Her blonde curls were still damp when she stepped out of the room and into the kitchen. She was surprised to find Leon sitting at the table, black rimmed glasses on his eyes and a pen suspended in the air.
“What are you doing?” She blurted out.
He had a thick stack of papers before him on the table, and a long register open where he was trying to either make notes, or calculate something.
He looked up at her, over the lenses of his spectacles. Suddenly, he looked much older, wiser and even more serious if he possibly could.
“Trying to do my accounts. I’ve never been too good at it.” He said.
Ivy crossed her arms and leaned on the door frame, with a sarcastic smile on her face. She hadn’t ever thought that Leon Cooper might ever admit to a shortcoming.
“You look mighty lost alright.” She said, the smile growing wider.
Leon pulled the glasses off his face and folded them on the table, looking at her with those chocolate brown eyes that she had grown to become so fond of.
“Do you want to help me? Or are you just going to stand there and make fun of me?” He asked, raising a mischievous eyebrow at her.
Ivy pursed her lips, enjoying this other new side of him.
“How long have you been sitting there? Secretly waiting for me to come out of my room, cowboy?” She asked, walking in his direction now.
He finally smiled. That same warm wide smile that always took her by surprise. It was strange to think that he was probably at least half a decade older than her, or maybe even more. In that instance, she felt more authoritative and wiser than him. He wasn’t trying to pretend that he knew more than her.
“Since eight o clock.” He said and Ivy burst out laughing.
She pulled out a chair at the table and sat down across from him.
She noticed the handsome plaid shirt he was wearing, the dampness of his sandy blonde hair, his clean-shaven jaw. He too had just taken a shower.
“You’re not working out on the ranch today?” She asked, absent-mindedly pulling the stack of papers towards her. They had never had such a normal, regular conversation before and Ivy was lost in enjoying the simplicity of it. Neither were they at each others throats, or trying to rip the clothes off each other.
“I have to get this done.” He said, running his fingers through his damp hair. Just watching him do that filled her with a sudden warmth. Just a small regular gesture, but it made him a bit more human.
She nodded her head, running her eyes over the papers in front of her.
“Now, I’m no accountant, but I took a few classes in college, just to study the business side of farming.” She said, looking up at him again.
“Give it your best shot, because mine looks like that.” Leon said, pointing at the stack of papers with a grin on his face. Ivy grinned back at him.
“Well, I can begin with arranging this in the right order first, and then we can take it from there. Do you have a record of all your business receipts? Bank transfers? The forms that need to be filled up?” She asked, crossing her legs and turning to him with a serious, business-like expression.
Leon stood up from his chair and nodded his head.
“I think so. I’ll go look for them, and pile them up there in a box or something.” He said.
“This could take a while, Leon.” Ivy said, stopping him as he made his way out of the kitchen.
“I don’t expect you to do much. Just help me out with what you can, and then I’ll hire an accountant for the rest of it.” He said, their eyes meeting again. Ivy blushed, because she couldn’t stop thinking about how nice this was. How normal this felt.
“Sure. What did you do before this? With your money, I mean.” She said, genuinely wondering how a billionaire cowboy managed all his funds.
Leon shrugged his shoulders.
“My father did it. I just worked our farms and ranch in Minnesota. When he died, I bought this place. I’ve never looked into the business side of things. This is all new to me.” He said frankly, and Ivy smiled again. Suddenly he looked like a much younger version of himself, lost and confused.
“You’ll get the hang of it soon, it’s not that hard.” She said and he nodded, before disappearing out of the room.
She sighed as she looked at the papers again.