Page 5 of Honoring Freedom
“Did you come here to bust my balls or kill someone with a frying pan? I just want to know so I can plan my morning.” He shook his head in exasperation.
“Innocent mistake. I thought she could have been an intruder.” She flipped the ends of her hair over one shoulder and hooked her thumb into her front pocket.
“You’ve certainly saved the day. What would we do without you taking out a half-naked, one-hundred-pound woman who has a Tweety Bird tattoo on her ankle?”
“All in a day’s work. You don’t have to thank me.”
“I have a life to get back to. I’ll see you at the ranch,” Keller said as he waved over his shoulder and strode out of the kitchen.
Chapter Two
The door came flying open to the bathroom and Keller nearly pissed all over the floor and himself. “Damn, Freedom. Pissing here,” he pushed out between thin lips.
“Like I haven’t seen it all before. From what I remember you never suffered from stage fright. You and your buddies used to see who could hit the bullseye.”
Sighing, he pushed himself back into his jeans and turned. She blocked his path to the sink. “Excuse me.”
She stared back at him like she could gladly filet him with her fingernails. “We’re not done talking.”
“I’ve been in town for weeks and you’re picking this very moment, while I’m in the bathroom, to have a conversation?” When she didn’t respond he gritted his teeth in frustration. “Can I at least wash my hands?”
She took a step to her right and he turned on the water at the sink. He looked at her reflection over his shoulder while he squirted soap onto his hands. He chuckled at seeing her annoyance. “It’s too early in the morning for this, Free. Come back when I’ve had a pot of coffee and maybe a fifth of tequila.”
“You need to take this seriously, Keller.” She angled her hip.
He splashed his face with water before he grabbed his toothbrush and squeezed out a ribbon of toothpaste on the bristles. “If you don’t plan to leave, then we might as well get this over with. What’s exactly bothering you?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I’ll repeat it. Tell Daddy that you’ve changed your mind and you no longer want to accept the job as ranch vet.”
"You don't get to order me around and tell me where I live," he mumbled as foam trickled down his chin.
“Oh, you can still live here. It’s far enough away from Sagebrush Rose that we won’t have to see each other.”
“Wow. So generous of you.” He spit into the sink. “For your information, ranch vet isn’t a job. It’s a career. I’m home. Right where I want to be. You’ll have to learn to accept that.”
“Not on my ranch you don’t. That’s my territory.”
“I don’t remember having to ask for your permission.” He rinsed his toothbrush and wiped his mouth on the towel on the hook. He leaned against the sink, giving her his undivided attention. He didn’t expect to feel a fluttering in his chest and chalked it up to their unresolved history together. Although fifteen years had elapsed since he last saw her, she had changed very little. Her hair, more strawberry than blonde, brought out the crystal blue of her eyes surrounded in thick, long eyelashes. So long that every time they fluttered shut, they grazed her freckled cheeks like a lover’s caress. He recalled how beautiful her smile always was, rivaling the sunlight, but now there wasn't even a glimmer of it.
Did she still really hate him that much? Even after all these years.
“I’m not joking.”
“This isn’t a joking matter.” He left her standing there smirking. He stepped down the hall into his bedroom and she was right on his heels.
“We’re not done discussing this.”
Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.
The bedsprings in Keifer’s room were being worked like an audition for an X-rated movie on the other side of the wall.
“He and his girl must have made up,” Keller said. He hated the thin walls.
This was one of the things he detested about living with his brother again. Growing up with five of them in the house, there wasn’t a single day that a fight didn’t break out over stinky socks left in every available nook and cranny, someone drinking all the milk and whose turn it was to take out the trash. And…awkward sounds coming from bedrooms.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Keifer’s headboard hit the wall.