Page 33 of A Curse On Black Lake
He lifts a shoulder, sliding his hands into his pockets. “I’m already here, so yours first.”
“Yeah, sure,” I rasp, stepping to the side to let him in.
It’s quiet, and I don’t have many neighbors. Other ranch hands are probably already at work, and everyone else likely isn’t up yet.
But before he comes in, he he checks his surroundings and then steps through the door.
The ache turns into a burning feeling.
Was he looking around to see if anyone saw him coming into my home?
I slam the door harder than necessary.
Taking another sip of lukewarm coffee, it burns despite the temperature, and I can hear Grams in the back of my mind saying to keep my mouth shut, but I’ve never been good at it, especially to people that have no consideration for others.
“What? Afraid someone will see you coming into the witch’s house?” I snap.
Killian takes off his hat and threads his fingers through his ear-length hair. “What?” he asks me.
“Before you came intomy houseyou looked around, like you were checking to see if anyone was looking.”
“So?” he says.
Is this man a brick wall?
“Soooo, are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” I ask him.
The corner of his mouth tips up. “No, Eliana, I’m not afraid to be seen with you. I don’t care what people think. And I sure as hell don’t care if someone sees us together.”
My hand shakes, and I take another sip of coffee. He’s not like the others.
He is a good man, and you should stop acting like this, child.
“Can you please butt out for likeone second,” I mutter under my breath.
“What?” Killian says.
“Do you want a cup of coffee?” I ask him.
“Yeah, sure, but we need to get to work.”
“We will, but I need my coffee.”
He sighs and sets his hat on the table. “Yes, ma’am.”
After I pour him a cup of coffee and make us some eggs and bacon, we get to work in the barn.
Killian helps me muck out the stalls. We get the goats out back in their paddock, then he exercises Winnie, my horse, while I milk Gertrude, the cow.
When we’re done, I have fresh milk, clean stalls, and it’s not quite noon.
“Wow, this usually takes me more than half the day,” I tell him, holding my hips.
He lifts his hat, shifting it on his head. “What’s next?” he asks.
“Well, a lot, but today I think that we can make sure everything is watered. Then I’ll show you how to harvest a few things so I can get them hung to dry.”
He follows me to the garden. I smile at everything growing and changing. The warm breeze kicks through, and I take a deep breath, smelling mint, lemon balm, lavender, and flowers. Tiny comes up to my side, and I pat his head.
