Ask Me to Stay by Elise K Ackers Page A

heard about it around town, you were as good as invited. They had a lot of space on this big property, and a need to fill it.
    It had been a long day. A pleasant surprise, also, that Dean had been a part of it. A small bit of Ethan, the bit that looked to his older brother and longed to impress him, had hoped to have most of this done by the time his brother had got back from work. A surprise, of sorts. But thinking on it now, they were only so far along with the fence because there were three of them.
    Five of them, he amended. The kids made five.
    Rowan had an affinity for progress and change. And an uncanny sense for sequence for his age. He would look at what the men were doing and he would somehow know what came next, what they would soon need, what tool they would use to do what. He was the best damn assistant Ethan had ever had.
    Dean had noticed it too. He’d made some jokes about the garage – Rowan had zero interest in the mechanical workings of an engine – but he’d kept a close eye on his son, clearly intrigued by this side of him.
    Nina was pulling her weight too. She’d changed into gumboots, mimicking the men’s work boots, and had taken it upon herself to nurture the emotional needs of the team. She’d fetched hats when the sun had become cruel, insisted on drinks breaks and sunscreen reapplication. Of course, she’d called it ‘sun scream’, which had earned a laugh. And she was a regular comedy show, waltzing about in dozens of necklaces that clicked and tinkled with every step.
    As she’d grown bored, she’d become more inventive. Nervous looks had been exchanged when she’d raced into the house, struck mute by a brilliant idea. She’d returned carrying a strange-looking book. It was bound in one corner and fanned out like paint swatches, and contained seemingly endless quiz questions. For the last hour she’d read them aloud. She was keeping a scorecard in the dirt and Cal was winning.
    ‘You know a hell of a lot about nonsense stuff,’ Ethan grunted, combining his strength with Cal’s to lower a post into the latest hole.
    ‘People talk about everything in pubs. I could tell you what maths score Wes Clarkson got on his latest test and why Kathy Mooney failed her driving test, too.’
    ‘Town of bloody gossips,’ Ethan grumbled. ‘They think they’ve got it all worked out.’
    He saw Cal exchange a look with Dean and decided to ignore it. ‘You’re not about to go in to work and stand on your feet for eight hours, are you, mate?’
    ‘Like hell,’ Cal laughed, ‘there’s no point, anyway. All of my regulars are going to be here for dinner. This bonfire’s going to empty out the pub, we’ll need one person working tonight, max, and I’m telling you, it isn’t going to be me.’ He wiped his brow then went very still. Nina had hurried towards him. Intrigued, he crouched down to level his face with hers. She dabbed his forehead with a wet washcloth then scampered back to her seat.
    When Cal rose, Ethan could tell he was a little more in love with the tiny darling.
    Cal returned to work. ‘You know I own the place now, don’t you?’
    Ethan straightened his back. ‘What? The pub?’
    ‘Yep. Have done for a year now.’
    ‘As if, you’re bloody twenty-nine.’
    Dean took the tool Ethan wasn’t using, used it himself. ‘He does. He saved his arse off and bought the old dump.’
    ‘If you want to start paying for your drinks there, keep talking like that.’
    Dean grinned.
    ‘No kidding,’ Ethan said, impressed and a little intimidated.
    Nina called over to them. ‘In the book . . . Little Women , how many . . . daughters . . . are there in the family?’
    No one could answer her.
    ‘Four.’
    ‘These are hard,’ Ethan grumbled. ‘Surely she doesn’t know all the answers to these questions? I’d sell her for a mint if she was that smart.’
    Dean laughed. ‘She doesn’t understand half of the stuff she’s asking.’ He kept his voice too low for her