Earth and Sky

swap.

    “You know Mom’s going to eat you alive, don’t you?” Danny asked cheekily just before Hunter opened the door to the mudroom.

    “Let’s get you into a hot bath really quickly, before she sees you, okay?”

    Danny hastily stepped out of his boots while he hung up his mud-covered oilskin. “I really enjoyed today, though.”

    Hunter winked at him. “Just be sure to tell her that!”

    They ran up the stairs, and Danny disappeared into his bedroom while Hunter ran the bath. Danny was barely in it when Lisa came up the stairs.

    “Everything okay?” she asked gruffly.

    “He’s fine,” Hunter answered. “We got all the horses moved, and Danny worked like a grown-up.”

    “That’s what I was afraid of,” Lisa said, not smiling. “He’s a kid, Hunter. You can’t let him work that hard just because his father abandoned us.”

    Hunter threw her a warning stare and closed the door, taking Lisa out in the hallway.

    “Listen, I know Hugh hurt you, but don’t take it out on Danny. He’s a great kid and he enjoyed himself a lot out there today. He’s got a way with horses and he loves the work. It’s not like I’m a slave driver, Lise.”

    “He shouldn’t be working. He should be playing with his friends.”

    Hunter sighed. “All I’m asking for is one day a week. When I was his age, I worked the ranch every day after school, and I didn’t turn out so bad, now, did I? In fact, I was glad of it, because after Dad died someone had to take over here.”

    Lisa still wasn’t smiling. She wasn’t giving Hunter one of her angry stares either. Hunter was about to turn around and knock on the bathroom door when he saw Lisa try to tell him something, but she hesitated.

    “What’s wrong, sis?”

    “Could you…. Are you going to the Barrel Run with us tonight?”

    Hunter thought about it. He didn’t feel like going and bumping into Miranda, since it was Saturday and she was sure to be there. “Hadn’t really thought about it,” Hunter admitted. “Wasn’t planning on it, truthfully.”

    Lisa finally smiled. “I’m going and I was wondering if you could look after Danny? That way I can go out to dinner with my friends first.”

    Although Hunter was a little puzzled by Lisa’s new partying ways, he was also kind of glad that she wasn’t hiding there at the ranch. She deserved to have some fun now and again. Since staying at home was pretty much all she’d done since she’d married Hugh, he didn’t know where she’d found friends so quickly, but he saw the upside of telling her he’d take care of his nephew. It was as good an excuse as any not to go out until later, in the hope that Miranda would have given up on him ever showing.

    “You can count on me, sis,” he said, smiling at her. She smiled back, and for the first time in years, Hunter saw the shy but fun-loving Lisa he’d grown up with. “You go out and have some fun.”

    After she nodded, Hunter went back inside the bathroom, where he found Danny in the tub with bubbles up to his ears and spilling over the side.

    “Went a bit overboard with the bubble bath?” he asked lightheartedly.

    Danny nodded cheekily. “It wouldn’t foam much, so I added some more.”

    “You’re going to smell like a girl,” Hunter teased. He held up the bottle, which said “lilac scent.”

    “Oh, man!” Danny cried out, quickly getting up.

    Hunter laughed. “You might as well stay in there. You’ll never get the scent off now.”

    Danny started playing with the bubbles, trying to get them to disappear. Hunter helped out, playfully swatting at them. They finally gave up and Hunter held up the shampoo bottle, asking Danny whether he wanted him to wash his hair.

    “So are you going to ask Grant to become foreman?” Danny asked, settling down in the hot water again while he clearly enjoyed the pampering Hunter was giving him.

    “I don’t know. What do you think?” Hunter asked, genuinely wanting Danny’s opinion. He wanted more than that, though. He wanted Danny’s opinion of Grant as a man; he realized he couldn’t explain the nature of his relationship with Grant to Danny, but he wanted his silent approval anyway.

    Danny shrugged. “I like him. He’s nice.”

    “‘Nice’ is not what I’m looking for in a foreman,” Hunter said, quietly happy that Danny liked him. “Do you think he could do the work?”

    “What work is it exactly?”

    Hunter took the showerhead to rinse the suds out of Danny’s