His Wild Blue Air

Day 13

Saturday

It was rare to wake up with no Skylar in the cabin. There was no leash in the study. Her coat, boots and beanie were gone from the walk-in closet. He could only presume that she was out walking the dog. However, she was out later than usual. She was usually in the kitchen making breakfast at this time.

He suppressed the influx of concern in his head and told himself that he would look for her if she was not back in five minutes. Five minutes was long enough, he argued and nodded to himself.

So he sat on the couch that Skylar had sworn she would get rid of and took out his phone, checking for messages and voice mails. There was one from her sister, begging him to go back home again because their father was asking for him. He ignored it. There was another from Luke, just to give him a head's up with the business back home and to give praise to his sister for handling the company all too well. And then there were messages from his PR rep, Jeff, demanding to know where he was. He ignored those too.

Ethan was pulling on one of his boots when the screen door opened. He stopped, boot halfway on, as he looked up at Skylar who was returning his look with amusement and interest. He dropped his boot when he realized what he was doing. He hung his head, chucking to himself partly in disbelief and partly embarrassed.

"Unbelievable," he taunted himself. He shook his head and lifted it, not looking at her. He pushed himself up and restored his boots in the shoe rack and his overcoat in the closet. He turned around and walked back inside. "Unbelievable."

He heard her doing the things he just did with her overcoat and beanie and boots. Dog's heavy footsteps on the hardwood floor indicated their entrance into the living room. He sat back down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. He couldn't believe himself.

"What's so unbelievable?" Skylar asked humorously.

He shook his head minutely, muttering, "Nothing."

Everything. He couldn't believe he was so worried over her that he wanted to go out there and look for her himself. She knew this place better than himself and she obviously knew how to keep herself safe. But he still allowed the protective streak in him to emerge and drive him to be a fool. It wasn't that he didn't trust her. He did trust her, but he still wanted to exhibit his manly side by being protective of her. God, he was such a guy.

"You're late," he mentioned.

"I know." He turned, realizing that she was in the kitchen already. "I figured it's Saturday and I deserve some time for myself and Dog." He nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "So what's so unbelievable?" Woman never quit.

"Nothing," he repeated.

She exuded a very audible chuckle. "Sure," she teased. "You were just saying that word over and over for the sake of it."

"Exactly."

She scoffed. The stove turned on and something metal knocked against another metal. "Fine, don't tell me," she said.

He smiled, feeling victorious. He looked down when something nudged his leg. Dog was there, staring at him again. There he went again, being the weird non-dog that he was. Ethan brushed his hand over his mouth and lowered his hand onto Dog's head, stroking him awkwardly.

Dog angled his head a tad, clearly enjoying the human touch. Ethan smirked. Maybe he was a dog after all. He slid down from the couch to the floor in front of Dog. His hand traveled from the top of Dog's head to the inside of his ear flop gently, scratching him softly. Dog growled in pleasure, dropping to the floor in surrender.