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Yeah, that probably wasn’t the best foundation for a marriage.
“You don’t usually have trouble getting things done,” Asher commented, lifting his brows and looking down his nose at Ezra.
The look made Ezra push away from his desk and stand to his feet. Asher was eight years younger than he was and a half an inch shorter. With a conversation like this, Ezra felt like he needed every inch of his height.
“And I’ll get that done too. You’re right.”
“Yeah. If you can get a word in edgewise. Never met anyone who could talk as much as Sondra can.” Asher lifted one brow. “Even Joanna,” he said, referring to their second youngest sister. Joanna was number eleven of twelve, and Ezra figured that she probably had to do a lot of talking in order to get noticed
But Asher was correct. Even Joanna couldn’t outtalk Sondra.
Or maybe it was just that Joanna said things Ezra was interested in or could get interested in. The latest TV show or the perfect style of shoe was not something that would help him run his ranch and therefore was not something about which he had much to say.
“Excuse me.” The door pushed open. Alaska, whom he had just hired to be his personal assistant, popped her head in the door.
“Come on in,” Ezra said, figuring that whatever Asher had to say could wait.
“I just wasn’t sure whether you wanted me to file those folders in alphabetical order or by date,” she said, one hand reaching out to twirl the earring in her lobe.
She had piercings in her upper ears as well, but she didn’t seem to mess with those. That was something he’d noticed in the last four days she’d been there.
“File the ones with the names on them in alphabetical order. File the ones that have general information by date,” he said, remembering that she was working on the bulls he’d used in hisherd for the last four years, as well as the different updates that they’d done to the ranch so far, since they had bought it almost a year prior.
They had been going to buy it almost eight years before, but things had gotten held up when they tried to sell their ranch in Wyoming.
If they hadn’t, he probably wouldn’t have gotten entangled with Sondra.
He tried to push that thought out of his head. He wasn’t through with Sondra, and maybe things would work out after all. Since all the problems were on his end, he was responsible for trying to fix them.
He knew there were defects in his personality, and if Sondra was willing to put up with him, he should put more of an effort into their relationship. So far, she hadn’t complained, but he could see a lot of room for improvement.
“Ezra?” Alaska’s voice came again.
“Yes?” he said, noting that she was playing with her earring again.
“You told me to tell you when the kids were sleeping because you wanted to go over what my duties were going to be. They’re sleeping.”
He kept himself from smiling. For some reason, he had been looking forward to talking with her. They had hosted a wedding on short notice on the ranch, and she had spearheaded everything. He’d been impressed by her organizational skills and her ability to jump in and do whatever needed to be done, while rolling with the things that didn’t work out. She didn’t get upset, and while she was understandably hassled, it wasn’t in a grumpy or short-tempered way. He admired her.
She obviously made some interesting choices in her life, but a person could argue that so had he.
“Let me finish talking to my brother, and I’ll come find you.”
The door closed behind her, and Ezra noticed for the first time that Asher had a smirk on his face.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, making sure he was standing to his full height as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Are you really hiring her?” Asher said, rather than answer his question.
“I said I would. She needs a place to stay where she’ll be protected.”
“You realize that whoever’s after her is probably some kind of drug dealer?”
“That’s kind of judgmental, don’t you think?”
“Sometimes judgmental is accurate. I’m not maligning her character, I’m just asking. After all, my family lives and works here. And I have a vested interest in keeping them safe. I thought you did too.” The smirk had vanished from Asher’s face, and his expression was serious.
None of them ever took the safety of their family for granted, and for the Clybourns, family had always come first. Even ahead of helping people, although they’d never shirk from doing that either.
