Page 89 of Ethan

She looked out at the empty road for a moment, at the place where her mother had been and wasn’t anymore.

“Yeah.” She turned and looked up at him. “I really am.”

They stood there in the early morning quiet, and watched the sun come up over the mountains.

****

Ethan rested his chin on top of her head and looked out across the yard.

His men were lined up just outside the barn door. Rowdy, Kurt, Curly, Johnny, Serena. All of them watching, quiet and still.

He raised his cup at them and nodded once.

They nodded back, one by one. Serena gave a small wave. Then they turned and filed into the barn without a word, like it had never happened.

Ethan looked back out at the empty road and felt something settle in his chest.

He’d built something here over the years, something solid, and these people were part of it. They didn’t ask questions and they didn’t need to be told twice and when it mattered, they showed up. He was grateful for every one of them.

Naomi was warm against his side; her hands wrapped around the coffee cup he’d given her.

“Your people are good,” she said quietly, like she’d been thinking the same thing.

“Yeah.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “They are. I’m just glad that Kurt got it out of his head that he was in love with you.”

“What? Kurt?”

“Yeah, but he falls in love at the drop of a hat. He’ll have to get his own girl.” Ethan smirked, making Naomi laugh.

Later that afternoon, he was looking for Johnny. He’d checked the arena, the tack room, and the feed barn and was running out of places when he remembered the storage room at the back of the hay barn. Johnny had mentioned something about reorganizing the equipment in there last week and Ethan had promptly forgotten about it until now.

He pushed the door open without knocking, and he probably should have knocked.

Johnny had Serena backed against the shelving unit along the far wall, one hand on her face and the other on her waist, and she had both arms around his neck and neither of them heard the door open.

Ethan stood there for a second, then pulled the door quietly shut.

He stood in the barn aisle, looked at the ceiling, and felt the corner of his mouth pull up despite himself.

About damn time. He’d watched those two circle each other for the better part of two years, Johnny finding reasons to be wherever Serena was and Serena pretending not to notice while noticing every single thing. He’d said nothing because it wasn’t his place and because some things worked themselves out if you left them alone long enough.

Apparently, they had.

He was halfway down the barn aisle when the storage room door opened behind him.

“Boss.”

He turned. Johnny was standing in the doorway looking like a man trying very hard to appear casual. Behind him Serena had gone the color of her hair.

Ethan looked at them both for a moment.

“Equipment reorganized?” he asked.

Johnny blinked. “Getting there.”

“Good.” Ethan turned back toward the arena. “Carry on.”

He heard Serena exhale behind him.