Getting out of the truck, I pull open the door and come face-to-face with a white room with a desk. No one is behind it. I knock on the closed white metal door and the buzzing starts, I pull open the door and step inside what I call the “war” room.
The whole back wall is filled with five big screens side by side. Five desks are on each side of the room with full computers on them. The screens in front come to this big square table that sits in front of the big screens. There are screens built into the desk and it’s all touch screen. "Good morning," Ethan says, standing there wearing jeans and a shirt with a cup of coffee in his hand. "I see we went shopping for clothes that fit you." He tries to hide the laugh with his cup.
"Yeah.” I look down at the blue jeans and white shirt I picked up yesterday before going to the bar.
"You want coffee?" he asks, walking over to one of the desks and sitting down.
"No, I just had two cups with breakfast," I say and I want to kick myself when his eyebrows pinch together.
"I was at the diner this morning with my father and I didn’t see you there," he says, leaning back in his chair.
"Yeah, I stayed with Amelia. Helped her at the bar last night and she offered me her guest room." I make sure there is nothing in my tone that would make him suspicious even though there was nothing to be suspicious about. "Made breakfast to thank her."
"Did you give her coffee before you spoke to her?" he asks. "She is not a morning person. I remember once we were teasing her and she tried to stab my hand with her fork."
I laugh thinking about how cranky she was but not knowing that she needed coffee before I spoke to her. "She had coffee."
"Good.” He brings his cup of coffee to his mouth and takes a sip. "Got your text. My father and I rode out there this morning before I came here. One definitely looks like someone broke it. We looked around a bit, but we didn’t see anything strange."
"I’m going to run over there this afternoon and change the lights out," I say, and he nods.
"My father put in an order to put up cameras," Ethan says. "We just didn’t tell Amelia yet." I shake my head. The woman has to be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met. But then again, she is the most interesting also. She is smart and kind and hardworking and fiercely independent. Everything about her intrigues me and I want to ask her so many questions. "He’s going to swing by today and break it to her."
"Or you do it during the day when she isn’t there and then see how long it takes for her to notice," I say, and he taps his coffee cup thinking about it.
"We could and then just blame it on my father." He gets up and grabs his phone. "She can’t hurt him."
"Okay, if you need me, call," I say, walking out of the room and getting into the truck.
I do everything I need to do for the barn before grabbing the ladder and making my way over to the bar. It’s almost four thirty when I pull up. I see her car parked there next to another one. Pulling up as close as I can to the door, I get out and unload the ladder and the lights. I place the ladder against the building and the door opens.
I look toward her and everything inside me stops. I haven’t seen her since this morning and she stands there with her blue jeans and white tank top. Her hair is braided on the side, her eyes a crystal blue. So blue you can drown in them and die happy. "Hey.” She smiles at me. "I was wondering who was out here."
"I’m going to change the lights." I point up toward the lights. My palms are getting sweaty as my heart beats faster and faster in my chest. "I was going to come out here earlier, but we had to round up a couple of cows that got loose and I had to help your grandfather."
"That’s okay," she says. "Tuesdays are usually quiet and we don’t have any games on today." She walks over to stand beside me. "How can I help?”
"You can go back inside," I say, grabbing the lights and walking toward the ladder.
"I can hand you the lights," she says, grabbing them out of my hands. "And I’ll forget you just said that the next time I pour you a drink." She smiles at me and I can tell it’s a fuck you smile.
I laugh. "Fine." Knowing even if I fight with her, she is just going to do what she wants to do. I climb the ladder, seeing up close that someone must have broken the light with a rock, "Can you go into the truck and get me a rag?”