Page 79 of Ethan

“Yes.” Seth set his glass down. “Ethan, she’s hurt. She’s allowed to be. You overstepped and she’s telling you that, and that means she trusts you enough to be honest with you instead of just shutting down completely. That’s something.”

Ethan looked at him.

“Ryan did that to me once,” Seth said. “Early on. Said something, she thought was helpful that wasn’t and I shut her out for three days.” He shook his head. “Worst three days of my life. And when I finally let her back in I realized she’d been trying to find her way back to me the whole time.”

“Give her time,” Cole said. “But not too much. You don’t want her sitting up there thinking you’ve given up.”

“How much time is too much?”

Cole looked at him. “You’ll know.”

Ethan leaned back in the recliner and stared at the ceiling.

“I love her,” he said. It came out simpler than he expected. Just a fact.

Neither brother said anything for a moment.

Then Seth smiled. “Yeah. We know.”

They stayed another hour, the three of them talking about nothing in particular like they did when one of them needed company more than conversation. Cole told a story about a fence repair that had gone badly and Seth argued about the right way to fix it and Ethan sat in his recliner and let the sound of them fill the house.

It helped. It always did.

When they finally stood to leave Cole gripped his shoulder on the way past.

“She’s not going anywhere,” he said quietly. “She’s got her horse here, her job and her apartment. She’s not going anywhere.”

Ethan nodded.

Seth paused in the doorway. “For what it’s worth, I think she loves you too.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No.” Seth smiled. “But Ryan does. And Ryan is never wrong about these things.”

He followed Cole out and Ethan heard the kitchen door close behind them, then the sound of their trucks pulling out of the yard.

He sat there a while longer, then got up, went to the kitchen, poured a glass of water, and stood at the window looking out at the dark yard.

The light in her apartment was still on.

He watched it for a long time before it finally went out.

He stood there in the dark kitchen a little longer anyway.

Then he went to bed but didn’t sleep much.

****

Naomi entered the barn the next morning and made her way to Vader’s stall. She smiled when the horse pranced and pushed his nose against the bars.

“You’re ready to go, aren’t you boy?”

“Good morning.” Serena appeared beside her, but the smile faded when she got a look at Naomi’s face. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve been crying. Did something happen between you and Ethan?”

Naomi frowned. “What makes you say that?”

“Please.” Serena smiled gently. “We all know you two are together.”