Page 13 of Out of Place

“A breakfast burrito. Eggs, sausage, cheese, and potatoes. You’re gonna wanna eat that, too. You’ll need your energy.” She looks at me for a long moment. “Is there something wrong with it?”

“No, I just—”

“Then eat.” Alright, someone is not a morning person. I’m not either, but that doesn’t mean I would bite someone’s head off first thing in the morning.

Sitting at the table, I scroll through my phone while I eat. Serena posted pictures of herself at a club last night. She looks amazing. I like the picture and keep scrolling. My friends are posting their fancy dinners or shopping sprees, with an occasional charity event. But it’s the same stuff we always post.

Everyone else’s lives are still moving on without me there. I won’t lie, it hurts. Serena was the only one to text me last night to make sure I got here okay. My parents didn’t even reach out to me. Maybe they talked to Dottie and knew I was here safe.

“Aunt Dottie, did you talk to my mom yesterday?”

“No. Why?” There goes that theory.

“Just wondering.”

I usually hate my parents being in my business. But they finally pushed themselves into my life and forced me to do this, and they don’t even care if I made it here safely? They did call me an embarrassment. Maybe they’d be happy if I wasn’t safe. One less thing for them to have to worry about.

A knock on the back door pulls me from my morbid thoughts.

“Mornin’ Ms. Dottie. Mornin’ Olivia,” Landon drawls as he opens the door.

He’s showered and doesn’t smell like cow shit today. He’s not terrible to look at if you ignore the stained blue jeans and the ripped T-shirt. His facial hair is short and perfectly sculpted around his jaw, and his dark brown hair curls around the edges of the same baseball hat as yesterday.

“Mornin’ Landon. You need any coffee?” Aunt Dottie asks, gesturing to the coffee pot on the counter.

“No, ma’am. I had some at home.” Then he looks at me. “You ready, sweetheart?”

Uh, sweetheart? Who does this man think he is? But I’m too tired to argue right now. “Ready for what?”

“Gotta get the cows ready for milkin’,” he answers like that’s a totally normal thing.

I nearly choke on a piece of sausage. “You want me to actually milk a cow?” I thought it was a joke when she mentioned it last night.

I look between the two of them.

They say yes in unison.

“Olivia, hun. You might wanna put your hair up. It’s gonna be a hot one today.”

“Like in a ponytail?” Aunt Dottie nods. “I don’t have a hair tie.”

“Of course you don’t,” she mumbles. Landon chuckles in his spot by the door. Aunt Dottie walks off and comes back with a bandana. She comes behind me and yanks my long hair back, tying it with the bandana.

“This will have to do for now.”

I don’t have time to look at it before she ushers me out the door, leaving my half-eaten burrito on the table.

I follow Landon outside. The sun isn’t even up yet, but it’s already hot.

“You ready for this?” he asks.

“Of course I’m ready. I’ve always dreamed of milking a cow at the ass crack of dawn.”

He chuckles. It’s a nice laugh. Or it would be if he wasn’t currently walking me to my own personal hell. “Cam is already working on getting the cows inside. We’ve gotta clean the udders and get them hooked up.”

“Clean the udders?” That really doesn’t sound like something I’m interested in doing.

“Yep. Don’t worry, I’ll show you.”