She didn’t have to walk slowly behind him to keep him from talking to her; he had stopped. Nor did he turn around to see if she was having any problem coming down the hill.

Alanna wanted to burst into tears at the hurt look she had seen on his face when she had screamed at him.

At the bottom, he went inside one of the buildings, not waiting for her.

She walked to the door and saw him turning on the light. Coming farther inside, she then watched as he strode toward several freezers.

“On top of the freezer is a list of what is inside. When you take something out, mark it so Silas can track of what he needs to buy.” Opening one freezer, Matthew took out two steaks before closing it. He reached for the ink pen hanging on the wall, and she saw him writing on the paper.

She glanced around the building; it reminded her of a small store, with the different shelves holding a variety of items.

Matthew disappeared behind one shelving unit to return with a bottle of detergent. Coming to a stop by the freezer, he paused. “We can go on to the other building.”

When she didn’t move, and he didn’t either, she realized he was waiting for her to move from the doorway. Blushing, she stepped back. He was plainly showing her that the message she had intentionally been giving him this morning had been received.

Isn’t this what you wanted? She had deliberately set out to keep their conversation on employee and employer terms, so why did she feel as if she had just ruined something special? Expecting to have a difficult day after a nearly sleepless night had been proven to be true. Still, she would never have guessed just how badly she had flubbed it up.

“Ginny should be feeling better by now,” he said, walking away from the building.

“What’s in the other building?” She hurried after him.

“Feed for the goats. Ginny will show you,” he muttered without turning his head.

Alanna attempted to breach the gap she had created. “Who lives in the house?”

“Moses. You don’t have to do anything at his house.”

Walking past Moses’s house, they went up a steeper incline with a well-worn path.

“Is it safe for your sister to walk this in her condition?”

“She uses her car. There’s a back road that goes around the mountain, to the goat pen and storage buildings. There’s a golf cart, too, which is in the other building. If you don’t want to walk, you can ask him for the keys. He’ll have to sit with you while he teaches you how to drive it,” he warned.

Alanna winced at the shot he just fired at her. Wow, way to go, Alanna.

The way she’d been acting, she wouldn’t have shown her either.