*
Mitch was tired. He was physically tired from spending much of Sunday night in Paige’s bed, followed by much of Monday night and even more of last night. He was mentally tired from worrying about the lodge while keeping his thumb on Northern Star Demolition from a distance and thinking about the fact he’d spent a good part of three nights in a row in Paige’s little bed.
And he was really damn tired of wading through the mindboggling amount of crap his family had managed to cram into the barn. He’d thought emptying the building out to redo the floors would be a quick job, but now he was beginning to wonder if they’d even be able to start replacing planks before Josh lost the cast and crutches.
A long stream of curses cobbled together to make colorful compound swear words made Mitch turn to see Ryan trying not to lose his grip on a crate of old tools while extricating his boot from a hole rotted in the floor.
He was about to tell him to hang on a second and he’d grab the crate, when Ryan threw the thing, and decades worth of screwdrivers and wrenches scattered. Once his foot was free, Ryan crossed his arms and stared up at the ceiling, as if praying for the fortitude not to simply burn the whole mess to the ground.
“I need a break,” Mitch said. “Let’s take a ride out back.”
The words “out back” got Ryan’s attention, but he looked skeptical. “With as much care and attention as everything else around here got, the four-wheelers probably don’t even run anymore.”
“I fired them up last week just to see, and Josh said he changed the oil in them not too long ago.”
“Should we tell them?”
Mitch snorted. “Hell, no. They’ll hear us leave and figure it out. I don’t want to give anybody a chance to point out how much shit’s left on the to-do list.”
The four-wheelers had been parked behind the barn and it only took a minute to undo the rope and pull back the tarp that covered them. The keys were in them and they each fired one up. They were old ATVs, without the luxuries of electronic fuel injection or independent rear suspension or power steering, but they were familiar and dependable and just what they needed.
Mitch followed Ryan across the backyard and into one of the cuts through the woods surrounding the lodge. There was a little fresh growth, but the trails they’d been using since they were kids were still there, and Mitch felt some of the tension ease out of his shoulders as he thumbed the throttle and made his four-wheeler jump over a bump in the trail.
They had enough land to have multiple trails that cut back and crossed each other at unmarked intersections. Somebody else would have been hopelessly lost within the first twenty minutes, but they knew every tree, boulder and other natural landmark on the property. Growing up, they’d all rushed through their chores so they could climb on the ATVs and go adventuring in the woods. There was one for each kid, disreputable beasts held together with duct tape and Loctite, but Katie usually went out with them while Liz stayed behind to shadow Rosie.
After close to an hour of winding through trees and pounding through ruts and over rocks, Ryan pulled off into a wide spot in the trail and Mitch did the same. Off to his right was the log they’d worked for weeks to turn into a bench, but he didn’t dare test his weight on it. Looking at it made him smile, though, as he remembered how close they’d all been as kids. They’d bickered, of course, but they’d been close in a way they weren’t as adults, in more ways than geographical proximity.
“We probably should have grabbed a bottle of water before we headed out,” Ryan said, and Mitch laughed.
“I have gum, if that helps.” He fished the pack out of his pockets and handed Ryan a piece before popping one in his mouth.
“So how are things going with Paige Sullivan?”
The question was asked innocently enough, but Mitch had no doubt Ryan was digging at him. He would already have heard from Josh that their oldest brother was creeping home from Paige’s place in the wee hours. “Good.”
“Really? That’s all you’re going to give me? Lame.”
“What do you want me to say? She’s fun, we have a good time, and I’m leaving in a couple of weeks when Josh gets the cast off.”
“And you gave her the whole ‘won’t call, won’t text’ spiel?”
“It’s not a spiel, jackass. It’s not like I’m selling her a used car.” He chewed his gum for a minute, hands shoved in his pockets. “But, yeah, she knows there’s no relationship going on.”