Page 50 of Chasing Kaylee Kringle

“You’re enjoying this?”

Rick grinned. “A little bit. I was an altar boy growing up. My mother had four children. I was the second born. My brother was super serious. I think he was born an adult. My younger brother caused all the trouble, and my little sister could get away with murder. I was just kind of there, so I did everything I could to not give anyone any grief. And my mother just kind of left me alone. The only one that I was really close to was my abuela.”

“So you didn’t break any rules? No teenage rebellion, nothing?”

“Nope, I wanted to be in law enforcement, and I knew I had to toe the line. So when my friends were doing donuts in the parking lot and jumping over fences to chase cows, I was at home studying or hanging with my family.”

“Are you guys close?”

“Honestly, no. My older brother is a lawyer in LA. My younger brother is a day trader in New York, and my sister tried to be a model, and now she is a personal stylist for a bunch of wealthy men and lives in my younger brother’s basement.”

“Oh, what about your parents?”

“My dad and my mom got divorced when we were growing up, and she is remarried now, living in Arizona with her new husband. I get calls from her every once in a while, but we’re not close.”

“That’s sad,” she said. “You don’t even go back to see them at the holidays?”

Rick shook his head. “It’s one of those things where you don’t get to pick your family, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep them. My parents weren’t abusive or anything like that. They were just indifferent. There wasn’t a lot of closeness, and I think my mom only had us because she thought that’s what she was supposed to do.” Abruptly, he took her by the shoulders and gave her a little push toward the goat. “So, let’s get on with this milking business.”

“Well, how do we hold her still?”

Rick looked around the stall and saw a lead hanging from a nail. He picked it up and widened the hole. The goat backed up a little, but he tossed it over her head, making it on the first try.

Kaylee laughed. “You should’ve been a rodeo star.”

“I did some mutton busting once.”

“Remind me what mutton busting is?” she asked.

“It’s what they do when they put grade schoolers on the backs of sheep and see how far and how long they can stay on.”

“That sounds terrible.”

“I hardly remember it. My abuelo signed me up when I was four or five, I guess. I went through a phase where I wanted to be a bull rider, but my mom put her foot down.”

“Well, she was probably afraid you’d get hurt.”

“Or the fact that it cost money, and she was pretty tight.”

“Yikes.” Kaylee took a deep breath and squatted down, looking under the goat’s belly for her udder. “Okay, honey, don’t kick me.” She reached out and touched the top of the closest teat, squeezing down like she’d seen on TV. Milk sprayed out of the end, and she squealed, startling the goat. Kaylee fell back on her butt and cracked up.

“I did it!”

“See, easy peasy titty squeezy.” He took the lead off the goat and put it back. “Now, let’s get out of here.”

They exited the stall, and he locked it back up. They walked to the exit and down the lane when a flurry of frenzied barking exploded. They both whirled around in time to see a black-and-white blur headed straight for them.

“Run!” Rick said, and Kaylee squealed in terror and adrenaline as she took off, kicking up her heels and pumping her arms. She was out of shape and was winded by the time they reached the fence. Rick was a ways ahead of her when suddenly, something grabbed hold of her pant leg and tugged. The sound of fabric ripping echoed in the night, and she glanced back to see that the dog had a chunk of her sweatpants in his mouth. She kept going until she reached the tree line, and she saw Rick on a limb above her head.

McNally’s voice called the dog’s name, and he ran back to the house. Kaylee leaned her hands on her knees, breathing hard.

“You good?” Rick asked.

“That dog ripped my sweatsuit!”

“Well, at least he didn’t bite you, though.”

“You’re right, it could’ve been worse.” She looked up at him in the tree and grinned. “That was kind of fun.”