Page 82 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

“I don’t need special treatment,” Elizabeth said fiercely.

“It’s not special treatment,” he insisted.

“It definitely feels like it is,” she said.

“All right,” Gus said. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” She downed her coffee, and left the barn.

Benny wasn’t in there. Brody’d noticed Elizabeth had gotten a lot more comfortable with letting Benny play in the general area, rather than needing him to be around her at all times.

“And what was that?” Gus asked.

“Nothing. I just know that she was upset about Benny leaving, so I wanted to say something. Because I knew she was never going to ask for herself.”

“And what’s going on with you and her?”

“Good Lord, Gus, you’re like a nosy old lady now that you have a wife.”

“Yeah. But, I’m nosy for good reason. You don’t just stick your oar in, Brody. It’s not really your thing.”

This was the second time in just a couple of weeks that one of his brothers had tried to tell him how he was.

It wasn’t less annoying coming from Gus than it was from Hunter.

Well. No, it was less annoying coming from Gus, because at least he was older.

Hunter was the baby. And he would always be the most annoying.

“Nothing is going on. She’s my friend,” he said.

“She’s your friend. Because you have so many of those?”

“I have some,” he said. “Though it may surprise you.”

“It’s not a bad surprise,” Gus said. “It’s just remarkable.”

“I guess.”

“You seem to be a little bit different these last couple of weeks. By which I mean not hungover half of the mornings you show up to work.”

“Maybe I’m just getting old,” Brody said.

“Well, I myself am out to pasture, so you’re definitely halfway there.”

“What do you need me to do today, Gus?”

“Oh, I have a whole lot of the kind of maintenance you just love. So whether you’re being honest with me or not about your feelings, you have a chance to work out a lot of aggression.”

“Perfect.”

Gus hadn’t been kidding. The work had been physical, and it had been intense. And Brody really didn’t mind.

At about two thirty, he was walking up from the gully, where he’d been digging postholes for a fence that Gus wanted to put in, when he heard the sound of tires on the gravel, and knew that somebody was here.

He looked up and saw a big black SUV that reminded him of Feds pull into the ranch.

There was a guy behind the wheel, a woman with red hair, and he couldn’t tell if there was anyone in the back because the windows were too darkly tinted.

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