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Chapter 1
“Ezra, do you remember Terry Clomp? The girl that had the cubicle across from me?” Sondra didn’t wait for his answer, which was just fine by Ezra. He had no clue who Terry was. “She told me that she and her boyfriend are finally moving in together. They’ve been dating for six months, and she’s been staying at his place most nights. And paying for her own apartment.”
She paused, and he assumed this was where he was supposed to interject some kind of sound into the conversation.
“Hmm.”
“I hope it doesn’t interrupt our weekly Tuesday night dinners. That’s when we catch up on all the latest and watch the best series in the world, and you know what that is.”
He had no idea.
“Hmm.”
“Exactly.The Bedroom and Beyond. The actors of that show are just amazing, and the writers are perfect. Especially Bubba Goo, the most gorgeous man in the world.” She sighed. Ezra supposed it was a dreamy sigh. “He’s absolutely perfect, and I would just die to spend one second with him.”
Sondra went on, and Ezra tried to pay attention. It was hard, because he had no clue what she was talking about. He didn’t even own a TV, let alone watch one. And it seemed like every couple of weeks, Sondra’s best friend changed, and he couldn’t keep up.
“So,” the tone of her voice shifted, and he tried to pay attention. “When are you going to invite me out? I thought you said that it was going to take you a little while to get settled in and then youwere going to have me come out for a visit. I assume,” her voice took on a teasing yet questioning quality, “that is so that I can look around and figure out where we’ll live when we get married.”
He cleared his throat. He liked Sondra, but as he looked around his office, it was primitive, and very cold in the winter, as was the rest of the house. And the entire ranch actually. Considering that it was in North Dakota, everything was cold in the winter. But they were just coming out of the long, cold snowy season, and he really didn’t have an excuse.
He liked her, but the idea of having her on the ranch for a couple of days, or more, made him want to turn and run in the opposite direction. He would have to entertain her, lead her around, be by her side every waking second, and he didn’t have time for that.
“Well, I want to make sure that things are ready for you,” he hedged. There was something wrong with him. It wasn’t Sondra. All of his siblings teased him that he was never going to get married. Maybe that was the reason that he’d not shut her down the first time she tried to talk to him. Or maybe it was because he knew they would be moving soon and didn’t think they would stay together.
Whichever it was, he felt like a heel. Probably because he was one. He should just tell her now that he didn’t want her to come out and that maybe they should start seeing other people. And she’d blindsided him when she assumed they were going to get married. Except, she was already talking again by the time he got his mouth open.
“That’s so sweet of you. That’s one of the things I love about you. You’re so protective, just like the hero in my favorite movie.” And then she went off on a tangent describing her favorite movie.
He started to sigh and managed to stop himself just in time, before he did it into the mouthpiece of his phone.
She was still describing the first act, as far as he could tell, when his brother Asher walked into his office.
He held up one finger, indicating to Asher that he would be with him in a moment.
He waited for Sondra to take a breath.
“I’m sorry. I need to go.”
“Aww,” she pouted. “All right. I’ll text you later and let you know how the tournament turns out. And I’ll send you pictures of the shoes that I bought. You can let me know which ones are your favorites. I’ll be sure to pack them when we nail down a date.”
“All right,” he said.
They hung up, and Ezra stared at his phone for just a moment. He really needed to tell Sondra that they just weren’t going to work out.
“She trying to come out again?” Asher asked with a perception that irritated Ezra. He was really good at seeing things that needed to be done, figuring out the best ways to do things, and working his butt off.
People, women in particular, seemed to be beyond his ability to figure out.
A person would have thought, considering that he was the oldest of twelve children, and that he had six sisters, including two twin sisters who were barely two years younger than him, he would have a little bit of something figured out.
But his brain just didn’t seem to work the way that it needed to in order to understand the gentler sex.
Actually, he didn’t find females to be all that much more gentle than males.
But his grunt seemed to be answer enough, because Asher grinned, picking up the stapler that was on Ezra’s desk and straightening it up before he set it back down. “You know, if you’re going to get married to her, you probably ought to look forward to seeing her and try to figure out how you can be together, not to mention, you should enjoy her company.”
Right. He probably knew that. But he was content to call her his girlfriend, talk to her once in a while, or maybe just a little bit more often, and live in one state while she lived four states away.
