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Gage tested another couple of slides, then wandered over to the workbench where Noah’s latest project was coming along slowly. Very slowly. His day work stringing barbed wire had cut his woodworking time down to one or two hours in the evenings, tops.
“Well, look at this.” Gage leaned over and studied the Victorian dollhouse. Admiration filled his tone. “That is excellent detail work, Noah.”
“I believe if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right. It’s the way my parents raised us.”
Gage gave him a sharp look, and Noah inwardly cursed. He’d just dropped a great big clue with theusthere, hadn’t he? He waited for Gage to follow up with the logical question, but perhaps the mulish set of Noah’s jaw warned him off. Gage simply shrugged and said, “Some little lady is gonna be a lucky one. Does she know what she’s getting?”
“No. It’s a surprise.” Noah didn’t want to say anything more. He strode to stand beside the puppy pen. “I thought you wanted to look at the pups?”
“I’m getting to it.” Gage opened then shut one of the miniature window shutters. “You on a deadline to finish this dollhouse, like for a birthday or something?”
“No.”
“Good. For a minute there, I was afraid all that fishing I made you do might have delayed you and disappointed some little darling.”
Noah heard a slight change in his friend’s tone. A tightening. Not understanding it, he watched Gage closely as he responded. “You didn’t make me do any fishing, old man. Get that out of your head. You didn’t make me do anything except get off my ass, and that was good for me.”
“Well, I’m glad.”
Noah noted that Gage had begun massaging his hands. That wasn’t an ordinary habit of his friend’s. A touch of arthritis? Maybe some tendonitis? He’d worked hard with his hands the past week.
While Noah considered this, Gage abruptly straightened from his study of the dollhouse and crossed the workshop to stand beside Noah. He asked, “So, is Marigold a good mother?”
“She’s been very attentive. But she’s been spending more time away from the pups as she begins to wean them.”
“That’s nature’s way.”
Was the rancher looking pale? Hard to tell in this light. Noah turned toward the doorway leading to the building’s apartment. “I’m going to get some water. You want some, Gage?”
“I still have my whiskey.”
Noah decided to make him drink a bottle of water. It was easy to get dehydrated at this altitude. Alcohol only made that worse. With long, quick strides, he hurried through the shop into the apartment, where he grabbed two bottles of water and, just for safety’s sake, stuck a packet of aspirin in his pocket before returning to Gage.
The man had picked up a puppy while Noah had been in the apartment and was scratching him behind the ear. “You feeling okay, Gage?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” He accepted the water Noah offered and drained half of it in one sip. “I probably didn’t drink enough water today. I know better.” He returned the puppy to the pen and changed the subject. “So, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you. What would you think about being introduced to my niece? She’s a nice woman. College educated, just moved back home after living in Florida for a few years. Pretty, too. Unfortunately, she’s not had a lot of luck in the romance department.”
That managed to distract Noah from his concern. “Thanks, but I’m not in the market.”
“That’s what I figured. I saw the way you looked at Willow Eldridge at the wedding. And by the looks of things, those kids of hers have you wrapped around their little fingers, too.”
“Hold on there.” Noah held up his hand, palm out. “That was just a favor for a friend.”
“Uh-huh.” Gage gave him a knowing grin, looking more like himself.
Noah relaxed. “No, seriously.”
Gage gave a disbelieving snort, then bent to pluck a ball from the toy basket Noah kept nearby. He threw it into the middle of the cavorting dogs.
The two men watched as a black-snouted male battled a solid gold female for a red rubber sphere. Noah felt compelled to open up a bit. “Look, my life is too big of a mess to involve other people in it.”
Gage gave him a sidelong look. “Is it really? Looks to me like you have a nice thing going here. A little lonely, perhaps.”
“I have some investments, but I don’t have a job. I live here cheaply alone, but I can’t hole up here indefinitely. At some point, I’ll have to do something to make a living.”
“Not a lot of profit in dollhouses?”
“Not hardly,” Noah scoffed. “Especially when you don’t charge for them.”
