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Except she busted out laughing.
Confused, I blinked down at her.
Her eyes pinched shut, her chin kicked up, a riot of giggling rolling through the air. “Jake, oh my God. Were you about to kiss me?” A snort ripped out of her, and a peal of laughter spilled out behind it.
“That’s it,” I said, trying to tamp down a smile, unable to be sour with her laughing so prettily. I turned for the barn door and snagged her arm. “You’re going to bed.”
“Why? Wanna come with me?” Another snort, followed by a halt as she hinged over, laughing. A gasp of air, and she stood again, waving her hand like a windshield wiper. “I’m sorry, it’s just so funny. You. Kissing me.”
“What’s so funny about that?” I asked with a teasing tone to cover the rejection as I guided her out of the barn, closing the door behind me.
“Only that you’d want to kiss me. You hate me.”
“I dunno if I’d call it hate.”
“Just the general pains in the asses. Pains in the ass? I can’t figure out which one is right.”
“I mean, you did get me a puppy.”
“Aww, I did! I mean, I saved the puppy from rabid raccoons or a mob of angry squirrels or—God forbid—a bear. I didn’t exactly get him for you.”
“Well, it still counts,” I said as we approached the steps of the big house. “And … well, thank you.”
We came to a stop, and she took two steps up, turning around to face me. “You’re welcome, Jake. I’m glad you didn’t make me give him back because I would have been so sad.”
A chuckle. “Can’t have that.”
“I’ll remember you said that for next time.” With a smile, she turned, ascending the last of the steps.
“Then let’s hope I mind my manners.”
“It’d be a first for all of us,” she joked, stepping through the threshold. “Night, Jake.”
“Night, Livi.”
And the door snicked closed.
Heading toward my house, I let out a heavy breath and looked down at Bowie. “A puppy. What the hell am I going to do with a puppy?”
He licked my hand in answer, and I thought I might know just what to do with him after all. I needed somebody to love just as much as Olivia said I did.
A hot flush crept up my neck. She hadn’t been wrong—three more seconds, and I would have kissed her. I made a vow to never be so stupid again. Not with the farm in the balance and all our futures on the line.
I needed someone to love.
But God help us all if I even considered that somebody being her.
13
Mother Heifer
JAKE
Only a couple cars were left in the gravel lot by the time I finished my rounds on opening day, a day I’d spent trying not to think about how many strangers were on the property.
Olivia had been busy.
From what I’d gathered, our first day had gone off without a hitch. Our staff who ran tours were wide-eyed and brimming with excitement from the fun they’d had. The calves were well fed, thanks to the petting zoo, and the animals in the barn seemed just as wound up as the staff was about the new faces they’d seen. Mack had told me the shop had been so busy, there was barely room to walk. They’d sold out of our creamery fare four times.
To no one’s surprise, I was skeptical.
I should have been as giddy as the goats and staff. Instead, anxiety and dread twisted in my chest like a hot towel, steaming and scalding to the touch. Because what if it didn’t work? What if she failed? What would it do to the farm, to our finances? What if this was a fluke?
And what would happen when got bored and she left me here to pick up the pieces alone?
As I made my way toward the shop to pick up Bowie, I dunked that towel in ice water and listened to the sizzle. Truth was, we had been busy, and busy was good—I’d noted the people, doing quick math to figure about how much we’d made on tours alone at ten bucks a head, twenty per tour, eight tours for the day. The markup on the creamery goods alone would have made a hefty sum when calculated four times over.
In that, I found enough hope to ease my mind, even if it was only by a degree.
Golden sunset light cut through the trees as I rounded the barn and caught sight of Janet’s shop. Olivia had painted the door that Pepto Bismol shade she favored, and hanging from a porch post was a logo she’d made. Farmgirl, it read in an arch over an illustrated pair of pink rain boots stuffed with flowers.
Olivia meant well, and based on today, I could see how what she was doing would help. But at the end of the day, the responsibility of the farm’s debts fell on me, as they should.
