocking feet. “Morning, Petra. Were you comfortable last night?”
“The room is great. And I love that you have chickens and roosters. My parents had them on the farm, and I’ve missed waking up to the sound.”
Ha. Aiden loaded the ham onto a plate and set it on the table then paused to smirk at Jake. “See?”
“You’re an ass,” Jake told him mildly.
“I’m an ass who’s right,” Aiden retorted before nudging the ham plate toward a confused Petra. “Jake thought we should avoid having roosters around because people don’t like them.”
“No,” Declan corrected. “I’m pretty sure he said he didn’t want them around becausehedoesn’t like them. Which is why I made sure we had a nice big flock with a rooster in his prime.”
Petra snickered even as she stabbed a piece of ham then passed the plate around the table. “Oh, family.”
The remainder of the meal flew past, a small mountain of pancakes consumed along with all the ham slices Aiden had cooked. Petra shared the offer from Sydney for her silent doctor services and Tansy’s offer to help find a housekeeper.
