Page 26 of Out of Place

“Seems you made a new friend.”

“Shut up.” I walk towards the gate.

“What? It’s cute. Maybe that should be the next headline. New girl in town befriends baby goat.”

I roll my eyes. “Are you always this annoying?”

“Only to you, sweetheart,” he says. I don’t look at him, but I can tell by his voice that he’s smiling.

“Well, aren’t I the lucky one?”

He laughs as he opens the gate, and we walk out, making sure not to let any of the goats out.

“You did good in there,” he tells me when we get to the UTV.

“Thanks,” I mumble.

“How was the market yesterday?” he asks, starting the engine.

“Good. I guess. Aunt Dottie seemed happy.”

“Make any new friends?”

I shrug. “Maybe.” I’m sure he’s asking about my conversation with Dawson, but that’s none of his business, just like it’s none of my business if his ex-girlfriend is still in love with him.

“Hmm.”

The rest of the ride is silent until he drops me off with the blueberries and tells me he’ll see me at lunch.

* * *

At the end of the day, once everyone is gone and the work is done, I sit at the dining room table, eager to eat whatever Dottie has cooked. I’m freaking starving. I was also dying of thirst. As soon as I walked in, I chugged a bottle of water like I used to chug beers.

While we’re eating, Dottie says, “You should probably do some laundry tonight. I imagine you’re getting low on clean clothes.”

“Laundry?” I ask.

“Mm-hmm.”

“You don’t have a service for that?”

She stares at me for a moment. “A service for laundry?”

“Yeah, you know they come and grab your dirty clothes and then drop them back off the next day all nice and clean.”

“No, hun. No laundry service around here. You’ve got to do it yourself. I take it you don’t know how to use a washer?” I shake my head, and she sighs. “Bring your clothes down after dinner, and I’ll show you how to do it. But after that, you’re on your own.”

“Alright.” Seems like I’m on my own a lot these days.

After I do the dishes, even though I’m exhausted, I haul a giant pile of dirty clothes to the laundry room. Dottie shows me how to put the soap in and which setting to use, and before I know it, I’m doing my first-ever load of laundry.

“Not too bad, huh?” Dottie asks. “Almost seems a shame to pay someone to do that when it’s that easy.”

I don’t agree with her, but I don’t think she expects me to. She’s said the same thing about cleaning the house and mowing the front lawn. All of which I would definitely still pay someone to do.

“Well, I’m going to work on my puzzle. Wheel of Fortune is on if you want to join.” She walks away before I can answer.

I’ve got to wait for these clothes to finish so I can put them into the dryer before I go to sleep. There’s nothing else to do, so, much to my dismay, I find myself sitting next to Dottie on her ugly ass couch, watching a weird game show and working on a puzzle of a basket full of kittens.