5 Chapter 5

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AFTER THAT, THINGSsettled into a routine. There was no doubt in his mind—or anyone else’s—that Matty was back to stay. They worked well as a team, him and Jimmy and Rob. There was no recurrence of the day that they had embraced in the parlour. They watched each other, but neither of them took it any further. It was a grieving time for Matty, and he didn’t have it in him to start anything.

He didn’t stop himself looking quickly enough, though, the day he went into the tack room at the end of the barn searching for Rob and found him stripped down to the waist and washing in the rough stone sink. He pulled himself together sharply, but he also saw that Rob had noticed him noticing, and had looked back. He let himself admire a bit, then, on the quiet.