“I recommend keep your pants zipped with Milly until she shows her true colors to you.Then see how you feel about her.Now, Erika?”Dante grinned.“If you knock that woman up, she might just stay with you.For her, I’d be a godfather.So would Knox.Did you know he talks to her all the time?”
“That’s scary as hell to be throwing imaginary babies around like Tic-Tacs.Erika hates me.I might think she grew up well and all, but she and I aren’t going to… There’s no way we will ever...”
He held up a hand.“Never say never.Bad luck, you know.You’ve still got it bad for her.”
“No, I don’t.”I crossed my arms tighter.
“If she kissed you like she meant it, you’d lose your clothes.”
“Jaysus,” I muttered, half scared he wasn’t wrong.My phone dinged to signal an incoming message.I wished hard for it not to be another emergency.I needed a few hours of sleep.
It was from my brother.
Timothy:Got a cow down at south end.See you in twenty.
I glanced up.“I gotta get going.Another emergency.”
“Come to dinner with Tonya and I tomorrow?”
“I can’t tomorrow.How about Friday?Are you going to tell me the two of you finally got engaged?”
“We’re not there yet.Friday it is.Don’t knock anyone up before then.”
“Did you and Tonya…?Is that where this baby talk is coming from?”
“I’d be thrilled.We practice hard, but that woman’s in charge.Someday…” Dante laughed as he rounded his car.
I waved at him before texting back.
Josh:I’m on another farm call.I can’t be down there for at least a few hours.
I’d promised to return to the Sawyers after practice to check on a cow that wasn’t milking right.That usually meant mastitis.I didn’t have time to deal with my brother’s disapproval of my life choices.I was supposed to have taken over the farm management from my father and leave the HVAC business to Timothy.My father owned thousands of acres of farmland in the area where he ran cows and grew soybeans or corn.And he’d started an HVAC business on the side since there wasn’t anyone else in town.When I walked away from both, even after Dad’s heart attack five years ago, Timothy took over the management of everything.
Timothy:I need you at the barn now.This is one of the pricey cows.
Josh:If you paid your bills for the last four visits then I might move you to the head of the line.
The reply button spun.Maybe he’d call Jeff Teller, the other large animal vet in the area.Jeff primarily did horses, but he could be persuaded to do a cow for the right price.
Timothy:We paid for your vet school.You will be out here in twenty.
Josh:I paid my own way in school.You want to see my school loan statement?I might be there in a few hours.
I’d warned Dad a few years ago not to start cloning calves, but he’d fallen hard for the sales pitch.Research showed clones had a higher rate of birth defects.On our farm, the few cloned calves seemed to struggle even more than the others.Their immune systems were weaker.They picked up infection after infection.Many didn’t survive more than a few weeks.My phone chimed again.
Milly:How dare she return to town with the way she hurt you?
Josh:Her father and stepmother passed.
Milly:Want me to come over tonight?
Definite no, not after Dante’s baby talk.The thought of seeing her tonight drained every bit of energy out of me.
Josh:On a call.
Milly:See you tomorrow night.
ChapterSeven
