Page 71 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

Interesting.

Also annoying.

Silas is at the counter with black coffee and the day’s schedule, looking at both as if they’ve failed him personally. That’s just a Tuesday in his body, even though it’s not Tuesday.

I slide eggs onto plates and point the spatula at Cody. “You know, it’s brave of you to bring accounting to breakfast. Real commitment to the bit.”

He doesn’t look up. “I’m working.”

“You’re glaring at paper in a room with food. That’s not the same thing.”

“It is when the paper matters.”

“See, that’s where we differ. Because from where I’m standing, bacon matters.”

Sherry laughs again while setting down a basket of toast. “I’m with Duke.”

“Of course you are,” Cody mutters.

Annie snorts softly into her coffee before she can stop herself.

There.

The sound hits me right in the ribs, ridiculous and immediate, and I turn a little too fast, catching the faint flush that rises in her cheeks.

Okay.

That would’ve been enough to make breakfast survivable.

Then Cody looks up.

Not at me. At her.

And whatever passes between them is gone before I can name it, but it’s there. Some little spark of awareness. Some shared thing neither of them wants on the table with the eggs.

Well.

Hell.

My hand tightens around the spatula.

Silas, because the man has timing when he’s not actively trying to terrify people, glances over and says, “If you burn those while psychoanalyzing the room, I’m making you eat all of them.”

“I would gladly eat all of them,” I say.

“That wasn’t the threat you think it was,” Annie murmurs.

There she is again. Dry, biting, almost herself.

Almost.

I plate breakfast, pass things around, keep the mood moving because that’s what I do around here.

Silas keeps the ranch standing. Cody keeps the books breathing. I keep the place from feeling mausoleumesque.

I make food, crack jokes, smooth over the rougher edges, make sure no one says the thing they can’t take back before they’ve had enough coffee to regret it properly.

Usually, I’m good at it. This morning, less so.