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“Ranching.”
“Right. Ranching.”
Eli rocked on her heels as she leaned over the wood wall and put her hand down, clicking her tongue to get the calf’s attention. Immediately, the calf came over and tried to suck on Eli’s fingers. Eli jerked her hand away, scolded the calf, and then put her hand back in, brushing her fingers over its nose.
“I’d offer to let you scratch his head, but he’s a bit nasty right now. Might want to wait a few days until either mom cleans him up or I end up doing it.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Really?”
Sarah nodded and set her jaw. She didn’t mind. She wanted to see how soft his hair was, or if it was wiry like it looked.
Eli let out a heave. “Careful of your fingers. He’ll try to suck them off.”
“All right.” Sarah reached down and rubbed the tips of her fingers over his head, surprised to find him sticky. But she was correct in her assumption. The hair on his face was wiry and stiff against her bare fingers. She laughed and then turned to look at Eli as she continued to pet the calf.
“You should name him Buddy.”
“Buddy? Really?”
Sarah shrugged. “Why not? He’s cute, and if you only have him for a year, then why not name him something you don’t necessarily like.”
“Fine. Buddy it is.”
“He’s so cute.”
Eli laughed and slapped the edge of the wood as Sarah continued to keep her hands over the edge of the stall. “You pet him all you want. I’m going to finish up before heading in for a shower.”
“Umm...will you let me know when you go back?”
“Why? Scared to walk on your own?”
Sarah shook her head. “Not scared, no. I slipped on my way down. I’d rather not fall on my way up.”
Eli grinned broadly, her eyes dancing with humor. “The streak of mud on your ass is a dead giveaway.”
Sarah’s cheeks flushed hot under Eli’s stare, and she had no quick comeback for it. But she didn’t even have a chance to say anything as Eli turned and walked back to where Sarah had originally found her. She turned to Buddy and gnawed on her lip as she scratched behind his ears.
“What do you make of that? I have no idea either.”
She couldn’t believe for one minute she was talking to a cow, but there she was, standing in a barn at four in the morning, talking to a cow, a cow she had named nonetheless. Kara would never believe it.
Sarah pushed away from the stall and moved to the barn door. Eli was already waiting for her, and they walked together in silence up to the house. As soon as they were inside and Eli pulled the door shut, Sarah stopped in the kitchen. Eli’s lips parted in surprise before she nodded at Sarah, said nothing, and headed down the stairs to where Sarah assumed Eli lived.
Her belly tightened with tension as she moved to the kitchen sink and washed the mud from her fall and the grime from Buddy off of her hands. She still couldn’t figure Eli out. One minute it was all heated looks and the next it was sharp and annoyed retorts. Not to mention, Sarah couldn’t decide which she preferred.
Ultimately, she’d prefer the heated looks to being made feel like she was an inconvenience, but the back and forth took her by surprise every time. Still, getting out of the house and seeing a new side to Eli had given her a warm feeling in her belly. At the very least, she hoped to have a new friend by the end of her two weeks. If she was going to be stuck in the house alone with Eli for that time, they’d have to figure out how to communicate and get along. Sarah was pretty sure the dinner she had made that night had gone a long way to bridging that gap.
As she went up the stairs after taking her boots off by the door like she’d seen Eli do, she felt her ass and grimaced. Sure enough, it was covered in a thick layer of mud. She’d have to beg Eli to let her use the washer when she got a chance because muddy clothes were not something she wanted to wear again.
With a smile on her lips, Sarah threw all her clothes into a pile on the floor where she kept her dirty clothes thus far and crawled into her bed naked. She closed her eyes, leaving the curtains open so she could see the snow continue to fall outside. It had been a nearly perfect night, and it was exactly what she needed. Something new. Something different. Something to break up the monotony of her life in Dallas. A rest, a break, something that gave her new things to learn and new things to think about.
A farm—no, a ranch—had been the right decision. Thank God for Kara making the reservation even though Sarah had been so hesitant to begin with. With the covers pulled over her legs and chest, Sarah drifted off into sleep with a smile on her lips, and no ache in her stomach for the first time since she’d stepped off the plane and gotten into her rental car.
Chapter 8
Sarah had spent halfthe day walking around the property and enjoying the fresh air after sleeping for nearly eight hours straight. She’d even gone in to check on Buddy twice, which Eli had told her she could do. When Eli got home from her morning chores, she slipped into the barn with Sarah.
